Despite the rosy picture that sitcoms like Friends have painted for decades, young adulthood can be incredibly challenging, confusing, and even lonely at times. This formative time in life brings so many changes: new financial responsibilities, shifting family dynamics, relationships beginning and ending… the list goes on.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Hal & Harper episodes 1-7.
Few shows capture the complexities of young adulthood as realistically Hal & Harper. Created and directed by Cooper Raiff, the Mubi limited series follows codependent siblings Hal (Raiff) and Harper (Lili Reinhart), who are caught off guard when their father (Mark Ruffalo) announces that he’s having a baby with his girlfriend (Betty Gilpin). Over the course of eight episodes, the siblings reckon with their childhood wounds and examine how their closeness has shaped their adult relationships and identities.
The most recent episode, “Vegas,” sees Harper deal with the breakdown of her relationship with her longtime girlfriend, Jesse (Alyah Chanelle Scott). Despite their long history together, both characters ultimately come to accept the painful reality that their relationship simply isn’t working anymore.
“I loved shooting with Alyah, and I felt really sad about Harper and Jesse,” Reinhart told The Nerds of Color. “[They] had been together for six years, grown up together in their 20s, and had this college love. And now, they’re moving on and growing apart from each other. To uncouple from six years with someone that you’ve moved into a house with and truly imagined you would get married to [is] heartbreaking.”
“I feel like so many people can watch this show and empathize with that situation of knowing the relationship is over, but you’re desperate to hold on to the familiarity of it,” she continued. “I felt Harper’s anxiety around not wanting to be in it anymore, but being so afraid to make that move.”
Ahead of the series finale, The Nerds of Color spoke to Reinhart and Raiff about their on-screen brother and sister dynamic, what it was like filming emotionally intense scenes, and more. Watch the full interview below:
The series finale of Hal & Harper airs Sunday, November 30 on Mubi. Episodes 1-7 are available to stream now.