The fourth season finale of “Industry” chucked a Molotov cocktail through a series that could once quaintly be called a financial drama. (Heavy spoilers follow.) The episode sprinted through Interpol alerts, sex work, far-right aristocrats, telegenic politicians and a cameo from the star journalist Patrick Radden Keefe. When it was over, friendships had been squandered, careers dashed and a company destroyed.
Along the way, Harper Stern’s love of financial risk finally paid off, but most importantly Harper (played by Myha’la) achieved her long-sought-after respect in the industry. Her twin flame in the show’s central ill-fated friendship, Yasmin (Marisa Abela) took a turn toward the monstrous that we, perhaps, should’ve seen coming.
“Industry,” created by Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, is not HBO’s most watched show, but for those that savor it, there is no greater sport than analyzing every financial zig and interpersonal zag. Here, three members of the Styles desk — Stella Bugbee, Marie Solis and Jacob Gallagher — discuss what makes “Industry” so despairing, and so delicious.
STELLA BUGBEE This season gave us resolution without fake character transformations. Theses people didn’t really change; each of them just accepted their true nature: Henry a prisoner of his home; Harper refusing intimacy; Eric alienated from his family; Whitney, off to live as someone else. But I want to ask if we think this story line makes sense for Yasmin? It was a little on the nose, the way she basically becomes Ghislaine Maxwell.
JACOB GALLAGHER I have no problem with how on the nose it was. The modern world is full of monsters, and “Industry” gave us a monster movie. Yas was always searching for her purpose and place in the world. She got close to finding it as a wealth manager in Season 2, and now she has found it. The voice mail from her father at the end works as a road map to who she became. The show wanted us to think she was running from her father’s sins. She was running toward them.
MARIE SOLIS By the time you get to the scene where Harper tries to give Yasmin a way out, you know in your gut she’s not going to take it. Still, I was on the edge of my seat. The way the shot is cropped so closely on their faces — typically you see that only when two characters are in love or are going to kill each other.
It’s compelling because this world feels close enough to our own, especially with the Epstein-esque story line, and the references to the tech billionaire Peter Thiel and peptides.
BUGBEE Is that why we love this show and feel that we can talk about it endlessly?
GALLAGHER It’s honest.
SOLIS It lets its characters act on their worst impulses. On “The New Yorker Radio Hour,” the creators said they wanted to construct a show where most of the drama, and violence, happens through conversation. And I love conversation.
GALLAGHER I aspire to their level of honesty. It’s so much easier! They know where they stand with one another at all times.
BUGBEE In my experience people tend to be far less confrontational, not to mention less self-aware in moments of confrontation.
GALLAGHER I enjoyed how subtly this show became about raw power and not money. Harper comes out richer than she ever could’ve imagined, and it’s completely irrelevant.
SOLIS Yes, and as Sweetpea says, 2 million quid is less than what she can make selling photos of her feet.
BUGBEE That line is the key to understanding this season in my opinion. The exploitation of the self and others — and who gets to choose when it happens to them — was a core theme.
SOLIS That’s what Yasmin tries to press on Harper when they’re at the final party in Paris, that exploitation and empowerment are not so binary, though in that context it’s a totally sickening statement.
GALLAGHER Also, this season really stares the rise of far-right nationalism in the face.
BUGBEE And connects it directly to tech.
GALLAGHER They’ve teed up next season to be about a telegenic M.P. who unites the nationalist aristocrats and the angry young men online. And now we’re set up for the last season to be about a “new operating system,” as dictated by politicians and ideologues, with an assist by the media.
BUGBEE Yes, the whole sub-narrative about journalism this season was very interesting. Do we think Patrick Radden Keefe will be a main character in Season 5? Will he ever get the real story?
SOLIS He will get the story, though it will take time to sift through all of that obfuscation. That “Industry” has something to say not just about finance but also about the worlds of politics, tech and journalism is part of its sophistication. It demonstrates the devotion to making a show that is actually about the elite — if you belong to that tier of society, you have to dabble in a bit of everything.
Stella Bugbee, Jacob Gallagher and Marie Solis contributed reporting.
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