Who amongst the Pierpoint and Lumi cohort do we think is the least well-adjusted? I keep changing my mind. There’s Harper, perpetually sporting a chip on her shoulder the size of her home country—and willing to abandon all principles in service of it. There’s Yasmin, underestimated and adrift and always at the whims of rich men, no matter her attempts to maneuver them in her favor. There’s a strong case to be made for Robert, of course! The poor man has a recently deceased client-lover who assaulted him, groomed him, then suffered a stroke while he slept. And Muck has his own baggage: In tonight’s episode, we learn his father killed himself, and that Muck, too, struggles with suicidal ideation. (This revelation comes mere moments before he attempts the pick-up line of the century on Yasmin.) But perhaps no one in episode 3 can top Eric, who ends the Pierpoint family trip to the Alps with glitter coating his cheeks and a colossal failure tipping his balance sheet.
The Switzerland locale is a significant shift for Industry season 3 thus far, even if—by Petra’s standards—the hotel décor looks “like something Trump vomited up in the ’80s.” The ensemble arrives in the mountains for the COP climate conference, a gathering with the supposed aim to combat climate change—though that’s certainly not top-of-mind for any of our protagonists. They’re more concerned about Lumi’s rapidly falling stock price, and about whether Muck’s upcoming panel appearance can serve as the “positive catalyst” he promises.
Particularly after a tense Lumi earnings call at the beginning of the episode, Eric is determined to ensure that the COP panel goes smoothly. Wilhelmina Fassbinder (Georgina Rich), the CFO of Pierpoint, has tasked Eric with appearing beside Muck on the panel, for which Eric will operate in Bill Adler’s stead. (Adler is “taking some family time in Europe,” Wilhelmina says, which seems like an obvious red herring.) She doesn’t need to remind Eric how important it is that Lumi looks good in Switzerland. If the Lumi IPO fails, then the other ESGs seeking underwriting from Pierpoint might lose faith in the investment bank’s ability to yield good results.
On the flight over, Yasmin and Robert prep Eric for the panel. (Yasmin is anxious to make herself useful, suspicious she’s been invited not to assist Eric but to appease Muck.) In the coming days, the syndicate banks will publish “buy,” “hold,” or “sell” recommendations for the Lumi stock. “Buy” recommendations are good; they serve as a clear signal that Lumi’s on the up-and-up. But “hold” or “sell” recommendations are an indicator that Lumi’s overvalued. Eric believes the recommendation of Frank Wade (Joel Kim Booster)—a Pierpoint in-house analyst who’s the “tastemaker” in the energy sector—will carry the most weight. But Rob’s wary of Frank; the analyst’s tone on the Lumi earnings call was a “bit hostile.” Eric dismisses any concerns: Pierpoint “did the IPO. [Frank] knows who butters his bread.” Translation: Frank won’t betray family.
When Muck arrives on the plane, he herds the bankers to the back cabin so his own posse—a skeevy DJ-investor-producer who’s “not into” porn unless it’s “directed by women,” plus his Prada bucket hat-toting girlfriend—can join him up front. (The way Harington says, “Ah, fab,” in response to this awkward social shuffling is hysterical.) Yasmin, of course, scores an invite to the rich kids’ club, though she seems uneasy with Muck’s obvious romantic campaigning. When the DJ-investor-producer assumes Yasmin is Muck’s girlfriend, Muck makes no real attempt to correct him.
Over at FutureDawn, Petra chafes at the “golden handcuffs” Anna’s put forth in her latest contract renegotiation. Petra decides it’s time to launch a fund on her own, though not alone: She’ll poach Harper, à la “Jerry Maguire’s goldfish.” Together, they plot to intercept Anna’s meetings at COP and steal away the ESG heavy-hitters who might otherwise invest with Anna. But once on the ground in the Alps, the meetings are a mess. Neither Petra nor Harper can get anyone to take their “event-driven equity long/short with macro overlay” seriously, least of all the team managing the Church of England’s money. (Petra tries this particular pitch: “Let’s get Jesus out of those sandals and into some Jordans!” That’s got to at least crack Industry’s top 25 lines, right?)
After the bad meetings, the only thing Petra’s acquired is cold feet, and Harper’s calculations turn desperate. She’s already introduced herself to Otto Mostyn, and it’s clear she believes she can secure his investment with a little more time. But without a physical track record of Petra’s returns at FutureDawn, Harper and Petra are pitching their infant fund without the evidence to back up their effectiveness as traders. Harper calls Yasmin for help, and Yas once again acquiesces: She reveals that, because Pierpoint is a FutureDawn investor, someone at the company will have access to FutureDawn’s traders’ performance. Yas points Harper in the direction of Sweetpea, who can get access to those records, but Yas wants Harper’s fund’s commission as thanks. “Bitch, you know I always wanted you to work for me,” Harper sneers.
