The Industry ends Season 3 with several starts

Begin your season finale with the following bit of dialogue One reason we should all toast the industry as One of the best series on post-Peak TV: “So, I'm sure you've all been programmed to expect something basic. But what I have brought you today is nothing new.” At a time when streamers and networks show us that we can only half watch as we scroll, just to supplement what's on our second screen, this HBO drama commands our attention with every line, every frame, every scene. It's not fancy yet it feels radical.

Robert (Harry Lotte) isn't talking about 21st century television but he might as well be. Salesmanship, as he found out, has little to do with the product you're selling. But we'll get to what he's selling later. (The episode is structurally circular, with Robert's words serving as the frame for what this finale achieves.) What's important to know is that this installment is anchored by the idea that the more things change, the more they stay the same. This would be an argument for the resilience of the system we call capitalism, but time and time again we have been shown that such a system only survives because a select number of people (mainly but not exclusively men) insist on keeping it there. Some for their convenience, others for their entertainment, plenty for both.

And so, while the episode begins with the changing of the guard at Pierpoint—sorry, what's soon to be Al-Mairaj Pierpoint—don't be fooled by the cosmetic changes that follow. Sure, as Eric (Ken Leung) points out to Pierpoint employees once the sale to Ali's team is complete, what they're seeing is history in the making (“Pearpoint's history changing history,” as he puts it) but it's all smoke and mirrors, a salesman's. A pitch that's as effective as stale: “Money is peace,” he waxes. “Money is civilization. Money is the end of the story.” All these words are slightly different. It's clear that Pierpoint is on a turnaround, and no matter how well Eric sells this pitch, enough of his employees know better than to buy into his myth. That's why Sage (Sagar Radia) bolts, burns the bridge and opposes them passing by (as Eric suggested they all do), and immediately tries to get hired by Harper (Maiha'la) and apparently tries to do the same to Sweetpea and For Anraj (Miriam Petch and Irfan Shamji).

Because if Pierpoint's corporate cruise ship seems headed for some big changes, the slick operation led by Harper and Petra (Sarah Goldberg) seems poised to withstand every turbulent wind of modern capitalism. It would have helped if Leviathan Alpha had made the kind of money they expected with the Pierpoint short, but As we learn, Petra pulled the plug at the right time (from a moral point of view) and, of course, at the very worst time (from a financial point of view): they made a little money but not too much – all because she chose the right thing (Harper and to Otto Mostyn's dismay).

Harper and Petra may have arrived in an embarrassing situation (“No more unilateral decisions,” they agree) but for those of us who know Harper, it's only a matter of time before she emerges from this satisfying, feel-good – well-oiled machine of the Enterprise. He loves hunting. He's a hunter—or likes to think of himself as one. Aggression and self-defense became separate for him.

That's why it's a joy (a cruel one, no doubt) to see Rishi humiliated. In what she hopes will be a friendly interview for a job she desperately needs (the gambler that she is), Harper bares her teeth, asks her to point out when Eric first decided to ax her (at Rishi's wedding, she shares), Basser. the fun of throwing someone else down). She eggs him on to talk to her about how the only people who succeed at what they do are psychopaths with violent instincts… all before inviting Sweetpea(!) to sit in on the interview and of course revealing that she had no choice. . Hire him. “Time's up,” he says, a final flourish where you see him at a loss for what to do. And when he pleads, Sweetpea delivers the most brutal and original line of them all: “You make it so hard to give a fuck.” It's a delicious scene, made all the more thrilling by how simply it's shot. (That frame on Harper is awash in grays and blacks, with only green grapes giving it a pop of color? Divine.)

This happens at the same time that Rob and Yas (Marissa Abella) find themselves at a country estate owned by Henry's uncle. Not quite what was on schedule during their road trip but Yas has a way of keeping a lot of plates spinning. Instead of returning to London, Yas suggests to Rob that they stop there. Henry (Kit Harington), he says politely, has invited them. He didn't really share that he called her with the sole purpose of possibly reconnecting, because the Hanani publishing case is still a nuisance he's trying to settle, and Henry's viscount uncle (you know, the one who controls an entire media conglomerate) could come in handy.

Rob, though, puppy-eyed as he is now sweet, gentle Yass, agrees to go around, perhaps, not really knowing what he's gotten himself into. He suffers through Henry's latest transformation (he's seen the light and now wants to dedicate his life to public service!) and is a bit surprised when he realizes they won't just stop. They are asked to stay the weekend for a birthday party for Viscount Norton (Andrew Havill). Initially, it seems like a weekend at this luxury estate (think Downton) could play well against the backdrop of a budding romance between young (ex) Pierpoint employees. And for a moment, we're thrown into a loving montage where it seems like Yas is about to give up everything she has to live with a gentle working-class boy who's been too good for her.

