Industry Season 4 Episode 3 Serves Fascists & The Slurp Heard ‘Round the World

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

We are back to our regularly scheduled program, and it’s glorious!

Industry Season 4 Episode 3 was more my speed, with its fast-moving power plays, backstabbing, moral depravity, and some unexpectedly divine family feelings.

I don’t know what was more riveting to watch, the scintillating SternTao partnership as they assemble an anti-establishment team of misfits and degenerates, or the mindfuckery of Yasmin orchestrating illicit sex and Tender getting in bed with literal Nazis.

It’s evident that they’re on the cusp of having me eat my words regarding Henry, because damn if I’m not more intrigued by the vastly different mindsets he and Yasmin share, all the while he serves as a puppet for everyone around him.

Henry is trying to take his new position seriously. He’s a man who requires some direction and a sense of purpose, and the feeling that he’s more than his name. Hell, he and Moritz Bauer share that to a degree, but the similarities stop there.

Whitney has given Henry that through Tender, relying almost exclusively on Henry’s name and pedigree to get them through doors.

Industry never lets us forget that the UK operates differently than America, Europe in general does, and the reality is that sneaky ass Whitney and whatever his standing cannot brush up with the higher-ups the same way Henry can just with his name alone.

It’s always fascinating how things function in that regard. Europe buries its racism and xenophobia under class, caste, and prestige. America’s racism often obscures its deep economic and social disparity.

And thus, that’s how we had an hour in which Tender had to scramble to secure Bauer’s backing and squash their growing dissent to bag the banking license they needed to push forward.

Whitney’s approach was brash. We saw his casual arrogance and the glints of psychopathy that simmer under the surface. He’salready one of Industry’s most fascinating additions to the series yet.

But Henry was willing to play ball, supported by Yasmin, who already has her work cut out for her, garnering respect and support in these spaces. She’s finally back in the rooms she strived to be in, and she still has people undermining her.

Because marrying Henry protected her from the downfall of her father’s sullied name, but now, she’s no more than Henry’s wife, and almost everyone treats her accordingly.

Yasmin is a woman who craves power and control, and she uses every tool at her disposal to secure and wield both.

Even if it means entertaining”women’s talk” with Austrian Nazi-sympathizers, indulging Moritz’s white supremacist bullshit, or accepting the vague, indulgent title of “consultant” as she sits in rooms no one thinks she should be in.

Whitney calls it pragmatism, while Henry may see it as moral failings, but, truthfully, Yasmin is self-serving, ambitious, and apathetic. Is it pragmatism when you don’t actually care in the first place?

I chuckled when HENRY was the one to call the Bauers “fucking fascists,” point out Moritz’s glaringly anti-semitic remark directed at Whitney, and got in that jab about dragging IBN into the future.

Meanwhile, Whitney was slightly amused that a multi-racial woman like Yasmin with an ethnic last name somehow DIDN’T pick up on the remark or find any offense anywhere.

There’s something twistedly admirable about Yasmin’s ability to just not give a shit or stray from her singular focus. Joanna knew precisely what she was doing, sticking Yasmin in the “best room of the house,” filled with sentimental values (Habseligkeiten), which included a painting by freaking Adolf Hitler.

She even acquiesced to Joanna’s assertions that Moritz wasn’t so much in the wrong, just too blunt, agreeing with their white supremacy without disagreement, just to get to what she wants. Hell, she even secured their deal by giving Moritz a platform to spew his thoughts.

She wasn’t even done. Because Yasmin also secured that entire cuckold situation with Hayley and Henry. Henry seems genuine in trying to be healthy and on track, but he seems in denial that Yasmin likes him fucked up, and that she’s an enabler. They both are.

I don’t think it was ever about Henry wanting Hayley, but Yasmin did, and it was a way to work around their infidelity clause.

Plus, sexual domination has always been where Yasmin has had the most power and control. She made Henry perform like a prized Stallion under the guise of giving him a taste to sustain him.

That entire sequence was still some of the most obscene and vulgar sexual moments of Industry, and they’ve had their share.

The freaking squelching sounds were diabolical, but the transition from Yas leaning in to perform oral on Hayley to “take back what belongs to her” to Yas slurping that oyster and belching was a work of art.

She has slowly succeeded in getting Hayley under her thumb, though. But it’ll be fascinating to see how much she loses control of Henry because Whitney is hot, seductive, and manipulative, and he’s just the type to bring Henry to his knees.

Harper is trying to hold fast to power, too.

But to my absolute delight, it’s her streaks of vulnerability that could potentially cost her more than her impulsiveness. Although the impulsivity remains a problem.

She’s all in on chewing up places like Tender and spitting them out. Harper is willing to position their company as anti-establishment just to get ahead, and she has a self-serving crusader vibe that’s fascinating to watch.

She didn’t hesitate to toss out how Tender is going down to Pierre and the other potential investors, even when she didn’t have enough to back it up. Harper is great at talking that talk, but her mouth moves faster than her head.

It’s part of why she and Eric make a great team if they can maximize it to their full potential without issue. Thus far, he’s orchestrating these deals and trying to get SternTao off the ground, even though they’re a risk that few are willing to take on.

She’s lucky in that she’s onto something about Tender.

It’s also fortunate that Eric is as diligent as he is. Harper gets too deep into her head, but, ironically, a newly laissez-faire Eric was the one to make the connection with the Dublin call center.

And she and Sweetpea were able to piece together that by itemizing things under price rather than services, Tender hid transactions related to illegal porn and gambling.

Now we know some of that funny business Whitney is up to as it relates to Africa, but surely that’s the tip of the iceberg for him.

Sweetpea is such a precious nerd, and it was great to see her face light up as she solved this puzzle. Now, she wants to dig even deeper.

