The Prestige TV Podcast - ‘Industry’ Season 2 Finale Recap

Episode Date: September 20, 2022

Wosny Lambre and Jodi Walker recap the tumultuous finale of the second season of HBO’s ‘Industry.’ They react to the shocking final scene, the arc of Harper's and Yasmin’s characters this season, and the corrosive nature of the show’s writing style. Hosts: Wosny Lambre and Jodi Walker Producer: Bobby Wagner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Find Ollie's sleep solutions for the whole family at ollie.com. That's OLL-L-Y.com. I'm back to a season finale edition of the Ringer's Prestige TV, podcast. Of course, I'm your co-host, Big Wasa.k.a. Wazney Lambray. And I'm joined for the final time this industry season by the lovely, wonderful and talented Jody Walker. Jody, I'm here for you. Was, I'm going to miss so many things about this season of industry. But I think I'm going to miss your descriptors of me at the beginning of this podcast the most because much like Harper, I am a raging narcissists.

So just really too bad. We'll be leaving that to the wayside. Well, listen, we got to be honest for the people here on the industry recap podcast. The season finale, much like season two, was incredible. I was both on the edge of

my seat in moments and just jumping out of my fucking skin in other moments where I'm just like, yo, this is so fucking excruciatingly painful to watch. But that's what the show delivered all season long. Just a lot of surprises, a lot of twists, a lot of turns.

A lot of just beautiful dialogue, just powerful moments between our favorite characters and the finale delivered all of that shit in spades. And yeah, let's just jump right into the sort of, we can just talk about the broad strokes of the plot of the finale, right? they get a job offer from the Japanese bank with one caveat being that they have to move to New York the Japanese bank wants to move things to New York Eric of course is like I have a family

I don't want to move my damn family across the pond even though he got his start in New York and Harper's just basically like I can't go back to New York is a non-starter which I think I think that conversation is very instructive. And I think it plays a part in some of the things that we see later on in the episode. I think that Harper saying that New York is a complete non-starter is so indicative of this person we've come to know who just go, go, goes, like just goes forward no matter what.

and who always believes that she has options because she creates those options for herself to suggest that New York is a non-starter. When this is a person who is accidentally doing inside trading, who will betray anyone in her path, who has forged an undergraduate degree to work in this hellish landscape of a job, like she will do absolutely anything except go back to New York, is such a, it is kind of an absurd premise for the problems that it ultimately creates that like Harper won't just kind of take this exit ramp. Also to hear her say that she has like created a life in London is quite sad.

It's hilarious. It's ridiculous. It's both. And here's why the new, here's why I think the New York point is very instructive later on down the road. The main point, and I'm speaking as a native New Yorker. here who is now, you know, I'm an expat, I'm now in Los Angeles, but the point still remains. New York is not some one-level mall town in the middle of Nebraska. It's New York fucking city.

And one of the things that I always found to be my favorite part about New York is how anonymous you could be. Yeah. You could just, if you so chose, could get off on some subway stop and be somewhere where nobody knows you. Nobody gives a shit about you. You might as well just be in a brand new town. This isn't some small town where you're going to be running into your high school mates all the time or, you know, people in your family, God forbid.

It's New York City. What the fuck is this woman talking about? Yeah, Harper, you know that hotel you love so much where, like, you could be fully by yourself in a sea of other people? That's New York City. Like, you could do that there. But the idea, I mean, you know, the thing I love so much about industry is that it has created these monstrous characters, like really morally corrupt characters in a lot of way. But it always has empathy for them. And it always gives you the foundation to understand, well, most always gives you the foundation to understand the reasons they're making the decisions that they've made.

And in very subtle ways, they've told us over and over that, like, Harper's family structure is destroyed. Any sort of foundation she had back in the States is destroyed. And she has come to London for a reason to create this, like, false idea of a new life. And she just can't go back. Let me just, again, I don't want to belabor the point. I'm born and raised in New York City. I have a lot of friends, a lot of family. I know plenty of people who have found ways to avoid their family in New York fucking city.

And so we move on. I'm not saying it's the right. I'm not saying it's a rational reason behind her decision. Yeah, yeah, no, no, of course. I'm just saying I just need the audience to know this is not an impossibility. If you are currently struggling with the idea of moving back to New York audience, you can. You'll have a great time. Yes.

