S01.E04: Episode 4

[peachmangosteen]

Quote

Claire outlines the rules Eric must follow as their relationship takes a dramatic turn.

Airs November 17th.

[SunnyBeBe]

Is Eric getting around town on a bike or just walking? He sure does seem to be quite mobile to not have a car. 

[bilgistic]

When Claire was outlining the "rules", my boyfriend said, "They're going to immediately break those rules," and sure enough...

I don't remember what Claire's husband's job is, but their kitchen appliances are very high-end.

I continue to speculate that Claire is going to get pregnant, but it's going to be tough to explain to her husband how that happened when they haven't had sex.

[hula-la]

I really like this take from Buzzfeed. It’s abusive, and all about power. Spoiler note, it talk about subsequent episodes. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alessadominguez/hulu-a-teacher-review-student-teacher-scandals?bftwnews&utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc

[Madding crowd]

I found it hard to believe Eric would dump the pretty girl he took to the dance for his plain and snotty teacher. 

[Empress1]

I remember when one of my friends got her first teaching job out of college, she said she was surprised by how much older she felt than her students even though she really wasn't that much older - she was 22 and her students were sophomores and juniors. I think of that whenever I hear about student/teacher stories. 

Watching her schedule more "tutoring sessions" after her class was so fucking gross, as was her demanding to see him. I found it so sad when he was talking about how much he liked her. This is really going to mess him up.

 

[BlackberryJam]

On 11/18/2020 at 1:03 AM, Madding crowd said:

I found it hard to believe Eric would dump the pretty girl he took to the dance for his plain and snotty teacher. 

Attraction isn't strictly about looks. And Kate Mara isn't a hosebeast. The show isn't that shallow. 

[Madding crowd]

No I don’t think she is ugly. Is just that teens tend to hang in groups and the ones that are attracted to teachers and older people often tend to be loners that no one pays attention to. I didn’t see that Eric had anything in common with his teacher either. 

I just think that Eric being a popular guy with a lot of friends and pretty girls who are interested in him , would be less likely to be involved with an older teacher.

[BlackberryJam]

I don't think that's true at all. Being popular doesn't mean being emotionally secure. Popular kids are often some of the most insecure. They are constantly afraid of losing that popularity. Eric is from a single parent home and he doesn't have the financial resources that his friends have. The one friend even drags Eric for not having his own car. Eric is the one who has to work and beg for rides. He's the one who has to stay home and care for his siblings. His friends are living a higher income, more carefree life. Eric is ashamed at having to ask for rides and then, in the first episodes, gets stuck buying his friends' food (until Claire puts it on her bill) because he's unwilling to tell his friends No.

Eric is not portrayed as some high self-esteem, carefree happy kid. He's struggling to maintain and in a real battle to get a college scholarship because he knows his mother can't afford to send him to school.

And again, this kind of attraction isn't about "well, I can get a prettier girl." This is about an older woman making a him feel special, that he has opportunities and taking advantage of his sexuality. 

[showme]

On 11/17/2020 at 8:24 PM, SunnyBeBe said:

Is Eric getting around town on a bike or just walking? He sure does seem to be quite mobile to not have a car. 

Good question, I was wondering how he got to the rendezvous place so quickly and so often.

[showme]

On 11/17/2020 at 10:21 PM, bilgistic said:

I don't remember what Claire's husband's job is, but their kitchen appliances are very high-end.

I continue to speculate that Claire is going to get pregnant, but it's going to be tough to explain to her husband how that happened when they haven't had sex.

Not sure why there is no spark between Claire and her husband anymore, he is pretty hot, busy career and into music, he cares about her obviously, what is the problem?

Edited November 19, 2020 by showme

[BlackberryJam]

I think the problem is that Claire gets off on engaging in risky and taboo behaviors. In the very first episode, we see her engaging in shoplifting for thrills. It's coming through loud and clear to me that Claire has mental health issues with sexually deviant behaviors and poor impulse control. 

[DrSpaceman73]

On 11/19/2020 at 11:18 AM, showme said:

Not sure why there is no spark between Claire and her husband anymore, he is pretty hot, busy career and into music, he cares about her obviously, what is the problem?

I get the impression they have drifted apart, he is more interested in his job than in her and one episode, I forget which, it's implied he probably is not faithful.   He makes a comment to his band mates and a girl in the crowd and certainly wasn't trying to hide his attraction to someone not his wife.  Plus starting a band with friends at his age?  Other than a sports car or motorcycle nothing screams mid life or maybe just post college crisis than that. 

