Sure, Yasmin and all her “It” factor glory seems to be the ultimate focus of the season, but Industry Season 3 Episode 3 should’ve been named Leviathan.
Harper is a perpetrator of chaos, and she gleefully got her way during an hour of wheeling and dealing at a climate panel that was as testy as the weather itself.
Goodness Industry’s characters are truly and utterly fucked.
Ken Leung, The Man That You Are…
Yes, there were many plot points that jumped off during Industry Season 3 Episode 3, but they converged remarkably well at a climate panel.
But Ken Leung‘s performance stood out the most, and it was most compelling to watch Eric grapple with his position at Pierpoint, in life, and that long-awaited reunion with his mentee/pseudo-daughter spawn from hell.
Eric Tao’s highs and lows are deliciously dizzying, and it almost feels shameful that we are allowed to enjoy this man’s midlife crisis.
Eric is balancing so many things at once. Yet, Leung strikes the emotional chord and proper note for each of them, making his performance memorable in this installment and throughout the series.
Eric and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad … Year
Eric has become such a hot mess, and it’s such a refreshing switch-up from the man who at least came across cool, calm, and collected in earlier seasons or felt as if he had his shit together, even when we knew that wasn’t the truth.
The thing is, Pierpoint was always his life, and his family situation was the window dressing, as is the case with most overly ambitious, career-oriented people whose families are for aesthetics.
But now, even his position at Pierpoint is on rocky ground, and he’s taking so many hits and blows, all the while clinging to his youth and being the poster child for male insecurity.
I love every second of it, banging sex workers who cost the price of a house and all.
Poor Eric needs his ego stroked more than his phallic appendage, and an insecure Eric has been a delight to watch because of the many layers to this stage that Leung brings forth with his performance.
Somehow, you find yourself rolling your eyes, disgusted, amused, and sympathetic to Eric all at once — a difficult feat to pull off.
“They Make It Seem Like You’re At The Top of The Ladder. You’re Really Just At The Bottom of The New One.”
The one thing that Eric typically feels like he has under his control is being the best at what he does at Pierpoint.
But this showman’s promotion has ironically left him more unstable than ever before.
It’s like Adler is screwing with him for kicks and perpetually setting Eric up for humiliation and failure, as we saw during Industry Season 3 Episode 2, and Eric is struggling to parry and point with this little fencing match he has with the man.
Adler taking off when he knew that panel would destroy them was such a shady move.
Eric had little time to pop up at the panel to save face for Pierpoint and smooth things over with the public perception of Lumi.
He was set up and destined to fail, especially when the Frank factor came in and the news spread that they were holding onto Lumi.
Eric Only Has An Illusion of Power
It’s like Eric has power in title only but not in practice. The reality of his powerlessness keeps smacking him in the face at every turn in Industry Season 3.
The little things like the hilarious rooming arrangments when he got there, or how he went from such a high of having an agreeable response while on that stage to a crushing low when he had to face down a damning question from Harper, losing the praise from the most powerful Eric was seeking.
Somehow, Eric seems to have slipped further down the ladder and has less power than before he became a partner.
Wilhelmina’s quote about it was so on point:
When you make partner, they make it seem like you’re at the top of the ladder. You’re really just at the bottom of the new one
It speaks to the daily grind of trying to climb corporate ladders only for another rung to appear or a new one to replace it.
It’s such a hamster in a wheel situation that seems fruitless in the end because there will never be a matter of achieving some grand prize.
Yasmin Has It, And All The Boys Gotta Have It
Yasmin’s milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and boy, does it get awkward.
No shade at all, but if one aspect of Industry gets a bit stale and annoying, it’s the irresistible allure of Yasmin to every man within ten meters.
We already know that Robert is in love with Yasmin, and he’s suffered for three seasons now.
He’s immune to her mechanizations and the fact that guys and girls fawn over her.
But it certainly gets awkward when it’s evident that there’s something between Yasmin and Eric.
Eric is intrigued by her and always has been to some degree.
Still, he’s in an odd predicament where he’s simultaneously seeking out some new, more amenable, and controllable version of Harper while also, amid his midlife crisis and insecurity about his virility, wanting to have sex with her.
It oozes out in all of their interactions.
On Yasmin’s side, her relationship with Eric is definitely one where she mirrors that father/daughter dynamic in wanting his approval and praise, going so far as to want to be his new Harper while also wanting to have that type of sexual control over him that she loves to wield.
She felt slighted when she realized that Eric had not intended to take her to the panel but that her presence was at Henry’s behest.
And she felt some way when she realized that he had someone in his room when she sought him out for that meeting, forcing him (and Robert) to overhear and even see her having sex with Henry in the plane by the end of Industry Season 3 Episode 3, some twisted form of payback.
