(Warning: Spoilers ahead for Season 3 of Industry.)
Since its pilot, HBO’s Industry has made the bathroom a pivotal fixture, with myriad sexual acts, drugs, and even one death occurring in a stall. Spending time in the company restroom is also the quickest way to hear the secrets of an international investment bank like Pierpoint & Co., as Harper (Myha’la) discovers when she returns to her former workplace this week.
Everything is in the toilet regarding Pierpoint's books and their role overseeing the Lumi IPO launch, with Robert (Harry Lawtey) getting selected as the most expendable employee. However, he isn’t the only one in danger of becoming disposable.
The swanky Pierpoint office building has several options. Case in point, there was a level of risk when Robert and Yasmin (Marisa Abela) had their most provocative moment in the locker room at the holiday party in the first season. When Sir Henry (Kit Harington) asks Robert if he has ever hooked up with Yasmin, he mentions their notorious “eat it” ejaculate power play and insists they are simply very good friends—convincing exactly no one.
Harry Lawtey
Nick Strasburg/HBOIn the safe space of home, the episode opens with Sir Henry asking Yasmin to relieve herself on him in the shower. His proclivity for watersports is a recurring theme, and Sir Henry repeatedly says, “I’m not a pervert.” Instead, he reasons it is about intimacy, vulnerability, and control. “Just piss and think of England,” is his helpful advice. Sir Henry makes it sound special, but Yas later discovers she is one in a long line.
Taking place over 24 hours, Industry continues its highly entertaining full-throttle approach, with Robert appearing as the Pierpoint representative in front of a select committee to investigate the path to the government's £2 billion bailout of Lumi—and assign blame. Other shows would tease Lumi’s demise over an entire season, but in only five episodes, Lumi has gone from launch to down the drain. Now, Robert is the face of Pierpoint’s mismanagement, puking in the sink before getting a grilling in televised proceedings.
Back at Pierpoint, Yasmin watches on her phone in the ladies’ room, wincing at Robert’s flailing responses and accusations about Sir Henry’s predatory behavior. Adding a layer of brilliant absurdity is the inquiry coinciding with children’s charity day at Pierpoint, so everyone is wearing a costume. For anyone else, Yasmin’s on-the-nose 1997-era Princess Diana—complete with a short blonde wig, biker shorts, and Harvard sweatshirt—would be too much, but you can’t help but admire her outlandish paparazzi-dodging comparison.
It is also the mark of a great show that it isn’t distracting when Eric (Ken Leung), wearing a calf-enhancing Henry VIII get-up, and Sweetpea (Miriam Petche), dressed as Brit Awards Geri Halliwell (also 1997) discuss something serious. Ditto when Sweetpea raises her concerns with Yasmin in the Pierpoint loos. Ginger Spice and Prince Di chatting about the “balance sheet motherload” catastrophe is a gift. Sweetpea seemingly has friends in every department, which is why she has figured out the perfect storm is coming. “Two plus two equals we’re f---ed,” is Eric’s initial assessment before telling Sweetpea to return to work.
They think no one is eavesdropping, but Harper is undetected in one cubicle. The former Pierpoint employee didn’t plan corporate espionage (though she has the skills), and instead, her quick pee break before a meeting organized by Yas is fortuitous. Shooting some of this scene inside the cubicle, looking out with Harper hiding behind the door, increases voyeuristic tension as Sweetpea details the financial tinderbox. Yas is far more breezy than Eric, keeping in character when it comes to her subordinates coming to her and brushing it under the carpet. Harper gets the severity, canceling her meeting while Yas blissfully goes about her day.
Ken Leung
Nick Strasburg/HBOAcross town, Sir Henry also checks the stalls when he follows Robert into the bathroom where the select committee is taking place. Robert confronts Sir Henry about his abuse of power, but only in these neutral confines. Notably, both men wear glasses that are not part of their usual aesthetic, and Robert is advised to sport specs and change his maroon tie for Tory blue to create a sympathetic image. Robert is reluctant to participate in fashion theater. The last time he went for this glasses look was in the second episode of Season 1 at a work dinner. Back then, when flirting while doing lines with Harper in the restaurant cubicle, Robert gave off a different vibe. “Have you seen a porno where a porn star plays a nerd?” Harper cheekily asked.
In the present, fortune shifts in Robert’s favor (for once) as the government becomes the Lumi catastrophe scapegoat. Yas stops by the exclusive celebration, abruptly leaving when she finds out Sir Henry’s urine kink is well known (she should’ve gotten the memo when Sweetpea talked about her friend Treacle). Yas has way more pressing concerns because after discussing her terrible choices in men with Robert, she gets a call from her lawyer that a body that is likely her father has been found.
Rather than tell Robert, Yas leaves him alone on the sidewalk, but his night is far from over. While Robert doesn’t think he is in the right headspace for psychedelics (I agree!), Sir Henry takes him to an ayahuasca ceremony.
Marisa Abela
Nick Strasburg/HBORobert’s trip begins in the Pierpoint stall, where Hari (Nabhaan Rizwan) died in the pilot, suggesting he is right to want to avoid hallucinating his past, like catching a flash of Hari’s dead body that Robert found. (Robert is also wearing the same outfit Hari was.) Next, he is on the trading floor, and images on the screens include Hari’s toilet stall death and when Robert first called Nicole (Sarah Parish). The ticker reads “EAT IT,” and Eric, as Henry VIII, makes an “off with your head” motion toward Robert. Loyalty is an illusion no matter how often someone calls you a company man.
When a character takes psychedelics on TV, it is often a cliche-ridden navel-gazing exercise. While Robert’s visions of ghosts like Nicole, Hari, and then his mother are certainly trope-y, it doesn’t feel superfluous or contrived. Instead, it is a valuable reminder of why Robert questioned if he is cursed in the Season 3 opener and of Lawtey’s impressive range.
Considering Robert’s last 24 hours, it wouldn’t be surprising if he fell asleep with his head on the toilet seat. Thankfully, it is a bed, not a bathroom, that Robert crawls into. Yasmin joins him (platonically), and they resume their chat about her terrible taste in men. Robert jokes that she is destined to marry her dad. “That would be impossible because I killed him,” Yas returns in jest. Or is it a bed confessional? Either way, there is no denying how much crap Yas is about to go through when her father’s death is made public. Luckily, Robert has proved that, unlike Pierpoint, he is not the kind to flush someone away.
