Harper blows everything up in Industry

You know it’s gonna get wild when Industry takes trips outside Pierpoint’s London offices. Remember Rob’s trip to the Netherlands? Yas and Harper’s trip to Berlin? Or how about that hunting trip in Wales? To say they all ratcheted up the tension in their episodes would be an understatement. So when I saw we were headed to Bern, I was excited. The Swiss city is hosting a conference focused entirely on green investment, with clean energy and socially responsible financial decisions at its core. Think of it as Davos for the green dollar, or, as one character puts it when describing Lumi and the kind of funds descending on Bern, “the poster child for a new kind of capitalism.”

But can capitalism really accommodate such socially conscious minds? Is this an economy that can, as Eric (Ken Leung) breezily puts it during a key panel, generate the “maximum amount of money and the maximum amount of good”? Answers vary among the Bern crowd, which includes both green-dollar evangelicals—like Anna Gearing (Elena Saurel)—and those who are slightly more cynical about the whole enterprise—like Anna’s portfolio manager, Petra (Sarah Goldberg). The two once-close friends arrive in Bern with distinctly different agendas: the fallout from Petra’s cover-up of FutureDawn Partners’ investment in Lumi has brought them into conflict. As her lawyer tells her early in the episode, Anna uses a rather vindictive contract offer to keep Petra in line. (She has included a ‘philosophy clause’ to prevent her from investing in things like gas and oil behind her back, as well as a number of strict conditions about her agency and her profits.) It’s enough for Petra to scream ‘FUCKING SHIT!’ and then catch herself.

As she balances herself, she and Harper (Myha’la) decide to go it alone. Maybe they can travel to Bern and lure some of Anna’s investors away? It’s the kind of high-risk, high-reward gamble, or at least, it’s what Harper does best. All they need is $300 million to get started and get ahead in the game.

Meanwhile, Anna is hoping her panel with Lumi founder Henry (Kit Harington) and Eric (who’s been tasked with the job at the last minute) will be enough to turn around the energy company’s disastrous IPO rollout. Eric needs a win and is pretty motivated (he even refuses to drink on Henry’s private jet as he, Yas and Rob prepare for the conference), but Henry may be a little distracted. Particularly by Yas (Marisa Abela), who’s constantly trying to walk the fine line between wanting to be taken seriously and ignoring the tabloid press and benefiting from the attention and privilege that comes with it. Which is why she doesn’t hesitate to enter Henry’s private cabin on his plane, leaving her Pierpoint colleagues behind.

Once everyone arrives in Bern, it’s clear how much is on the Lumi panel, not just for Pierpoint and Anna, but for Eric and Henry as well. Which is perhaps why everyone is on edge. For example, Rob (Harry Lawtey) knows that a fellow contestant (Joel Kim Booster) is going to publish an internal analysis of Lumi. Knowing his predilections (and perhaps overplaying his hand, in the process), Rob follows him to the sauna (where, yes, the Fire Island star bares all—even touching himself during the entire exchange) and tries to get some intel on what and when that analysis will come out. But other than being told he’s in a text chain where he’s been named one of the hottest straight Pierpoint employees, Rob doesn’t get much out of the naked encounter.

Meanwhile, during the evening festivities leading up to the Lumi panel that you just know is going to fail spectacularly, Yas and Harper bond a little more. It’s clear that Yas is still reeling from the events on the yacht (not to mention having to endure even more mockery from Henry’s wimpy boyfriend Xander), and while she finds plenty of solace in her former Pierpoint colleague, Harper uses that moment of vulnerability as a networking opportunity: she lets Yas introduce her to Otto Mostyn (Roger Barclay), almost showing her cards by saying that she and Petra are there to open a new fund, throwing out the kind of words that a man like Mostyn thrives on. (“I prefer a kind of feminism where women can be shit.”)

