Brian Jordan Alvarez has a specific kind of chaotic energy that usually lives in 45-second bursts on Instagram or TikTok. You’ve seen his filters. You’ve seen the "TJ Mack" song. But honestly, nobody really knew if that frantic, hyper-specific comedic timing would actually translate to a full-length sitcom until English Teacher Season 1 dropped on FX. It did. It really did.
The show follows Evan Marquez, a high school teacher in Austin, Texas, who is constantly vibrating at a frequency of high-stress idealism. He wants to be a "good person." He wants to be a "good teacher." But he’s also petty, slightly narcissistic, and trapped in a public school system that is basically a bureaucratic minefield. It’s a workplace comedy, sure. But it feels different than Abbott Elementary. While Abbott is sweet and hopeful, English Teacher is a bit more cynical, a bit more sweaty, and way more interested in the culture wars that actually happen in modern faculty lounges.
The Austin Setting and Why It Matters
Most TV shows treat the South like a monolith of "country" stereotypes. Not this one. By setting English Teacher Season 1 in Austin, Alvarez (who also created and writes the show) taps into that weird blue-dot-in-a-red-state tension.
The school, Morrison-Hensley High, feels real. It’s not a Hollywood set where everything is shiny. It looks like a building that hasn’t had a budget increase since 2004. You can almost smell the floor wax and the stale cafeteria pizza through the screen. This groundedness is what makes the absurdity work. When a parent complains that Evan’s personal life is a "distraction," or when a student starts an accidental cult based around a non-existent medical condition, it feels plausible because the environment is so recognizable.
Evan, Gwen, and the Chemistry of Chaos
At the heart of the show is the friendship between Evan and Gwen (played by Stephanie Koenig). They are "work soulmates" in the truest sense.
They spend their days leaning against lockers, over-analyzing text messages, and trying to navigate the impossible social hierarchies of 16-year-olds. Koenig is a master of the deadpan delivery. Her character, Gwen, is often the voice of reason, though her reason is usually just "let's mind our own business and go get lunch."
Then there’s Markie.
💡 You might also like: Kiss My Eyes and Lay Me to Sleep: The Dark Folklore of a Viral Lullaby
Sean Patton plays Markie, the PE teacher who, on any other show, would be the antagonist. He’s a "guy’s guy." He probably owns several camouflage hats. He definitely has opinions on the Second Amendment. But the genius of English Teacher Season 1 is that Markie and Evan are actually friends. They don’t agree on a single political issue, yet they share a genuine mutual respect. It’s a refreshing take on the "odd couple" trope that avoids the easy route of making the conservative character a villain or the liberal character a saint. They’re both just guys trying to get through a Tuesday.
Dealing with the "Gen Z" Problem
Let’s be real: most shows written by Millennials or Gen X about Gen Z are cringe. They use slang that’s six months out of date. They try too hard to be "hip."
English Teacher Season 1 avoids this by making the students the smartest people in the room, but also the most exhausting. The show captures that specific brand of teenage activism where a student is simultaneously deeply concerned about global injustice and also incredibly mean to their teacher about his haircut.
Take the "Lulu" episode.
It starts with a simple misunderstanding about a student’s "asymptomatic" condition and spirals into a school-wide phenomenon. The show doesn't mock the kids for being sensitive; it mocks the performative nature of that sensitivity. It’s a fine line to walk. Alvarez manages it because the humor comes from the faculty’s inability to keep up. The teachers are constantly terrified of saying the wrong thing, which is a very real anxiety in modern education.
Why the "Investigation" Subplot Works
The overarching thread of the first season involves an investigation into Evan’s conduct. No, it’s not some dark, True Detective mystery. It’s about a kiss. Specifically, a kiss between Evan and another teacher on school grounds.
📖 Related: Kate Moss Family Guy: What Most People Get Wrong About That Cutaway
This plot point serves as a perfect engine for the season. It forces Evan to confront the fact that he isn't just a "cool friend" to his students; he’s an employee of the state. It highlights the hypocrisy of school boards that ignore crumbling infrastructure but will hold three emergency meetings over a harmless display of affection.
Watching Enrico Colantoni (who plays Principal Grant Moretti) navigate these crises is a masterclass in weary leadership. Colantoni plays the principal as a man who has clearly given up on his dreams of changing the world and is now just trying to avoid a lawsuit. His performance is the anchor that keeps the show's more manic moments from floating away into pure slapstick.
The Comedy of Specificity
There is a scene where Evan is trying to explain the nuance of a classic novel to a class that is entirely focused on whether the author was "problematic."
It’s funny because it’s specific.
It’s not a broad joke about "cancel culture." It’s a specific joke about the exhaustion of trying to teach The Great Gatsby to people who think Jay Gatsby is just a "simp." The show thrives in these niche observations. It captures the rhythm of faculty meetings—the one teacher who asks a question at 3:29 PM when the meeting ends at 3:30, the broken coffee machine, the weirdly intense politics of the parking lot.
Addressing the Critics
Not everyone loved the pacing of English Teacher Season 1. Some critics felt the episodes were too episodic, lacking a traditional "prestige TV" arc.
👉 See also: Blink-182 Mark Hoppus: What Most People Get Wrong About His 2026 Comeback
But isn’t that what a sitcom should be?
We’ve become so obsessed with "eight-hour movies" on streaming services that we’ve forgotten the joy of a 22-minute episode that just tries to be funny. You don't need a cliffhanger every week when the jokes are this dense. The show feels like a throwback to the mid-2000s NBC "Must See TV" era, but with a modern, queer, Texas-centric lens.
What You Should Do Next
If you haven't started the show, you're missing out on the most authentic workplace comedy currently on the air. It’s better than the trailers suggest. It’s smarter than the TikTok clips might lead you to believe.
To get the most out of the experience:
- Watch the "Powderpuff" episode first. If you don't find the drag sequence hilarious, the show might not be for you. It’s the litmus test for the series' brand of humor.
- Pay attention to the background. The posters on the classroom walls and the flyers in the hallway are clearly written by someone who spent time in a real high school. The set dressing is top-tier.
- Follow Brian Jordan Alvarez on socials. Seeing his raw improvisational style makes you appreciate how much work went into refining that energy for a scripted format.
- Look up the soundtrack. The music supervisor for this show deserves a raise. The transition tracks are perfect "Austin indie" vibes that set the tone perfectly.
English Teacher Season 1 doesn't try to solve the education crisis. It doesn't offer "inspiring" speeches about "reaching these kids." Instead, it gives us a messy, hilarious, and deeply human look at the people who show up every day to try and teach grammar to a generation that communicates entirely in memes. It’s the best thing on FX right now, and it’s honestly not even close.