And I just want the audience to understand that Eric, too, understand that New York City is not some small town. Okay, cool. So we're back in the office and Rob gets a call from the cold. And this is after, you know, he's had this Mayacopa. This client is so toxic. And we're trying to be a better workplace and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And she knows what time it is.

Like, she knows she's not in any serious trouble with these people. She understands just with a laser focus about how the world in which these people are operating actually functions. And she's like, yo, I want to make a fucking, I want to buy some shit. Basically, I want to make y'all some money, some commission, spend a shit ton of money. And the quote is so beautiful from her, well, first of all, Rob Demure's and he's like, God, should I do this? And they're like, how much she want to spend? Yes, we don't care how many people she molested sexually harassed.

It doesn't matter. She's spending money. That's all that ever matters in this world. Literally nothing else. And she just delivers a beautiful quote. And she said, things happen and then things are fine. This is just like sage advice that she's trying to impart on this guy about this world. It's like there's only one determining factor here.

It's not all of this other good. shi shit that you guys, that you're pretending to care about for this week and a half, Rob. Like, we care about money here and absolutely nothing else. Now, I can tell by the tone in your voice, was, when you're doing your Rob impression, that maybe you don't feel quite as much heartbreak for Rob as I do in this moment. But he just, I think he really, I think he really wants to change. But this, what I love that this finale brings back. from the beginning of season two

and what it's layered in the whole way through is this like, I don't know if generational workplace trauma is yet a coined phrase in like the psychiatry dictionary but I think industry is making it one because we've seen throughout this entire season

how like each one of these sort of young people that we've been following has this like mentor who maybe sometimes they quite literally call mommy or daddy. Like there's been this whole mom dummy daddy thing going through this whole season. Yeah, there's a whole adult and children theme throughout the season. And this episode in particular, they just bring that whole, there are adults and then

there are children in this world. And this episode brings that into very sharp contrast. And almost all of these adults are saying, if you can't get on board with the old way, then you can get to buck off the train. And we see characters like Rob and Vig. Inesia in some ways. Venisha, who is like an even lower level of child, who sort of has these younger people as her mentors.

And so maybe she's even getting closer to the idea of like making a real systemic change as an individual as bad as in any way possible. But I just, I do really feel for Rob because I think you can tell so much in that performance that like he wants to be better. He wants to do something different. And he's just not strong enough going up against someone. like Nicole who like that woman is a problem she is a terrible person and and so powerful. And you see that over and over like the combination of true power with like true moral

corruption, the what that can wield and it can just like break down a person like Rob who's kind of getting it from all angles. And he just, he can't do it. He's trying. Look, this lady is deeply problematic and fucked up. I don't know that I necessarily bothered the show is trying to paint her as a horrible person. I think a lot of what the show is trying to say

is that there are people who deal with this shit and it's fine, right? Like, back in the days, you got your ass grabbed. You might not have expected it and life went on. I don't necessarily know that the show is trying to paint her, as some force for evil. I think the show is just saying, like, when the other side of it is all of these riches and the things that you're unable to do with these riches,

like maybe you got to decide if the sacrifice is worth it or not. Or if not, Jody, join the fucking peace court. And I think that's what the show is like literally just banging on our heads. It's like, this world is one thing. and not something else. You know, I'm reminded of another TV show, The Wire, where Marlowe Stansfield says, you want it to be one way, but it's the other way.

Right, right. What I'm constantly being reminded of when I watch this show. No, it was. I think you're totally right. I don't think the show is painting her as a horrible person. But what I think this finale does, and it quite literally asks it out loud a few times, Eric said, or Harper says to Eric at some point, where is the line about insider training?

And he's like, well, it should be like red and blinking. What the show never asked these characters to do is draw a line. And where I think that leaves a ton of room is for the audience to draw its own lines of what we see is morally, okay, what we see is questionable. So I'd love to be incredibly clear that when I say Nicole's a horrible person, it's because it's what I think. Like, I think that the show has led me to water on that. And I am drinking from the pool that, like, that Nicole is almost the most insidious type of person because she paints, she not only paints her.

Girl boss. She not only paints her behavior as normal and as admirable, but she demands that the other people around her also behave that way. and that she wields her power in order to make them. And that she quite literally gets off on it. I think that's horrible. Yeah. And it breaks my heart for Rob, but it also doesn't forgive him. Hey, let's not kinkshame on the Prestige TV podcast.

