Industry: Season 2 – Summary/ Review (with Spoilers)

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“Industry” returns and doesn’t experience a sophomore slump despite a bit of a time jump and the inclusion of new characters who are a bit underutilized.

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Summary

It’s post-pandemic now in the universe of “Industry” and with that, nearly everyone, but Harper, has returned to the office. Eric doesn’t like this, because he doesn’t see her as hungry working out of some hotel, but it is because she lives and works out of a hotel she meets Jesse. Now, who is Jesse? Someone who became massively wealthy thanks to the pandemic and has been rather illusive for any and all who would like to cover him.

However, between her charisma and Gus, Harper wins him over. Now, as for what Gus brings to this? Well, Jesse struggles with his son, Leo, and wants Leo to get into Oxford, and with Gus being an alumnus with connections, there is hope he can work his magic. But, what ends up happening is Gus balances sleeping with Leo while trying to get into politics.

As for everyone else at the office? Yasmin is trying to transfer out of FX and into Private Wealth Management, where the MD there, Celeste, has this unique way of handling clients, and Yasmin, which is enticing, stimulating, and also challenging. Switching to Robert, with him not being proactive, he is pushed to make calls, and he finds himself stumbling onto Nicole, the one who assaulted Harper, and he ends up not only getting into business with her but getting along well with her.

Why? Mommy issues – plain and simple. Rounding out the cast, we have Eric, who finds himself increasingly becoming a burden to CPS, and throughout the season, he does what he can to keep his job and remain a high valued employee. Which means potentially betraying Harper, Rishi, and even a new character named Danny, who has feelings for Harper, if it means getting to retire with dignity and on his own accord.

Review

Our Rating: Positive (Watch This)

Notable Performances, Moments, or Episodes

1. Watching Nicole becomes a notable performance as she evolves through her interactions with Robert. She goes from a #MeToo situation, with a woman in power, to someone flawed in ways that can’t be understated. Be it her being successful without changing who she is and trying to appear posh, or how you can see being herself has led to a lonely life. Sarah Parish’s whole performance just gives something you just don’t often see on television or in films.
2. Episode 5: Alongside seeing Harper interact with JD, and how much their interaction informs you about Harper without a flashback, there is also the realization of how much of Yasmin’s life was formed by her father’s mistresses.

Highlights

The Fall of Yasmin and Harper

It could be rightfully submitted that Harper and Yasmin often got lucky, considering who they used, betrayed, or the gambles they took. For Harper, Eric existed as a frenemy. They bonded as people of color from the US, with him often protecting her and Harper, when possible, including Eric as part of her plans and treating him almost like the father she wasn’t raised with. Or, to be less dramatic, like a safety net for when she crossed the line and got pushback.

But ambition can sometimes be a double-edged sword, as Yasmin and Harper show. While comfortable in FX, Yasmin wanted something better, to get away from Kenny and even escape Venetia in some ways, since Venetia not getting the same hazing seemingly created a sense of envy and frustration. Add in knowing multiple languages and the social standing that private wealth management cloaked itself in, and it was attractive.

So, damn Hilary and his team, with Celeste being introduced by Maxim, off Yasmin went, and like a small fish heading into the ocean, she was overwhelmed and didn’t realize she was prey. Celeste was but another example for Yasmin to see how much she relies on her father for legitimacy and value. Which is something she has fought for so long but to little avail. In fact, she decides to dive into her family’s money, as she seeks to bring them to Pierpont, and finds affairs, lies, and all the kinds of things that make her want to be holier than thou. Yet, we end up reminded Yasmin is a spoiled girl who hides behind being a polyglot, being well-dressed, and using her father’s money for appearances.

But in reality, she hasn’t much to offer without someone backing her. Heck, Charles, Yasmin’s father, even points out he used his network to get her into Pierpont. She didn’t work for it. And taking note she wants to take the high road and damn him; he strips her of everything, and Celeste, who was using her relationship with Yasmin to secure Charles, may have dropped her too when it is clear she is no longer needed or able to secure her father. Thus leaving Yasmin truly in a position to prove herself or drown trying.

Which brings us back to Harper. Thanks to her mother, Harper is wired to constantly be on the grind, proving herself, earning her position, and distrusting anyone who seeks a relationship that isn’t mutually beneficial. Eric is a relationship she understands, for he looks good for securing her, and they have a complicated understanding, but it allows her some flexibility to take risks. Danny is a whole other story, as is Jesse.

