Comedy
English Teacher
Filled with profanity and LGBT content, FX’s English Teacher won’t be found on most families’ back-to-school shopping lists.
If you asked Neifile, she’d probably tell you that the Bubonic Plague was evidence that the Great Tribulation of Revelation had come upon the world.
Indeed, in 1348, you can’t even step outside in Florence, Italy, without having to walk by some rotting, diseased corpse. For a commoner, such things are tough to deal with. It’s almost impossible not to wonder if, by sundown, you’ll join the growing pile of bodies thrown into the river.
But a group of nobles and their closest servants can’t bother themselves about all of that. They’ve received invitations from Visconte Leonardo to join him at his isolated villa. It’s an invitation to wine, dine and remain for as long as they’d like.
Among them are the aforementioned devout Neifile and her husband, Panfilo; Leonardo’s betrothed, Pampinea, and her servant, Misia; Licisca, a servant masquerading as her noblewoman master after she pushed the woman off a bridge; and the awkward nobleman Tindaro, alongside his personal doctor, Dioneo.
They’re all greeted by Sirisco, the steward of the villa, who regrets to inform them that Leonardo has been delayed while getting wine a few towns over.
If only that were the truth.
In reality, Leonardo’s already died from the plague. And Sirisco’s just hoping he can figure out if a surviving relative exists, someone who can lay claim to the villa before bandits and nobles alike attempt to snatch it away.
Yes, life at the villa remains a life of luxury and pleasure. But spending too long isolated with one another is bound to create chaos.
Aw, rats.
Pestilence breeds death and decay. It weakens and torments. But if there’s one positive thing to be said about it, at least it doesn’t discriminate.
The Decameron isolates a hodgepodge of characters within the confines of a lovely Italian villa, each hoping to ride out the Bubonic storm. All of them, noble and servant alike, are intimately familiar with the deaths wrought by the disease. Some are the last remaining members of their families. And even as they grapple with a disease that they believe may end the world, they still desperately try to hold onto their noble status.
Such struggles inevitably cause tensions to rise. Ater all, when there’s only one glass of wine left, will it go to the noble or the commoner? Can such labels still apply when the world is apparently ending? Should the titles be challenged when the Black Death sees no difference in the immune systems of either?
To that end, The Decameron may have been an interesting story—albeit one only loosely acquainted to its eponymous source material. Unfortunately, it would rather explore such questions through the lens of sex. (As it turns out, enjoying that act is one thing nobles and commoners alike can agree on.) For as long as such noble outfits take to put on, it’s surprising to see just how frequently they’re tearing them off, exposing their naked backsides to the camera and engaging in homosexual and heterosexual activities alike.
And when The Decameron isn’t wondering whether one more sex scene will be enough, it’s putting characters in mortal peril. By the end of the first season (assuming there will be more), plenty of characters meet their end by arrows or blade, being sent to the God that they all profess with their lips even as their hearts are far from Him. Likewise, those same lips utter many a crude word.
So if you were hoping for a dramatic take on a Bubonic outbreak, you may want to avoid this attempt like the plague.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
An assortment of nobles arrives at a beautiful villa, intent on outlasting the Bubonic Plague in peace and comfort.
In the introduction sequence to the show, we see depictions of rats form into the shape of a cross. We also see two of these rats having sex.
Men fistfight, and one guy is stabbed to death multiple times. One person’s toe gets sliced off. A cardinal-turned-deist seemingly attempts to force himself onto a woman. Dead bodies litter the streets. They’re dumped into the river. Women fight, and one pushes another off a bridge. A woman slaps a man. A rat is burned alive. A boy hits a crow with a rock and kills it, intent on eating it. A woman kills and guts a fish.
One noblewoman, Neifile, often has impure thoughts. Both a man and woman are depicted masturbating. A man wonders how sex feels. A woman asks her servant if her dress reveals enough of her breasts “to intrigue.” It is revealed that a man has homosexual thoughts, and two women are lovers. We see a statue depicting a man’s rear. A man expresses his excitement that he might lose his virginity that night. A woman flirts with a man by talking about her rear.
Neifile is very devout, and she wonders why God would send the pestilence upon them. She considers whether God is testing them to remain as holy as possible. Her husband reassures her that by going to the villa, they will find salvation from the plague in the same way that Noah found salvation from the flood in an ark. Later, others prevent her from praying when she drops to her knees to beg for God’s mercy in their midst. After being scolded for handing out bread, Licisca says, “Jesus didn’t believe any person deserved bread more than another.” Another woman says that she has faith that God has given her the plague because she’s a lesbian and has contracted an STD.
A cardinal tells someone “I wish I could say I’ve been possessed by the devil, or that I’ve renounced God, but it’s something far worse: God has abandoned us.” Later, he says that “God has made His final judgment” and “will not come again, nor will His Son.” A doctor tells beggars that only prayer can save them. A woman confesses her sins, and the priest dies of the plague while taking her confession. Her husband tells her that she can pray for absolution later. A woman believes that the plague is caused by “cursed air released from earthquakes,” and an amulet will “scare the bad air back down to hell.” Religious men self-flagellate. Someone says “I’ll be d–ned.”
Someone worries about the color of his excrement. A man vomits, and someone else gets covered in it. A woman drinks wine and burps.
The f-word is used three times, and the s-word is used twice. We also hear “a–,” “h—” and “bloody.” God’s name is used in vain over 10 times. Jesus’ name is likewise used in vain once.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
Filled with profanity and LGBT content, FX’s English Teacher won’t be found on most families’ back-to-school shopping lists.
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