‘English Teacher’ review: High school-set sitcom is a hilarious must-watch

Should you’ve ever quoted comic Brian Jordan Alvarez’s net collection The Homosexual and Wondrous Lifetime of Caleb Gallo or sung alongside to his viral hit “Sitting,” rejoice! Alvarez has introduced his comedic sensibilities to FX, the place he created and stars within the new present English Trainer.

Alvarez (who additionally wrote and directed a number of episodes) performs Evan Marquez, an English instructor at Austin’s Morrison-Hensley highschool. He is vulnerable to taking stands for what he believes in, and much more vulnerable to screwing up his ethical crusades. These gaffes, mixed with A-plus casting and a richly developed highschool setting, make English Trainer the freshest, funniest sitcom of the 12 months up to now.

What’s English Trainer about?

Sean Patton, Stephanie Koenig, and Brian Jordan Alvarez in “English Trainer.”
Credit score: Steve Swisher/FX

English Trainer will get off to a foreboding begin: Evan is below investigation after a homophobic guardian complained about him kissing his boyfriend Malcolm (Jordan Firstman) — now ex — in entrance of scholars. That an exterior pressure is attempting to manipulate Evan’s instructing turns into a standard thread all through English Trainer, because the present addresses a number of severe real-world points over the course of its season, together with gun security in colleges and LGBTQ rights.

Do not let the heaviness of those matters idiot you, although. English Trainer is not any after-school particular. As an alternative, the collection highlights not solely the ridiculousness of the issues Evan faces, but additionally the ridiculousness of Evan’s personal reactions, every of which result in some comedically misguided escalations. An try to cancel a efficiency the place soccer gamers costume up as cheerleaders leads Evan to carry a drag seminar taught by native drag queen Shazam (performed by drag celebrity Trixie Mattel). The rise of a faculty gun security membership prompts Evan to assign the world’s most misguided essay on Crime and Punishment.

Nothing right here goes in keeping with plan, nor does English Trainer ever take the predictable route. Look no additional than a potential romance with substitute instructor Harry (Langston Kerman), which doesn’t play out the best way audiences (or Evan himself) may assume. Whereas that storyline fades away quite abruptly within the latter half of the six English Trainer episodes despatched to critics for screening, it is only one instance of how the collection prefers to chart its personal path.

English Trainer has an ideal forged.

Stephanie Koenig and Sean Patton in “English Trainer.”
Credit score: Steve Swisher/FX

English Trainer, like The Homosexual and Wondrous Lifetime of Caleb Gallo, units a selected tone and tempo proper off the bat. There is a shorthand intimacy between these characters who’ve recognized one another for years. They speak tremendous rapidly, even over one another, enveloping us of their world with only a few strains. Fast asides, equivalent to an “Oh, I really like this track!” delivered mid-principled tirade, usually inform us all we have to find out about somebody.

Because the present’s creator, Alvarez naturally excels at mastering this tone, delivering an assured lead efficiency that makes Evan’s frustrations with and keenness for instructing each plausible and hilarious. His fellow castmates match him each step of the best way. Stephanie Koenig shines as Evan’s finest pal and fellow instructor Gwen; you’ll be able to inform she and Alvarez are longtime collaborators from the sheer ease and specificity of their comedic chemistry. Different standouts embrace Sean Patton as usually inappropriate (but surprisingly insightful) fitness center instructor Markie, and Enrico Colantoni as frazzled Principal Grant, who all however runs the opposite manner when he sees Evan coming.

The attraction of English Trainer‘s forged and characters lengthen to Morrison-Hensley’s college students, performed by a big ensemble of younger actors together with Aliyah Bah (aka Aliyah’s Interlude), Romy Mars, Ben Bondurant, and Ivy Wolk. Whereas Morrison-Hensley’s college could not all the time perceive their college students — “They don’t seem to be into being woke anymore,” Evan laments — English Trainer takes nice pains to take action, constructing out the scholars past easy highschool archetypes. Their display time could also be restricted, however these college students nonetheless really feel like they’ve wealthy internal lives. In some instances, they may even be smarter and extra well-adjusted than the adults they’re meant to be studying from.

Having such an in depth ensemble grounds English Trainer within the actuality of highschool, even when its plotlines are principally heightened for comedy’s sake. And identical to its school-set compatriot Abbott Elementary, English Trainer nonetheless has fairly a bit to say in regards to the good public college lecturers do, in spite a number of encroaching issues which will hinder them. That messaging, and the present’s breakneck pacing and killer dialogue, ship English Trainer and Alvarez rocketing to the highest of the sitcom class.

English Trainer premieres Sept. 2 at 10 p.m. ET on FX, with new episodes each Monday. Episodes stream the subsequent day on Hulu.