The next day, what could have been a chance for reinvention for Petra and Harper turns out to be a disaster in the making. Every one of their meetings is a flop, with people either not taking them seriously (and sending them low-level, junior-level employees) or downright appalled by their pitches. (Hearing Petra ruin one meeting with the line, “Let’s get Jesus out of those sandals and into some Jordans” was a highlight of the episode.) Launching a new fund that doesn’t adhere to green ideals at a conference on those same principles proves to be tough. Petra realizes how ill-equipped they are to succeed and puts a stop to it: “Forget this ever happened,” she tells Harper, disappointed in herself for ever thinking it could work. I mean, she didn’t even have a way to show anyone her investment history, something Harper sets her sights on, once again enlisting Yas to help her get it back.

And that brings us to the Lumi panel, which ultimately sounds about as self-indulgent as you’d expect. And yet, halfway through, that aforementioned analysis is published. It’s effectively a death knell, both in content and timing, leaving Eric, Anna, and Henry scrambling to reshape the story. And as if that weren’t enough, Harper takes the mic to ostensibly just ask a question, but instead throws a loaded hand grenade at FutureDawn Partners, Pierpoint, Henry, and everyone else in the room. She announces that she’s part of a new fund (with Petra, who, like Anna, is stunned by the revelation) and wonders if the panel wasn’t just a way to cover up Lumi’s disaster.

That one-two punch is enough to shake the entire room. Soon, Lumi’s stock plummets even further, enough to send Petra into a tailspin. (“What the fuck is wrong with you?!”). That is, until Otto Mostyn shows up unannounced. He was intrigued by Harper’s brazen story; all he cares about is making money, and the conference drivel was clearly boring him. What better way to shake things up than to fund this budding venture with two women who have no allegiance to identity or environmental politics. (“New look, same great taste,” Harper remarks as he makes it clear to Mostyn that they’re all speaking the same language.) He’s willing to invest some money in their venture, and Harper knows exactly who she wants to have their first meeting with the next morning.

But first, we get an intimate scene between Yas and (a very naked) Henry at a pool he’s locked away from everyone. They form a bit of a traumatic bond over their time in the spotlight; he opens up about how he’s been struggling since his father committed suicide, and how he’s battled depression and suicidal thoughts himself. Sure, she still thinks he’s a bit of a playboy, but she’s increasingly drawn to him, teasing him more and more with each new revelation. That it all ends with him walking away, going to the bathroom, and selling all of his Lumi stock (making a little money before the company nearly implodes) only reinforces how selfish each of these characters is. It’s the only way they’re going to survive.

Which brings us to the breakfast meeting between Harper and Petra on the one hand, and Yas and Eric (hung over, having spent the night with a prostitute) on the other. It’s a humiliating moment for Eric and a triumphant one for Harper, who now serves her former boss at her beck and call. He can’t resist this new account, but is utterly emasculated by the end when Harper insists he make eye contact with her. This is the cruelty Petra had warned her about; it’s so unnecessary and yet so in tune with how Harper wants to play this game: with spite – and a terrifying sense of drive and ambition.

By the time Eric gets back on Henry’s plane, he’s clearly in worse shape than he was before. Not helping matters is the way Yas goes back to Henry and then hooks up with him. Professional? Maybe not. But then again, she’s figured out how to play this game so that it works to her advantage. Now, onward!

Random observations

• • I didn’t expect Industry while giving us “He has a big uncircumcised pig” as a line of dialogue, and yet here we are!
• • Can Eric’s midlife crisis get any grimmer? He resorts to “typical fuckboi prevarication” with nice flings in London and pays for sex workers in Bern – and tries to get reassurance from both that he’s a good enough fuck.
• • “Fortune, good night: smile once more; spin your wheel!” Honestly, anyone who quotes King Lear when starting a business meeting (as Mostyn does) deserves our utmost contempt. It’s almost as pretentious as Harper choosing to call her new fund with Petra Leviathan.
• • It’s gotten to the point where Harper’s reputation precedes her (with Eric and Jesse Bloom both gossiping about her time at Pierpoint). Will it finally catch up with her?
• • I can’t be the only one who had overly vivid flashbacks Cruel intentions while you’re watching that pool scene between Henry and Yas, right? And while we’re on the subject, what do we find more impressive: Harington showing his bare ass or his delicious intonations of that British-posh accent?