Critic’s Rating: 4.9 / 5.0
4.9
Gather around Industry Fanatics, and let us pour one out for the downfall.
Which downfall, you might be asking?
With Industry Season 3 Episode 6 delivering the fall of Charles Hunani, Pierpoint as we know it, Eric’s dignity, Yasmin’s career, and the trauma-frenemy Harper/Yas dynamic let’s just cast an entire case of the finest wine into the sea.
A Spectacularly Petty Demise
Charles’ death has been at the center of this story since Industry Season 3 Episode 1, and we’ve been longing to know the truth behind his disappearance and that disturbing confrontation with Yasmin.
And the truth didn’t disappoint.
Of course, Charles and Yasmin’s final moments together were as toxic as every other aspect of their relationship.
After the assault in the bedroom, a drunken Charles couldn’t leave well enough alone and went off to sing to his heart’s content to his daughter and ask for her forgiveness.
The usual toxic patterns took place, which had Yasmin willingly forgiving her father yet again because codependent relationships are a bitch.
And maybe things would’ve ended on that note if Charles’ little Charles wasn’t prodding Yasmin during that hug, and it didn’t prompt her to discuss the Freudian-sized elephant on the yacht about how Charles desires her sexually and physically.
The entire hour was full of harsh truths and metaphorical (and physical) slaps to the face as some of the most loathsome characters operated as mirrors reflecting on one another.
Industry is excellent like that, though, so we had an onslaught of some of the best performances currently on the air coming at us in rapid succession (pardon the pun), leaving you holding your breath or gasping for air depending on the moment.
It’s difficult to pinpoint who delivered Industry Season 3 Episode 6’s best performance and which duo was slaying a girl’s entire existence because every time I thought, “Oh, yeah, that’s the one right there,” it got even better.
At this point, I’ll happily follow Marisa Abela, Ken Leung, and Myha’la Herrold around with flowers lest they ever go a day without getting their proper due ones for the sheer talent they bestow upon us in every second of Industry.
Industry Teaches Us that We May Never Overcome the Battle Wounds from Our Parents
But let’s get back to that bastard Charles.
The energy was taut, and something shifted in the air when Charles and Yasmin got into their final altercation; as you knew, this would likely be the moment that answered all of our questions.
And neither of them held back in eviscerating each other to shreds, cutting so profoundly to the core of one another’s insecurities and deepest fears.
It was such an incredibly raw performance.
The codependency between Charles and Yasmin is so profoundly disturbing, and it seemed that Yasmin was the one to recognize how screwed up it all was while Charles was someone who willfully accepted it.
There were always so many uncomfortable layers to their dynamic, as Charles, as a narcissist, saw Yasmin as some extension of himself.
He acknowledged it as he spoke about how she would sit on his lap, completely attached to him until she was five.
Interestingly, he also mentioned how much she would cry, but it’s as if he was too self-absorbed to acknowledge that her crying may have been because of him.
But he also saw Yasmin as this thing to control and this body to use and desire.
Even protecting her was more about his property than genuine love and affection for her as his own.
But She Speaks SEVEN LANGUAGES!
He called her a “talentless whore,” summing up everything she’s always feared about herself and what others think about her.
She’s constantly trying to prove something, and it cuts to the core of her that everything Charles said about her could be true to everyone who crosses her path.
But what an unfathomably ugly thing to say to one’s daughter.
Charles opts to jump into the sea spitefully to challenge what Yasmin said and prove that she loves him and didn’t mean her words.
It was such a quintessentially Charles thing to do.
Of course, he underestimated just how fed up Yasmin was and how easily she could freeze during that moment, rendering her incapable of making the moves to rescue him.
Charles’ downfall was his arrogance and confidence regarding his relationship with Yasmin.
He left her carrying the guilt of his accidental death and the truth surrounding it, and his final words were etched into her memory and something she’ll carry with her moving forward.
A Butcher Masquerading as a Surgeon
Maybe Eric’s dad was onto something when he said the way to damn a man was to teach him how to count.
I’ve lost count of all the ways Pierpoint is royally f*cked, and Industry Season 3 Episode 6 starts bringing that to a head.
When we weren’t looking, Tom took over as CEO, which uprooted the entire floor as they tried to figure out what these changes meant for them and their futures.
Rishi isn’t pulling any punches when it comes to cornering Eric about all of this, and given what we know after the spectacular “White Mischief,” it’s no wonder why.
But from Anraj to Sweetpea, there’s enough happening on the floor to have others spooked regardless of Eric’s hollow reassurances while he reaches out to Adler every few moments.
Speaking of Adler, they texted about someone being the fall guy. Who was that?
Blood is in the water, and only someone like Robert, who is so accustomed to life f**king him at every chance, would be whistling dixie at the prospect, offering the most hilarious line delivery of Industry Season 3 Episode 6, if not the season.
