Why is Evan always a hot mess in the morning? He and the team are heading to Dallas for a teaching convention. Almost immediately I lost interest when he called Malcolm and invited him to meet him there. There’s also no lead up as to why he even thought of calming Malcolm, which makes me think back to earlier episodes. He only calls him when he’s at a low point - this doesn’t excuse it though.
The conference is as boring as you’d imagine a teaching conference to be; the lecturer is delivering bad news after bad news and I’m not sure why, but this made me laugh, not because it’s funny but because of how accurate it was; The accuracy of how often the school system has failed children and leave it up to teachers to figure it out on their own with little to no support is astounding and Evan’s reaction is so valid (still don’t get why you called your ex-boyfriend though).
ENGLISH TEACHERS - Pictured: Brian Jordan Alvarez as Evan Marquez. Photo: © 2024 Disney+/FX
As Evan and Gwen are in line for food, Rick comes over to introduce them to a possible new colleague. All is good until they realize that this person is being interviewed for Markie’s position. They go to confront Principal Moretti about it and he’s extremely vague about it and brushes it off. He’s more worried about getting back to “Robe Time” which is just time he spends alone in his hotel room wearing a robe.
It’s hard to tell who the target audience of this show is. When Gwen asks Evan what he thinks ‘Robe Time” means, he mentions Mario Lopez and I was so confused trying to figure out where that joke was meant to go that I nearly missed the next scene.
“Convention” - ENGLISH TEACHERS - Pictured: Brian Jordan Alvarez as Evan Marquez. Photo: © 2024 Disney+/FX
As the convention continued, Evan was still having a difficult time with the topics of discussion. Teachers have such a stressful job and they should be appreciated a lot more - that is one thing I could say this episode is doing a great job at showcasing.
Without knowing that his job may be in jeopardy, Markie is making fun of Principal Moretti’s speech with the most absurd comments. Gwen and Evan, knowing what they know, try to stop him but he’s not picking up on this cue and keeps going. I’m not sure if this scene was meant to be funny, but I thought it was great and wished it were longer.
“Convention” - ENGLISH TEACHERS - Pictured: Stephanie Koenig as Gwen Sanders, Carmen Christopher as Rick, and Sean Patton as Markie Hillridge. Photo: © 2024 Disney+/FX
Malcolm (insert intense eye roll) has arrived and Evan doesn’t even remember inviting him. As much as I can’t stand him, Malcolm isn’t the issue with this duo. Evan is trying hard to make him into something he doesn’t want to be and that’s his boyfriend. When Evan is trying to express to Malcolm how he’s feeling with this entire career path, he doesn’t want to hear it. He doesn’t even respect Evan’s work responsibilities; he gets annoyed when Evan can’t skip the day to hang out with him asking Evan “why am I even here” which is a completely valid question. When is Evan going to stop calling him to fulfill his temporary needs?
Remember earlier when I mentioned Markie might be getting replaced? Turns out that’s this thing he and Principal Moretti do where Markie pretends he’s quitting and Principal Moretti pretends to replace him – I don’t understand that dynamic but if it works for them then it works for them.
What’d you think of the latest episode of English Teacher? Share your thoughts below or connect with me on X/Twitter @chenfordhugs
