Review: Industry Season 4 Premiere Shakes Everything Up — And It Might Be Too Much

We’re finally back with Season 4 of Industry! This was a really good episode that has thrown us back into the finance world of our favorites, not-so-favorite’s, and a whole lot of new people. After the end of Season 3, I was on the edge of my seat to see how everything was going to turn out this season. While I will say I did really enjoy this episode, I also feel like there’s so much more for us to learn and explore with our existing cast and the new additions to the canvas…with such a short episode count, I worry that it might be a little bloated this season, but I’ve loved every season so far, so I have no doubt this will be the same. 

We open this episode following Charlie Heaton’s character, James Dycker; it seems like he is following someone and it turns out to be Kiernan Shipka’s Haley. She seems to like him as they are at the club and things seem as if they are following a typical route. They are interested in each other and they’re going to hook up and it’ll probably be nothing more. I thought this was the plan for sure, but I figured there would be more to it since Charlie is one of our new additions to the cast. They do end up making it back to her place and things are progressing, but she ends up crashing and wakes to him explaining who he is.

He explains that he works for another firm and wanted to talk to her since no one at her job will communicate with him. Obviously, in a state of shock and confusion, she tells him he needs to leave immediately and starts going in. I like Kiernan’s previous work so I’m sure that she will do amazing in whatever capacity she is in this season, but I’m very curious about Charlie’s character. We have yet to see him at his place of work, but he seems to know the in’s and out’s of the finance world, especially after he finds a way to communicate with Harper in this episode and they have absolutely no connection to each other. 

We’re also introduced to our new trade obstacle this season. Our new industry that is shown is a new payment processor called Tender. They are tied into an adult entertainment site called Siren. It seems that a lot of our big players are trying to get their hands in that pool, but due to new introduction of laws that are tightening down on underage use of these websites and trying to limit the exploitation of minors on these services, Tender is pulling out of that service and pivoting away from the porn industry. I think that this story is really relevant in today’s society because it is an issue that gets overlooked far too often, and with the rise of AI, people are abusing it for immoral reasons as well. Since we’re introduced to the two main key players here, I have a feeling that they are going to be a big buyer and/or seller this season. 

We’re also brought back into Harper’s world this season and introduced to the team of people that are working for her under Otto’s control after his offer in Season 3. I think that this season has set up an interesting play as a whole, but especially with these shifts in casting and characters. We’ve lost Robert and some of our key side players for this season, we’ve also gained a whole new group of people throughout different sectors that we need to learn about and be introduced to. At the same time, in the story, we are seeing the characters more physically divided than they have been ever. Even throughout the shiftiness, power plays, and mind games throughout the first 3 seasons, we’ve never been at a place where Pierpoint is not our main stage for all of the workplace drama. We have Harper in her new role, Eric in “retirement”, Yasmin out of Pierpoint and preparing to marry Henry, and Rishi even deeper in his rock bottom. 

All in all, this was a solid premiere to set us up for this season. I am intrigued to see where everyone’s stories grow and go throughout the course of this season, but I am a little worried for the large growth in cast as it could bloat up an already short season. I hope to see some progress and development for everyone on canvas as I think they all have a lot to offer to the story. I would give this episode a 4/5 star rating.

What did you think?

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