You know what? I'm going to go for it on that one. I'm going to go for it on wielding your power in order to sexually harass people below you. I'm going to go ahead and kinkshame that one. Fair enough. Now, I think the next sequence is the key to the entire episode for me, where it goes, Gus and the PM lady basically like, all right, the government, she leaks to him that the government is no longer going to do the anti-competition inquiry into this Amazon purchase of this, you know, a healthcare company. Gus goes home, leaks it to his roommate, who is basically, you know, the financial advisor of Bloom.

She leaks it to Bloom. Bloom uses the information, and he uses his bully pulpit in concert with this insider information to basically make himself come out both on top with his long play and his short play. reminded me of, honestly, was the real world and the 2008 financial collapse, Jody. And where these bankers, they did an incredible job of destroying our economy and making themselves rich in the process by one selling these shit mortgage-backed securities, right,

getting the ratings agencies to call them, you know, AAA loans when they were crap loans to people that had no chance of paying them back. So they won, they made the money on the sale. Then what they did was they got these securities insured. So they made money on the failing. They got to sell it and they got the insurance. So it's like, I win no matter how this plays out. I'm good on both ends.

And that's how these people get to play the game. It's not because they're so, you know, Wow, they're so smart and they're just so brilliant. No, they have all of the advantages. And that's just basically what we learn about Bloom. It's like, I have all the advantages and I press them and I play them. And I think that moment, I think that moment where he realized that Harper is willing to inside a trade commit crimes on his behalf. When he gives it that hug, because he's just like, this is just such a beautiful gift.

I don't even deserve this. and he gives her that hug and it's just like he just knows that like in her position she's so thirsty and desperate it's like whatever that's what she got to do she has to be desperate me I get to make the weather

I get to win no matter what and that's what he goes out and does he uses the insider information to basically you know make the weather essentially manipulate the markets and what you learn in all of that is that

the PM lady knew Gus was going to leak it The information gets to bloom where he's just like, wow, these people are willing to fucking commit crimes in the name of this stupid ass job. Cool. And everybody gets what they want. She gets her promotion within the government. He gets to make, you know, more money than God off of this deal. And on and on it goes.

And it's just another just example of, I think, the older people in this episode just playing the olds. Just playing these people for children. Play them like a fiddle, Jody. Well, exactly. And you said he makes the weather. Jesse Bloom goes on CNN, and he quite literally plays God. He changes the world.

And he changes the financial state of the world with a couple of sentences. And it's kind of one of the few times, I think, where we see Harper be, like, truly naive, as to what she's doing. I've been pretty clear on this podcast that, like, I do not understand

a lot of the financial happenings of this show to a great degree. But I knew she was committing insider trading from the moment she started badgering Gus for information. But that's sort of, like, forward propulsion that she has

where she really, like, can't look at anything around her. She can only look forward. Sometimes keeps her from seeing, like, what she's really doing, the big picture of what she's doing. And Jesse in his Wizard of Oz Castle with all his screens in front of him, he's always looking at the big picture. And like the absolute gall of this man to go on CNN and text from the chair while he's on camera to just casually text Harper to tell her to make this decision that is going to like, you know, change the course of government and industry and finance.

And he's committing a crime live on TV. That's the best part. And he loves it. And he loves it. And he loves, I think, the, the, his ability to manipulate Harper in the process. Because we've heard him all season, and we've heard Harper relay this message that he wants someone different. He wants someone with edge.

He wants someone who's going to create the weather, like you said. And Hart, he's played so gorgeously and terribly into Harper's narcissism. that she truly believes that because he approves of her, that that makes her all those things. But really, it just makes him more of all those things. So, you know, of course, we can make mention to the scene where Harper and Eric go into the meeting and basically Harper has no qualms about throwing DVD and Rishi under the bus

to her own ends. It's quite callous and absurd and whatever. Like that scene, I think is very instructive. But I want to get to another key scene because I want to get your input on this. The Yaz's sort of championing of like, you know, like Me Too, blah blah, blah, felt very weird.

