‘Industry’s Harper Will Fill the ‘Better Call Saul’ Scammer Hole In Your Heart

On an intellectual level, I know I should hate Harper Stern, Myha’la Herrold‘s hyper intelligent and driven trading floor analyst in HBO’s Industry.  I shouldn’t even like her. On many levels, Harper represents the absolute worst of the financial world. She’s immoral, nearly devoid of personal loyalties, and often cruel. Yet every scheme and snarky comment that should push me away from Harper has pushed me further on her side. If Better Call Saul has left you with the need to fall in love with another immensely talented scammer, Harper is your girl.

The greatest thing about the cons Harper runs is that you often forget they’re cons. Take for example her hiring at Pierpoint. In Season 1 it was revealed that Harper didn’t actually have a college degree. Instead, she forged documents and enlisted friends to lie on her behalf, scheming until the lies she so confidently told became some version of reality. You can watch several episodes marveling at how great Harper is at her job before remembering she technically isn’t qualified to do any of this.

She’s pulled the same magic trick in her work with Jesse Bloom (Jay Duplass). A hedge fund manager, Jesse becomes Harper’s primary client and focus in Season 2. Some of Harper’s most stressful storylines have revolved around her pitching some deeply risky idea to Jesse and waiting with bated breath to see if he’ll go for it or not. By focusing on the complicated relationship between these two, it’s easy to forget how horrible Jesse really is. Jesse Bloom is only a name in this world because he made an insane amount of money during the COVID-19 pandemic. During a time that called for sacrifice and unity, Jesse exploited the market for all that it was worth, to the point where his nickname is “Mr. COVID.” That Harper would even take a meeting with this man is morally dubious. That she has so quickly turned on her allies and used secrets to make him more money makes her little better than him.

Beyond the business deals, there’s Harper as a person to consider. With her cold stare and sharp tongue, Harper has cut down countless people without even trying. “There Are Some Women…” in particular saw Harper tear into Yas (Marisa Abela) — the closest person Harper has to a friend. In her defense, calling out Yas for her wealth and privilege was justified. But the cuttingly personal form these callouts took wasn’t.

I know all of these faults. And yet if anyone in Industry dares to criticize Harper or get in her way, I become instantly furious. Is Yas upset that Harper betrayed her again? Yas needs to get over it. Is Eric (Ken Leung) telling Harper that her clearly risky and bad plan is risky and bad? Get off my TV, Eric. You and your decades in this field know nothing.

Part of this sympathy comes from Harper’s backstory. In this money and clique-obsessed world, Harper is perpetually an outsider. She’s a Black woman who came from nothing in a workplace flooded with rich white boys. Hell, she isn’t even from the UK. It’s always fun to pull for an underdog and no matter how you cut it, that’s what Harper is.

But most of my love has to do with Harper’s competence. As Industry highlights time and time again, this woman is obscenely good at her job. It’s always fun to watch extraordinary people excel; that’s one of the biggest appeals of the Olympics. And Harper is a woman who is so great at what she does that little things like decorum and laws become annoying hinderances. They’re hurdles she clears without a second thought, and if there were gold medals for international finance, she’d be standing at the top of the podium.

That’s a trait she has in common with the great Jimmy McGill. Both Jimmy and Harper stand at the center of stories about what happens when smart, morally compromised people succeed. And though I have no idea what’s going on with the business/law aspect of their jargon-filled worlds, they’re both fascinating. As far as antiheroes go, Harper is top tier, and I will likely be loyally defending her every betrayal and mistake until the bitter end.