HBO’s ‘Industry’ Works Hard and Plays Hard To Deliver a Riveting Third Season 

Alci Rengifo

In the world of high finance there is a running philosophy of working hard and playing hard. Both can eventually have a corroding effect on the players. The first two seasons of HBO’s “Industry” kept the individuals with real money and market figures in the background. Like few of its peers, this series is only getting better. Movies and shows about making money tend to emphasize the brutal, go-getter attitude everyone assumes you need to have. These characters certainly have it, but they are also tragically relatable through their fragility. The system is starting to make them crack and everything surrounding them, from the promise of influence to financial gain, begins to seem materially senseless.

A scandal initiates the season when Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) becomes the new prime focus of the narrative. We first see Yasmin on a yacht in a sunny Italian locale, trying to forget her father, Charles Hanani (Adam Levy), has been exposed as a major embezzler. Ah, but he’s on the boat too, caught by Yasmin in her own room with a pregnant staffer. An unknown guest also snaps a photo of Yasmin looking off into the horizon from the deck. When she returns to London and to Pierpont & Company investment bank, Yasmin has become a tabloid fixture with headlines like, “The Embezzler Heiress.” It all happens at a moment of high stakes shifts. Eric Tao (Ken Leung) has just been made partner at Pierpont and is expected to be tough enough to trim staff. There is also the upcoming IPO of Lumi, a green energy operation run by Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington). But the earnings reports are coming under scrutiny. Yasmin needs to keep her sanity and Eric can not afford to buckle under increasing pressure.

“Industry” first premiered in 2020 and has gained a devoted following. Its quality is also consistently strong enough for HBO to keep it going despite not being a smash hit. Maybe there’s faith in its increasing appeal with viewers desperate to fill the void left by the end of “Succession.” It doesn’t hurt that the markets of the real world are beginning to wobble again. Like “Succession,” it moves at a brisk face powered by the crackling language of the corporate world. There is that special touch of shows about a certain profession that clearly know the lingo, even if we don’t, but keep the narrative crystal clear. New characters are also introduced seamlessly. Sweetpea Golightly (Miriam Petche) is a recent graduate (like all the young people in the show) who seems nice but can’t shut off her filter when talking to Yasmin about her newfound tabloid notoriety. Sweetpea also boasts 50,000 followers on Instagram (she keeps a ring light on her desk). Venetia Berens (Indy Lewis), introduced last season, can barely hide her glee at Yasmin’s plight.

Much of “Industry” is a stark critique of not only the financial world, but the class and hierarchy system it feeds. Even amongst the elites it’s a shark tank. Eric is instructed by bigwig Bill Adler (Trevor White) to fire someone, openly wondering if Yasmin is disposable because she’s a “nepotism hire.” Henry Muck looks like the poster boy for “progressive” corporations promising green futures, but his inner circle is composed of family members who are cruel, cocky lords and aristocrats. Of course he casts an eye on Yasmin when she endures his uncles’ subtle taunts about her father, who has gone missing and left her to face the media storm alone. The Muck character is a great return to form for Kit Harington, who plays the role like a man-child recklessly running his company. He takes Yasmin out on a date and doesn’t flirt so much as poke at her because he can. Because she’s still reeling from the continuing aftershocks of her father’s financial woes and scandal, she can’t resist still getting dangerously close to Muck. At the office, he swerves from cocky to nervous wreck, nearly having a meltdown during a board meeting and whispering, “None of this is real.” 

This series has also not forgotten about Harper (Myha’la), the original main character, who was fired last season and now works as an assistant at FutureDawn Partners. Everyone is flawed in this world because of the rules at play. Harper pretends to agree with her manager Anna (Elena Saurel) about the merits of ethical investing then goes behind her back to tell the portfolio manager Petra Koenig (Sarah Goldberg), that she actually thinks it’s all nonsense. She’s still willing to do anything to get ahead. But there’s also an underdog quality to admire in Harper. In a world obsessed with numbers and titles, she does not have a college degree so works even more ruthlessly to prove her merit. When Petra brings her along to try and start their own operation, Harper takes bigger, dangerous risks like boldly interjecting in a panel that includes Eric. She has little to lose. Harper is becoming a shark in a terrain where many fake it till they make it. The writing expertly takes on how corporate culture is adapting to work sensibilities. Harper’s new place of work is full of woke chatter but everyone is still driven by greed. Muck laughs in Robert’s face when the latter wonders if he can promote ethical investing while being so cold and conniving. 

This environment can take its toll. Eric bumps into Yasmin and a lawyer friend at a restaurant and the three are soon snorting blow at an apartment. Yasmin makes some endearing confessions before Eric gets into a tryst with the lawyer, clearly as self-therapy since he can’t stop talking about his wife leaving. A more shocking development occurs with Robert (Harry Lawtey) and his fling with a Pierpont client, the older Nicole Craig (Sarah Parish).Yasmin has to prove her worth to Pierpont while dealing with knowing her dad has screwed her over. Even his yacht, worth $11 million, is going to the creditors. She can’t even enjoy chugging a bottle of ridiculously expensive wine in peace without someone snapping a photo. Yasmin connects with Muck because both have broken family trees. A lesser series would make certain developments feel too melodramatic or absurd. “Industry” makes it all plausible within the boundaries of the ambition and excess swirling around each other. These are not people living or playing by the same rules as working class viewers with 9 to 5 jobs. This also fuels its morbid, but fascinating appeal. 

“Industry” goes for broke this season, with enough mystery established as well to keep the momentum growing. What are the graphic flashbacks from the yacht plaguing Yasmin’s mind? What is Muck really all about? Will Eric just become a total corporate monster now? He needs to pump himself up with macho slogans about, “I am a man. I am relentless,” which he also uses to try and get Robert out of a stupor. It is a terrain dominated by the numbers, numbers that promise wealth and what late-stage capitalism defines as the ultimate form of success. It is more than fitting that the soundtrack includes songs like the Pet Shop Boys’ “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money),” giving moments a debauched, feverish sheen. “Industry” returns with blistering energy, leaving us itching to know who will make it out alive.

“Industry” season three premieres Aug. 11 and airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.