When the staff of Pierrepoint & Co aren't shagging each other, taking drugs, or calling each other cunts you can normally find them getting in and out of lifts. When someone learns something that causes them to fume, they fume in the lift, when somebody double crosses someone else (which happens often) they'll probably end up in a lift together, and when someone comes to work sporting a thousand yard stare then that will almost certainly be illustrated by showing us that thousand yard stare in, of course, a lift.
It's a fitting metaphor for a show that has as many ups as it has downs. Primarily in the lives of the various characters who make up the third series of Industry (BBC1/iPlayer, written by Mickey Down and Konrady Kay and directed by Isabella Eklof and Zoe Wittock with Down and Kay) but also in, for me, the appeal of the show. Season three of Industry was good, but like season two it didn't quite hit the heady heights of the absolutely majestic first season.
I don't think that's simply because there are virtually no characters that are likeable or that you can empathise with but if you spend too much time immersed in the listless ennui of the hyper privileged it's hard to get emotionally invested. That's probably a bit harsh as a series that began as anything but gripping improved immeasurably as it went on but I tend to glaze over when people talk about equity, due diligence, shorting, assets, micromanagement, and momentum and there's plenty of those business cliches doing the rounds here - as well as far too many minor characters who are hard to tell apart in their Charles Tyrwhitt suits and diamond quilted gilets (sometimes green, sometimes black).
Industry is at its best when it rotates around its core cast of regulars and in the third season we start with Yasmin (Marisa Abela) on her father's yacht. A yacht that's named after her. Did anyone say nepo-baby? Yasmin walks in on father Charles (Adam Levy) just as he's licking out a pregnant woman in Yasmin's cabin. Problematic Charles is later exposed for embezzling and then goes missing. Which only causes Yasmin further problems as she's pursued by paparazzi and finds herself hiding in a skip and worse.
Her colleagues ask if her head is in the game. Particularly Eric (Ken Leung) who has been promoted to partner and sacked pint size pisspot Kenny (Conor MacNeill) but seems to be undergoing his own crisis of masculinity which results in inappropriate sexual requests, a night with a prostitute, and demanding an answer to the question "do I fuck like a young man?".
Harper (Myha'la Herrold) is now working for some outfit called FutureDawn. Her boss, nominally, is the infantile Anna Gearing (Elena Saurel) but instead she's taken under the wing of the dynamic portfolio manager Petra (Sarah Goldberg). Robert (Harry Lawtey) is tasked with taking care of the hotheaded Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington), the CEO of green tech energy firm Lumi whom Pierrepoint are looking into taking public. Robert and Henry get on but Henry's erratic behaviour will sorely test their relationship. Another 'job' that Robert's on, however, ends very badly.
Then there's Rishi (Sagar Radia) whose violent temper, "unadulterated" language, and mysteriously itchy back are quite at odds with the new values that Pierrpoint are pretending to have. An entire episode is dedicated to Rishi's life unravelling. We see him gambling, getting beaten up, bullying colleagues like Sweetpea (Miriam Petche) and Anraj (Irfan Shamji), being pursued by his loan shark Vinay (Asim Chaudry), and speeding round his local village in his Ferrari. He's not a nice man but the Rishi episode was, for me, when the third series of Industry really got going. It reminded me of Bojack Horseman's bad trip.
It's not just Rishi who's in trouble. Pierrepoint itself is (hardly surprising considering the way they all carry on) and the vultures are circling - often in the form of familiar faces, faces that may be friend or foe and are often both. To a fantastic soundtrack (Pet Shop Boys, Wu-Tang Clan, Duran Duran, Rage Against The Machine, Carole King, Francoise Hardy, NWA, Low, Hudson Mohawke, Brian Eno, Fred Again, Simple Minds, Electronic, Grace, Three Dog Night, Jimmy Somerville, Pastor T.L. Barrett, and, er, Gustav Mahler) we're taken on a rollercoaster ride that incorporates a trip to Davos, an ayahuasca ceremony, a psilocybin trip in Wales, more than one inappropriate proposal, more than one nepo baby, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's red cabbage biryani, golden showers, a man being attacked with a soft toy in a child's ball crawl pit, and even the possibility of a murder.
There's also a guest appearance from Amol Rajan, what feels like product placements for the likes of Goldman Sachs, Barclays, Mitsubishi, and Red Bull and lots of talk about greenwashing, diversity, and ethical investment. It's quite exhausting. It certainly looks like an exhausting world to work in - and a macho, cut throat, and sometimes depraved one too. Though some bits dragged, I found myself Googling how to spell the word 'longueurs', other times the action was compulsive and never more so, in my mind, than when the tension is ramped up between Yasmin and Harper who are, it seems, the centre that everything in Industry revolves around.
The heart of it. Even if sometimes it's an ice cold heart. Industry makes powerful points about class divisions and the transactional relationships of the rich and powerful (as well as the nefarious takeover of sports, entertainment, and banking by the Gulf states using an imperialism they learned from the West) but more than that it's a compelling, if sometimes confusing, drama. For season four, I'd kill off a few of the unnecessary background characters and, maybe this is too bold, introduce at least one character who's inspired by morality rather than filthy lucre. I've always harboured a suspicion that most bankers are cunts. Industry suggests that not only is that true but they know it - and they're proud of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment