Warning: This post contains spoilers about the season finale ofA Teacher.
The series then ends with Eric walking away, leaving Claire to further evaluate her decisions.
Below, EW talks with Kate Mara about that scene and why she sees it as an optimistic ending.
Credit: Chris Large/FX
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This ending feels like people either love it or hate it.
Did you know the ending going into the series?
KATE MARA:Yeah, I did.
It was never a secret how we thought it would likely end.
We talked a lot about slightly different versions or things that could be said.
But I do see it as optimistic.
What was going through her head in that moment from your perspective?
She’s been living in this denial and has been telling herself all kinds of lies.
But yeah I do think for her it had to be a surprise.
It was so hard to do that scene.
It’s an entirely different chemistry so it felt as uncomfortable as I think it looked.
Or at least a very different Claire?
I just tried to look at it as like, what was I like 10 years ago?
You’re still yourself but hopefully, you’ve grown a lot.
People definitely change a lot, and Claire’s supposed to have had two kids.
So there are different aspects to it.
When Eric left that table, it felt like the end of his story to me.
He said what he needed to say.
But with Claire just having had that realization, I found myself wanting to know what she did next.
Did you think much about what came after that conversation for her?
That’s so interesting, no, I actually didn’t.
I thought more about that than anything else.
Yeah, I agree, I liked that too.
And I don’t even think the first three episodes at all glorify the relationship.
