It breaks my heart that Eric wasn’t able to move forward in life like Claire was. Really wish he could’ve healed but this is the reality of being taken advantage of at such a young age. I know this is how it usually happens in life - the predator moves on with their life, while the victim is left trying to clean the mess someone else made.
Eric was right – Claire just wanted to see him because she wanted him to forgive her so she wouldn’t have to carry around the guilt anymore. Ten years later, and she was still convinced that their relationship started because of Eric kissing her. But she set the stage for everything that happened. Claire was obsessed with Eric from the very beginning, she flirted with him and then acted surprised that a 17 years old boy would act on that flirtation.
It’s quite sad how many people don’t see the layers of toxicity this show presents. That's because of 3 reasons in my opinion:
The biggest problem is that actors look their age, Nick Robinson (25) and Kate Mara (37) look like two hot adults who can be in a relationship if they want to. If the show could have used an actual 17 year old, maybe less people would question if what Claire did was wrong.
The teen is male, so for many people it's super cool that he had sex with the hot teacher. But would these people feel the same if it was a 30-something male teacher and his 17-year-old female student? Probably not, right? So, it's no different with the sexes reversed.
The show spends more time on the sex scenes between the two main characters, instead of showing how Claire took advantage of the young kid and what that did to him. I’d love to have seen where Eric goes after their relationship. See if he raised a family. See him in therapy. But this show lacked context entirely.
Grooming is not black or white, it doesn’t seem wrong all of the time (even when it is). But I can’t with people being like, “The age of consent in Texas is 17” or “Eric wanted it”. Adults can manipulate teens in doing all kind of things because teens are dumb while thinking they are the smartest people on Earth (Eric thought “he is the man” for sleeping with the teacher). It doesn’t matter if he was not forced into it because Claire groomed and manipulated him for her own pleasure (she was a broken adult who took a 17 year old boy down with her).
Eric was too young and was not mentally prepared to handle a relationship with an adult with 10-15 more years of relationship experience. Younger people are easier to control, won't say no/defend themselves. And we saw that in the show Claire was the one with the power – she decided where and when they meet, even their relationship got public because she wanted to brag about her sexcapades. And in the end, Claire was like, “And now being a mother...” during their last meet (which for me is the female version of the, “As a father of daughters I'm still learning”) because no parent would want their kid to be groomed by a teacher, even if their kid had just reached the age of consent. Things can be morally and ethically wrong without crossing the boundary into illegality.
Oh, and the wigs in this episode were shockingly bad. :no_mouth:
@cutecruel Shitty series and they said in a episode he is 18 and even if he is 16 it would be ok. I heard a couple who met when he was 16 and she was 70 xD
Review by cutecruelBlockedParent2020-12-29T21:57:29Z— updated 2021-01-12T21:02:36Z
It breaks my heart that Eric wasn’t able to move forward in life like Claire was. Really wish he could’ve healed but this is the reality of being taken advantage of at such a young age. I know this is how it usually happens in life - the predator moves on with their life, while the victim is left trying to clean the mess someone else made.
Eric was right – Claire just wanted to see him because she wanted him to forgive her so she wouldn’t have to carry around the guilt anymore. Ten years later, and she was still convinced that their relationship started because of Eric kissing her. But she set the stage for everything that happened. Claire was obsessed with Eric from the very beginning, she flirted with him and then acted surprised that a 17 years old boy would act on that flirtation.
It’s quite sad how many people don’t see the layers of toxicity this show presents. That's because of 3 reasons in my opinion:
The biggest problem is that actors look their age, Nick Robinson (25) and Kate Mara (37) look like two hot adults who can be in a relationship if they want to. If the show could have used an actual 17 year old, maybe less people would question if what Claire did was wrong.
The teen is male, so for many people it's super cool that he had sex with the hot teacher. But would these people feel the same if it was a 30-something male teacher and his 17-year-old female student? Probably not, right? So, it's no different with the sexes reversed.
The show spends more time on the sex scenes between the two main characters, instead of showing how Claire took advantage of the young kid and what that did to him. I’d love to have seen where Eric goes after their relationship. See if he raised a family. See him in therapy. But this show lacked context entirely.
Grooming is not black or white, it doesn’t seem wrong all of the time (even when it is). But I can’t with people being like, “The age of consent in Texas is 17” or “Eric wanted it”. Adults can manipulate teens in doing all kind of things because teens are dumb while thinking they are the smartest people on Earth (Eric thought “he is the man” for sleeping with the teacher). It doesn’t matter if he was not forced into it because Claire groomed and manipulated him for her own pleasure (she was a broken adult who took a 17 year old boy down with her).
Eric was too young and was not mentally prepared to handle a relationship with an adult with 10-15 more years of relationship experience. Younger people are easier to control, won't say no/defend themselves. And we saw that in the show Claire was the one with the power – she decided where and when they meet, even their relationship got public because she wanted to brag about her sexcapades. And in the end, Claire was like, “And now being a mother...” during their last meet (which for me is the female version of the, “As a father of daughters I'm still learning”) because no parent would want their kid to be groomed by a teacher, even if their kid had just reached the age of consent. Things can be morally and ethically wrong without crossing the boundary into illegality.
Oh, and the wigs in this episode were shockingly bad. :no_mouth: