In the grand tradition of American media made about the shark-people that populate the financial system, Industry adopts a jaded tone while showing us the craven games our modelesque bankers play with the world’s money. Crimes of money are committed as a matter of course at Pierpoint, seemingly with such frequency that they barely ripple the waters of the bank most of the time. Viewers aren’t led to feel one way or the other about this; Industry is happy to allow us to draw our own conclusions. The same could be said about the times it crosses into other workplace misbehaviors like harassment and sexual conduct. In the first season, manager Kenny (Conor MacNeil) was an unholy terror of a boss for Yasmin (Marisa Abela), what with his volcanic temper and screaming. There was also the cigarette-voiced client Nicole (Sarah Parish), who made numerous sexual advances on Harper (Myha’la Herrold), Robert (Harry Lawtey), and Venetia (Indy Lewis). With Robert, it developed into a weird and secretive mother-themed relationship. With two seasons of professional lying and creative chicanery under its belt, These things happen is what Industry appears to be saying. In a milieu like this, where seemingly nothing is true, and everything is permitted, could a little murder make its way in?
This was the question I was left with as the episode “Company Man” concluded. Please be advised, I’ll be discussing spoilers for this current season of Industry.
After we got a day in the headlong life of Rishi Ramdani, we got to sit in the hot seat with Robert as he was dragged into a hearing to account for the Lumi IPO debacle. The government wants to figure out who’s to blame for Lumi’s overvaluation, their sudden plunge, and the power outages that left many in the cold and required a £2 billion bailout. Dressed in a tie and non-prescription glasses Pierpoint chose for him, Robert is equal parts representative and sacrificial lamb as his employers are only too happy to scapegoat him. Robert stammers through some withering questioning but makes it out more or less in one piece when rising-star Tory politician Aurore (Faith Alabi) cruises in to take responsibility on behalf of the government and promptly resigns as a show of contrition and accountability. What follows for Robert is a strange odyssey in which he drifts from Sir David’s (Kit Harrington) after-hearing party (where a duplicitous Aurore is in attendance) to an ayahuasca ceremony where David enthuses about monetizing spiritual hallucinogens in between gales of laughter.
Meanwhile, Yasmin is living the high life as David’s new girlfriend which we get a taste of when we find her in a very luxe-looking shower with the disgraced Lumi CEO. Remember those rumors about David loving to be peed on? They’re true! He asks Yasmin for it, though he insists repeatedly he’s not a pervert. David’s rationalization of the act does make it feel less salacious (he basically sees it as an indignity he can control), but it seemed to me like he was using a lot of intellectualizing language when “I like to be peed on” would’ve done just fine.
Later at Pierpoint, Yasmin goes to listen to David’s deposition at the hearing and learns about all the sexual harassment he was engaged in with his subordinate Caedi (Eliot Salt). Despite the fact that David made his moves on Yasmin during a work trip and that the two of them took over half a private jet to fuck while their coworkers could see them through a window, she’s shocked to hear that David could do something like that. Of course, Yasmin doesn’t grasp that Caedi deserves justice and is more upset over the personal hurt this represents to her, so she storms into David’s stupid afterparty. He has some weak mollifications that seem to work well enough on her, but once that Lindt heir cracks that David pees on every girl he likes, Yasmin snaps. She overturns a coffee table and flounces out, cruising home on a head of steam.
When she returns to the home she shares with Robert (and Harper, seemingly?), Yasmin and Robert have a surprisingly platonic interaction. There’s always a whiff of baggage about their relationship, harkening back to season one wherein Yasmin played little dominatrix games on Robert whenever she needed a lift. Yasmin joins Harry in bed where he’s been sleeping, and the two have a rueful but sweet conversation about their days. They both have an exhausted clarity of sorts; Robert realizes that Pierpoint will destroy him, and Yasmin realizes she’s always chasing men that act like her father Charles. And then, from out of this lovely repose comes a turn. Robert gently jokes that Yasmin wants to marry her father, and with perfect breeziness, Yasmin responds, “Well, I can’t because I killed my father.”
Robert chuckles and rolls over to go back to sleep, but the camera remains pointed at Yasmin over his shoulder, her eyes resting expectantly on Robert’s back. She’s trying to appraise his reaction. It’s a wordless moment that communicates with sudden and surprising certainty: Yasmin killed her dad. It’s such an interesting way to present this, too; the pseudo-confession comes not at a climactic moment but in a quiet scene during the resolution of the episode. It’s a tantalizingly understated way to kick off a murder plotline and I am here for it.
When Charles wasn’t physically and emotionally abusive to Yasmin, he treated her abysmally. He’s on the run from the law, eating out Yasmin’s tutor on his yacht, and assaulting her when she has it out with him. It’s entirely plausible Yasmin killed her dad and I can’t say I’d entirely blame her. It would also explain why Charles is still missing and why Yasmin has these violent flashes of memory about him. That said, this could represent a new horizon for Industry. Crimes of passion are not very common things on the show. Usually, crimes are committed with cold planning or impulsive decisions and the crimes in play are financial ones. Yes, this has effects on people’s lives (like when Lumi went down), but nothing so direct as murder before. I have no idea where this plot will go and this may be a red herring. However, I’m excited to see Industry stepping into new criminal enterprise. It’ll be fascinating to see how others like Robert and Harper react to their friend murdering her father. I imagine Robert will be crestfallen, given how naive he can be, and Harper would likely be on Yasmin’s side. Harper can be difficult to read, but she has a sort of unflappable darkness to her that it makes me wonder if killing Charles would gain Yasmin more respect in Harper’s eyes. However this falls out, I’m so excited to see this quietly wild show try on a whodunnit for size.