Here's a couple of reasons, because it's just not in line with anything she's ever said or done previously to this, right, when she confronts her father at that bar or whatever. And to, like, the person who she's doing it on behalf of, maybe I need to go back and watch that scene. It wasn't that deep when she talked to Yaz. It didn't, like, she didn't portray it as, like, oh, this fucked up thing. Like, she's had the benefit of time and perspective and all of.

of that in how she could have described it to Yaz, she did not represent it to her in the conversation that we saw. We're talking about Yaz's ex-nanny. She did not seem to be this person that got like manipulated and taking advantage of it. Whoa is me and it's fucked. She didn't represent that to Yaz. I felt like Yaz was talking out her ass with this. Am I wrong for that?

I don't think you're wrong. I think there's a couple of things at play here. one is that you're right that the nanny has had the time and the perspective. She's had a child that she has had to deal with these feelings and these emotions and what was done to her for over a decade, I think, at this point. This is new information to Yaz, and it basically just repainted her entire childhood. Like, I think that Yaz has finally allowed herself to open her eyes to something that she has been willfully. ignoring for years and years and years and years and also for months and months, even just since we've seen it.

Because we remember, at least I remember and was permanently scarred by that conversation with her father where she finds out he has all these NDAs against him. And that conversation ends by her saying, Daddy, are we still rich? Like, that's a different, yes, than what we're dealing with now. But something we've also seen with Yaz over and over is that she tries new personalities on for size. She tries on. new things to see how they feel. And even within this episode, I think that Yas is allowed to see

that however she sees it, like whether it's as serious as she feels like it was or whether it wasn't. What's incredibly clear to me in that scene is that her father has never admitted he was wrong once in his fucking life. He makes me furious, that man. And when she calls him about the changed locks and he's like, he's like using this insane sort of weeping voice. He's just, he's just so gross and his inability

to even admit me having an affair with this, with your nanny, having a child, making her sign an NDA, those are all pretty clear cut bad behaviors. Like, yes, maybe some of these things are bad. Of course,

what he may have been shafing against and what he says is like, he's having trouble accepting here in this screaming fit in this fancy bar is that Yaz doesn't have a ton of ground to stand on. It's absurd. The ground that she has to stand on is that she's never groomed someone. She's never like, you know, done, had to sign or had to have someone sign an NDA or even a league of women have to sign NDAs because of sexual impropriety. She does have that leg to stand on. But she's not the independent thinker that she thinks she is in this moment. And unfortunately, it does take her dad calling her out. And I've, you know, I've been disappointed in

yes, plenty of times. But I've never been more disappointed than to hear that her paycheck, that she's so proud of having her individual job and make, I mean, she's not even that proud of making her own money. Now she's decided she's making her own way in the world. And her paycheck is going into her father's account. She's never gotten her own bank account. Yes, we haven't even had that right as women for that long to have our own bank accounts. You need to have your own bank account.

That is a privilege we now have. You've got to take advantage of it. I think, I think, again, I felt like, the Yaz turned to champion of women's liberation and all of that felt very haphazard a little bit for me in the moment. But because I understood it because it delivered this incredible moment where her dad essentially cuts her to size and it's like, you're a fucking child. Like, to me it mirrors what's going on with Rob and everybody else with the institution of Pierpoint. It's like, Yaz's dad is her institution, right? It's like, yeah, there's all this fucked up shit with all the chicks my dad is fucking

and NDAs and paying them off and kids out of wedlock and all of that shit. But this dude has made a great fucking life for me. And that is basically the ying and the yang of both of the things. It's like, yeah, this business is fucked up. But boy, could you make a great life for yourself? Boy, can you support your family in ways that are just, unimaginable. And like, those are the consequences you have to weigh. And I thought that was like just beautifully mirrored. And this guy's like, you've never done anything. You know, like you could say

all of this shit about me, the terrible dad and all of this and the pussy hound. But look what I've done for you. Jobs you never, jobs you never deserved. Freaking vacations. You uncounted. Money financially. You never even had to even think about it. Like, you know what people go through in this life related to financial struggles? And I did all of that shit for you. And I got to sit here and get lectured by you. Impossible. No.

Two things was I do feel that taking the father's side in this fight is a hot take I did not see coming. It's not a side. It's not a side. For me, it's I understand the conversation. Yes. Yeah. And I think, and that's exactly right. It's very well written.

