'Industry' stars Myha'la and Marisa Abela break down Harper and Yasmin's big fight: 'This is the end for them'
Industry Season 3, episode 6, ends not just with a bang, but with a total blowout between Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) and Harper Stern (Myha'la).
The argument begins with Yasmin's realization that Harper used her in her efforts to short investment bank Pierpoint, yet there's so much more to it than that. Yasmin can't reconcile that the Harper who helped her cover up her involvement in her predatory father Charles' (Adam Levy) death would take advantage of her like this — on the day Yasmin identified his corpse, no less!
The ensuing fight is an absolute scorcher: no insult left unsaid, no stone left unturned. Yasmin attacks Harper for using her pain, labeling her a narcissist and picking at her deepest wounds, like her relationship with her estranged brother. Harper retaliates with fire of her own. She reminds Yasmin of how ordinary she is without the veneer of privilege to protect her. Later, in an echo of Charles's final argument with Yasmin, she calls her a whore.
"They can't possibly come back from this."
"I just genuinely thought, 'This is the end for them,'" Myha'la told Mashable of her first reaction to reading the argument. "They can't possibly come back from this."
Speaking with Mashable on a joint Zoom call, Myha'la and Abela's dynamic couldn't be further from the prickly frenemies Industry viewers have grown to know in Harper and Yasmin. The two are the picture of ease, the kind that comes from working intimately together for five years. And since Harper and Yasmin share fewer scenes this season, due to Harper no longer working at Pierpoint, both agree that they were thrilled at the chance to take on this meaty argument.
"There might be a few episodes [this season] where there's no interaction between the two characters," Abela said. "So when we do get those moments, there's also a certain amount of adrenaline. You know, 'I'm excited to do this scene.'"
Myha'la added: "More than anything, we live for those moments. Actors are like, 'Finally, I get to sink my teeth into this and be gross.' I feel like everybody's been waiting for this moment [between Yasmin and Harper]. They get a taste of it at the end of Season 1. But that's small potatoes compared to what they get in this scene."
The scene is a culmination of the tension that's been building for three seasons between these characters, with everything from issues of class to Harper and Yasmin's constantly simmering love triangle with Robert Spearing (Harry Lawtey) finally roaring to the front. "So much of the show is subtext, so it's great when the subtext becomes text," Industry co-creator Konrad Kay told Mashable in a separate call with co-creator Mickey Down. "Suddenly, there are no lies in that scene. There's no evasion."
As every bit of Yasmin and Harper's resentment and anger surfaces, both parties continue to lob insults while desperately trying to prove that they don't care about what the other is saying or doing. But of course, they do — and understanding that hurt proved key to both Myha'la and Abela's understanding of the scene.
"We had conversations with Mickey and Konrad about what exactly about what had happened hurt them the most," Abela said. "It's very personal when you talk about how someone has hurt you, and allowing us to evolve with these characters for as long as we have, we know better than anyone what it is that Yasmin holds dear about Harper's relationship and why this feels like a betrayal."
Another topic of conversation between the actors and showrunners became the literal one-two punch that ends the scene, when Yasmin slaps Harper, and Harper slaps back. Originally, Harper wasn't scripted as slapping Yasmin, but Myha'la was adamant that she return the blow.
"I was like, 'Ain't no way this bitch is gonna put her hands on me, and I'm not gonna hit her back,'" Myha'la laughed.
She continued: "I was very grateful that Mickey and Konrad allowed me to do that, because that was a serious conversation over a few days where I was like, 'Guys, please, I just want to smack her. Please.' So much culture is wrapped up in that. Because we raise our voices and we say the worst things, but then as soon as you break the physical barrier, we're throwing hands. Period. Point blank. And if Harper's supposed to be from New York, what are we talking about?"
The double slaps already make for a powerful button to the argument, but Industry takes the pain of the scene one step further by ending the episode on a flashback to Harper and Yasmin in the hours following Charles' death. Harper comforts Yasmin through her tears, and the two share a few laughs at the expense of Charles. When Harper puts her arm around Yasmin, we're seeing this duo at their closest, yet we know tragedy is just months away. It's a heartbreaking echo to the start of the episode, where we see Harper cover for Yasmin without a second's hesitation.
"The bookending of that episode is about us taking Harper and Yasmin to the nadir of their relationship, where they're slapping each other," Down told Mashable. "This is the end for them in terms of their personal relationship, so let's also show the point where their relationship was at its most pure, when Harper was doing something for Yasmin that was probably one of the most selfless things she's done."
Later, Yasmin will go on to believe that Harper helping her at her most vulnerable moment was just another attempt to gain control. But for Myha'la and Abela, that's not the case.
"It feels like life and death," Myha'la said. "In that moment when Harper finds out what's happened to Yasmin, she's looking in the face of her friend who is terrified, like completely undone, and she clearly needs help. There's no question about whether or not I, as your friend, am going to help you. The situation is too dire for Harper to be like, 'How can I use this tonight?' It's just not about that. This is not business-related. This is purely about our friendship, and that's it."
Abela added that Harper's help in that moment made her a calming presence for Yasmin over the course of the season. "The second Harper walks into a room, [Yasmin] can at least breathe a bit of fresh air, knowing that there's someone in this room that understands what she's going through, even if she can't share the burden," Abela said. "I can see her, and she can see me."
Now, though, the argument has forced Harper and Yasmin to see each other in a different way, with all their insecurities and animosity laid bare. In a show that's built on backstabbing and using people to get ahead, perhaps that blinding clarity is its own kind of gift. Although for Harper and Yasmin, who are losing each other not just as friends but as support systems, that gift comes at much too high a cost.