September 22, 2024
Courtesy: HBO
Friendship and contempt are just two sides of the same coin. - Petra.
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Industry's episode 6 focused on the death of Charles Hanani and the aftermath for Yasmin and its implications. Harper blatantly exploited Yasmin to hammer the nail in Pierpoint's coffin, proving she's cut from the same cloth as Eric. Let's dive in...
The episode revisits Charles (Adam Levy) and Yasmin's (Marisa Abela) argument on the boat. Charles performing cunnilingus with a woman on Yas' bed was the catalyst for the argument and a war of words, with Yas telling Charles she never remembered a time she loved him. No woman would ever love him or have sex with him unless he paid them, including how badly he has failed as her father were the words of hurt. He counters that she's a whore, and that's all she will ever be. Watching those scenes was riveting as both actors brought their A-game for an intense, ugly, emotional scene that was beautiful in its horror. He calls her f*cking talentless, and Yas wishes he would die, telling him it's the most meaningful thing he could ever do. In a drunken stupor, he grants her wish and throws himself overboard. When Yas finally decides to help him, it's too little too late, and Charles has drowned with the boat heading in the opposite direction. Her confession last week of killing him is pretty much accurate, as she literally did not push him, but she did bait him to do it. Those scenes were some of the best this show has produced, and I thought nothing could top it until the confrontation she had with Harper at the end of the episode when she learned of Harper's deception.
Courtesy: HBO
Harper enters Yas's cabin and sees her in shambles. After learning what happened, she decides to help Yas concoct a fake story. Is there any connection to Harper and Olivia Pope's Scandal? Hmnn... It's interesting because we see Harper's loyalty to Yas, who genuinely wants to help her friend. She asses the situation and asks the pertinent questions she needs to fake the alibi and help her clean up. Haper is a fixer, cunning, and calculating, whereas Yas is the complete opposite.
At present, Yas is at the coroner and identifies an unrecognizable body as her father's due to his signature ring, and it's clear she's going through a gamut of emotions. She later tells Harper that her father won since he is still laughing at her from beyond the grave, and Haper kiboshes that notion. Harper has other things on her mind, like how to bring down Pierpoint once and for all and learn about their ESG investments. Earlier, she met with Sweetpea (Miriam Petche), disguised as a job interview, to confirm the news she overheard in the bathroom that Pierpoint was in financial trouble. However, Sweetpea makes a hasty exit, not before Harper threatens that she could get in a lot of trouble if Eric knew she took the meeting. Harper is never one for subtlety. She goes to Petra (Sarah Goldberg) with her newfound information that banks are trying to offload their debt with their ESG investments.
Petra wants to use Yas to authenticate the information she acquired by setting up a meeting with Pierpoint Asset Management so they can determine just how deep their debt is. Harper does not want to use their friendship as collateral damage. She says Yas is going through a tough time, but Petra tells her to leave her ideologies of friendship behind and get with the program. She says Yas is basically incompetent since she does not consider them (she and Harper) friends. They're business partners, and that's it. She will not ask about her personal business, and Harper should not ask about hers. Harper gulps, and they proceed with their meeting with Yas, who naively gives them a list of ESG underperforming assets and cements Pierpoint's death. Petra and Harper then take their newfound information to a competing bank. We see familiar faces from previous seasons as they strategize how to short Pierpoint and make hundreds of millions of dollars in profit.
Courtesy: HBO
Pierpoint has a new CEO, and earlier, Rishi questioned Eric about what's going on, but Eric brushes him off. He finds out that Yas gave the intel to Harper, who still does not understand the gravity of the situation, and he makes a beeline to confront Harper at the Leviathan Alpha office. Earlier, he invited Yas on a date that was uncomfortably funny. She thinks he just wants sex or at least a hand job. She explodes in a fit of rage and walks out on him, leaving him to do exactly that in the men's bathroom. Did we really need to see the evidence of him jerking off all over his hands, covering the walls of the bathroom? Only Industry...
Eric barges into Harper's office, screaming she got Daddy's attention and calls her a f*cking c*unt, screaming she's a horrible person who strategizes on creating the most harm to everyone in her life, including Yas, who was stupid enough to call her a friend. Harper hits him with the truth, stating she was simply using the ideology he has utilized, that everyone is a means to an end. He calls her a monster, and Harper gets the last word in faking sympathy for his broken family, stating maybe he can now go after what he finally wants. This scene was incredibly satisfying. More of Eric and Harper, please. After Eric leaves, Petra, who was eavesdropping, wonders if he's been drunk and states this is why she's always tried to keep it professional. If Eric was honest with himself, Harper is the younger, more ruthless version of himself, and he hates it. The teacher has become the student.
When Eric returns to Pierpoint and sees Pierpoint's stock plummet, he gets an email from Bill Adler stating that the photos of Charles have been made public and that Yas once again has become public fodder. He calls Yas and tells her not to come to the office in the morning. Thinking he's doing her a favor, she says OK, but then he unceremoniously clarifies she's fired. "...Good luck with wherever you land next". Ouch!
Yas finally confronts Harper. What I love about this show is that it elevates drama to the highest standards. You cannot help but think that the scene you're watching is the best when all their pivotal scenes are dramatically superb. With no holds barred, both women finally speak their unfiltered truth of how they view the other, which is deliciously brutal. I don't think any reviewer could give this scene justice, but we try. The scene starts with Yas nursing a glass of wine at home when Harper enters. Yas asks her why she protected her the day Charles disappeared, and Harper counters that it was the human thing to do as she had done nothing wrong. That's an interesting question to start off their confrontation, as Yas is genuinely perplexed as to why she did help her, given what she knows now. Yas says she constantly defends her to their friends (and I genuinely can't remember her having to do that). She curses her and says her pain is helpful to Harper as she, Harper, revels in people's pain as it nourishes her. Harper, understating how upset Yas is, condescends and tells her it was just business without any of the protections she's used to. Yas screams that she needed a friend, and Harper hits her with a return punch, stating that she does not want friends. She wants people in the hierarchy of her world to make sense for her.
Their exchange was fantastically, superbly honest with every gut-wrenching admission of truth. Everything they say about the other is how they feel about themselves, and they both expose the other with unabashed truth. Yas calls Harper a monster, which Eric had previously called her, and this is where the gloves came off as Yas went for the jugular, calling her mental, bringing up her brother's history of addiction, and adding Robert would never want her. Harper returns the dagger and calls her the very thing that her father called her, a sex object and a victim, which she conveniently uses. Her arrogance is her overcompensating for being ordinary. Talentless. Useless. A f*cking whore. The dagger cuts too deep for Yas, and she hits her with a slap; Harper immediately counters with one of her own as both women stand in the sea of contempt, shock, hurt, and betrayal. Harper walks away, with Yas continuing to nurse her glass of wine. Interestingly, the show ends with them back on the boat when they thought of each other as friends.
Courtesy: HBO
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There are only 2 more episodes left of this fantastic season.
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Industry airs on HBO and steams on MAX Sundays at 9 pm.
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