Eric and Robert share a bed and talk about Yasmin, the creme on top, Yasmin’s irresistibility, and her hold on the men.
Henry’s Depth Reaches New Depths, Including Yasmin’s
Kit Harington continues to impress this season.
He makes a man you’d otherwise loathe in every conceivable way such a sympathetic and intriguing character that you look forward to his scenes.
It was enraging that he unleashed Xander on Yasmin in some way because he talked her up too much.
But Henry genuinely has a fondness for Yasmin, and he’s not so far gone that he gives her too much credit for “seeing him.”
Their poolside chat was intoxicating because it was another moment we saw Henry as wiser and more vulnerable than most give him credit for, and he wasn’t afraid to show that to Yasmin.
For Henry, Lumi had so much more meaning than money or trying to improve the world.
Peeling Back Layers to Henry Muck
He was more personally motivated in that it’s been a project that he quite literally lives for, given that pouring himself into it has kept his suicide ideation and inherited mental health issues at bay.
Capping that bit of raw honesty and vulnerability with him walking out of the pool, completely and metaphorically bare to Yasmin, ahead of making his decision to untie himself from his own company was a genuinely great moment for the hour.
But it also confirmed the hold that Yasmin has on him.
She manages him better than Robert ever can, largely because of the similar background and sexual attraction between them.
Henry submitting to Yasmin’s will appeased her, so it wasn’t much of a surprise that they ended the hour getting kinky on the plane with the other guys who Yasmin held on a hook, forced to know what she was up to the entire time.
But it’s scary for Henry, knowing that he may have transferred what’s keeping him alive from Lumi to Yasmin herself. It’s too much power — and a dangerous power — for her to have.
Industry’s Death By Sea Speculation Spirals
Xander was an asshole, but he said the thing some were thinking out loud.
His comment about Yasmin’s father ratcheted up some tension.
It certainly veered into uncharted and eerie waters when the man implied that Yasmin had killed her father. The flashes of more of her interaction with Charles on the yacht didn’t help matters.
Harper’s immediate reaction to that statement lets on that there’s also something deeper there.
One can easily conclude that Yasmin and Charles may have fought after Charles assaulted Yasmin, and she pushed him overboard, but who’s to say for sure until we get more?
Industry’s Most Stable Dynamic is Frenemies
What happened on that boat solidified a bond between Yasmin and Harper, which has been fascinating to watch because of its many layers.
Both are operating as if Charles is dead without either of them confirming that to be the case, but leave it to Harper to genuinely believe that Yasmin can move past her grief.
And Yasmin’s grief is such a great look at how, regardless of how horrible our parents are or the terrible things they may have done to us, that grief can still claw at you — you can still miss the horribly toxic people in your life.
Harper and Yasmin’s friendship still feels tentative, like you can never know for sure if they’ll screw each other over or look out for one another, and it spills into this working relationship they have now.
Harper didn’t hesitate to confide in Yasmin about her desire to stray from FutureDawn with Petra and spark something new.
While she gets everything she needs from Yasmin and makes moves that can actively damage her and Pierpoint, she also expresses real interest in the pair working together.
Hell, she used Yasmin to orchestrate that meeting with Eric to kick the man while he was down.
A Troublemaker, A Bandit, A Force
Harper didn’t waste any time taking the inch that Petra gave her and running with it during Industry Season 3 Episode 3.
The woman is scrappy as hell and never stays down and out too long.
She’s always plotting and finding a way to fall upward, and as loathsome as she can be, it’s what makes you admire the woman.
She stayed on Petra’s neck and essentially dragged her into this defect from Anna and FutureDawn while feeding her lines about Petra getting to be autonomous.
I appreciate that Harper effectively manages to bend Petra to her will as Harper tends to do. However, Petra checks Harper and calls her out in the process.
Petra doesn’t come across as a fool, and she knows what she’s dealing with when it comes to Harper, so it’s a great way to humble Harper a bit and remind her that she doesn’t fully have control over everyone and can manipulate at will without others knowing about it.
Petra is a force in her own right, and she was smart enough to know that she had to get from beneath Anna because that offer was absolutely outlandish!
Is Petra is Drinking the Harper Kool – Aid?
But she likes to pretend as if she’s on the up and up when it comes to things, and that’s why her relationship with Harper makes sense.
Harper can successfully do all the dirty work and take most of the risks, while Petra has the opportunity to claim plausible deniability if something goes wrong.
It’s a position Harper is familiar with and is okay with working to her advantage until she can use it to bite the hand that feeds her, as she tends to do.