He’s right; what ELSE is new?
One of Robert’s most compelling qualities lies therein, even when he’s a simpering hot mess slathered in pomade.
You can’t truly fear rock bottom when you’ve resided there, right?
What Eric probably didn’t anticipate, though one has to wonder why, is how the chickens could come home to roost as Pierpoint’s eventual downfall resulted from vengeance.
Vengeance, Thy Name is Harper Stern
Damn, Harper really did get Daddy’s attention!
Harper had a fascinating balancing act throughout the hour that saw her ambitions at odds with facing truths about who and what she really is and her genuine friendship with Yasmin.
Interestingly enough, Harper had zero regard for Petra and Anna’s friendship when she moved against the woman and asserted Leviathan Alpha as the next up-and-coming.
And she didn’t bat an eye when approaching some of Pierpoint’s most prominent competitors to short them.
Going to a company that harbored all of Pierpoint’s bitter castaways, including Kenny, was ingenious.
Harper and Petra’s moves aligned with Harper’s success tour, which was primarily about her ambitions but with revenge serving as a decadent cherry on top.
However, things got sticky when it concerned Yasmin, and one has to wonder why they didn’t anticipate the truth coming out or Eric coming for them.
When Eric charged into Leviathan’s swanky headquarters to confront Harper, it was such a deliciously charged moment that I found myself leaning toward the scene.
It’s pure art ANYTIME Harper and Eric share a scene, especially since they’ve become contentious.
Every biting dig and remark they hurled at each other with such malice and venom stung worse than the last, and the best arguments are when one’s opposer knows how to slice until it hurts.
Eric’s grandstanding and anger were a refreshing change from the man becoming the living embodiment of the Kermit the Frog meme as he barely managed to make eye contact during Industry Season 3 Episode 3.
Dad is Mad in an Epic Battle of the Words
The cat didn’t have his tongue this time, and he could give as good as he got during this round, from the hilarious proclamation that Harper got “Daddy’s attention” to every indictment against her for being a certifiable monster.
You could see Harper subtly flinch at Eric’s words, a cutting takedown from another person she respects and whose approval, at some point, did matter.
Harper doesn’t actively try to be a shitty person, it’s apparent that she sees the world a certain way, and so much of her reaction to things is her attempt to survive it and screw over a world that wouldn’t hesitate to do the same to her first.
But the same world doesn’t know what to do with a woman like her, with such drive, ambition, and ruthlessness.
Nevertheless, Harper wouldn’t let that exchange happen without getting her digs in as well — rubbing in the bit about Eric losing his family got him good.
Ironically, the layers are fascinating when you consider the many ways you can describe their multifaceted dynamic; Eric did have a fondness for Harper that harkened to that of a father and daughter as well as mentor.
If Eric loses his real family and her, too, what does that say about him, and what happiness can he ever really achieve?
Harper is Merely a “Monster” of Eric’s Own Creation
He still hasn’t found whatever he’s searching for, and he won’t.
But despite all Eric’s bluster and accusations against Harper, she’s essentially a product of his making, right?
She’s right when she mentions that Pierpoint fostered a particular culture in which people would sooner turn their noses up under the guise that they’re somehow above it all.
Harper has adapted to the culture and world of the finance industry — a world that Eric himself taught her how to navigate and advised her on as they bonded over a shared scrappiness and ruthlessness.
And now, Eric dares to be outraged that the “monster” he stoked, if not created, has turned around and bit its master?
The terrifying thing for Eric was the startling realization that she’s a reflection of him, and unlike many, she sees and understands him.
Eric’s Cumming and Yasmin’s Going in Industry Season 3 Episode 6
Frankly, one could’ve gone the rest of the series without seeing Eric jerk off, but here we are.
Is it a season of Industry if they haven’t subjected us to some nauseating body fluids with the (in)appropriate sound effects along with them?
It was wishful thinking that a missing rich seaman would be the only rendition of that we’d get, but alas, Industry is always full of surprises.
And so was Eric, after that disturbing bathroom display following the equally as cringe-worthy lunch he took Yasmin on where he desperately and drunkenly attempted to, what? Seduce her?
Seriously, what exactly was he attempting to do?
Because if that was his idea of covertly putting feelers out to see if she’d respond (or hiding behind misunderstandings if she didn’t oblige), he did a piss poor job of it.
Eric became the creepy old man with Yasmin during that meal, and given that her wheelhouse is constantly dealing with men old enough to be her father (including her actual father), lusting after her and only viewing her as a sexual object, that says a lot.
The poor girl just “found out” her father was dead and identified his body.
Everyone wanted something from her, whether it was her “comically stupid” way of doing her job or Eric using her like a therapist before he deposited himself into her.
