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Google PlayMaking a strong first season of a TV show is challenging, but it’s even more so to come up with a worthy follow-up. Prime Video’s Harlem was well-received by audiences with Season 1 in 2022, and people of all backgrounds, men and women, had high praises for the Tracy Oliver-created series. Oliver, along with the cast made up of four intense, talented, and fiercely lovable women—Grace Byers, Meagan Good, Jerrie Johnson, and Shoniqua Shandai—were able to pick up right where they left off with Season 2 last month, delivering an even deeper look at friendships, womanhood, and the realities of dating in this day and age.
The show follows a tight-knit friend group made up of Quinn, Camille, Tye, and Angie, who live in Harlem, New York, and are on a quest to figure out life in their 30s, with each other as support. Byers, who played Anika Calhoun on Empire, plays Quinn in Harlem. She is a fashion designer who owns a clothing boutique, whose career is on the brink of taking off until Camille’s relationship with her ex threatens to shake that. Season 2 starts off with Camille kissing her ex Ian (Tyler Lepley) the day before his wedding and getting caught by his bride-to-be. Quinn designed the bride’s wedding dress, which she believed would kickstart her design career.
Quinn’s failed relationship (her first same-sex relationship) with a politician named Isabela Benetiz (Juani Feliz), the canceled wedding, and a disastrous attempt to appear on Vogue’s popular 73 Questions segment left her questioning her identity, her worth, and her potential. While Quinn may have seemed privileged or pretentious because she comes off from a well-off family, viewers got to see inside her psyche and realize that there was more to her than meets the eye. The show’s exploration of depression and mental health through Byers’ character enriches the show which already had so much heart, depth, and emotion to begin with, while also being hilarious and realistic.
“The world that we’re living in is one where it’s so important to show the highlights of your life. Social media helps this along. We’re seeing people who look like they have their lives together. They make it look easy, and like their ducks are in a row,” Byers tells Complex. “We don’t see a lot of the struggles. We don’t see a lot of people being real.”
“This representation on the screen with Harlem is so vital because these girls are not perfect, and they’re very flawed,” she adds. “And that’s what makes us human and beautiful and wonderful and relatable.”
Complex caught up with Byers to chat about Season 2, the pressure women feel to be perfect, and reuniting with her husband and Empire costar Trai Byers on screen in Harlem.
