Harry Bingham is wrongfully disliked, and here’s why
I’ve seen a lot of people who are fans of the society debate whether or not Harry is a good character. Obviously, he’s pretty easy to dislike upfront. He’s generally not the most truthful character, he’s addicted to drugs, and he’s pretty much an all around asshole to most of the other characters, at the very least in the first half of the season.
Harry is one of the most well written characters in the show, not only for his complex personality and disposition, but for his dark and distressing struggles that many see as either stubbornness, weakness, or just downright bad behavior.
I’d like to begin with the argument against Harry I see most often: he was the motivating factor in Cassandra’s death
There are a couple of things wrong with this argument, but I’ll begin with the most obvious. Most people think that Harry persuaded Dewey unconsciously to kill Cassandra, but there was never an actual confirmation that Dewey was, in fact, her killer.
Firstly, there is never a shot in the entire show (go back an check if you want) that reveals Dewey as the one pointing the gun at Cassandra outside of the prom venue; all we ever get to see is Cassandra. This makes it entirely possible that Dewey was not, in fact, the one who actually killed her, a theory I’ve seen floating around all over.
Secondly, the only time we ever see a non-coerced confession from Dewey is in the scene in which he confessed to Harry - a scene in which Harry is also incredibly high on the drugs he’s been on (fairly consistently as far as we know) since the night of Cassandra’s death. As we never get to know what kind of drugs Harry is actually using, we don’t know the full effects that it has on him, making it entirely possibly that his anxiety (which we know he struggles with) produced a halucination in which Dewey confessed to the murder because of Harry’s words. The only other time we see Dewey confess is after a long session of grueling mental and physical abuse.
This brings me to the other most common gripe with Harry: his decision to aid in the coup to overthrow Allie’s government leadership, all in exchange for more drugs from Campbell.
Now, this one I feel should be more obvious, but as it seems to be a fairly common problem people have with Harry, I’d like to explain.
Harry struggled all the way through the season just as much as anyone else, and I would almost dare to say more than many. From his initial overwhelming anxiety, to his extreme depression, to his uncontrollable drug use, Harry is by no means mentally stable. On top of it all, Harry is in high school. Though his age isn’t explicitly mentioned, he’s between 16 and 18 years old. This is a huge factor in the reason he became so quickly dependent on the drugs Campbell was giving him, and an even bigger reason he was willing to go along with whatever would get him another fix. Harry is an addict, and in his mind, there is no other option. To him, he cannot survive without the drugs he’s addicted to.
One of the main reasons I like Harry so much is because I personally think he’s one of the most realistic characters in the entire show. His life is flipped upside down in a matter of seconds, and his reaction to it, rather than to accept his fate as Sam did, or find a way to fix things as Cassandra, Allie or many others did, he ran and hid. He’s far too afraid to step up and lead because he knows no one would follow him, and, seeing as how for much of the season he doesn’t have the mental motivation to do so much as get up and make it through the day, it’s nearly impossible for him to focus on anything that doesn’t have to do with making his struggle just a little more bearable.
All of the characters in this show are trying their best to cope with everything that’s happening to them. Not all of them are as good at it as others.
I’m way too passionate abt these characters sorry