Like, it's so well done because it's supposed to feel haphazard. Yaz is attempting to skip like 20 steps of her own part of the problem and of how she plays into it and, like, of her own privilege and just skip ahead to say, you're a nasty person and I want no part of it. When she's done nothing in her own life to actually, like, create a world where she has. has no part in it. She's so fully intertwined in him and the systems around him. And you're right, like, he's her industry. Like, this is the world that she lives in. Pierpoint's just kind of a stop in the road for her. Like, her real world is this world of wealth and this world of her father. And she's lived in it for a long time. And she's just now starting to, like, really look around herself and open her eyes and there's no real like guarantee or suggestion that she's really going to follow

through on it. So again, like it reminded me of the conversation she had with Kenny where Kenny is like, bruh, you can't do this with me. Yeah. This lecture you're doing where you fucking put tits in my face and was an asshole and like don't lecture me about how to be a great teammate and employee. You don't get to do that. And so, like, to me, the scene with the dad is like, I'm being lectured about my life from a person who don't know shit about life. Knows absolutely nothing about the real world, life and how it goes, how it's lived,

real world consequence. This person is, like, literally nothing. And so it's like, bro, maybe somebody older, more seasoned, could tell me about how problematic I am and better decisions that I could have made. But this child whose life I've paved in gold, you got to step off. Step off. Well, I think we see that with a lot of the characters this episode and this season,

is their complete ability to see wrong in other people. And their complete inability to see, like, the errors and the sins that they're making themselves. So, like, Yaz just kind of has her eyes open and decides that, you know, her dad has been like hurting women and then she's barely scratching the surface of the people that she's hurt, including women, including Venetia. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound terseptitide may be able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity or some adults with overweight who also have

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or the price holds you back. Price line is here to help you make it happen. With millions of deals on flights, hotels, and rental cars, you can go see the game live. Don't just dream about the trip. Book it with Priceline. Download the Priceline app or visit Priceline.com. Actual prices may vary, limited time offer. So I want to talk about Rishi's wedding because, like, the Triple Cross that happens is insane before we get to the wedding.

where it's like, all right, we're just throwing Rishi and DVD under the bus just had a whim, right? And the scene with, like, that scene with Rishi and Harper where, like, again, as the audience, we know what she did. And I'm just like, this is a lot. And when she basically, the equivalent of a sympathy fuck for the guy who's about to get married, is about to be a father who she ostensibly. took out of a job and she sympathy fucks the guy. And Rishi even describes it as like getting the poison out.

In a show full of dark quotes, that is one of the darker ones we've heard. I was, listen, I kind of pride myself for not being, you know, want to hit the fainting couch for like some of the stuff that we see. But this one, I was like, this is rough. This is a pretty dark stuff here. We couldn't be here on the industry podcast if we were pearl clutches. I told you at the very beginning when we started recapping this out loud on the pod that I was slightly concerned that we would both be fired simply by way of talking about this show. But we couldn't, yeah, we couldn't be here if we were clutching pearls.

But that one, that one really took my breath away. I do want to quickly rewind here now that we're talking about Rishi and Harper back to that scene with Eric and Harper and Adler, their big boss. When the insider trading has been committed, Eric and Harp, Eric is basically like, I'm going to help you get out of this. We're going to save our jobs. We're going to go in here. We're going to pitch this idea. There's a thing that happens with the camera in that meeting that I just love and that I think tells so much about what goes on to happen between Eric and Harper. Where Eric has made the pitch, Adler has asked a question about how the numbers are going to work on this. Like, how do we have enough money to do this?

How is the cost going to work out? The camera settles on Eric and then Harper starts to speak off screen and the camera swings over to Harper as though like not only is what Harper is saying a surprise to Eric, it's a surprise to the show itself. No one ever. knows what Harper is going to do. And she's the one that proposes that they sacrifice DVD and Rishi. That was not on Eric's agenda.

That is pure Harper. And to me, I spent a lot of the episode, or after the episode, I spent a lot of thought wondering, like, when does Eric decide he's going to do what he does at the end, which we'll get to?

But I think that's a pretty pivotal moment for him where he sees that like Harper doesn't have a bottom. Like she doesn't have a rock bottom that she'll get to. She doesn't have a line. It's all line. She's always crossing. And like for her to double cross DVD and Rishi like that just shows that she could

and would do it to Eric in the future. I honestly don't know what that bathroom scene shows about Harper. That was like one of the more that turn, although I will say that when Rishi walked into that pub in that tuxedo, I thought, uh-oh, he is looking too good for this to not turn bad in some way. He looked very handsome.

