And with that, episodes 7 and 8 bring Industry's roller-coaster third season to a close. These past eight weeks may have flown by, but it also feels like we've just finished running a marathon and are in desperate need of an IV drip of fluids straight into the bloodstream. Season 3 of Industry was exhausting, operatic, and stuffed to the gills with action, plot, degradation, sex, and violence. And if the comments on these recaps are any indicator, it has also been a divisive season, with people torn on its pacing, its ratcheted-up storylines episode to episode, and its sensory overload, which undermined the impact of its most catastrophic and exhilarating moments. Season 3 was not interested in patience, letting things breathe, or drawing things out. That worked both to and against the show's benefit. In the end, this year felt a little bit like attending one of its wealthy character's drugs and orgies parties and having the lights turned on, forcing you to take stock of the madness in which you willingly participated. How did you get here and what do you do now? The characters will have to answer those questions themselves soon, but for now, it's time to take stock on who came out of this season up and who is headed down.
Eric Tao: Going Down. The rise and fall of Eric Tao is complete. This season for Eric was all about losing vitality, trying to retain his youth by eating the young around him, all in the hopes that it might save the thing he loved most: his job and his power within it. Eric has taken his share of shit, from being the top brass's DEI poster boy to downsizing and killing as much of his workforce as necessary. When Eric showed that he was willing to kill (metaphorically at first, which then probably lead to it in the literal sense) even Bill Adler in an effort to save himself, he at last revealed himself as being everything he accused Harper of being. If you are team Harper, then this comeuppance should've been one to savor after the events at the end of last season. But somehow I find myself still feeling sorry for Eric. He has lost everything and spiraled out of control in the most embarrassing of ways. He helped orchestrate the deal that got him ultimately fired. No matter how hard he fought, it just made his fate more inevitable. He got a $20 million cushion on the way out, which is a pretty sweet deal, but it was never about the money for him. There's never enough money for people like this. He is a dinosaur who staved off extinction for as long as he could, but it's here now.
Yasmin Kara-Hanani: Going Up(?). Sometimes you just have to be practical. Yasmin didn't need ayahuasca to see herself more clearly than anyone else on this show. In a world that designates either abuser or abused, she chooses the former. There are all sorts of reasons why she makes the decision to get hitched with Henry Muck: joining a powerful media family to ensure an ally in the fight for her reputation, the reality that she would never have been happy living out some middle-class love story with Rob, or perhaps it's simply that Henry makes sense for her. They are in solidarity in more ways than one. It doesn't make the decision any less shocking, but out of all the dramatic character developments, this is the easiest one to trace. Sometimes you have to be in control of your own unhappiness.
Sweetpea Golightly/Anraj Chabra: Going Up. The children are the future, but God is that future unbelievably dull. I can't blame Harper for dumping that donut right in the trash.
Robert Spearing: Going Up. Good lord, Julius Caesar didn't take this many shivs in the back. Robbie has had a rough go this season: traumatic experiences, manipulation, job abuse, getting thrown to the wolves at various points, and rounding it out by watching his dream girl get engaged after the pair just hooked up the night before. On the bright side, there's nowhere to go but up! Robert seems to realize that at least, as he has moved towards something resembling enlightenment over the past couple episodes. He is out of the Pierpoint hellscape and is going out on his own, with some backing from Henry (the least he could do!). He might even like it in the states, America is full of toxic people to date and encourage your self-destructive habits.
Harper Stern: Going Up. Forbes 30 under 30, with a glowing (for him) remark from her former boss/enemy. Harper could not have come away from this season any better, but much like a heist movie thief who needs just one more score before going legit, she can't help herself. She needs that action. The action is the juice, after all. The problem with being maniacally driven is that it doesn't go away just because you made it to the top. You have to keep creating hoops to jump through, even if the hoops are of questionable legality. The Jessie Bloom story arc of Season 2 is a big reason Industry became must-watch television to me, and it hinged primarily on the two of them as kindred monsters, unable to quench their bloodthirstiness. Nobody on this show can help themselves, so much so that Yasmin and Harper end up on the phone talking about coming to the former's wedding. They need chaos in their lives. As sweet as it probably was to force Rishi to suffer from his consequences, she probably would've been happier with him around instead of doing team dinners with girlboss supreme and the wonder twins, Holly and Anraj. Harper made it to the top and now she can't wait to blow it all up as soon as possible. Perfect character.
Rishi Ramdani: Going Up. Well then. Even I am occasionally susceptible to my own personal biases and prejudices. Perhaps it was the Britishness and Winnie the Pooh face of Rishi's bookie that made me underestimate his dangerousness. To be fair, much of his most dangerous behavior seemed to happen offscreen, between episodes. If there is one definite flaw of this season, it is with the Rishi storyline. Aside from his Uncut Gems episode, so much with him seems to happen offscreen, so that when things escalate—it's not quite that it feels unearned, but more that it would've been nice to have gotten eased into it a little more. As it stands we are a little bit like Rishi, standing in an apartment redolent of divorced guy energy, with a tiny cake and a dead wife, wondering how in the hell we got here. Does Rishi deserve this hell he's been cast into? Almost certainly. But even still, I can't quit him. He's due for his luck to turn around any day now!
