How does a series about young finance graduates making their way in the cutthroat world of investment banking become one of the most distinct sleeper hits on television? How does it continue to remain fresh with each season? The creators of Industry, Konrad Kay and Mickey Down, who recently announced that they’ve already started writing Season 4, have their work cut out for them because Season 3 was unrelentingly monstrous. In the best possible way.
The dialogue is often unrepeatable in polite company. The work culture that the show depicts is beyond toxic. And while the first two seasons of Industry introduced us to a group of wide-eyed, fish-out-of-water characters, Season 3 gives us a slightly more jaded ensemble who feel less like prey in unfamiliar territory, and more like budding predators in the dog-eat-dog world of finance.
Season 3 brings us on a much more expansive journey into the world of finance, exploring the chaos behind launching an IPO, with Kit Harrington joining the cast as an aristocratic, green tech company CEO. He might be a fresh face on the block, but don’t be fooled by this charming facade, as he is very much a money-hungry animal dressed in a green cloak of self-delusion.
The betrayals and debauchery of Season 2 really set the tone for this season. The narrative feels a lot more spread out, and the world in which this show operates feels lived in and textured in a way that’s really quite distinct. Pierpoint is still very much at the centre of it all, but with Harper (Myha’la Herrold) out of the game, Yasmin (Marisa Abela) and Robert (Harry Lawtey) are very much still here to play, albeit in Eric’s (Ken Leung) power games. No one has learned their lessons after the Season 2 finale.
Yasmin and Robert’s game of “will they, won’t they” continues to enthral and stretch that tension to unbearable lengths, while a harrowing “bottle episode” starring Rishi (Sagar Radia) is one of the season’s best offerings.
That said, Season 3 does, however, have fewer of those heart-thumping trading-focused set-pieces, compressing it instead into a few select moments across more episodes.
Season 3 of Industry leans further into the corrosive culture of the financial world in a way that further highlights the toxicity of the work and the self-destructive nature it brings out in people who seem less human as each season progresses.
Follow Us