And they showed a scene of their sex life, not really satisfying for her. 

[peachmangosteen]

10 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

He makes a comment to his band mates and a girl in the crowd and certainly wasn't trying to hide his attraction to someone not his wife. 

Wow, I didn't pick up on that at all. I thought he was looking at Claire.

[mamadrama]

On 11/18/2020 at 1:03 AM, Madding crowd said:

I found it hard to believe Eric would dump the pretty girl he took to the dance for his plain and snotty teacher. 

It's not about looks. Eric's been "adulted" by his mother. He takes care of his brothers and has taken on more of a partner role than that of a son. He's had to grow up faster than this friends and therefore seems to feel a little outside of them. This is shown throughout the series. he probably feels older than the girls his age and, therefore, feels like the teacher is more on his level. (He's wrong, but that's part of what this is about.) She has also spent a considerable amount of time grooming him. As the adult and the person in the position of power she has influence over him in ways that the girls his age do not. This ranks her a little higher. The fact that his friends think she's "hot" helps. In this kind of situation the adults are judged on a different scale and the bar is a little lower when it comes to looks. The "snotty" attitude actually helps her case. It's kind of the ice queen thing. Some people are attracted to that because if, to the outside world, the person is aloof and distant but to YOU they're attentive and can crack their shell a bit then it's a bit of an ego stroke. The high school girl is friendly and obviously into him. The teacher, though, requires some work. It's an achievement. 

The fact that our culture has sexualized and fetishized female teachers for decades now also plays into it. In Hollywood bagging the female teacher has been a source of achievement. if an older woman sleeps with you then it MUST mean that your sexual prowess is top notch. After all, if you can sexually gratify an "older woman" then you've got skillz. Doesn't matter what she looks like. Hence the whole "I'm the MAN." We see it in music, TV shows, music videos...Hell, before she died Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili were doing "Hot For Teacher" nights at clubs. 

There are so many factors involved in this. I feel sorry for Eric. He SHOULD be dating the pretty, seemingly sweet girl his age. And I think a part of him wants to be dating her. Once he gave into this fantasy, though, it completely took over. Hard to return back to the other way now. 

Sorry @BlackberryJam I just saw your post and see that we're saying similar things. 

The popular kids I knew were some of the loneliest, most confused kids in the school. Kids hide that in different ways. I think it's dangerous to assume that the ones with "problems" are only the loners. He's giving out several signs of things not being well. Unfortunately, the only person who seems to see them is the one who uses those things to groom him. 

Edited December 1, 2020 by mamadrama

[mamadrama]

On 11/19/2020 at 11:18 AM, showme said:

Not sure why there is no spark between Claire and her husband anymore, he is pretty hot, busy career and into music, he cares about her obviously, what is the problem?

Maybe there never was a spark. She's made a point of saying that she's spent her life doing what she's "supposed" to do. Maybe he was the kind of guy she thought she was meant to be with. It may have been easier for her to convince herself of that earlier on. Her childhood/past had a lot going on in it. 

Claire does not seem to mentally well at this point. It's not just about her feelings towards her husband-in addition to sleeping with her underage student (who she seems to actually think she "loves"), she's engaging in other risky behavior as well. I don't think this was ever about her "falling" for someone because she's no longer attracted to her husband, this was about her having some kind of interior crisis and lashing out in as many ways as she feels like she can. 

[Empress1]

On 12/1/2020 at 12:49 AM, mamadrama said:

Maybe there never was a spark. She's made a point of saying that she's spent her life doing what she's "supposed" to do. Maybe he was the kind of guy she thought she was meant to be with. It may have been easier for her to convince herself of that earlier on. Her childhood/past had a lot going on in it. 

Also, sparks can fade regardless of how attractive the people are. (There's an expression "For every attractive person, someone out there is sick of their shit.") She's been with him for what, ten, twelve years? She might just be bored. A lot of adult life is boring, to be honest, and I think every couple that has been together for any significant length of time will describe the spark as something that ebbs and flows. They are pretty settled in adult life - they are trying to conceive but they're at the point in life where there aren't a lot of surprises. (Note the comment she made that they're the only couple in their 30s they know without kids or pets. Their peers' lives have kind of skipped along as expected, and she assumes theirs will too.) 

My best friend is married with two kids (she also married the first man she slept with, and she does have some regrets about that) and she is happy with them, but she also says she doesn't expect there to be many surprises in her life anymore and that kind of makes her sad. The difference is, my friend isn't going around creating drama to spice things up. I think the shoplifting was meant to show a certain level of thrill-seeking, and Claire has escalated it.