It's not that simple. After seeing Henry at night and calling him out on his bullshit (she's not buying his rebrand), she wakes up early and has a fateful conversation with Norton. Acting as a paternal figure who still has to reveal who his own father was (an abuser), he's kind and gentle, perhaps telling him what he wants to hear: “This has nothing to do with you,” he tells Yas.

What follows (choosing to be bold with Rob around his estate, giving us a pastoral glimpse of their beautiful romance) seems almost too good to be true. I kept hoping it would be a daydream. That's how boring it felt – and looked. No other two characters could make a line feel so romantic as “with for me”. That they cap off with the twin “I love you” almost made me believe that Yas will change.

Alas, indeed the industry Form, all of that set us up for a shock. Almost immediately, Yas walks into Henry's room where, in purely practical terms, he explains why the two should be an item (back to being). He must be thinking, what his uncle told him about being protective of his family…and how he hoped Yas's influence would be good for his nephew. Sealing such a deal with Henry is a way to keep the press on his side once the Hanani scandal goes supernova (as he refuses to play nice with everyone at the publishing house who expected him to take the fall for them).

That's how, during the birthday party dinner, Rob finds out they're engaged(!). How beautiful and heartwarming is the image of the two of them alone at the dinner table, silently accepting what Yas has done? the way The scene shot, which has us going back and forth between the dinner and the proposal (with sweeping, choral arrangements making the moment feel even grander), is beautiful and heartbreaking in equal measure. It's a marriage of convenience, a Jane Austen plot twist with 21st century trappings. Because Yas knows he has more to gain here. (“But Henry,” she warns him, “I deserve everything.”)

Does she love Henry? Was she honest when she told Rob she loved him? “I make people think I love them,” she told Robert bluntly. “But I don't know that I have.” Whether this is still true is unclear. Which makes his decision all the more tragic.

And so Harper and Yas (and Eric, who has been unceremoniously fired by the new brass at Al-Miraj Pierpoint) must face a fresh start. Yaas fits the role of the bride-to-be perfectly. (He hired the boat girl! How sadistic does he have to be and/or how selfless can he think he is?) Meanwhile, Harper is clearly struggling with her work with Petra. He is bored. Content Which is not his style. It is fitting that he connects with Mostyn and sets him up with a new firm where he will use “forensic accounting”. and corporate espionage” (his original words) short for “bad” actors that would probably shield them from criminal suspicion even though what he is proposing is clearly unethical and illegal.

In the end, it all comes down to Harper's relationship with Eric. When they talk on the phone (he on an empty trading floor, she on a London street), there's a brutal honesty between them.

“Being rich is not the same as love,” Eric tells her (or himself?).

“But most of the time it's close enough?” He wondered (to himself?).

The question hangs, which ultimately brings us back to Henry's pitch. He moved to the US and is doing the same – just not.

where does the industry go from here? With a definitive season four coming, it's clear we've witnessed not just one ending but countless beginnings: Jesse Bloom gets out of prison. Mostin and Harper are perfectly matched. Rob has moved quite a bit. Yas and Henry seem to want to make their marriage work. Eric is flush with money and nowhere to go… Pierpoint may be dead but its principles the industry remains, and I, for one, can't wait to see how these various plot threads intersect next season.

Misguided observation

• • how the industry Its a character out of character in the most Tarantino way possible?! RIP Diana (and sage sanity, arguably). We could tell it was ripped from a different kind of show but it felt of a piece with a story that could only end in such violence.
• • Fun fact: I had to Google if “Whiz Wheels” was a real rental car company.
• • Is “prosciutto money” the most outrageous wealth joke you've ever heard?
• • “Both Buckleys. There's no Vidal in the room,” Mostin can drum up as Harper and Petra describe The Next Burn. And if the reference gets you, I can recommend the 2015 doc The best of enemies?
• • “Ugh. All these classily educated boys hide their sarcasm behind their talk and sewing”—Petra's best line of the season.
• • I can be a one-man FYC campaigner for everything the industry But beyond the great writing/directing/acting, I need the Emmys, who have ignored the HBO series for the past two seasons, to see how fantastic the show's costume design, art direction, editing, and score are.
• • “I love a woman who doesn't leave money on the table” – Harper on Sweetpea Extra Curriculum.
• • Gotta love a good Julie Andrews reference: “The Totally Modern Lady Mac” is a headline.