Finally, at long last, HBO's "Industry" will be getting a primetime Sunday-night slot with its third season. First debuting in 2020, the series hasn't been able to pick up the viewership it deserves, despite having a dedicated online following. But, with season three it feels like the show is finally set to become the hit that it was always destined to be.
"Industry" focuses on a group of college graduates working at Pierpont & Company, a fictional London investment bank. In Season1, they were hired on a trial basis with only a fraction of them not only securing a permanent job, but a permanent spot in the series' sprawling ensemble cast. What elevates the show from just being a simple workplace drama, is how Pierpoint continues to break and bend the characters in the series at its will. In an attempt for a release, the characters in "Industry" become increasingly volatile, and season three is no different.
This new season of "Industry" begins on a boat, and is the beginning of a life changing event for a few of the series characters. Not gargantuan in size but fancy enough to be impressive, the boat and the fate of the individuals on it are at the center of a mystery that begins to chip away at Yasmin, who with season 3, is the series' new lead. Throughout the episodes, the boat is revisited through flashbacks, first appearing in quick flashes meant to keep the viewer confused, until it explodes later at a point of no return. Along with the boat is the fractured Pierpoint & Company, which after Harper's (Myha'la) firing in the season two finale doesn't feel like the bank we were first introduced to in 2020.
Accompanying this change is the introduction of Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington), the head of a green-energy tech company, and Petra Koenig (Sarah Goldberg) a manager at Harper's new job. Harington and Goldberg both instantly meld into the series, and it feels as if they've been a part of this show all along. Like most of the men in the series, Muck is the perfect mix of sleazy and pathetic, while Koenig's bite appears to be just what Harpher desires in a business partner.
While the alcohol, drugs and sex are still here, this season sees its characters getting wrapped up in some increasingly disturbing scandals and lifestyles that will inevitably change the status of this show forever. With each episode it feels like Season 3 is going to be the breaking point for characters like Yasmin (Marisa Abela) and Rishi (Sagar Radia), and while it's easy to sympathize with even the worst of them, the meanness of these characters is what makes this show so special. Fortunately for "Industry," this is a show where the worse its characters get, the more enticing the series becomes.
Pierpoint and the people left in the company feel like shells of themselves, and it's with season three that "Industry" is questioning if its ensemble cast of characters can continue to exist in the raw way they have been. Going through the motions can only take you so far, both at work and in your personal life. There's Yasmin, whose desperation to fill Pierpoints Harper-sized-hole just proves that Harper cannot be replaced, and Robb (Harry Lawtey), whose closeness with his clients continues to bring him closer to the edge.
Robb in particular is still one of the show's most fascinating characters, and Lawtey continues to deliver the show's most unwavering emotional performance. "I don't know why i'm still here," He says at one point this season, and while he's talking about his job at Pierpoint, it's impossible to not think that he's talking about his life as well. And he's not the only one. He's joined in this misery by Eric Tao (Ken Leung), the CPS managing director, and "Industry's" standout performance.
Often found as side characters in films, Leung belongs on the screen as a leading man. Leung's performance is one that since "Industry" debuted at the beginning of the decade, should have garnered him an Emmy nomination. Like "Succession's" Jeremy Strong, Leung toes the line between good and evil quite well, tightroping it until he inevitably sways either way. Hopefully, with "Industry" finally getting the famed Sunday-night slot, the series and its masterful performances will get more attention, and Leung–54 years of age–will finally get his flowers.
As Eric, he is calculatingly cold as always, but like the younger workers at Pierpoint, he too is becoming fractured. Newly separated from his wife and reeling from the severing of his connection with Harper, Eric's life is at a standstill. He haunts the Pierpoint offices like a ghost, and leaves it to hook up with women much younger than him, desperate to know if, in the bedroom at least, he's incapable of failing. Harper too is at a standstill in her life since she and Eric parted ways, and spends this season desperately trying to make and maintain a thrilling albeit volatile connection once again.
But sadly for both her and Eric, without the other, they feel stifled. There's not enough at stake in their jobs or their new relationships, and it further pulls them towards each other, fleeting at times and final in others. The relationships–romantic, platonic, and all those in between–are put to the ultimate test in season three, and it is glaringly apparent that along with the show's narrative structure, its relationships will be fundamentally changed by the final episode as well.
What makes this show standout is that things can go well as quickly as they can go south–showcased this season in episode two, one of the most thrilling hours of television this year–which puts this series above its peers. But, with its first few episodes, it's clear that with season three, "Industry" is unfurling into a different kind of beast. Instead of transforming the series into something unrecognizable, what creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay do is even bolder. The two mold the series to the point that while there's a clear evolution happening, everything that initially made "Industry" one of the best shows of the decade still remains intact. It not only allows the series to grow but forces it to become the most impressive version of itself.
Whole season screened for review. Third season premieres on HBO on August 11th.