Having been booked in the same king room thanks to a desk assistant’s poor planning, Robert and Eric share a bowl of nuts while lounging in bathrobes and eye masks. A dialogue card in the silent film they’re watching makes Eric think of Yasmin: “I’ve inspected all the lady employees—and not one of them has ‘IT’!” (This is the line from which episode 3, “It,” draws its title.) Eric asks Robert if he and Yasmin are something more than friends, but Rob insists they’re just flatmates and colleagues. Sure…
Nor is Eric the only one curious about Yasmin’s sexual activities. The DJ-investor-producer from Muck’s plane corners her at a party, saying he figured she’d “open her legs for a bottle of [Don Julio] 1942, given [her] situation.” Rightfully disgusted, Yasmin evades him, but he follows her, straight-up asking if the reason her father is missing is because she killed him. Muck tries to apologize for his friend’s egregious behavior, insisting Yas can leave the conference whenever she wishes; she was never at COP for professional reasons, anyway, he tells her. “Yes, I was,” she snaps, furious at the collective patronization of every man she’s encountered…ever?
The next day, the panel kicks off. Despite having cornered a naked Frank in the hotel sauna—a scene that seems to imply that Frank and Robert slept together—Robert is unsuccessful in convincing Frank to hold off on publishing his recommendation. Just as Eric, Muck, and Anna’s onstage conversation gets into a rhythm, Harper swipes a notification on her phone: Frank has published a “hold” recommendation. Delighted, Harper takes the opportunity to humiliate Eric and make her own case for competence, in the pettiest way possible. She leaps to her feet during the live Q&A of the COP panel. As soon as she announces her name to the audience, Eric’s face falls. Harper introduces herself as a macro trader working on a new fund with Petra, prompting both Petra—in the audience—and Anna—on the stage—to balk.
Harper’s full speech is worth recounting in full: “Why is Pierpoint holding this ideas festival in the shadow of a climate conference? We have a green-energy CEO, a senior PM of a green-leaning fund, and a random salesman from an American investment bank? Is this just the media-financial complex patting itself on the back? Surely your sales patter must be moot, given Frank Wade at Pierpoint has now published a ‘hold’ on Lumi. Given you are the lead underwriter, it’s tantamount to a ‘sell.’” Yikes. There’s nothing more painfully thrilling than watching Harper go scorched-earth. Her favorite pastime is pressing her thumb to a bruise, if only to see how much pain she has the power to inflict.
Afterward, Petra would like to know—ahem—“what the fuck is wrong with” Harper. But Harper’s fuckery has in fact manifested Otto Mostyn, exactly as she predicted it might. He strolls into Petra’s hotel suite shortly after the panel, curious about their women-driven “new look, same great taste” approach to printing money. With Sweetpea’s help, Harper has also manifested Petra’s returns record, and she encourages—well, actually, demands—that Petra and Otto’s plus-one go through it together in a separate room. (“Petra, show him,” Harper orders, her voice deceptively coaxing. “Show him.”) That leaves Otto alone with Harper. He gives her what might be the single most validating compliment Harper’s ever received, at least in her own eyes: “You’re one of us. You’re one of the bandits.” Afterward, he gives Petra and Harper the green-light they need to launch their hedge fund, subtly named Leviathan. Hilarious.
The Leviathan co-founders emerge victorious as Eric endures humiliation after humiliation. Europa Gas, the next ESG seeking to go public with Pierpoint’s support, pushes their IPO after witnessing the COP panel catastrophe. Eric copes by nearly sinking $20,000 to spend the night with a sex worker, though he splits before he pays the bill. (Sadly, this tracks.) Then, to top off his already disastrous experience at the climate change convention, Yasmin sets up a meeting between him, Petra, and Harper. Seeing these two come face to face again, after Eric fired Harper in season 2, was a delight. Petra and Harper want Pierpoint to be Leviathan’s broker, and as such, Harper wants Eric to know she expects “first-class service.” She demands he look her in the eye, then mocks him for the glitter coating his face after his late-night bender. Eric bursts into manic, agonized laughter. What more could possibly go wrong?
Finally, Muck sells his stake in Lumi to “crystallize” his personal profit before the company’s stock hits rock-bottom. But that’s not before the CEO finally comes clean about his attraction to Yasmin—during a skinny-dipping incident at the hotel pool, no less. On the flight back to London, Muck and Yasmin hook up in the front cabin while Robert and Eric lounge alone in the back, both attempting to drown out the couple’s moaning with earbuds. Yasmin wants her boss to take her seriously, but she doesn’t seem to have any problem demonstrating to him that she has a trump card over Muck. She can use him. And as Hanani Publishing seeks compensation for the money her father embezzled, she just might need him.
Lauren Puckett-Pope is a staff culture writer at ELLE, where she primarily covers film, television and books. She was previously an associate editor at ELLE.