'The Society' season 2: How Harry's pride alone will prove to be his downfall
One of our first impressions of Harry Bingham, played by Alex Fitzalan, on 'The Society' was that this boy is pretty stupid.
When 'The Society' first started streaming on Netflix, Fitzalan's Harry turned out to be one of the few strong characters on the show who could speak his mind. He is seen taking his car and hitting the road to get help from the neighboring town. He then becomes the one who breaks the news to the rest of the group that they are stranded and surrounded from all sides by foliage. Back in the church hall, he discusses passionately why he believes that everyone in New Ham should retain property rights, and why there is no need for sharing utilities.
Harry Bingham is the popular and wealthy son of the town mayor, who thinks the best way that citizens of New Ham can survive is if everyone lives off their own resources instead of mooching off, in his manner of speaking, of those who have resources. He dislikes sharing his resources (food and shelter) with others in the new society.
Adding to this is his arrogance. Drunk on his privilege, Harry is an extremely selfish person who blatantly refuses to extend even an iota of empathy to the next person. He also passionately argues with Cassandra and her idea of building a peaceful new society.
But while his character started on a fiery note, it fizzled out somewhere in the middle, where Harry is faced with the reality of life in the new town. The fact that he has to now share his house with so many other people from the town doesn't sit too well with him. For Harry, it was something he didn't sign up for voluntarily and considered it an encroachment of his space.
In addition to this, Campbell (played by Toby Wallace) gets him hooked on to a drug. The addiction begins slowly, like it usually does, and then takes over him. Campbell is set to take complete advantage of this – in fact, it looks like throughout the first season, Campbell is working towards exactly this.
He manages to manipulate Harry into another attempt at overthrowing Cassandra and Allie's communist approach. Towards, the end of the first season of 'The Society', Harry is torn but pretty much on Campbell's side. Could it be that he thinks his beliefs are genuine and that he can truly helm the new society?
Thing is, Harry doesn't possess any of the qualities it takes to be a good leader. First and foremost, Harry is selfish and is incapable of looking beyond his privilege. Secondly, he speaks for and of a very concentrated group in the big ocean that is the new society. Even then, he rarely works on his account and functions in a pack – ghost-led by Campbell.
Should 'The Society' return for a second season (Netflix hasn't made any official announcement as of yet), Harry's character requires some redeemable characteristics – it is actually a surprise that he has managed to survive until the end of the first season.
