English Teacher season 2 is, thankfully, more of the same
The FX comedy has a recipe that works.
Photo: Steve Swisher/FX
Formulaic might sound like a pejorative when it comes to talking about modern TV—and it isn’t exactly the first word that springs to mind to describe a word-of-mouth show on FX—but there is something so wonderfully formulaic about English Teacher. A year after dropping its first season, the sitcom is back, and pretty much every one of its tight, 20-minute episodes follows this recipe: There’s an ’80s hit that acts as a bookend and nicely meshes with the show’s neon-pink credits and generally upbeat and lively vibe (When In Rome’s “The Promise,” The Bangles’ “Manic Monday,” Bruce Hornsby And The Range’s “The Way It Is”). There’s some very funny dialogue that comes at a fast clip. There’s that pivotal moment when the titular teach Evan (creator Brian Jordan Alvarez, who, it’s worth noting, was accused by a former collaborator of assault in a Vulture feature last year) inevitably about-faces on an issue he believes in the minute it becomes inconvenient. And there are several scenes that end with college counselor Rick Santana (The Bear‘s Carmen Christopher) dropping an out-of-nowhere observation. (Speaking of that aforementioned decade, he has this to say when someone mentions 1984: “Dude, the ’80s was nuts, man. They ruined a perfectly nice wall in Berlin.”)
The last we saw this group of educators—aside from Evan and Rick, there’s Gwen (Stephanie Koenig), the former’s energetic BFF; Grant (Just Shoot Me!‘s Enrico Colantoni), the adult-in-the-room principal; and Markie (series MVP Sean Patton), the outspoken gym teacher—was a high-water mark for the show. In the season-one finale “Birthday,” everyone convened at a leather bar in Austin as a surprise party for Evan, and the series hit some notes that were genuinely sweet but still in the spirit of a fast-paced comedy (and filled with the jokes that are bound to arise with Markie in that setting), with the married-to-his-work teacher and his free-spirited ex boyfriend Malcolm (Jordan Firstman, who can be seen in Rachel Sennott’s HBO comedy I Love LA come November) getting together again. This new season doesn’t quite hit that high—that said, the last few seconds of it are quite moving, in no small part thanks to a needle drop—but that’s not a knock or, really, why anyone would recommend this show in the first place.
This is a consistent—and consistently funny—show. And likewise, all of these characters are pretty much where they were last time around: Evan and Malcolm are together now, but their relationship is on the rocks. Markie continues to be offensive but well intentioned (“Do not look at me, dude—I play Call Of Duty as a trans character”) and crushing on Gwen, who’s back with her unemployed boyfriend. (He’s moved on from building a pool in the backyard to constructing a pickleball court.) Grant is annoyed, as always (albeit softer and more one of the gang now, to the point that he’s giddy having them over to his house for dinner); and Rick is in his own little space-cadet world and looking for his next bad business idea.