Hell, she and James are about one and the same in that regard, so now I’m dying to see the two potentially working together.

And thanks to Harper assembling her ragtag team of scorned, spurred misfits and degenerates, SternTao is a fascinating new venture I’m dying to see more of. Sweetpea is one hell of an asset, and I can’t wait to see what Kwabena brings to the table professionally.

I can say for sure that he’s a delight on a personal level. He’s easily the most normal person out of the bunch, and he’s exactly what Harper needs if she does want to lean into “Operation Normal Girl.”

He’s hilarious, lowkey, and just living life and enjoying himself. I need more of him.

Whereas Kenny is getting a second chance at being a trader, moving on from Eric’s betrayal to work alongside him is a great move, too.

Unofficially, Harper still has Rishi, too. Sweetpea flipped out over him, and who’s to say if she really will walk if she has to cross paths with him again?

But Rishi’s descent as this cautionary tale of what happens when you fly too close to the sun and succumb to your own hubris is a compelling juxtaposition to all of these other big hitters trying to stay in the game.

I am a Harper/Eric fangirl, and my goodness did this hour deliver a full-course meal.

It’s completely undeniable right now that Harper Stern is Eric’s daughter. He sees her as this extension of him, a kindred spirit, he knows he’ll never have in his own daughters, and Eric is willing to prioritize Harper over his own family here.

This version of Eric is so Daddy-coded. He’s indulgent, obsessive, and devoted, and what’s fascinating is how it could appear like this confusing act of love. But it’s also Eric, and there has to be so much more to this, right?

He’s always loved Harper in his own way, but not to the point of — this, so there’s the element of trying to piece together where Eric’s head fully is. Is Harper right in the fact that he’s trying to fulfill some roles that he failed at before?

They had so many references to dads, and naturally, it was strongly used to frame Eric and Harper’s current dynamic. He’s bankrolling SternTao right now, and waltzing around this hotel in bathrobes like a dad who just brought his daughter to a Disney resort.

His actual daughter regarded Harper as if she were the replacement, and there was almost that sibling cattiness there.

But even Eric’s efforts to get to know Harper intimately and to offer advice, not just as a mentor but in a paternal fashion, permeated the entire hour.

Since his ousting and retirement, it’s evident that his perspective on the game has changed drastically. He poured his life into climbing a ladder just to reach a glass ceiling.

His entire family fell apart because of his pursuit of power and money, and there was no work-life balance. Eric got a glimpse of the end of that tunnel, and it’s changed his perspective somewhat.

So, his desire to push Harper to be a more well-rounded person, not so singularly focused, seems genuine, a desire not to have her repeat the same things he did.

I smirked at every opportunity he took to tell her to take the night off, take breaks, or even go see a boy she may like.

Seriously, Daddy Tao had me in stitches. For someone who dropped the ball on being the Suburban Dad, he certainly was giving it a proper go with Harper.

Even their tension was laced with the same vibes. Harper’s outburst was more vulnerable and revelatory than she intended, and Eric watched her like a bemused father taking in a toddler’s tantrum.

Eric is right, though. Harper was triggered—not necessarily by Eric’s daughter being there, but likely by the fact that they’ve fallen into a dynamic very similar to a paternal one.

Suddenly, Eric isn’t just this ruthless mentor who only talks game; he’s the guy trying to be too “normal,” asking her about her day, doing mental health checks, encouraging her to practice self-care, and wanting access to parts of her life she doesn’t freely share.

When you’ve never had that type of dynamic before, when presented with it in such a way, it’s jarring.

Harper tried to hold the line, asserting herself when speaking about how trauma didn’t make her stronger or is some great character attribute, but rather that it traumatized her.

She insisted that those traumas don’t influence who she is or what she does in any way, but we know that’s a lie. And Eric, does too. She used that emotional display as a shield while, in reality, revealing her vulnerability.

Ironically, Harper keeps trying to hold up this wall to keep him out, along with everyone else, but with as much time as they’re spending around each other, he’s getting through it anyway.

Every time she claims they need to maintain professional distance, she gives him another nugget of something personal without even realizing it.

It’s like her words say one thing, but she’s becoming more vulnerable anyway, subconsciously.

She actually told him that she’s a twin and let on that she harbors a lot of trauma, and she’s certainly revealed her perception of fathers due to her lack of one.

And Eric doesn’t prod so much as soaks it in and files it away.

But Harper doesn’t like to be vulnerable — it terrifies her, and I’m curious to see how she’ll blow things up to avoid that. Kwabena likes her despite her attempts to push him away romantically.

She hyped Sweetpea up, and she’s willing to accommodate Sweetpea’s request about Rishi, not just because she needs Sweetpea but because she cares.

In some twisted way, she regards Rishi like the brother she no longer connects to — becoming the family he doesn’t have.

But Eric is the most overwhelming. He put up his own $10 million, put up his family offices, and liquidated his daughters’ inheritance for Harper and their joint venture.

If it all goes tits up, he’s lost it all, and even though Harper didn’t ask him for that, the guilt and pressure remain on her all the same.

And all he wants in return is Harper being his pseudo-daughter, basically. But can Harper even handle that? I’m eager to find out!

Quips and Quotes:

• “Stop calling it clickbait, call it curiosity gathering.” Actually, hell yeah! I support this.
• “I hate when men try to take something that isn’t theirs.” The quote of all quotes for Yas that applies to so many situations right now.
• “I won’t hurt you just by knowing you.” Hit like a sledgehammer. Damn, I love Eric. But also, vulnerability is weakness, and that’s exactly what can happen.
• My trauma traumatized me!” Valid. Why do we try to put positive spins on horrific things?
• “Anti-status quo. Anti-establishment. Anti-power.””Which part of that is meant to be a problem for us?” My SternTao heart is happy and full.

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