What To Know
- In Industry Season 4 Episode 5, Harper experiences a devastating loss.
- The episode highlights the evolving relationship between Harper and her mentor, Eric.
- Myha’la, who plays Harper, explains the Harper-Eric dynamic and how this scene cements who they really are to each other.
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Industry Season 4 Episode 5, “Eyes Without a Face.”]
Harper Stern (Myha’la) has rarely opened up about her traumatizing family history across Industry‘s four seasons. We know very little about her upbringing, other than the fact that her mother was abusive, and that abuse caused a major rift between Harper and her twin brother, JD Stern (Adain Bradley). JD returned to Industry in Season 4 Episode 5, which came out early on February 6 on HBO Max. But it was an offscreen appearance. A scene later in the episode proved what Harper and Eric Tao (Ken Leung) have been denying to themselves for a long time: they are more family to each other than their biological families.
JD was only heard in the episode. He called Harper to tell her that there was an accident with their mom that left her hospitalized. She fell down the stairs while running to get an Amazon package and eventually died because of her injuries. It was a shockingly simple end for a woman who was such a massive force in Harper’s life, one she spent her entire adulthood trying to leave behind.
In her most vulnerable scene of the HBO series, Myha’la delivered a moving monologue that revealed Harper’s true feelings about her family, her mother, and how she imagined their potential reunion.
Harper imagined that her mother “would have no choice but to fall to her knees and beg for [her] forgiveness because [she] had become f***ing undeniable.”
“You are undeniable,” Eric said back. Harper broke down in tears.
Harper and Eric have been working together to take down Tender all season. Their mentor-mentee bond has evolved into a partnership, but there was always a father-daughter dynamic at play since Season 1, with Eric calling Harper “Harpsicord” and, in Season 4, investing more time and effort into his life with her than with his own twin daughters (one of whom got expelled from her school in this episode).
Simon Ridgway / HBO
Eric admitted to Harper that he should feel a “celestial” bond to his children, but he doesn’t. Instead, he often asks himself what they’re doing for him. He said that his lack of love for his daughters “feels like a betrayal of something very ancient.” Leung tells TV Insider that Eric “unconsciously” sees Harper as his daughter more so than his actual kids. Myha’la, on the other hand, tells us that this scene was Harper finally admitting to herself how much she needs Eric.
Does Harper see Eric as her father figure? “Yeah, totally,” Myha’la says to our question.
“She avoids acknowledging that as long as she possibly can until she’s desperate for some paternal energy,” Myha’la explains. “When her mother dies, she really feels like she needs someone to hold her hand. And he does what a good dad would do and tells her, ‘You are undeniable, and you have done well, and I’m proud of you.’ That’s all we ever really want to hear. Underneath a whole lot of sh*t, that’s all anybody wants to hear from their mentors, their parents, their whoever. And he’s the only one, and he has been consistently the person to support her.”
That explains why, no matter their feuds and horrible insults flung at each other throughout the series, Harper and Eric always return to each other. In their own twisted way, they always take care of each other.
Industry, Sundays, 9/8c, HBO