FX announced the cancellation of its comedy series “English Teacher” on Nov. 12, a little over a month after the show’s second season was released on Hulu. Some speculate that the cancellation may be linked to sexual assault allegations against the show’s creator and star, Brian Jordan Alvarez. These charges, which Alvarez has formally denied, cast a permanent shadow on the legacy of “English Teacher”. Behind-the-scenes trouble aside, however, the show’s second season provided consistently incisive and hilarious commentary on the foibles of American high schools.

“English Teacher” tells the story of Evan Marquez (Alvarez), a gay, Latino teacher in a suburban Texas high school. His interactions with his boyfriend Malcolm (Jordan Firstman), who works at a somewhat suspicious tech company, his fellow teachers, including his best friend Gwen Sanders (Stephanie Koenig), and various students and parents make up the bulk of the show’s content.

The first episode of the second season, “COVID in America,” exemplifies the show’s penchant for identifying the pitfalls of “woke culture.” Evan tasks the students with putting on a production of Tony Kushner’s classic “Angels in America,” and since they can’t understand or relate to the play’s discussion of the AIDS crisis, they update it to make it about the recent Covid pandemic, adding hollow jargon and abundant self-pity. In the revised version, Chelsea, played with hilarious seriousness by Ivy Wolk, laments that “I’m just another goddamn experiment for American big pharma.”

Unlike other TV shows, whose jabs at “kids today” might seem unwarranted or out-of-touch, Alvarez’s keen eye for parody makes the show’s sense of humor feel knowing rather than obtuse. Other hot-button subjects that are skewered over the season’s ten episodes include DEI hiring practices, testing accommodations, and phone-free classrooms. The second episode, “Trash,” is a particularly multi-layered satire in which Evan decides to help save the environment by installing AI trash cans. These robots end up harvesting data and, most problematically, sorting the students by race. “There’s nothing wrong with being a little woke,” the trash can proclaims in its robotic voice. Finally, gym teacher Markie Hillridge (Sean Patton) taxes an axe to the trash can, putting an end to this piece of problematic technology the old-fashioned way.

Some of the show’s more cliched plotlines, such as the one-sided romance between Markie and Gwen, run the risk of pushing the sitcom into familiar territory. However, Koenig and Patton are so charming and the writing of the show is so tight that viewers will never feel bored. Comparisons to another show about the ins and outs of education, “Abbott Elementary,” are inevitable, but “English Teacher” has a far more acerbic tone that ends up illuminating deeper truths about school life.

The supporting cast of “English Teacher” is made up of uniquely strong comedians. The reappearance of two particularly colorful parents from the show’s first season, Linda (Jenn Lyon) and Sharon (Andrene Ward-Hammond), was a particular delight. Linda is a dyed-blonde conservative whose saccharine style often comes up against Evan’s straight-shooting nature, while Sharon is a hilariously overprotective mother who constantly indulges in wild conspiracies about perverse sexual practices she thinks the students are involved in. “Have you ever heard of ‘load twins’?” she menacingly asks in an attempt to scare a pair of teenage girls into chastity.

However outrageous its comedy, the show doesn’t deal in one-dimensional characters, and Sharon and Linda are both shown with increasing humanity this season as the past traumas and genuine desires that influence their behavior come to light. Pathos is mined effectively throughout: At the end of the eighth episode, titled “Accreditation,” the viewer can’t help but genuinely sympathize with the school’s hapless staff when they are not awarded the highest possible honors in the state accreditation process.

“English Teacher” is far from what Jerry Seinfeld referred to as a “hugging-and-learning” type of show, and Evan’s gleeful irreverence is always delightful to see in action. For instance, in “Grant’s Dinner Party,” Evan strongly believes that the school principal’s daughter is about to marry a gay man. When Evan finally attempts to out the fiancee, who describes himself as “80/20 gay-bi,” he is humiliated and taught a lesson about what love can look like. In the final moments of the episode, Evan, not at all chastened, turns to a friend and confidently proclaims, “that guy is gay.”

It’s a testament to the show that no matter how entertaining life at school is, plotlines about Evan’s personal life never disappoint. Over the course of the season, Malcolm becomes more and more frustrated with Evan’s inability to step away from his job. The season ends on a cliffhanger about the future of Evan and Malcolm’s relationship, which will never be officially resolved but points clearly in the direction of Evan’s genuine love of teaching.

While “English Teacher” may not go on to shock and amuse in equal measure for any more seasons, it will serve as a valuable time capsule. Figuring out the trials and tribulations of school after Covid was difficult for teens and educators alike, but being able to laugh with and at the brilliantly scripted adventures of Evan Marquez made it a little easier.