‘Industry’ Season 3 Finale Earns Show Title as the New ‘Succession’

The third season of Industry– the HBO drama that follows the chaotic and cutthroat lives of a group of financiers working at the fictional bank Pierpoint & Co. work – is a television season that will remain in the memory of the greats.

In the extended finale episode, which aired Sunday night, Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) announced her surprise engagement to Lord-in-waiting Henry Muck (Kit Harington), breaking the hearts of fans around the world who were hoping that she would ride into the world. sunset with soft-boi banker Rob Spearing (Harry Lawtey). Pierpoint’s London operation collapsed, leaving ruthless boss Eric Tao (Ken Leung) as ‘yesterday’s man’, while his protégé Harper Stern (Myha’la) became Forbes magazine’s face of the future. And Rishi Ramdani (Sagar Radia)? I’m still processing That scene. Wow.

The show’s third season ran on a completely different level. The script has become noticeably sharper and the show seems more confident about what it really wants to say. The quality of the writing and performances has inevitably drawn comparisons Succession.

At first glance this seems a bit lazy. (And the show’s co-creator, Konrad Kay, recently shared an article arguing just that.) While these shows are both created by HBO and ostensibly about wealth, they are quite different. Industry in particular, dissects the British class system, and how parental trauma affects people from different backgrounds, as I see Succession more like a case study in a very messed up family, as an allegory for how power functions in American society as a whole. But there’s some truth to the comparisons, especially since both shows are the “eat the rich!” have moved drastically. canon forward, to a much more challenging place.

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Art that attempts to pressure the elite often contains a ‘trouble in paradise’ motif. The movie Triangle of sadnessThis portrays a luxury cruise that goes terribly wrong, leaving the guests and crew stranded together. Here the dynamic shifts: the (usually useless) rich guests become dependent on the more clever crew for their survival. (It’s something like Below deck meet Lord of the flies.) In Netflix whodunnit Knives outthere was a similar dynamic shift. Early in the film, the Thrombey family debates among themselves about their deep political divisions and personal grudges. But when Harlan Thrombey – the family patriarch and best-selling crime novelist – leaves his fortune to his nurse, Marta (Ana de Armas), they immediately put aside their superficial differences and unite against her.

Season 1 of The White Lotus had a similar “us vs. them” dynamic. It focused on the tense relations between the wealthy guests and staff of a palatial Hawaiian resort. Heartbreakingly, hotel masseur Belinda (Natasha Rothwell) had her dreams crushed by Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), a neurotic millionaire who cruelly reneged on her promise to fund her own massage studio. Then there was Kai (Kekoa Scott), a (beautiful) Hawaiian hotel doorman who was convinced to steal an expensive necklace from a safe. (The theft eventually went horribly wrong and he was arrested.) Ultimately, hotel manager Armond (Murray Bartlett) was killed after a lengthy feud with spoiled, overgrown fratbro, Shane (Jake Lacy).

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Season 2, this time in Sicily, was a little more challenging. We saw Tanya’s husband try to scam her out of her fortune with the help of a group of evil ‘high-end gays’. In the finale, Tanya blew them all to smithereens with a pistol, before falling to her death from the side of a luxury yacht. In other words, it was rich-on-rich crime.

If Industry is truly the “successor of Succession”, as claimed, is because both shows show how rich people also cheat on each other, even when they enter the “little people”. Succession Maybe it started with Roman (Kieran Culkin) ripping up a $1 million check in front of a poor family, but in reality, the Roy family is their own worst enemy. Most of the show is taken up with the siblings trying to win the approval of their terrifying father. They screw each other to get closer to Logan (Brian Cox), or get screwed by him. The show even ends with Shiv (Sarah Snook) stripping Kendall (Jeremy Strong) of the CEO job, in no small part because she couldn’t bear to give him what he wanted.

Industry also delves deeply into generational trauma. Most characters have to deal with a parental figure who has abandoned or abandoned them. Yasmin and Henry both bond over having fathers who “ruined” their lives, while Rishi and Eric thrive on that with their own children. In episode 6, Eric tells Yasmin that he’s probably a worse father than his, perpetuating the cycle for another generation.

Industry also portrays that the elite lives in a rather precarious way. After Yasmin’s father, Charles, disappears amid a decades-long sex abuse and embezzlement scandal, he leaves her with nothing but debt and a now toxic last name. Previously, she had lived a relatively comfortable life, but suddenly she finds herself fighting for survival in the elite. As for Harper, she may end the season on a high, but at first she works as an assistant after being unceremoniously fired by Pierpoint in the season 2 finale. A character like Henry – an old-money aristocrat whose obscene wealth protects against the consequences of his actions – seems to exist to emphasize that even among the rich there are ‘untouchables’ and that there are others who could still lose everything.

This distinction reminds me of a scene from the second season of Succession. Here, “cousin” Greg (Nicholas Braun) worries that he may be written out of his uncle’s $250 million fortune, but takes comfort in the fact that another family member will leave him $5 million. “You can’t do anything with five, Greg. Five is a nightmare,” says Conor (Alan Ruck). ‘I can’t retire, it’s not worth working. Oh yes, five will drive you a poco loco.”

HBO

Tom (Matthew Macfadyen), the only person in the inner circle not born into wealth, also scoffs at the idea. He tells Greg that he will be the “poorest rich person in America, the tallest dwarf in the world.” In the penultimate episode of SuccessionAfter Logan’s death, it is revealed that he spent exactly that amount ($5 million) on a mausoleum to bury his body. It’s pocket money for them.

In IndustryRishi falls into the category of ‘poor rich people’. At the start of the season he has a big mansion, a fancy wife and a flashy car. But we soon discover that, despite his flashy lifestyle, he is deeply in debt due to a gambling addiction that has spiraled out of control. In the final it all catches up with him. He loses everything – his job, the house, his wife – and ends the season a broken (and broke) man.

Simon Ridgway/HBO

However, he is the exception that proves the rule, because most of Industry characters come to their feet: Eric’s time at Pierpoint may be over, but he leaves the company $20 million richer. The brave newcomer Sweetpea got a job at Harper, who Finally lived up to her potential. After a brief recession, Yasmin married her way into the 0.01 percent, and even Rob – the show’s ‘sad boy’ – got the chance to start a new life in California. It’s a reflection of the fact that once you get into these circles, it’s probably pretty hard to crash and burn complete.

What people really mean when they compare Industry And Succession is that the qualities of these shows make them feel a certain way. They deliver breathtaking TV moments, while also capturing the subtle cruelties of money, love and power. These shows don’t just scream “eat the rich,” they show the rich eating themselves.