Beautiful and quietly enigmatic, Claire is the newest teacher at Westerbrook High School. Dissatisfied in her marriage to her college sweetheart Matt Mitchell, distant from her brother, Nate Wilson and desperate for connection, she quickly befriends fellow teacher, Kathryn Sanders. Claire's life changes when Eric, a charming all-American senior in her English class, asks for help preparing for his SAT test. Popular and outgoing, Eric is the captain of the soccer team and nearly inseparable from his best friends, Logan Davis and Josh Smith. Everything seems perfect on the surface, but Eric is forced to juggle the pressures of school, applying for college and a part-time job, all while helping take care of his two younger brothers so his mother, Sandy can support the family. As Claire and Eric begin to spend more time together, boundaries are crossed, and a subtle game of grooming begins. The permanent damage left in the wake of Claire's choices becomes impossible for them, and their ... Written by FX Networks
First off, I want to say that the people leaving one star reviews complaining about how this is glorifying statutory rape have missed the point. Shows like PLL and Riverdale- where they portray the teachers as great romantic interests who are genuinely good people- those are glorifying these relationships. This show does not paint the teacher in a positive light. It's very clear that this relationship is problematic; just because they don't villainize the teacher doesn't mean they're condoning her actions. No awful person is 100% evil, and that goes for this character as well. If you think the show is actually condoning the student teacher narrative, something is wrong with your perception.
Now, regarding the show itself- it starts off pretty great. The first three episodes are captivating and keep you wondering what's going to develop next. However, it steadily declines from there. I'd say that after episode 3 or 4, they sort of run out of material. The episodes drag on and there's only about 8 minutes worth of interesting content in the 20 minute time frame. Episode 7, which focuses solely on Eric, is dreadfully boring in particular because half the excitement is seeing the dynamic between Eric and the teacher. So should you watch it? I would say that if the subject matter doesn't bother you, give it a watch. The episodes are less than 30 minutes so it's not too much of an investment. The show isn't really groundbreaking in any way, it plays way too much into high school stereotypes, and it can be a bit repetitive (we don't need that many scenes of high school parties, they all look the same). BUT- the acting is great, the storyline is intriguing, and the characters are fleshed out which keeps you invested in them.