A Happy Ending… For Claire At Least
We begin episode 10 of A Teacher 10 years after the predatory student/teacher relationship between Claire and Eric. Eric sits by the campfire talking to his friend about the upcoming high school reunion. He’s not sure whether to attend or not but eventually decides to do just that. Meanwhile, Claire now has 2 kids, a loving husband and has clearly fallen on her feet. It’s her Father’s birthday too so the family head on over to celebrate. Only, Claire bumps into Eric in the supermarket and awkwardly exchange pleasantries. Flustered, Eric leaves without his groceries and heads home. We then hard cut (what is with these sudden and jarring fades to black?) to Claire with her daughter baking. She’s having a hard time getting Eric out of her mind. At this point the episode flits back and forth between Claire’s Father’s birthday celebrations and Eric catching up with his friends and attending his 10 year reunion at school. Eric’s friends have moved on now while a blast from the past sees him hooking up with Alison again. When Eric leaves, he receives a message from Claire asking to meet for lunch. He does just that and the next day Eric meets his old teacher. Claire admits she’s wanted to reach out for years but never had the guts to do so. Eric tells her their relationship destroyed him. As he lays out all the details of her predatory behaviour, Eric grits his teeth and tells her he’s lost years of his life thanks to this. “I was just a kid, Claire.” He rasps. “I know,” She whispers in reply. Despite being married, Claire admits she has troubles of her own including not being able to get a job and being “one click away” from parents finding out the truth about her. Having heard enough, especially as Claire keeps making everything about her, Eric walks away as the episode, and series, comes to a close.
The Episode Review
So what have we learned from this series? If you sleep with a high school student you’ll end up with a husband, 2 kids and move forward with your life? Minus being able to get a job and worrying that parents will google you. Whereas our male student ends up psychologically damaged thanks to this predatory behaviour. I don’t know about you guys but that doesn’t necessarily seem like a particularly compelling character arc. In fact, the scripts have been completely butchered and flatlined after Claire revealed the truth about the affair. It’s such a shame because this show had a big opportunity to really shed light on a predatory student/teacher relationship but never backed up its early season sparks with the promise of dark, psychologically scarred scenes where both Claire and Eric suffer. Instead, we get a lopsided conclusion where Claire has managed to move on while Eric is left in the dust. While Eric’s love life is a difficult, tangled mess of emotions, Claire doesn’t have that many repercussions for her actions minus not being able to get a job. This culminates in a wholly unsatisfying conclusion that sort of just ends after Claire and Eric meet again. In fact, Claire hasn’t learned anything by the end given she still can’t stop thinking about Eric and continues to selfishly play the victim in all this. A Teacher bows out this disappointing year with a disappointingly forgettable series. This is definitely not one to remember.
