The television series “Industry” quietly premiered in 2020 and focused on a small group of postgraduates jostling for favor in an investment bank in London called Pierpoint & Co. Through these young associates, they display the world of finance cynically and smugly, showcasing their early morning trading stock options on the floor to cocaine-fueled raves with clients.
Retrospectively, the first two seasons were unsatisfactory. If anything, “Industry” is a lesson to major studios and networks that audiences grow over time, and so do writers and their stories. For its third season premiere, “Industry” occupied the prized MAX Sunday Spot and garnered critical acclaim for its technical and performative brilliance. The co-creators, Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, held nothing back as they delivered a masterclass in character exploration, exposition and resolution. The show’s operation at an echelon is so sophisticated that it is sure to influence how studios approach and write series going forward.
Effective storytelling is utilized in the show through its exhaustive use of hectic plot points and characters and the speed at which it moves. A twist or wrinkle in the story is fully used up to its ultimate end, even if that end does not fit the confines of the story. While any other show might’ve spent much of their season on the dissolution of Pierpoint & Co, the cornerstone of the series brushes past the company’s insolvency and ultimate sale in a mere episode.
The show, much like the characters in it, is chaotic. It races through the main plot and its pace mirrors its original subject matter: sales and trading – an incredibly fast-paced métier. Even so, the show remains emotionally compelling through its vast character exploration. Audiences are given the opportunity to intimately understand the motivations, desires and fears of those onscreen and see them as fully realized beings. In this way, the show is incredibly satisfying because you are both jolted and endeared toward the story.
Season 3 focused on capitalist attempts to “go green” through environmental, social and governance investing – a style of investing the protagonist believes to be a fad. The season offered indictments as it “became about class and about money and privilege and the intersection of all these things,” Kay said.
“[The show is] a reflection of the government and the society we’ve had for the last 14 years,” Down said. “That avaricious, crony chumocracy we’ve been living under.”
The show embraces the Marxist sentiment that the economy is the root of all our interactions and decisions in the world, so it’s no wonder that the characters center their desire for more capital gain, even if it ruins their marriages, friendships and lives.
“Industry” teaches us about the world we live in, often repulsively. Ultimately, for its ability to take risks, actively confront what it means to tell a good story and be a reflection of the society we live in, it’s steadily on its way to being one of the greatest shows MAX has produced and one of the greatest television shows ever.