With Jesse, Harper can secure someone major who brings her MASSIVE leverage but maintaining a client like that, you can see is hard for her sometimes. The term “Bite off more than you can chew” is apt, but Harper thrives at being the underdog. If she isn’t punching above her weight class, she isn’t stimulated. But, being that Jesse is loyal to himself, his hedge fund, and his legacy before Harper, she is reminded why the financial industry might be a place she can thrive, but also potentially enables the worst in her.

Take her situation with Danny or her encounter with her brother JD. Danny is someone who breaks the spell Harper was under where it seemed she couldn’t get a decent person to have sex with, and then when you add feelings into play? It made it so she wasn’t in control or the power position.

Which is scary for someone who never feels secure and thus is always fighting for more, like a scrappy puppy. And the more Danny got close, opened up, showed he really cared, the more you could see Harper’s wounds open up. So Harper’s edge being what she sees as her everything, and allowing Danny to dull her corners or allow Eric to push the idea of therapy seemed to Harper like being pushed into a corner. Thus leading her to bare her teeth.

Yet, while her co-workers got her fangs and even got bit as she tried to reestablish dominance, she couldn’t do that with her twin brother JD. She was constantly on the defense and had to reconcile her truth with his, which is that it was never them vs. their mom. JD saw Harper as an extension of their mother, and you can see that was unexpected for her. Maybe even a bit of a wake-up call that made her have to take note of who she was outside of work, the one area she excelled in.

But, you know what they say about people who only know personal ambition and don’t know how to humble themselves or work as a team, the same people they backstab, they learn don’t die in an instant. Eric has long known Harper is worth knowing, even being friendly towards, but is dangerous. She proves that to him in a major screw over that nearly gets him fired, and when given a chance, and taking note she sets herself up, he delivers retribution.

Ultimately leaving Yasmin and Harper in a place where they can reflect on what happened over this season and potentially grow or find ways to be conniving, stubborn, and desperate so they can paint the picture that the problem isn’t them. More so, it is racism, sexism, anything but them, which is the problem that needs to change.

Robert and Nicole

The beauty of Robert and Nicole is how much Nicole gets out of the relationship. It is extremely rare to see a woman like Nicole be loved, get grace, and all that from someone who isn’t her age or older but a younger man. Now, are the power dynamics in her favor because she is a client? Yes. However, she recognizes that Robert has issues, but they may not be the type of issues she can exploit for months or years on end. So, there are tests to see if the line has been reached, whether Robert has grown tired of her and whether it is really just her money that keeps him around.

For as shown throughout their conversations, he gets her in a way, and she him. Robert transformed to fit into a posh world, and Nicole, she didn’t. She showed up as she was and made people accept her but, unfortunately, was treated as an exception versus changing the rule. So unlike beards and tattoos, women who act like, talk like, or have the same background as her aren’t seeing a shift in the culture. For every Nicole, Jackie, maybe even Harper, there are a million and one Yasmin types, Celeste, or Venetia.

On The Fence

Multiple Storylines Not Going Deeper

What was strange to me is that things didn’t go further when it came to Celeste and Yasmin, Gus’ storyline, or even Venetia. Starting with Celeste and Yasmin, this lesbian #MeToo not going further was a real surprise. For whether it was Celeste playing with Yasmin’s emotions, manipulating her to the point of you being unsure if Yasmin was just an ego boost for Celeste, since her wife had someone, or was a genuine interest, there was more to explore. Never mind, we didn’t get to meet Celeste’s wife and see how their relationship dynamic was.

Switching to Gus, after missing him the first few episodes, he had a split focus between Jesse’s son and working for Aurore, and neither really went anywhere. He got with some twink and made money off of getting him into Oxford – big whoop. Then in terms of Gus getting into politics, that blowing up so spectacularly leaves you to wonder if Gus will perpetually be stunted? Will he be one of the most educated in the room yet also the least accomplished?

Which leaves Venetia. With her being the new girl, there were so many possibilities. From the start, she represented a shift in Pierpoint since the hazing Yasmin went through clearly was no longer acceptable. Alongside that, she seemed like a wonderful match for Robert, who, yes, was going through it with Nicole, but it would have been interesting to watch him pulled between a woman younger than him and a woman older than him, and both being presented with notable merit.

But, alas, the best thing we got out of Venetia was showing how women like Yasmin, who suffered because of a patriarchal culture, eventually become part of the machine and want to become the new perpetrators. If not play down what someone new goes through and make it seem like a norm vs. a foreign and unacceptable act.

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