Industry Season 3 Episode 7 Review: Useful Idiot

Critic’s Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

4.5

It’s a new dawn and day, and betrayal is heavy in the air after Industry Season 3 Episode 7.

The season’s penultimate installment threw everything at us, leaving fates hanging in the balance, significant changes on the horizon, and kept the foot on the gas.

The financial game is purely savage, but so is the game of life.

When the Future is Always Uncertain, it Ups the Stakes

We’ve already rejoiced over the news that Industry will return with a fourth season.

But with a series like this that always stays on the fringes of mainstream, even in this critically acclaimed third season, it’s no surprise that the powers-that-be write like the ax could drop at any moment.

If the season has done nothing, it has pushed Industry to the absolute limit, leaving it without barriers or safety nets.

There’s a certain freedom in just gunning ahead full blast towards a season finale that could blow all up and leave everything hanging in the balance.

As a result, there’s a constant feeling that anything can happen at any moment.

Nearly every installment has crammed a season’s worth of plot into an hour, barreling ahead at the speed of lightning like a coked-up Rishi at a casino and nothing (but everything) to lose.

It lends itself to an unpredictability that keeps the series exciting.

You can never anticipate what’s to come next, and nothing (like Pierpoint) and no one (like literally all of our leading players) feels safe or certain.

Industry keeps the audience on edge in that way.

Rising Stars Mean Undetermined Fates and Suspense

Speaking of main players, no one feels safe in an Industry with plot points that can result in danger, death, backstabbing, and betrayal.

It doesn’t help matters that Industry bolsters one of the most supremely talented casts on the air.

Just as Industry is getting its due and proper accolades over time, so are the many actors portraying these characters.

From Herrold and Abela to Harry Lawtey (who is already capturing the eye and anticipation of many with his notable role in Joker: Folie à Deux opposite of legends like Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga, we have a cast that is staying booked and busy.

With that in mind, as they continue their ascent to superstardom and more prominent roles, every second spent with these characters feels precious and like we could be on borrowed time.

With the loss of a pinnacle character like Gus, any plot point that challenges the fate of any of these characters is palpable.

A perpetually sad Yasmin crumbling under the stress, grief, and trauma from all that she’s endured could meet any fate, and it’s a realistic concern.

A newly optimistic Robert relocating to the States and leaving the toxic world of Pierpoint behind feels as plausible as anything else.

Harper, meeting some horrid fate as her survival skills masquerading as reckless ambition and betrayal catch up to her, is as real a possibility as ever.

The fates of our favorite characters can always reasonably hang in the balance, and we feel the anxiety over that. Industry Season 3 Episode 7 is a prime example.

When They Go Low, We Go … To Hell, F*ck That

The third season has damn near beaten the life out of Yasmin, but Marisa Abela has put forth some stunning work.

The hour saw Yasmin a shell of herself.

The thread this woman is hanging on by is such a frayed bit. It’s practically transparent.

It didn’t seem like things could get any lower for her, but there was a trap door comically.

As if it wasn’t enough that her father embezzled, lied, abused people, and disappeared into the sea, Yasmin has had to face the brunt of it all.

But her father’s publishing company’s desire for her to be the face of shame in place of Charles, serving as the fall woman, was a special kind of low.

It didn’t matter that she was also a victim of Charles or, as we learned later, that they were equally culpable in Charles’ misdeeds.

They were happily willing to throw Yasmin to the wolves for their benefit, not giving her many options and taking full advantage of her precarious state and cash-poor status.

But information is power, and learning and having proof that Hananai Publishing was culpable, too, was the only way for Yasmin to get out of the permanent tarnish.

Survival Trumps Morals in Industry Season 3 Episode 7

Yes, it would’ve jeopardized Charles’ victims and caused them damage as the information was out there, but it also would’ve saved Yasmin.

Her lawyer wanted her to show some grace and take things in stride rather than throw the victims under the bus to save herself under the guise of taking the high ground over Hanani Publishing.

But this is Industry; screw the moral high ground. It doesn’t exist.

Even the most morally centered person would’ve likely opted to take down Hanani Publishing rather than go down in infamy as the poster child of Charles’s discretions.

Yasmin wavered on the idea, trying to make sense of if it was something she wanted to do out of fear of not coming across as a bad person.

But we always knew what Yasmin could choose because it’s in her nature to do so, and if it’s one thing Industry characters can’t fight, it’s their true nature.

Sparks of Codependency and/or Love

It takes Yasmin to be at her absolute lowest to realize things about herself and her relationships with others, specifically men.

Yasmin has jerked Robert around for as long as we can remember, knowing he harbors genuine feelings for her.

But it was one of the first times she could articulate why, and she went as far as essentially admitting (for the second time this season) that she loves him.

Anytime she comes close to expressing actual love, she torpedos it, typically with sex and anger, and Robert was probably one of the only men in her life who challenged her and wouldn’t allow her to do that to him.

He’s remained steady in her life, and he doesn’t view her as merely a sexual object, and only now, when her entire life has blown to bits, does she value and appreciate that.

