'Industry' Finds Substance in the Spiral of 'White Mischief'

By Chris Revelle | TV | September 6, 2024 |

By Chris Revelle | TV | September 6, 2024 |

The fourth episode of this season of Industry (streaming weekly on Max) entitled “White Mischief” is not a bottle episode. A bottle episode is a term for an episode of television where the cast is confined to one location for the duration. It’s commonly misused as a term to describe an episode that breaks the usual flow and forms of a series. “White Mischief” is a day-in-the-limelight episode that primarily follows one character out of the ensemble, in this case, the artist-of-profanity Rishi Ramdani (Sagar Radia) who normally functions as comic relief. There had been brief glimpses of Rishi’s life in past episodes, most notably when he had coke-fueled sex with Harper at his wedding to his now-wife Diana (Emily Barber). Aside from being one of the best episodes Industry has put out so far, it’s also a great example of the more pointed aims of the show’s third season. Industry has always gestured at the bleak structures of the global financial system but took a markedly ambivalent stance on it. The series presented the high-pressure, shark-filled world of Pierpoint without judgment, allowing the viewers to make up their minds about what they saw. This season, however, sees Industry become much more pointed in its criticisms of the financial system, especially how the cast’s power games have real-world consequences.

We find Rishi in the middle of a self-destructive spiral. While a country home outside of metro London may seem like a chance for calm and relaxation, the shots of Rishi and Diana’s life there are presented in dim light, the encroaching darkness feeling claustrophobic. Adding to the airlessness are the posh neighbors and friends who have known Diana for her whole life; these rich white people have a limitless arsenal of ways to make Rishi feel unwelcome, especially Nicholas St. John (Al Roberts). In every scene, Nicholas has a permanent smarmy smirk on his face as he needles Rishi about the loudness of his sports car, the unevenness of his hedges, and Rishi’s plans to modernize the cricket pavilion. Every time Rishi pushes back a little, Nicholas conjures the specter of “old folks” in the neighborhood; Nicholas has no problem with it personally, no, but the elderly are just sooooo resistant to change. Diana is unhappy with how often Rishi disappears into work and benders in London and Rishi for his part seems stymied by the idea of parenting, a sentiment driven home with spectacular visceral relish by the shot of him cradling his infant child with one hand as he tries to watch a co-worker’s OnlyFans with the other. At work, Rishi has exceeded his risk limit and taken an expensive and precarious stock position that could very easily take the whole bank down with him. Usually, his high performance buys him a lot of forbearance to speak and act in ways at work that would get just about anyone else fired, but with this new risky position, Pierpoint now cares deeply about his inappropriate language. We follow the stressful saga of Rishi scrambling at work to turn things around while loudly rebuking all attempts to back him down.

Rishi is also running a scam in which he collects money from other bankers at Pierpoint and tells them it’s going into horse betting but is being used to pay off Rishi’s gambling debts instead. His bookie Vinay comes calling with threats to pay some portion of the debt off. Even when Rishi gets some amount of the money together, he still doesn’t pay Vinay and gives him his watch instead. Rishi takes the cash to the casino and after he nearly loses it all, he wins big. Ignoring any pleas viewers may have that he quit while he’s ahead, he takes his fat envelope of cash to a club where he blows too many rails, gets too much bottle service, and makes moves on the wrong woman. A fight breaks out and Rishi, badly beaten, clutches his cash to his chest and runs right back to the casino to lose the cash all over again. With it being early dawn, Rishi stumbles into Pierpoint nursing a demonic hangover and, after a nail-biter of a moment, finally gets a break: his unlikely stock position has turned out great after all and instead of tanking the whole bank, he’s made Pierpoint many millions. Eric (Ken Leung), who had been looming over Rishi with the risk of termination, turns on a dime and shakes Rishi’s hand. All is forgiven. Rishi has made Pierpoint money and now Pierpoint doesn’t care if Rishi calls everyone a half-witted c*nt.

Much of this is standard for Industry. The benders are usually of the stomach-churningly tense Uncut Gems variety and the show is no stranger to gorgeous people doing things they probably shouldn’t. The difference here is where Industry is focused and through Rishi’s rollercoaster ride, it appears to making some of the most direct criticisms it’s ever made of the financial system. Rishi was above-and-beyond dishonest, impulsive, and selfish, but those were only problems for Pierpoint when he was potentially losing them money. The very second he turned things around, all was well for him again. Pierpoint cared about his inappropriate conduct only when he wasn’t making them lots of money. It’s not a novel idea by any stretch, but given how non-judgemental Industry has been in the past, it’s a noticeable shift in focus. Before we watched people spiral in firestorms mainly of their own making, but now Industry appears to be connecting the hot messes of the show to a larger criticism of the financial system in general. For a show that wouldn’t say much directly, it seems to be saying something pretty clearly.

It’s entirely possible that this direction disappears or that I’m imagining something. There’s plenty of time for me to be proven off-base or for the show to change tracks. There’s just something different in the air this season. One of the developing themes so far seems to be a healthy skepticism of ESG investments (environmental, social, and governance-related investing). These are all the rage these days for the rich person who wants to wear a veneer of progressivism as they make their money. So far, Industry has consistently portrayed these ventures as an embarrassing fad. Anna, the head of ESG firm FutureDawn, is shown as insipid enough to believe that investing “ethically” is not only possible but will potentially save our world. Henry Muck (Kit Harrington) leads Lumi, a “clean energy” start-up that fundamentally fails to deliver on its promises, leaving many without power. Muck, quite Musk-like, sees his eco-tech mission as more a claim to cash and fame than he does as a way to help others. In contrast, Harper and Petra are framed as ruthless, but clear-sighted on the issue; they understand that there are no undiluted ethics under capitalism and that ESG is ultimately a socially palatable coat of paint on the same old lust for money. It’s an interesting criticism that gets at the heart of places like Pierpoint: in the pursuit of more money, aren’t these superficial feints at ethical consumption just socially conscious theater? True believers like Anna are presented as fools on Industry while someone like Rishi, who couldn’t care less whether the money he makes is ethical or not, is at least not deluded into thinking what they’re doing is good.