Was I surprised to learn that there was a second season of the very funny English Teacher? You bet! Was I even more sad to learn that it almost just as quickly got canceled? You bet.
But, let’s not dwell on the sadness yet, let’s talk about the funny stuff! This show really snuck up on me when I checked out the first season. Though I was familiar with some of the cast, I think what really led me to watch it was I wanted a half hour comedy to come into my life. And boy, this fit the bill more than I thought it would! I would love for some of my teacher friends to watch this and see what they think of it. While I’m sure a good portion of what’s shown on screen does happen in real life to some degree, I’m willing to bet it’s a little more PG. But who’s to say? Certainly not me.
What I noticed most in this second season was how great the opening and closing songs were! The lead of the show, Brian Jordan Alverez, who plays Evan Marquez, was born in the late 80s and it felt like most of the musical choices here were influenced by that. Not that I’m mad about it – they were all bops! Sometimes you could also tell how a song was going to tie into the plot of the episode, but most of the time I just thought it was a nice way to grab the viewer’s attention. This season, much like the last, does have a very high level arc going on throughout the season, but most of the details of each episode are very much their own thing.
For instance, in one episode, Evan’s mom comes to town for an award that Evan wins at school. They have an interesting relationship, but I like that it took all of his colleagues and friends for him to see that they are very much alike. The very first episode, “COVID in America,” was about a play the students were putting on instead of Angels in America, and I both cackled and cringed throughout that whole episode. “Recruiter” was another episode that had me cackling quite a bit. Obviously, this show is a comedy, so it’s brimming with jokes, but I do like that they tackle some more serious topics in a toned down comedic way. I like how they handled accredidations, as well as graduation. And Evan’s method to get one student to finally take a standardized test was top tier reverse psychology.
Aside from all of the school work, it’s fun to see the characters’ personal lives bleed into the story. Of course Evan’s biggest hurdle is his relationships. Specifically with Malcolm. They both seem so different that it’s hard to tell if they would ever be endgame. Likewise, watching Markie pine over an oblivious Gwen will never not be painful to watch. I think everyone can relate to Markie. I also think that particular storyline plays off so well in a high school setting. This season Gwen had some marvelous laugh out loud moments for me. And somewhat surprisingly, school counselor Rick Santana was often a scene stealer for me. This guy is dumb with a capital “D,” but he was so out of pocket compared to the rest of them that it was like a breath of fresh air.
Even though there won’t be any more seasons of this show, I, like Maya Hawke, urge you to go check out this kind of unconventionally funny series.