It feels like they’re closer to equal standing, and with that fall from grace and the privileges she grew up with, she has a greater appreciation and desire for the working-class guy, whom she used to be out of his league.

Yasmin’s Love for Robert May be Too Late

But to her dismay, just as she’s had these realizations, Robert could be moving on with his life, leaving Pierpoint, yes, but even London behind him in pursuit of a job opportunity in Silicon Valley that he seems genuinely excited about.

You could see the fear on Yasmin’s face over the prospect of losing him when he excitedly shared the news.

Robert seems oddly hopeful, thriving off anticipation as he described it.

It’s the first time we’ve seen him seem genuinely happy and on the cusp of finding freedom.

I almost can’t trust it, as he’s spent most of the series serving as Industry’s kicked puppy.

Like Yasmin, Robert’s happy announcement fills me with dread and a deep wariness.

So This is What Death Feels Like

The hour does well capturing the Titanic feel of the crisis with Pierpoint’s finest employees partying it up, getting high, and having sex in open-windowed offices.

They were celebrating nicely while Pierpoint was burning on another floor.

You can’t fault Rishi for plotting his escape, especially at Eric’s tip-off and working toward saving his ass since he was already sporting a broken arm, coke nosebleeds, and an enforcer needing payment.

It pays to be in the room where the real action happens, and Eric learned that the hard way.

New CEO Tom questioned his credentials and stake presence as the partners scrambled to figure out their next step.

For Eric, it’s nothing new; he’s spent his entire career proving why he’s supposed to be in the room without batting an eye.

However, there were two conflicting viewpoints about Pierpoint’s future with Tom versus Adler.

Adler was sustaining himself on legacy and Pierpoint’s status as a bastion of the financial industry for 150 years, so it should’ve been about salvaging the company rather than selling out for convenience.

But Tom wanted to fix the problem the most efficiently possible, whether it meant seeking a bailout from the US Treasury, which proved to be a fool’s mission, or hacking Pierpoint up for parts and selling them to the highest bidder.

The US Treasury bit was hilarious, particularly hearing this woman claim they couldn’t bail out a big bank overseas during an election year.

Tom’s quip about how she’s a Democrat, meaning she only pretends to have a heart was darkly humorous and made me cackle.

But the top floor wheeling and dealing was peak Industry.

We’re Just At the Mercy of Someone’s Ambition

Trevor White has done some of his finest work on the series thus far in that top-floor war room.

He’s a man clinging to the legacy he helped build, the only thing he has in his control.

He devoted his entire life (and health as he’s battling cancer) to Pierpoint, so it’s no surprise he was fanatical about saving it however he could and still plotting to make moves against Tom and ascend to power.

But this industry is a game, and it always has been, and Adler, the poor bastard, was outplayed.

The people you’re closest always to do the most damage.

He mistook his camaraderie with Eric and the genuinely deep moments they shared as allyship when he should’ve watched his back.

In the end, he, too, was a casualty of Eric’s ambition, something he encouraged when it was directed at others but didn’t expect when Eric used it against him.

Eric Mirrors Harper in a Full Circle Moment

Betrayal is a hell of a thing, and you could see Eric’s mind churning away throughout the hour.

You could tell that he was weighing his options and trying to determine the best way to survive.

And then you could see the exact moment he realized he was about to throw Adler under the bus.

Again, Ken Leung does some fantastic work.

His facial expressions and intonations in his voice convey so much, adding layers between every line or movement.

Eric using Adler’s tumor against him, making him second-guess whether or not he was mentally fit, was a particular type of diabolical.

It opened the floodgates for the company to make Adler their scapegoat, chalking up risk-taking maneuvers like backing Lumi as a byproduct of his tumor and effectively putting the man to pasture.

The fact that Eric, the same man he had commiserated with about aging out of the game, was the one who kicked it off only made things worse.

It reminded me of the adage that you don’t have to outrun the bear, only the person beside you.

Not only did Eric take out a friend and comrade in arms, but he executed that takedown so well that he positioned himself as the new Adler and used Ali and his connections to the Egyptian market as another Nepo Baby to save the day.

Pierpoint lives to see another day, but at what costs?

Like Kenny during the season premiere, it came at Adler’s expense, a brutal takedown.

It was also one of the most purely entertaining developments yet.

The parallels between Eric and Harper deepen with each installment; they don’t have to share the screen to see them.

Petra Takes a Swipe at Harper

We should’ve known that the partnership between Petra and Harper would be tenuous at best.

I mean, Harper is Harper, and Petra prefers walking on the right side of legalities and ethics, even though she bends here and there.

But mostly, Petra brought Harper into the fold and then regretted it when she spent more time fearing that Harper would betray or undermine her.

Harper has always been Harper and hasn’t hidden how she operates, and Petra didn’t mind that when they initially formed their partnership.

It seems unfair to hold Harper doing what she’s been doing and being what she’s been against her like this.

But it seems to hit Petra that if Harper betrayed two superiors and threw her friend under the bus when it called for it, then Harper could do the same to her.