Streaming on: BBC iPlayer
Episodes viewed: 8 of 8
After two unbelievably good seasons flew under the radar for many, finance drama Industry has finally broken through into the mainstream TV conversation with its third run of episodes, ramping up audience anticipation with weekly episode drops in the US before finally landing all at once here in the UK.
This third season picks up a little after the gobsmacking events of the Season 2 finale, which saw Eric (Ken Leung) and Rishi (Sagar Radia) throw Harper (Myha’la) under the bus, resulting in her firing from Pierpoint. She has found work as an executive assistant at progressive hedge fund FutureDawn, but the thrill of the trade is calling her. At Pierpoint, Rob (Harry Lawtey), Yasmin (Marisa Abela) and Eric are on the cusp of taking green energy provider Lumi — headed up by the excellently named aristocratic arsehole Henry Muck (Kit Harington) — public, as part of the bank’s new focus on more ethical and sustainable businesses.
The thrill of Industry is in its blend of workplace drama, Succession-style power moves, sexy Skins-esque debauchery and relentless barely understandable financial jargon that nonetheless makes you feel like you’re right there on the trading floor with them. Season 3 has all of that, though delivered in a slightly more freewheeling way compared to the narratively tighter preceding ones.
The real challenge for Industry is where it goes from here.
Harper’s departure from Pierpoint means everything naturally feels more spread out — our core three now living together does help to keep their dynamic as an underpinning factor, but she definitely, sadly, feels more peripheral. We see flashbacks to a boat trip with Yasmin and her nightmare father, Eric’s storyline separate to the young cast is more prominent than ever before, Rob goes on a slightly tiresome vision quest, and Rishi gets his very own episode to chronicle his spiral into gambling. This all serves to flesh out the world of Industry beyond the central characters in really fascinating ways, but does pull you away from the familiar.
There are still fantastic set-pieces to be found, though fewer of them are as trading-focused — the only real sequence with a likeness to Harper’s heart-palpitating short from Season 2 or her annihilation of the P&L in Season 1 is Rishi’s white-knuckle ride as an emergency budget is announced. The standouts this time are rooted in character: Yasmin and Harper having the mother of all arguments in Episode 6; Eric going to the ultimate lengths to remain a ‘company man’; Rob and Henry fighting in a crèche. The new cast additions are welcome too, particularly Miriam Petche as the incredibly smart, Insta-loving Sweetpea Golightly (another outstanding character name).
The real challenge for Industry is where it goes from here. A fourth season has been confirmed at HBO, but the finale feels like it’s wrapping a lot of things up, setting things in motion that see the gang further apart than ever. It’s a brave move from showrunners Mickey Down and Konrad Kay — but this is a show that delights in the unexpected.
