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Google PlayEd. Note: If you haven’t watched this week’s episode of Industry, look away. Spoilers for Episode 5 are ahead.
Harper Stern (Myha’la Herrold) is trying to keep it together in this week’s episode of Industry. In the middle of a meeting with a huge client, Harper is going through a number of things. Sure, she’s hungover, still high (either on meth or the seemingly copious amount of Berlin club drugs from the night before), or both. But the real reason for her current state is likely an overwhelming sense of emptiness.
Harper didn’t come to Berlin to meet with this client—not really—but to track down her long-lost brother, John Daniel (Aiden Bradley). She finds him—and more than she bargained for in the process. The attempted reunion ends poorly, leaving Harper more alone than ever before; Herrold’s expression and physicality in this scene are the punctuation at the end of that horrible sentence. “I was a little bit intimidated by the challenge—but also excited,” Herrold told Complex of the meeting between the two. “It was a necessary emotional height because of the fact they’re meeting after so many years.”
Hot off of the A24 thriller Bodies Bodies Bodies and soon to be seen alongside Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke in Netflix’s Leave the World Behind from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail, Herrold’s stock (pardon the pun) is on a meteoric rise. (Oh, and she’s going to be in the next season of Black Mirror, too). Herrold’s performance in Season 2’s Episode 5, “Kitchen Season,” further cements her as a bright new star.
In the aftermath of the episode, Complex spoke with the Industry star over Zoom for a deep conversation about Harper’s journey, working alongside her friend and co-star Marisa Abela, Ken Leung’s improv skills, what song Harper listened to on the way back from Berlin, and much more. (This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.)