Things immediately turned to some flirtatious tone we have never heard between those two before. And they've always had a weird dynamic energy around each other, but let me just tell you what my show note was for that scene. Quote, Harper is officially the most destructive person in the history of my life.

End quote. I just, I was just, I was just like, this, I've never, I just, I just, this is, this is just beyond me at this point. Like, he's like, what at the man's wedding? Like, what? Okay, well, I don't want to erase Rishi's part in it. I don't, I look bad. If we rewound, I might think that we heard his very loud zipper unzip first. Yeah, yeah, she wanted it for sure.

But it was just, I was just like, yo, Harper, it's just the part that she backstabbed him, cooked his career, or at least put her through a monkey wrenching. And I'm sure you could get a job somewhere else. Well, and ultimately, of course, we know that she did not cook his career. But she was trying to. Yeah, it was just that combination of things, I was just like, this is, whew, that was a lot. And, you know, to get back to Eric where it feels like he makes this decision, I think it happens in steps. That's why I think the New York thing is instructive where he says the decision,

he's like, this is the type of decision a young person can make. You know, meaning like, you got your whole future ahead of you. And I think, again, hearing Harper treat New York is some dire issue for a chick who's like 24 years old, 25 years old, they have to move to New York. Like, that's not a thing for real.

And the idea that she's willing to move heavy, in earth to not move to New York City. I think, again, I really think that and the triple cross, I think that really a light bulb goes off. And then to continue the theme of the episode where the olds are just playing the younger kids, Eureka, DVD's out of here. I always had this ace in my pocket

with Harper's fake transcript. DVDs out of here, which solves all of, literally all of Eric's problems. And it's like, yo, this chick is not worth as much trouble as she is. She's done. Let's cut a loose. Let's just go back to what we were doing before this. And that's what I genuinely think happens.

I think he sees an opportunity. And he finally just like, yo, all of these things about Harper that people are so attracted to, I think are the very same things that they're repulsed by. And he's finally had enough. And it's just like, all right, we got all we can out of this Harper maniac situation. Let's cut our losses and move on, which I think is something that, like, this idea of knowing when to stop is something that you get with age. And that's what I think Eric is displaying there. Yeah, I think so.

But I also think that idea of Eric knowing when to stop just to pay devil's, play devil's advocate, plays into the idea, which I think is very much open-ended at the end of this episode with Chekhov's undergraduate degree that we like, you know, I will say the time, the pacing of this season has been of actually both seasons together as a unit has been so great. And I think like with Darya last episode and with the undergraduate degree this episode, they have timed these reveals and these pullbacks so well. as to shock and completely make sense and be so earned within the structure and the boundaries of the show. But I think that there's, I think that that scene can kind of play out two ways. One is the way that you're describing where Eric is just like, she's more trouble than she's worth this.

I'm playing, I'm doing this for me. I'm playing this game and ultimately I'm going to win. And then, and these two things are not mutually exclusive. exclusive, but the other side is that he did it because he cares about Harper and he sees these like destructive, destructive decisions that she's making

and that she can't end them herself. She is careening towards disaster. By the way, are we to believe this girl just can't finish her degree? I mean, like, what are we doing here? We're to believe that she doesn't care. Like, she couldn't finish it at the time

because of what happened with her brother and so she choked. What are we doing, you? And then she was like, you know what? I'm just not going to finish it because I've always got options because I can create this world. Harper, you have been killing yourself to make it in this world. Like the depths you've been willing to plumb. Yo, just finish your degree and do this shit regular and the right.

Like, it seems like if you put even, you know, a small fraction of the energy she's put into, you know, trying to be good at this job into just being a. normal person who goes about becoming gainfully employed. I feel like she can do it. And I feel like Eric recognizes that. But that's such a great point, was because as a lover of

scammers myself, like, you know, find me on the Elizabeth Holmes podcast all over the Ringer Network. Like, I love a scammer because that psychology is fascinating of working so, so hard to do things the

wrong way when you could work just as hard to do things the right way and probably get the same result or a better result or a result that will not have you committing insider trading or, you know, creating a fake blood company or what have you. Like, there's no reason for Harper to be sort of behaving the way that she does, except that it is fundamental to the person that she is. And I do think that, like, you know, I think they've gone a long way to not moralize. the decisions that a lot of these characters make. But I would also say that she has been painted

as like a pretty textbook narcissist, as has Jesse. And I think having those guidelines just explains a lot about her and the system that she lives in. Because what I think, I think that the writers never judge the characters, but what they do judge is the industry, the titular industry. And at one point, Eric, like, says, the industry. And you know, it's always really exciting to hear someone say the name of a movie in the movie. Okay, Bill Simmons relax. I love it. I'm that Leonardo DiCaprio meme pointing like, oh, he said it.

