‘A Teacher’ Episode 4 Preview: Kathryn notices love bite on Claire's neck and Eric's friends have suspicions
The first three episodes of FX on Hulu’s ‘A Teacher’ sort of set the premise -- a more elaborate version of the story that Hannah Fidell told through her 2013 movie of the same name.
Claire Wilson (Kate Mara) is a young teacher at a suburban Texas high school. New to the school, she soon gets close to a student called Eric Walker (Nick Robinson). We see Claire is in an unsatisfied marriage with her college sweetheart Matt Mitchell (Ashley Zukerman). Matt has creative desires (he wants to form a band) that Claire disapproves of. He also wants to start a family, something that also is seemingly against Claire’s wishes.
So, from that dissatisfaction and angst, Claire is pushed towards Eric, who is smart, good-looking, and a good person in general. While both seemed drawn to each other, Eric was the first to make a move. He kissed Claire at school. Claire, late at the Homecoming dance, spoke to him about it, and together they left. And the third episode ended with the two of them having sex in her car.
So, what’s up next?
In the promo for the upcoming episode, we see the aftermath of what happened at the dance. Sandy Walker (Rya Kihlstedt), Eric's hardworking working-class mother, asks him how the dance went, to which Eric says, “It was fun”. But the line of inquisition gets tougher from thereon. And especially when others question him.
In the previous episodes, we had seen Eric once again get close with his ex-girlfriend Alison (Camila Perez). The two got together at a house party and later Eric asked her to the Homecoming dance as his date. But as we saw, the dance went in a totally different direction for the teen. So, it is unsurprising that Alison would ask him where he disappeared. And that is exactly what she does in the promo. She blames him for abandoning her “in front of the entire school”.
And she isn't alone. His best friend Logan (Shane Harper) also seems curious about his whereabouts. But at some point, Logan’s casual questions get serious. It would seem that Eric is not a great liar, and Logan sees right through the excuses. Even his mom notices some erratic behavior, leading her to ask him if everything is alright.
But Eric is not the only one being questioned. Claire seems to have made one friend at the school -- Kathryn Sanders (Marielle Scott), a French teacher. The two snuck into a broom closet to get drinks in the earlier episodes and even had the briefest of heart-to-hearts. Kathryn also made plans to go out drinking with Claire. And in episode 4, that plan will come into play.
But, unfortunately for Claire, it would seem that Kathryn is pretty observant. And she notices a love bite on her neck. Now, it is uncertain if Claire’s colleagues know that she is a married woman. But Kathryn’s reaction would only go to show that at least she doesn’t know that. Fortunately for Claire, she has that excuse to fall on -- she can always claim it came from Matt. The promo ends with Claire telling Eric that they have to establish ground rules for this to continue and for their relationship to work so that no one else finds out.
‘A Teacher’ premiered on Tuesday, November 10, 2020, on FX on Hulu with three back-to-back episodes. More episodes in the 10-episodic series will follow every week starting from Tuesday, November 17.