Fox sitcom The Mick got pretty gross with the November 28 episode "The Teacher" when they presented a love triangle between high schooler Sabrina (Sofia Black-D'Elia), her Aunt "Mick" (Kaitlin Olson), and her teacher, Mr. Reed.
After Mr. Reed drops her off late at night on his motorcycle, and hearing how Sabrina talks about him, Mick suspects the relationship is inappropriate, and decides to find out for herself.
With Sabrina's mom out of the picture and Mick in charge, she decides to talk to Sabrina about it, saying, "You know, it's never a good idea to have sex with your teacher," to which Sabrina replies, "I'm not sleeping with him...yet." Rather than discuss morality or even the legal implications of this statement, Mick just tells her about the time she slept with her school's head of maintenance, who then blew her off. The worst part (according to Mick)? Nobody even believed they slept together! The only thing that sounds accurate in this scene is when she tells Sabrina that Mr. Reed "sounds like a real child molester."
Mick and the housekeeper, Alba (Carla Jimenez), go to a poetry reading to see them interact. It is obvious that Sabrina likes Mr. Reed, and when Mr. Reed tickles Sabrina's belly, the adults rightfully feel that is an inappropriate way for a grown man to touch a teenaged girl, especially when the grown man in question is her teacher. She goes to confront him and, predictably, he charms Mick and they end up in bed together.
Much of the rest of the episode involves Mick trying to convince Sabrina that she slept with her teacher so that Sabrina won't want to anymore. Things come to a head at the school's poetry reading.
Sabrina: Thank you for helping me recognize my gift. I wrote this for you.
Mr. Reed: Oh, uh... Thank you. Good luck.
Sabrina: "Baggage" by Sabrina Pemberton. "I am a handbag. "Empty. Expensive. "Carried places I don't want to go. "But then you came, "And rifled through my pockets "Like a gentle thief. "Now I'm ready. Unzip me. Place things inside me."
Mick: I had sex with Mr. Reed. Ah, nah. That's right. This creep not only teaches girls how to write terrible poetry, he also lies to their faces about sleeping with their aunt. But I got the receipts.
Mick: (On recorder): I will hunt you down!
Woman (On recorder): I don't think he's home.
Mick: Whoops, hold on. One... Give me one sec. That's, uh, wrong part.
Mickey (on recorder): He is home. I am not crazy!
Mick: Well... He was home throughout this entire exchange, mind you. Okay, the...
Gibbons: No, no, they...
Mick: No, no, no, I'm...
Principal: That's good enough. I think...
Mick: Hey, hey, hey! Stop. Hey. Stop. I'll be done in a second. Just give me... You guys just hang in there for one... It's right here. It's right here.
Gibbons (on recorder): Mr. Reed, did you engage in a sexual relationship with Ms. Murphy?
Reed: (On recorder): Yes.
Mick: Yes. Yes.
Sabrina: Are you serious? You actually slept with her? I thought you were just waiting till I graduated to make a move. We had something.
Mr. Reed: I just wanted to teach you some poetry.
Sabrina: Ugh.
Mick: If there are any other victims, please come forward and hold hands. We are stronger together.
Sabrina obviously wanted to sleep with her teacher and was completely comfortable with her teacher wanting that as well. In fact, she's very upset when she finds out it's not true. That's gross, but it does happen, although shows like this do sexual harassment and assault victims a great disservice by normalizing inappropriate teacher-student relationships, showing the victim as the aggressor, and trying to make it something funny. Mick is just crazy, but that is standard for her character. The fact that even she thinks Mr. Reed is a creep shows how wrong it is.
Another mystery here is the teacher. How could Mr. Reed be so foolish as to be spending time alone with students at night and tickling them and think nobody will suspect a sexual motive? It seems fairly implausible. No wonder Sabrina assumed he was flirting with her.
What about the "stronger together" comment? Does that sound familiar to you? If it does, that's probably because it was the title of the book Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine released just before the 2016 election and a slogan they used during the campaign.
If the episode were written today, instead of months ago, I wonder if they would have used #MeToo. I'd like to think they would have thought twice about making light of this subject at all, but in a show that's proposing a love triangle between a teenager, her aunt, and her teacher, I'm not sure they really know where the line is.