He said it out loud. He said the thing. Because this industry, it's like we're watching these people be corroded in real time, as Venetia says, by an industry that requires their corrosion. And Harper is someone who is happy to work within that. And Eric is someone who's happy to work within it with a couple of lines, like with a couple of boundaries. And whether it's just not working with someone as unpredictable as Harper anymore or if it's like a true care for Harper, he makes that ultimate decision to take her into a windowless room and expose her for the fraud that she is. the fraud that many of them are. But, you know, they very blatantly quote Icarus, you know, the story of Icarus. And Harper is just someone who's flown way, way, way too close to the sun, no matter

how beautiful a season of industry it's created for us. Yeah. And just to tie a bow on the, you know, just the plot point to the episode, yeah, Yaz gets cut off from her parents. Rob gets like a DUI or, you know, a possession or whatever charge. Getting Yaz Coke, by the way, which is whatever. Just more toxic Yaz right there. And, you know, he calls mommy.

He calls Nicole to bail him out. And it's basically established like he's fine with their relationship for whatever fucked up reasons from his past. But he's cool with it. Gus, we learned, you know, his superior sets him up to to fuck, to do some stupid shit, which he does. But she's like, look, Bloom is in your debt. Call that man and get a job, okay?

You'll be fine with him. You're good. You're set up for life. And so he goes to work for Bloom's hedge fund. So we see the full, you know, basically the arc of Gus where it's like, man, I'm trying to find myself. Oh, so much goods to be done in public works. And it's like, no, ultimately I'll just work at a hedge fund.

make a shit ton of money and willed influence and that's what I'll do. Harper is fired from Pierpoint for fraud. And, you know, basically the wheel just keeps on spinning in this world, in this system. And it remains unbroken by these actors who, you know, essentially, I think they wanted to see something better. But like, the incentives are set up in such a way that it's not going to happen for you. You know, and I think that was the message of the finale. It's just, and I want to say something about Conrad and Mickey, the show's creators. I don't know what's going to become of this show.

I think this discovery takeover looms pretty large over shows like industry, which obviously don't do the numbers of Game of Thrones and costs a lot more to make than some skeevy reality show. So who knows what will become of industry? after this season, but I do want to say Conrad and Mickey, like, these guys, I will follow these dudes anywhere. I will watch or consume whatever the hell they decide to do going forward because this show was so beautifully and expertly crafted from character development to the second part of

it, which I found to be my favorite part of the show, was just its commentary on society and our society structures, who gets rewarded in our society and why, right? Who's getting squeezed? Who's getting rewarded? Who do the benefits accrue to? Just a commentary on that, I just think, was incredible. And that's what I will keep with me from not just season two of the show,

but just the show as a whole. I just loved it. Yeah, I think that's a really great point about Conrad and Mickey and, like, following them anywhere. because industry has been and has become a real critical darling. It is not an incredibly highly watched show, although it's definitely gaining traction. There's no word yet if there's a season three.

And I think like for people like us who love it, we really want a season three. But I also think that these are, this has been such a well done, such a well-written two-season unit that like it just, yeah, it just makes me trust them as show creators. They took this very specific,

this very hard to understand industry and created a microcosm of any workplace that you can understand. And I think that industry is like one of the best workplace dramas that we've ever had, really. I mean, that's, you know, only two seasons in, that's speaking pretty broadly, but just the amount that it's been able to do

in such a short amount of time, the characters that it's created, these like thorny knots of morality, devoid of judgment, are so interesting and can be applied in so many places. I just, I trust them to make a season three

that is completely different than season one and two. I also trust them to make a completely different show that is just like as smart and sharp as this one. So it just makes me really excited. like that there are people out there making TV like this. And also like they just should be sweeping the Emmys next year.

Mahala Harold, the show creators, writing Emmys. Like it's been, it's season two has really been something special. Yeah, Mahala Harold, again, we highlighted her performance in our last episode. She's a supernova, a superstar. I don't think that's even up for different. Just her performance throughout from season one to season two has been incredible. All of the performances, you know, Jay Duplas as Bloom, just genius performance. Like, up and down the cast, I don't, like, it's just, they nailed it with all of that stuff.

