The arrival of the third season of HBO’s Industry this week is ironic, seeing as the stock market has been a hot topic since Monday morning’s bell. The straight-up cliff dive the Nikkei 225 (Japan’s stock exchange) took while those in the West were in their sleep caused panic around the world. The Nikkei plunged 12.4% for its worst day since the Black Monday crash of 1987. Disaster, financial distress, and trepidation are all interwoven into what you can look forward to on Sunday, August 11 at 9:00 PM ET on HBO.
[Logline/Summary from HBO] In season three, as Pierpoint looks to the future and takes a big bet on ethical investing, Yasmin (Marisa Abela), Robert (Harry Lawtey), and Eric (Ken Leung) find themselves front and center in the splashy IPO of Lumi, a green tech energy company led by Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington), in a story that runs all the way to the very top of finance, media, and government. Since leaving Pierpoint, Harper (Myha’la) is eager to get back into the addictive thrill of finance and finds an unlikely partner in FutureDawn portfolio manager Petra Koenig (Sarah Goldberg).
The fact the series has survived this long is partially because it’s on HBO. The channel’s history is anchored in shows like The Sopranos, The Wire, Oz, and lest we forget Game of Thrones. With just a handful of exceptions, if you get picked up by HBO, you’re pretty much golden. With Industry, the show has quietly gained momentum and popularity into a special “If you know, you know” type category. That being said, season three will be make-or-break for the program as extremes get pushed and direction seems to run amiss.
Having a series that features startups, IPOs (Initial Public Offerings), and investment banking is right up my alley. Films like The Big Short, Margin Call, and most recently Dumb Money, all make for good financial entertainment. HBO dipped their finger into the financial pool a few years ago with Silicon Valley and found huge success with Succession, but Industry lacks a level of depth that the aforementioned seemed to have achieved seamlessly.
There’s more sex, cocaine, and expletive-laced rants conveyed through a thick British tongue than you could’ve expected from last season and it doesn’t add to the overall story. The show boldly goes wherever it feels like due to the “anything goes” arena that HBO has built. On one hand, you have subjects that are pertinent to the actual story like socially conscious capitalism. This type of “responsible” capitalism has received hefty criticism with some believing it lacks the strength to solve corporate problems and businesses shouldn’t be responsible for ethics. At the end of the day, since it’s a fictional show, they can do with it what they want for entertainment’s sake — opinions be damned. On the other hand, the show too often veers off into the egregious with its vulgar lines, high-level repugnancy, and lecherous characters.
All of the main cast carry a degree of scum to them and not one of them is embraceable. Everyone from Harper and Henry to Yasmin and Robert are self-sabotaging and it gets old quickly. The biggest lesson taught in this season is the danger of startup environments as they tend to float back-and-forth between lawlessness and corporate expectations (rules). Eric oversees the action on the trading floor where his responsibility is half salesman and half micromanaging manager. He above all is an HR nightmare, so watching him preach principles and telling folks like loudmouth, gambling addict Rishi (Sagar Radia) not to “cross the line” is laughable. Harper is obsessed with revenge and is willing to walk on anybody that stands as an obstacle to do so. She gets a high out of people suffering, and like the others, is tough to embrace. Henry is the posterboy for ‘conscious capitalism’ because, at the end of the day, some greedy, smug CEO has to be the face of the millions being earned for shareholders. Whether he burns down a forest or sells doilies from the trunk of his car, investors will want their profits. Period. So being ‘conscious’ about capitalism is hilariously moot.
If the producers put as much time and detail into the content of their characters as their lascivious behavior, this would be a top show by any rate. Taking a 30-foot dive into financial nomenclature without explaining the terms is ridiculous and leads to confusion. As if trying to navigate those extremely thick British accents without subtitles was hard enough, you’ll need to pass a Series 7 exam to follow their discussions.
The extreme reach for shock value fails at adding anything rewarding to the series. Rehashing a memory of a man having a 69 with a pregnant woman while showing his penis adds nothing. “I’m not Baal-Zebub, I’m something far more dangerous,” is equally as ridiculous as to dive so deep into The Bible to have a retired financier see himself as more dangerous than a demon.
There’s beauty in the power struggle taking place between Pierpoint and Lumi. If the story takes a turn to the U.S. and dials back the sex and drugs (a lot), it’ll be able to draw in a much larger audience. Again, the story is intriguing and the acting attached to that story is tremendous. The handful of plot twists this season are jaw-dropping and heavily impact the story, making for a good watch.
Industry gets a 6.5 out of 10. The heavily lauded reviews of season two might lead you astray to think this is the perfect series to binge, and again, the story is attractive. But the characters and the deplorableness of their actions make riding through the season a struggle.
The first episode of season three will be available to stream on MAX on Sunday, August 11 at 9:00 PM ET.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Nick Strasbourg/HBO
Series: Three Seasons, Eight Episodes | Rating: TV-MA | Trailer: Watch