Industry Recap: Season 2 Episode 6 – Short To The Point Of Pain

September 8, 2022

Industry, like that Emmy-winning AMC show, operates within and yet transcends the confines of the workplace. All of our main characters exist solely through their relationship with work. Even when we see glimpses of their personal lives, those calls for intimacy are met with impossible barriers that these young professionals have erected for themselves. They confronted their pasts last week, discovering how their families may have been holding them back. This week’s episode – Industry Season 2 Episode 6 – finds out whether the Pierpoint crew’s other relationships can withstand their ever-changing notion of ambition.

Industry Recap: Season 2 Episode 6 – The stakes keep getting higher

Industry Recap: Season 2 Episode 6 1

On one end of the spectrum, we have Gus, the lone Pierpoint employee who has left the company/industry. He is now a case study in how to reimagine ambition. His family may put pressure on him to aim higher, to keep his early promise. But, with each passing day, Gus seems perfectly content with less. Obviously with Leo. But also with the type of job that, while not paying well or leaving a large social footprint, nourishes him in unexpected ways. In a world that expects him to be productive—hyper-productive—and to see his life as something to be maximized, it’s refreshing to find Gus rebuking it all. He can and will make do with less if it means happiness.

Gus aspired to a life he soon realized he didn’t want; Yas has clearly lived and breathed wealth her entire life, so her promotion feels like an all-too-natural next step. Others, however, believe that a life of wanting is the only kind of life she can imagine. She would prefer it that way. As she tells Jesse, she’s perfectly content to thrive in a gamified industry where it’s clear that everyone is playing as long as she can win. Her zeal has clearly brought her a long way. That’s how she ended up with Jesse in the first place. But her good fortune keeps running out. Perhaps her focus on winning can only help her so much.

In a season full of high-stakes trading moments that had me rooting for Harper regardless of what the hell she was doing, screwing over Rishi with Jesse has to be near the top. Even if the moment of glory was fleeting. Harper, you can’t have it all! Especially if you insist on playing alone and consider any collaborative effort to be an imposition on your own brilliance.

As for whether she’ll be able to persuade Eric to…well, who knows what she’ll come up with with him now that it’s clear she no longer has Jesse’s ear, that’s a story for another day. But, if the reference to Sterling Draper Cooper Pryce is any indication, we could be on our way to a truly wild place where Pierpoint no longer serves as our center of gravity and Harper is able to firmly anchor herself not in an institution but in her own abilities.

The stakes are rising all the time. Can Harper, like Don Draper before her, keep reinventing herself and building a future that necessitates concealing not only her origins but also the lies she told to get to where she is?

Stray observations

  • A visual cue can sometimes feel a little…well, shall we say obvious? I didn’t mind the shot of Jesse’s empty chair during the speech he chose not to give. But what about that snow globe of New York City? It’s far too direct.
  • If I were a different kind of person, I’d rewatch The Big Short after this episode to better comprehend the principles behind what Harper and Jesse were attempting to achieve. But if I was still unable to recall what “shorting” entails, I would have to admit that the Adam McKay film obviously failed to perform as intended. But I’ll be the first to admit that my lack of financial literacy is probably the main factor in that.
  • Myha’la Herrold’s way of chewing gum and clenching her jaw is captivating. What would otherwise be a physical tic to visually remind us of Harper’s self-inflicted stress and anxiety on a daily basis becomes a hypnotic character tell that, along with her hair pulled back and her slick wardrobe, paint Harper as a wound-up young woman who knows she’s one crisis away from unraveling.
  • Oh, I almost forgot about Yas and Celeste! Or how about Jesse’s line, “You know I’m an ally?” Both were moments that solidified Industry as one of the most queer shows on television right now. Where else have you recently received such a clear explanation of open relationships within the context of what appeared to be a steamy, illicit sexual affair? “It is comforting to be in an institution like marriage and not feel trapped.” CELESTE, PREACH! What I’ll remember most about this is how Yas used French as her language of desire and then went cold when her story about being a plaything was reduced to rules and exceptions.
  • Speaking of random modern film references, did we really catch Yas and Celeste doing their best Matthew McConaughey-in-Wolf-Of Wall-Street?
  • Kenny fascinates me to no end. He’s still as embarrassing and socially awkward as he was before. We’re more inclined to agree with Yas on how little grace she’s willing to extend to him. Nonetheless, his tenacity in the face of such humiliation may be proof enough that he is becoming a better person than he ever imagined possible.