What makes the show so effective, aside from its precise writing, is its portrayal of the ambitious junior bankers vying to dominate their industry. These characters' calculated pursuits of money, power, and prestige match the intensity of the indulgences they use to cope. Sex. Drugs. Success.
Quickies in office bathrooms between trades sometimes do the trick, but other times their career wins are proxy enough for whatever cavernous void the young sales analysts are unable to fill. The character who best exemplifies this insatiability is Harper Stern, whose Season 2 arc attempts to answer the question: what is the reward for ruthlessness, even if justified?
Harper, played by rising star Myha’la Herrold, is an ungovernable talent whose shrewd ability to attract clients and navigate crises confounds her peers. She looks at the meritocracy of her chosen field as an opportunity for self-invention, and does not save sympathies for the people she blights to make her reality possible. This, of course, unsettles Harper’s colleagues and alienates her.
Harper’s decision to retract a complaint against Eric results in the firing of her line manager, Daria Greenock , as well as Pierpoint London president Sara Dhadwal . In the process, she also burns Yasmin , who was relying on the previously planned changing of the guard to get away from an abusive manager.
These are the types of gambles Harper relies on for career protection, and though the fallout tends to work in her favor professionally, she is left in isolation as she demonstrates that her sole loyalty is to herself. Even still, viewers at home can’t help but root for her.on her floor, comes from a "non-target" school, and still outperforms all of her peers. Her motivations, though hazy at first, are driven by a desire for love and approval.