HBO's "Industry" - season 3 episode 3 recap: "IT"

August 28, 2024

Courtesy: HBO

"You know, when you make partner, they make you seem like you're at the top of the ladder. But you're actually just at the bottom of a new one." - Wilhemina.

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Industry episode 3 has hit an all-time high, up 23% from the premiere. According to HBO, the premiere episode of Season 3 is now tracking around 1.4 million viewers, which is a testament that this show is absolutely one of the best shows currently on TV.

Each episode is better than the last, and this latest installment had all the significant players finally come together in one setting at a hellish COP climate conference in Switzerland, which Lumi executives think they can use to their advantage. The best type of comedy is when the jokes aren't slapping you in the face forcing you to laugh. Industry does the opposite. It has the best comedic timing, and the scenes are so deliciously wicked because the actors are so spot on; you cannot help but laugh when they react to the situations they find themselves in. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments that were not intentional. Eric and Harper (Myha'la) finally had their first scenes after she left Pierpoint, and their scenes did not disappoint! Let's dive in...

While this episode was physically less chaotic than last week, the pressure kept building as Lumi is turning out to be not worth the investment everyone thought it was after an intense earnings call, leaving everyone scrambling to do damage control. With Lumi's IPO struggling, Pierpoint is in serious trouble and Harper twists the knife a little deeper to secure her future.

Courtesy: HBO

 Anna Gearing decides to hit Petra (Sarah Goldberg) with a one-two sucker punch when she hits her with non-compete and "philosophy" clauses. Petra decides to play chess, decides she will be the competition, and enlists Harper to team up and branch out independently. They decide to intercept Anna's meetings at COP and poach the ESG investors who would align with Anna, however their meeting goes bankrupt and Petra's sales pitch of "getting Jesus out of those sandals and into some Jordans" goes horribly wrong and the investors understandably passes on the investment. Petra lashes out at Harper and is ready to get back to London and Harper knows her window of opportunity is quickly fading. She quickly calls Yasmin for help, and she reveals that someone at the company will have access to FutureDawn's traders' performance since Pierpoint is a FutureDawn investor. Harper thanks her with a "Bitch, you know I always wanted you to work for me," when Harper wants the commission for her help.

One of the more comical scenes is the flight to Switzerland, during which Henry (Kit Harington) sends Robert (Harry Lawtey) and Eric to the back of the jet. He has his entourage and wants to impress Yasmin (Marisa Abela).

Courtesy: HBO

Eric thinks the company will be fine if they can get the recommendation of Frank (Joel Kim Booster), Pierpoint's in-house analyst who's the "tastemaker" in the energy sector, to publish a sell on Lumi. The homoerotic vibes between Frank and Robert in the sauna, as we get full frontal nudity of Joel, are tantalizingly good. When Frank tells Robert he knows who he is because they share the same directory photos of all the hottest and straightest Pierpoint employees on WhatsApp, it gives one pause. In a later scene, Frank and Robert share an interesting scene that raises eyebrows and has social media buzzing.

The misogyny for Yasmin was prevalent in this episode as one of Henry's buddies propositions her for sex and then mockingly questions if she killed her father when she refuses. She and Henry officially hooked up. This was after he told her she was never on the trip in a professional capacity, which lets you know how he views her, especially considering how instrumental she was in last week's episode in trying to save Lumi. Their scene in the pool reeked of insane chemistry, and they actually have a lot in common (nepo-baby, rich kids bonding over their daddy issues), but his assistant did foreshadow that Henry has a taste for shiny, new things. Hopefully, it doesn't end badly for Yas, but in true Industry fashion, we know that it will.

Nothing went right for Eric in this episode. He is going through a midlife crisis, in addition to him constantly questioning his sexual performance due to his age (quite comically). He's still sleeping with Yasmin's lawyer (Fiona Button), who got the wrong idea when Yasmin kept blowing up his phone. She calls him, among other inflammatory things, an old man after he tries to break up with her. On top of that, when he gets to Switzerland, he realizes he's not the big honcho he thinks he is when he and Robert are forced to sleep in the same room due to the hotel being overbooked, so when Eric tries to flex and says he's a VP, the clerk asks him what country he's representing. He deadpans "Papua New Guinea," and she remains unimpressed. Adding insult to injury, it goes downhill from there because he's told that his promotion doesn't make him the star he thinks he is (Wilhemina's quote) when he's used as the scapegoat to sell the idea of Lumi and appears on the discussion panel. Harper chooses that moment to roast Eric at the COP panel, shatter Lumi's illusion, and lets everyone know Frank published a recommendation to hold on Lumi stock, further sending everyone down the rabbit hole while calling Eric a random salesman from an American investment bank and announces she and Petra has a new firm. The bell you're hearing is the death toll at Lumi's funeral.

Eric hires a prostitute to lick his wounds, and when he thinks he owes her 2k, it's more like 20k since she outlined the activities that she performed. Yikes! Harper's takedown of Eric has the desired effect, and the ESG investors are on board and ready to invest in Harper and Petra's new firm after Harper produces Petra's returns record with Sweetpea's help. Eric bails on his tab, and things go from bad to worse when Petra orchestrates a breakfast meeting with Harper and Petra, who want to use Pierpoint as their broker.

Courtesy: HBO

This scene was everything Industry is famous for. The scene is deliciously wicked as Eric is seething with rage. He's so outraged he chooses not to look or even address Harper, but Harper is very much his equal and orders him to look at her, reveling in his humiliation. You can clearly see the vulnerability mixed with his escalating anger and Leung is so damn good in these scenes. "I expect you to answer the phone every time I dial. First-class service. And eye contact." Harper smugly says.  The ultimate humiliation? Harper notices the glitter on his face, exposing his activities with his paid companion the night before, and Eric has no choice but to derisively laugh. Literally. He fully acknowledges the situation he is in. Harper has him right where she wants him with her foot on his throat.

Henry decides to sell his stake in Lumi to "crystallize" his profit before Lumi bottoms out. Episode 4 is even better as the escapades of our favorite bankers continue.

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Industry currently airs on HBO and streams on MAX on Sundays.