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‘A Teacher’ Episode 5 Review: Will Claire abandon Eric after accidentally exposing their affair to Kathryn?

When Kathryn presses her to reveal the name, she first remains tight-lipped but later divulges that it's Eric from school

Spoilers for ‘A Teacher’ 

Claire Wilson (Kate Mara) set some rules for Eric Walker (Nick Robinson) but it seems she herself can't keep it. As Episode 5 begins, the lovers head out on a secret trip away from their family. It's Eric's 18th birthday and they spend some "quality time" together without anyone getting to know about it. 

The two do manage to sneak out from their loved ones... Claire lies to her husband Matt Nicholas (Ashley Zukerman) and Eric does the same with his mother Sandy Walker (Rya Kihlstedt). After the lovely getaway, Claire seems to be infatuated with Eric and makes a confession to her friend from school — Kathryn Sanders (Marielle Scott). On an outing with her, she slips out her feelings and says she hasn't ever felt the way she feels about a new guy she met. 

When Kathryn presses her to reveal the name, she first remains tight-lipped but later divulges that it's Eric from school. Shocked by that revelation, Kathryn first asks if she is joking and then accuses her of grooming and using her position to start that relationship.

The episode ends with a major cliffhanger and leaves a number of questions hanging: Will Kathryn report Claire and sabotage her affair? Will Claire abandon Eric to save herself? How will Claire and Eric react when they are faced with a barrage of questions from the close ones? 

Directed by Andrew Neel and written by Rosa Handelman, the episode ends with dollops of suspense and leaves you with the thought of how the slightest error can make things go wrong. What's troubling is how Claire just ruined Eric's life and now the two will have to face repercussions that he didn't deserve in the first place. While Claire had Eric as her only option to add some spice in her life, Eric has his whole life in front of him. 

Fans are irked at her actions. "NO SHE DID NOT JUST TELL HER FRIEND SHE'S SCREWING HER STUDENT! SERIOUSLY, HOW STUPID IS SHE?" one angry fan said and another posted, "She really thought her friend would be complicit?!?!?" A third chimed in, "It’s about time that someone brought you back to earth Claire. You started messing with him before his birthday. He’s a child."

‘A Teacher’ premiered on Tuesday, November 10, 2020, at 3 am ET 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, 2020, at 11 am ET.