Yasmin couln’t catch a break.
This season, Yasmin and Eric’s relationship has been odd because she’s obviously been looking to him for approval as some substitute father figure, but he’s never even considered that.
Yasmin wanted to replace Harper for Eric, and she wanted all the love, affection, and approval you’d get from a dad.
Daddies and Jerks
Except, the more she learned about him, especially as he started sharing that he’s a crappy father to his own kids, the less appealing he became, and in the end, for Yasmin, Eric is no different than her father.
Meanwhile, for Eric, he knew he’d never get a proper Harper replacement with Yasmin because, despite her best intentions, she sucks in many parts of the job.
But she was pretty to look at, and he wanted to have sex with her; with his current midlife crisis, it was nice to have her around, even if he saw her as ornamental and not functional (to borrow from Scandal).
However, the second she humiliated him (although, clearly, Eric, too, has a shame kink), it was easy to discard her for the liability she’d become since her father died.
Sadly, via Harper and Petra, Yasmin gave him the smoking gun to take herself out for good without calling into question his lecherous behavior.
Friendship and Contempt Are Two Sides of the Same Coin
The most unfortunate thing about the state of Harper and Yasmin right now is that we know and have seen how much Harper genuinely loves and cares about Yasmin.
When she learned about what happened between Yas and Charles, her first instinct wasn’t contempt or disgust over what Yasmin did.
Harper instantly understood Yasmin, checked in with her about how she was feeling and what she wanted, and proceeded to do whatever she could to cover for her.
To have Yasmin throw that ultimate act of love back in her face was startling.
It was evident that Harper, regardless of her sisterly rivalry and issues with Yasmin, cares about her in some deep capacity as much as Harper cares for anyone.
Sadly, for Harper, her version of love seems to never be enough for people.
Yasmin spewed the same things about being toxic, selfish, and a bad person as Harper’s brother did.
She’s hearing the same horrible things from Eric, whom she did care about, and has heard that Robert, the boy she genuinely liked, felt the same way.
It seems that even when Harper feels she’s at her best as a friend or is a decent person, it’s never enough for those around her.
But how else could Yasmin take the news that Harper and Petra had a master plan and that, regardless of Harper’s attempts to put the kibosh on using Yasmin to execute it, the result of Yasmin and Pierpoint taking the hit was the same?
The only reason Petra knew Yasmin was “comically shit” at her job was because of Harper.
And Harper didn’t bat an eye at Petra having to undercut her own friend, so why would she expect Petra to extend some level of grace that never existed to her regarding Yasmin?
Love, Hate, and Mutual Destruction
Yasmin and her friendship with Harper became collateral damage in Harper’s vengeance toward Pierpoint and ascent to success.
And it resulted in one of the ugliest, most complex, and explosive exchanges of the series to date between the two.
Again, the hour honed in on those hard truths, and both women didn’t hesitate to empty the clip on one another with precisely what they thought, each other’s greatest fears and deepest insecurities.
Some things will always stand in the way between them, like how Yasmin is so deeply immersed in her perspective and life as someone who has the ultimate privilege as a wealthy, white-passing, upper-crust woman in England.
It’s what chronically keeps her from ever genuinely understanding even her closest friends, Harper and Robert, because her experiences are so vastly different, and she very rarely can see outside of her own self-pitying shtick and trauma.
Harper carries all of her trauma as armor that she uses to protect herself from everyone, sure, but even push them away and brutalize them if need be.
She hides behind it as a justification for everything she does, making it appear that she’s evaded accountability or ownership of her actions and decisions.
At some point, as a grown woman, you can’t use your childhood and past as a justification for everything.
And Yasmin does use Rob and exploit his feelings for her, just as her sexuality is something she selectively wields for power and control or cries about when it’s used against her.
Harper has never gotten over the fact that Robert rejected her romantically for Yasmin, someone he obsesses over no matter how poorly she treats him.
Industry Slaps, No, Literally!
The two friends-turned-enemies have a laundry list of things to lob at one another because they are at their most vulnerable together and know each other’s weak spots.
Harper, when hurt, goes for the jugular, so while it wasn’t surprising that she managed to summon the infamous last words Charles hurled at his daughter before his death, it was no less gasp-worthy.
But the dual slaps took the cake.
Abela and Herrold were mesmerizing in those final ten minutes of Industry Season 3 Episode 6.
Where do Harper and Yasmin even go from here? I’m eager to find out.
How about you, Industry Fanatics?
With Industry Season 3 Episode 6 under our belts, only two installments remain in the season; where do you think they’ll possibly take the series now?
Is this the end of Harper and Yasmin’s friendship?
Is Pierpoint on its last breath?
Hit the comments below and share all of your thoughts and theories with us!
Industry airs on Sundays at 9/8c on HBO, and you can stream it on Max.