With only three episodes under its belt, Industry Season 3 has been going at warp speed with drama, shakeups, and plot, plot, plot. Practically an entire season's worth of story has happened with nearly every character already. Just thinking about where things could possibly go from here overwhelms me. With that in mind, let's check back in on our beloved characters' delightfully volatile trajectories.
Harper Stern: Going Up! Up! Up! Harperhive, we are so back! And we are eating good in this neighborhood. Last week, she was scratching that girlboss itch with Petra Koenig that had been dormant for so long, already showing that she has not learned a thing after being fired from Pierpoint, and salivating for her moment of revenge. She helped Petra undermine their boss Anna by balancing out Lumi's nosediving stock and got her an advantageous price by doing a little cheating. But last week was merely an appetizer for Harper's full supervillain pivot on Sunday. Her and Petra test the waters of striking out on their own and right when it looked like it was going to blow up on the launchpad, she decides to put all the chips on the table and make her move in public, bridge-burning fashion. And not only is she rewarded for this, with a billionaire benefactor who seems to favor her even more than Petra, but she gets the added benefit of forcing Pierpoint's (and specifically Eric's) hand by becoming a client. Harper played the hits in this episode and it was absolute magic, showing a wolfish delight in forcing Eric to bend the knee, puppet-mastering her supposed friend Yasmin and business partner Petra, and winning the respect of Otto Mostyn. Her downfall is inevitable and will be one for the ages certainly, but for the moment, Harper and the Harper fanbase are shining bright like a diamond.
Eric Tao: Going Down. Woof! What a rough one for your boy. Eric is falling apart in the most classic divorced dad manner. It's just him and Ben Affleck sitting in the permanent darkness. Eric has always maintained that Harper is a horrible person with no respect for the rules, which is true, but that's not what bothers Eric about her. He resents her youth, resents that he can't control her, and is threatened by what she could become in a business that's kill or be killed. If he didn't fire her, she would've replaced him. Perfectly understandable when you think about that way. However, now he's created a monster that wants nothing more than to eat him whole. Sunday's episode was her taking her first bite. But that was merely the capper to what was already a downward spiral. Eric can feel his bosses losing faith in him, only further highlighted by the catastrophe of the summit. And on top of that, Eric is now debasing himself by asking his sex partners whether he does it like a young man, and telling a sex worker that his name is Robert Spearing. But at least she told him what he wanted to hear. Best $20,000 he could spend, probably.
Yasmin Kara-Hanani: Going Up(?). Yasmin is in a precarious position. She's not exactly thriving, but she's not flailing anymore either. Her budding romance with Henry has lead to a blocking of sorts of the negative press she's been getting and things fully blossomed between them on a very uncomfortable private jet flight back to London after a disastrous conference. Her father is still missing and she's left holding the bag for all his debt. She's downing expensive bottles of wine on the bus, and even when she does great at her job, Eric has to rein her in to keep her in her place, and Harper finds a way to manipulate her for her own ends. But still, she does a lot better externally when she holds things together internally.
Henry Muck: Going Down (like most businesses). It turns out that the rise and fall of Henry Muck only needed about three episodes. Muck's renewable energy startup Lumi was overvalued and fell as fast as it was built. Muck was a little rich boy cosplaying as a forward-thinking creator and no amount of illegally prescribed psilocybin can mask the stench of failson emanating from his majestic beard. In just two episodes, he's taken more shots than a Mike Tyson opponent, including losing a ball-pit fight to Robert, who looks like he's never been in a fight in his life. But at least he can find comfort in the loving embrace of Yasmin and a butt that looks made from marble or something.
Robert Spearing: Going Down(?). In more ways than one, judging from the sexual tension in that sauna. Robert is all over the place; discombobulated by Nicole's death and struggling to eat both Henry Muck's and Pierpoint's shit. Not to mention that he barely seems to talk to his girlfriend and is getting more action through identity theft than through personal action. At least he got to beat on a nepobaby in a little daycare room and flew on a private jet before being bunkmates with his boss for a weekend excursion. But seriously, what was going on in that sauna.
Petra Koenig: Going Up. This boss talks a big game but has slowly shown that she's a lot of smoke and mirrors. She's smart about the inherent cynicism of capital and finance, but beyond a lot of bravado and a sick gas-guzzling SUV, she is not the animal her new partner Harper is. She condescends and preens about on ethics, but like with Eric, it's really just a matter of control. She's riding high off the back of Harper's big stunt and things are going well, for now, but it'll only be a matter of time before Petra realizes that she can't control Harper either and will have to decide whether to cut things off.
Rishi Ramdani: Going Up. Rishi has been on the back burner for much of the season, and when he has been in the frame, he's been losing his mind even more than usual. If the previews for next episode are any indicator, we're in store for a truly memorable Rishi meltdown. And yet, I cannot have him down. Rishi is never down.
