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Posted: 2020-12-29T10:45:05Z | Updated: 2020-12-29T10:45:05Z

A 17-year-old high school student is looking to up his SAT scores. He runs into his English teacher at a local diner and she offers to tutor him. Soon enough their after-school sessions turn intimate, and its not long before controversy implodes around them.

Thats the premise of A Teacher, which just wrapped its 10-episode run on FX on Hulu. The limited series, written, directed and produced by Hannah Fidell, is based on her directorial film debut of the same name, which only touches the surface of the provocative scenario. Fidells goal with the show was to fully explore the ramifications of student-teacher abuse and create a dialogue about predatory sexual assault and grooming.

Kate Mara, 37, jumped at the chance to produce and star in the series, and convinced Love, Simon actor Nick Robinson, 25, to be her on-screen partner. The co-stars play Claire Wilson and Eric Walker in the Texas-set story, which follows a promising high schooler and the endless trauma he endures after being seduced by his educator, an unhappily married woman in her 30s.

Together with Fidell, Mara and Robinson brought a complicated story of male victimhood to television and sparked a complex conversation among viewers.

A Teacher culminates a decade after the scandal. Eric is now a youth counselor and Claire, after a short prison sentence, is remarried with two children. The pair run into each other while Eric is in town for his high school reunion.

As guilt seemingly washes over her, Claire feels inclined to ask Eric to lunch. During their meetup, Claire tells him that cowardice prevented her from reaching out to apologize, but she was happy to see they both moved forward with their lives.

I didnt move forward with my life, he tells her. Our relationship fucking destroyed me.

Claire goes on to say how sorry she is and that she should have stopped him from pursuing her. Thats when Eric states exactly what she needs to hear.

Youre in denial. Do you know how long it took me to figure out that I wasnt responsible? That you were the one creating those moments? Do you know how long I hated myself because I thought that I hurt you? I lost years.

I have to live with this forever, and so do you, Eric adds before walking out of the restaurant.

The screen goes black.

In this interview, Mara and Robinson discuss that final scene, the audiences reaction to the series and societys biased views on victimhood.