English teacherCreated by Brian Jordan Alvarez, this is a series in which there is no room for sentiment. Take, for example, the opening scene of the season finale “Birthday.” A student comes to Evan (Alvarez's titular teacher) hoping that, as a gay teacher, Evan will receive valuable advice on how to share the news with friends and family. But Evan offers no such wisdom; instead, he's amazed that he was even asked. “Are you afraid to go out? It's 2024! Just go out into the hall and say “I'm gay!” Just go and get advice from kids your own age. We have come to expect on-screen depictions of coming out to be delicate and emotional. (See first: Sex education, Atypical, Bojack Rider, Never ever, Joy, Schitt's CoveAND Heart catcher.) But English teacher doesn't care about our expectations; I care about what's happening now.
This chaotic and unpredictable energy fuels more than just… English teacher just for show, but Evan's relationship with his boyfriend turns Malcolm (Jordan Firstman) on, off (and then back on again). It's the most exciting relationship on TV – gay, straight or not – thanks to how refreshingly current and honest it is.
Queer relationships on TV often focus so much on accepting this very difference that they become optimistic to the point of seeming unreal. Key relationships in Schitt's Cove AND Heart catcher They're cute, but they're fantasy. They are an idealized version of modern homosexuality, designed to be palatable to heterosexual audiences, as well as valuable wish fulfillment for queer people who have not been able to experience these relationships publicly in previous years. These shows paint a sweet but limited picture of a healthy, modern same-sex relationship, devoid of the horniness, anxiety, and free-thinking that characterize many relationships today. English teacherthe starting point is a world in which this wish has already been fulfilled. Despite homophobia and the persistence of ugly anti-LGBTQ legislation, you can be openly gay in America, whatever that means. On this show, that means being stupid, wrong, and messy. People are not easy people and neither are they English teacher.
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Malcolm and Evan demonstrate all of these traits and more. First episode English teacher finds Evan in shock after kissing in class with Malcolm, who recently resigned to find a better-paying job. Since then, their partnership had existed in something of an indefinite nebula, and they had agreed to just be friends. There are many ways to express love beyond batting eyelashes and sweet, longing glances, and their relationship mainly manifests itself in rambling conversations, sloppy sex with each other, and discussions about other men they would like to have sex with. There is fluidity and openness about their boundaries and romance, but also a sense of unease as Evan is in constant flux when it comes to his teaching job and the financial uncertainty that comes with it, as well as what he wants with Malcolm.
In “Birthday,” the last of the season's eight episodes, Evan turns 35 and Malcolm plans a surprise party for him at a local gay bar. Evan is horrified by the sight of his friends – he's wearing a tight leather T-shirt and bold yellow short shorts – and the bar is having a leather night with all the TVs playing pornography. As we enter the second half of this decade, Evan must make an important decision: will he choose Malcolm or Harry (Langston Kerman), another gay teacher at his school who is in an open relationship of his own? The decision comes into force during a big karaoke performance.
This is reminiscent of the climactic moment in Schitt's Cove where David (Dan Levy) lip-syncs Tina Turner's “Simply the Best” to her boyfriend Patrick (Noah Reid) as a declaration of love in their comfortable, monogamous relationship. It is beautiful, touching and effectively heartwarming. The whole thing is set in the rhythm of a more well-known and typically heterosexual love story. IN English teacherEvan watches a drunk Malcolm perform karaoke (“Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star) at a party. Halfway through the song, he shouts that Evan is a loser because he doesn't want to join him on stage, which Evan laughs off. To make Evan jealous, Malcolm invites Harry to a show. Evan says he's not jealous – they're all just friends! But his other friend, PE teacher Markie (Sean Patton), thinks otherwise: “If I've learned nothing else in your world, it's that there's no such thing as just friends,” he tells Evan in one of Markie's many insightful interviews observations. Inspired, Evan appears on the scene and embraces Malcolm, kissing him passionately. “So you're in love with me now?” Malcolm asks him. “Yes, that's a possibility,” Evan replies. It's not a sentimental film per se, but thanks to the performances of Alvarez and Firstman, there's a rawness to it that gives weight to this pivotal moment.
After choosing Malcolm, Evan and his friends leave the bar and Malcolm is nowhere to be found. It turns out that someone at the bar invited Malcolm to an orgy. This was met with surprise by Evan's co-workers, but not by Evan himself. “I accept him as he is,” Evan says honestly. This isn't a front – when Malcolm rejoins Evan and company in the backyard later that evening, Evan is genuinely interested in whether the orgy was a success, even asking if it took place in a warehouse or an apartment (it was at a Home Depot warehouse). . They cuddle on a deckchair and kiss at the end of the season. There is a compelling honesty in the conversation, and it really is English teacher. It's raw, outrageous, shocking, complicated and problematic. It's human.
