Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Industry’ Season 3 On HBO, Where A London Investment Banking Firm Remains As Pressure-Filled As Ever

Industry was one of those shows that became an under-the-radar hit for HBO when it debuted four years ago. Viewers were able to look past the investment banking jargon and the show’s “making the rich even richer” dynamic and saw characters that were arrogant, deceitful and vulnerable all at once. Two years after the second season premiered, the show returns for a third season, but with the dynamic at Pierpoint & Co. a lot different due to some personnel changes.

INDUSTRY SEASON 3: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A boat floating in the ocean. As we push in, we see lots of people partying and having a good time.

The Gist: Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) is on the boat, which belongs to her father Charles (Adam Levy), and she’s miserable. Then she walks into the cabin below deck and sees her father giving oral sex to a random pregnant woman.

Six weeks later, Yasmin is back in London, after her tycoon father disappeared in the face of a raft of criminal charges having to do with his business. Because Charles isn’t around, the tabloids have turned their attention onto Yasmin. She fends off one paparazzi hiding in a dumpster, but when she walks into her job as an investment banker at Pierpoint & Co. the next day, she glances at the screen on the desk of her coworker Sweetpea (Miriam Petche) and sees a pic of her on the boat with the screaming headline “THE EMBEZZLER HEIRESS.”

She has to shake it off because it’s the day before the IPO for the renewable energy company Lumi. Pierpoint’s Robert Spearing (Harry Lawtey) is at the company’s HQ; his job in this deal is to keep the company’s CEO, Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harrington) on track. There’s a question among Lumi’s board about Muck making legal but eye-raising changes to the company’s financial statement due to the late date for those changes, but Henry is confident that there won’t be a panic sale on the day of the IPO, and he gives an interview to that effect, against Robert’s advice. Also, Harry decides to buy back the options of a major investor who has doubts.

In the meantime, Harper Stern (Myha’la), after being fired by Eric Tao (Ken Leung) at Pierpoint for lying about not having a college degree, has gotten a job with a investment firm called FutureDawn. And while her boss and the firm’s founder, Anna Gearing (Elena Saurel), is only interested in investing in companies that do good, Anna is in conflict with one of her main account executives, Petra Koenig (Sarah Goldberg), who wants to invest as she sees fit. Harper seems to be more inclined towards Petra’s point of view, and talks to her behind Anna’s back. This is while Yasmin wants Harper to get Anna to buy up the new batch of Lumi shares that are now available.

Eric, who just became a partner, is told by one of the founders that he needs to let someone go from his team, just to show strength to the other partners. The shaky Yasmin seems like the obvious choice, but he wonders if team leader Kenny Kilbane (Conor Macneil) isn’t a better target.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? At this point in its run, Industry feels like Billions crossed with Succession.

Our Take: A lot happens in the first episode of Industry‘s third season, more than we could convey above. Robert relieves the stress of working with Harry Muck by having a booty call with a client, Nicole Craig (Sarah Parish), only to have to deal with a horrible turn of events the morning of the IPO. Eric, newly separated from his wife and trying to hold together under the pressure of his new position at Pierpoint, runs into Yasmin and her lawyer, Denise Oldroyd (Fiona Button) at a restaurant. What ensues is a night full of booze and blow and some straight talk between Yasmin and the boss who has always scared her to death.

This is the kind of show that Industry has morphed into by this point; the group of green trainees that started the series are all veterans, albeit ones that still have a lot to learn, and they have to deal with a lot of stuff that sometimes has nothing to do with their jobs. But how they handle these things has everything to do with the pressures they’re under at Pierpoint.

Creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay have a lot more juggling to do this season, given the fact that Harper is no longer working at Pierpoint, though it seems that the way the pair has been able to keep Myha’la’s sneakily ruthless character relevant is to have her work for a firm that’s investing in Pierpoint’s most important customer of the moment. It helps that Goldberg’s presence as the equally ruthless Petra adds a dynamic that gives Harper an opening to be more than just an assistant. How often she’ll interact with Yasmin, Robert, Rishi (Sagar Radia) and company will likely be reduced, but hopefully not completely minimized.

Having Yasmin be more of the focus works because she’s more vulnerable, both because of her family baggage and because she used to be the people-pleaser of the new recruits, and is finally developing a backbone. She’s also a bit creative, as we see in the second episode as the Lumi IPO starts to go south and Harry starts to lose it. Speaking of Harry, Harrington is a welcome addition, playing a techbro with an aristocratic background who has to go back and forth between being that techbro and making sure the old money guys who attend men’s-only clubs with leather chairs keep their money flowing.

Sex and Skin: Lots of sex, though the nudity is somewhat minimal, all things considered.

Parting Shot: As Harry is about to push the button to ring the stock exchange’s opening bell, launching his IPO, the power goes out.

Sleeper Star: Ken Leung somehow is able to play Eric’s intimidating and vulnerable sides with ease, often showing both sides of his character in the same scene.

Most Pilot-y Line: “I haven’t done blow since 9/11,” Eric says to Yasmin right before he snorts a line. Not sure if that’s something a person should proudly admit to.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Industry is leaning into the chaos of the financial world more than ever in its third season. But it’s also got confident storytelling and characters whom viewers now have a history with, which helps during all the chaos.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.