‘A Teacher’ Episode 6 Review: Will Claire turn herself in to police over sex crime charges after Eric leaves?
A teacher and a student's relationship is sacred. What happens when boundaries are crossed? ‘A Teacher’ depicts one such controversial story where Claire Wilson (Kate Mara) has an affair with her student, Eric Walker (Nick Robinson) and the real twist seeps in when the fling is not a secret anymore.
The sixth episode picks up where the last one ended — with Claire's huge confession to her friend, Kathryn Sanders (Marielle Scott) — that she is dating an 18-year-old boy. Fully aware of how that step will disrupt her life, Claire tells her husband: “Matt, I'm having an affair... I'm sleeping with my student.”
Meanwhile, Eric has no idea what Claire did and gets a rude shock when cops land up at his home with a zillion questions about his relationship with his teacher, Claire. “Miss Wilson is your teacher? Have you ever met outside the school? Has she ever been inappropriate with you?” they ask him. Eric's mother Sandy Walker (Rya Kihlstedt) is right there and she too is stumped by the events.
Matt calls Claire's brother Nate Wilson (Adam David Thompson), an ex-military and current police officer. Surprisingly, Claire's husband — even after knowing that she cheated on him — is as supportive as one can be. “If it was consensual, most probably, they won't press charges,” Nate says. Amid all the chaos, Claire gets a call from Eric in a confused state and she hangs up while sobbing. “Sorry I have to go,” she tells him even as he begs her to say something.
Catching a private moment, Claire asks her husband Matt, “How can you even look at me?” Unbelievably so, Matt responds, “Because I love you... But this is 10 years. You f--ked up real bad. We're gonna get a lawyer and therapy, we can get past this.” It's a shame that despite a loving and supportive husband, Claire just cannot be loyal to him. In the very next scene, she meets Eric and the two talk about it.
Manipulating his emotions, she admits she is very scared but doesn't tell him about her conversation with Kathryn that blew the whole thing out of proportion. Eric asks her if they can leave right then. “I can't be without you. Look we are good together.” By that point, it's clear that Claire is just looking for a wild adventure. She agrees to flee and the two land up in a hotel and have sex. It's funny how the cops are tapping their locations and they get to hook up again.
During an intimate moment, she dominates him saying, “Please... look at me.” But the next morning, Eric is gone. He goes back to his mom and the last scene depicts Claire entering the police station. Will she turn herself to the cops and be arrested on charges of a sex crime? As one fan says, “She ruined it all for some mediocre missionary sex from a teenager.”
“My entire life gone, for you...” Claire had told Eric earlier. But didn't she do it to herself? After this episode, it's quite apparent how Eric and Claire both have issues. Why did he get back to her if he wanted to leave? Why didn't Claire tell him that it was her fault that the relationship was exposed? Is this just a game of sex for both of them and if so, why are they destroying each other? How will Eric cope up if Claire is taken behind the bars?
‘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.