Industry So Far
Last week, we met the class of new graduates starting up at the fictional investment bank, Pierpoint & Co. They became acclimated at their new jobs building important relationships with their supervisors to varying degrees of success. The pressure and expectations at such a high-profile company became too much for Hari and some of the interns will have to cope with the aftermath of his passing.
[Spoilers Ahead!]
In the Dog House
Yasmin can’t get any love. At work, she’s relegated to picking up the group’s coffee and lunch orders. All she wants is an opportunity to prove her worth and her patience is wearing thin as she watches other grads receiving more responsibilities. She also manages to insult her manager which perpetuates more hazing and shows of power to put the young intern in her place.
Her home life isn’t any better since she still lives with her mom, who disapproves of her being a gopher at her fancy internship. In addition, her boyfriend would rather pleasure himself while watching porn in bed than be intimate.
The only real joy she receives is toying with Robert. Their flirtations have extended to the gym where she finds different work outs that involve bending over in tight spandex and drinking from the fountain as provocatively as possible. Poor Robert, being strung along with those puppy dog eyes.
An Important Lesson
Maybe because of the death of her neighbor and colleague, Hari, Harper begins looking for new living arrangements but her search is unsuccessful. If finding a nice place wasn’t hard enough, she has the added headache of HR looking closer into her application. After Hari failed to disclose a prior heart condition that contributed to his death, the company is doing its due diligence to ensure the grads aren’t hiding anymore secrets.
Fearing he lost exclusivity with a major client, Eric meets with the big shot and brings Harper along. He thinks it would be a good opportunity to learn the art of horse whispering a disgruntled client. Plus, it’s important facetime with the person whose business pays their salary. At the meeting, Eric tries his best but is unable to change his mind. The Director of CPS is also disappointed that Harper didn’t speak up the whole time, especially when given an opportunity, and admonishes her saying he doesn’t need “quiet and nice”.
Rekindled Flame
Gus had settled in quite nicely with his finance industry job at Pierpoint. His boss is satisfied with his work but things are even more stressful now that their group is under additional scrutiny following Hari’s death. The company is in damage control mode knowing an exposé is coming on their business practices. This all leaves Gus’ position within IBD up in the air.
At least Gus’ love life is heating up. He’s reconnected with an old boarding school classmate from Eton who is a research analyst at Pierpoint. The intern is falling hard and playfully suggests changing departments to be closer to his man, Theo. However, things could become messy since Theo already has a girlfriend and their relationship is kept a secret.
Dinner Drama
The company holds a welcome dinner for all the new graduates. What is supposed to be a fun evening of building camaraderie has its share of awkward moments. Yasmin tries to insert herself in a conversation her manager is having. This causes him to erupt and berate her in front of everyone. Taking Eric’s advice from before, Harper stands up for her fellow intern. The two bond over the moment and Yasmin offers Harper the spare room in her basement.
More privately, Gus confronts the top brass about the future of his group. He’s surprised to learn that it is being broken up and he’ll be reassigned to a different division. He has some choice words about the decision and ruffles the feathers of upper management.
The Verdict
The second episode of Industry delves deeper into these young grads but it’s not necessarily a good thing depending on the person. Harper continues to be someone to root for. She’s become a quick learner under Eric’s tutelage and it’s pretty ballsy to stand up to management at a company event. Though you can see her gradually blurring the lines like when she uses Yasmin to learn the big client’s meeting information.
On the other hand, Gus and Yasmin are not as likeable. The former seems equipped for the finance industry but his people skills could be improved. As much as he doesn’t want to seem entitled, he does and there are more tactful ways to approach upper management.
Similarly, Yasmin has princess written all over her living with her mom and expecting to be given things. Even the way she toys with Robert has a privilege behind it because she can. Not to mention the bitchy and immature way she intrudes into her manager’s conversation. She might not have deserved the response, but Yasmin feels like the kind of person who received almost everything she wanted without working hard for it.
Ken Leung’s Eric is always a delight to watch. His meeting is a masterclass of client whispering containing equal parts B.S. and sentiment. The whole scene was impressive because you can see the client’s gears turning and contemplating whether he made the right decision. He agreed with every word Eric said despite their falling out. Eric’s comment about Tottenham to his replacement as he heads out was a humorous cherry on the top of it all and a petty jab at his former client.
Although not everyone is so likable in “Quiet and Nice”, it contains a strong performance from Ken Leung and nice character development with Harper.
Industry airs Monday nights on HBO.
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