As much as Petra raises a stink about some of Harper’s methods, she relies on them to get what she wants out of things.
She went from scolding Harper about her stunt of outing them at the panel and scoffing at the notion of illegally obtaining the figures at FutureDawn that illuminate her work to gleeful that Harper’s work landed them Otto.
Otto is An Intriguing Queen Maker Who Lives for Industry’s Drama
Otto is so wonderfully slimy and cavalier that you can’t help but like the guy.
He, like Harper, has a realistic view of the world around them and how everything operates.
For Otto, the entire green panel and retreat was a joke because a bunch of wealthy people were deluding themselves into thinking that this new quest toward stacking up their riches was great for the environment.
Maximizing money for maximizing good, or whatever the panel’s tagline was.
Otto’s bleak take on climate change was so refreshingly honest that it warranted a chuckle. He finds the climate-deniers morons, but he doesn’t have any real care about the world burning around him because he’ll be long gone before it reaches that boiling point.
Otto agreed to broker a deal and throw some money behind Petra and Harper for funsies because of Harper.
She’s a cutthroat shark with no boundaries or shame, not unlike his own second, and he’s entertained by and respects that in her.
Otto is here for the chaos; hell, so am I.
Leviathan, Legacy, Legends, and Pure Chaos
Harper naming her and Petra’s venture Leviathan is worthy of a chef’s kiss.
On the one hand, the sea serpent angle ties in nicely with many of the nautical references because of this season’s yacht situation.
We’re operating under the assumption that Charles met death at sea, and we know Harper has some connection to it.
So, is there anything more astute than for Industry‘s favorite snaky demon child to reference her new venture after a sea serpent?
Leviathan carries across many cultures and religions with its mythological impact and meaning.
But for Christianity, at least, it’s a female monster associated with the devil, a demon of envy, and the embodiment of chaos, something that consumes the damned and those who seek material things.
Harper is the embodiment of chaos, and everything that has led to her and Petra’s venture’s success is the height of chaos.
When she does something, she does it in the messiest way imaginable.
Harper and Eric’s Tables Turn in Industry’s Highly-Anticipated Reunion
Harper couldn’t wait to attack Eric, and she succeeded when she asked that question at the panel.
It had him sweating in more ways than one because, naturally, he had just succeeded at smoothing things over during the panel only for one question and “Hold” to blow it to shit.
But Eric was so visibly rattled the second he recognized that voice that even rich brats like Xander took notice.
What’s it like to be terrified of your own creation? We definitely see where Industry Season 3 Episode 3 explores that in many ways, especially with Harper and Eric.
By the time we got to that meeting thrust upon Eric, I was leaning into the screen, holding my breath, and waiting to see how Harper and Eric would interact.
Harper at least had the time to steel herself, knowing he was there and preparing for the perfect moment to take the jab at him she had longed to do.
On the other hand, Eric had the misfortune of trying to find his bearings only to sit through a meeting in which the economically sound decision was to get in bed with the vicious puppy he let off the leash.
He couldn’t even look Harper in the eye, yowza!
But oh, how easily he had to submit to these powerful women, including this pseudo-daughter who has become the bane of his existence.
Has the Last of Eric’s Control Vanished?
We saw the last vestiges of the control Eric thought he had slip away the second Harper demanded he look at her, and he did.
The power play between those two will always be at the center of Industry and the series’ finest, no matter how many characters and other dynamics we spin out to and explore.
Eric can’t escape Harper.
She’ll never get away from him, and he hates that, but he wants that, too. Petra wasn’t wrong about that.
Musings:
- I would like to thank everyone who provided us with a Kit Harington bum shot. It was a work of art.
- Robert is such a peacock, but Frank put the cock in peacock during that steam room scene. The sexual power play in Industry never lets up, and while Frank was literally feeling himself, Robert succeeded at getting some information out of him. The tension there was interesting, though.
- The lack of snow at a climate change panel in the middle of winter was perfect.
- Anna, posing as this conscientious “Live, Laugh, Love” businesswoman, is so out of touch, hypocritical, and savage that it is hilarious. Her offer to Petra was OUTRAGEOUS.
- It was a great choice to name the episode “It” instead of “Levithan” because of Yasmin’s seductive quality.
- Sweetpea is a great scene-stealer, but can we appreciate Katie? She’s hilarious, gives so much with so little, and understands everything happening in the room. She knows her boss well.
- Did Eric ever actually pay the sex worker he hired, or will she send the bill to poor Robert?
Over to you, Industry Fanatics.
Was Eric and Harper’s reunion worth it? What are your thoughts on Henry and Yasmin taking things to the next level? Let’s hear all of your thoughts on Industry Season 3 Episode 3 below!