And again, like, the stuff that's going to stay with me throughout the hiatus, or if this is the end of the show, is just, you know, stuff like the conversation at Bloom, is having with Gus on the plane where he says, you get to now follow me into these rooms that you were born to be in. I just thought that quote was just so instructive about the message that the show was trying to portray. And again, I've never talked to Conrad or Mickey. I don't know their intentions, but, you know, I can glean my own observations from two guys who worked in this world and decided to leave it voluntarily from burnout or just disgust or whatever it is, it feels like they have some pretty strong judgments about who these people are and what it takes to succeed in it, right?

Like, it feels like they have pretty strong opinions. If you just pay attention to the show and watch who the winners and losers are, I think it's pretty obvious. And so, yeah, I'm just going to, I'll just love their ability to play. with themes of our actual world while delivering the most entertaining product is just incredible. And, you know, I feel like we're at a debt to these cats for being so expert at this shit. Yeah. Yeah.

Listen, there's no, there's no ethical consumption under capitalism. And I think that like that comes pretty clear through this show. And I, yeah, I think their ability to like actually say something. while also being really funny, really tragic. And we didn't dwell much on that Gus storyline. But for as separated as Gus kind of was from a lot of the story during this season, his overall art was really like the overall arc of season two, I think, of like giving this brief glimmer of hope of like maybe there is some joy to be found in doing something

true and of having a real legacy. Like, what a joke to hear Eric, you know, just talk about legacy. Bro, you got to think about it. Essentially, Gus is, he's a smart, capable young man, but he has this plum job now simply because he could get this dude's kid into Oxford and no other reason. Just think about that. Just by having been, having been at that school, right? he has the connections to get this one kid in,

and now he is now at the levers of power. He is now firmly entrenched into this ruling class. Like, just by that, just by that one mere fact. He is smiling like a Cheshire cast on that private plane. Like, he agrees, this is always where I was supposed to be. I took a brief detour where I thought, maybe simply because they're not letting me in this room, I'll try out a different one.

But like the second he got that foothold, he was right back in. And it's delicious. And it's terrible and delicious. Because I think we live in a hyper politicized time. We're literally anything like, you know, like the cause of the civil war can be called into question and become this political wedge issue.

I don't know what Mickey and Conrad's political leanings are. But I do know from watching the show, they have a very sharp critique of our system. Right. And again, that slashes across any political ideology. It's just like, yo, ain't this kind of fucked up? It's like, you know, and again, that's what I love about the show. and that's absolutely what I will take away from it.

Yeah, I think we just, like, we're here at the end and we don't want to stop talking about it. Yeah. You know, it was really, it was like a lot of fun to dwell in this space and to dwell in this show for the last two seasons. So personally, I'm hoping for a season three. Yeah, of course. I'm also just, you know, I think anyone who's watching is,

but I'm also just really excited about like these two seasons of television that we got. 100%. I can't wait to do the rewatch on the season because I absolutely will. And I can't wait to turn on more and more people to this show because most of the people that I've recommended this too were like, at worst, they're like, all right, this isn't, you know, the greatest TV show ever, like you professed. But it's insanely good and entertaining. That's the worst, you know, feedback that I've gotten whenever recommended.

And at best it's been like, I'm absolutely. hooked. I can't wait to start watching again. This is my favorite shit right now. So, shouts to everybody who's involved with industry. And yeah, man, that was just an incredible ride. It was great. I'm going to miss it and I'm going to miss you, Oz. Ah, same, same. I'm sure we'll find some other way to get some stuff on the books, Jody, because we definitely have to. And so, yeah, that was the season two of industry finale recap. Of course, stay tuned to the Prestige TV pod because we're going to be recapping all the best shit on TV that's out there.

Of course, you know, make sure you're checking out. Ring or Verse for all the stuff we're doing with Game of Thrones. And, excuse me, the House of the Dragon. Excuse me. My bad, y'all. The Lord of the Rings show. All of that good stuff. Yeah, man.

And, of course, shouts to Bobby. Shouts to Devin. And shout to everybody who's helped us produce all of these pods throughout this season. Your work is much appreciated and necessary. And yeah, man, we're out of here. Peace.