Season 2 of Industry premiered Monday night on HBO, and its razor-sharp first episode marked an electric and satisfying opener to the season. For those that haven’t yet tuned in, Industry combines the high-stakes business world of Succession with Euphoria’s teen debauchery. The series follows Harper (Myha'la Herrold), Yasmin (Marisa Abela), and their Gen Z colleagues as they vie for power in the corrupt and competitive world of high finance at Pierpoint & Co., a top-tier investment bank in London. Season 2’s premiere sets up the parallel journeys Harper and Yasmin will embark on as they continue to lie, cheat, and manipulate their way to the top in a male-dominated industry. While they make plenty of morally ambiguous choices, the episode, written by the show's creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, consistently reminds us their ruthlessness is out of necessity, a means of survival in a cruel boy's club.
The season begins in a Post-Covid London, opening with a montage of how the characters have been adjusting to pandemic life. The short answer is: not well. Harper is living and working from a hotel, her small room littered with empty liquor bottles and takeout boxes. Yasmin is attempting to party all her problems away, snorting any and everything someone will give her. They are both seemingly using drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism, their bad choices a result of the immense stress they’re under. To contrast their downward spirals, their colleague and mutual object of affection Rob (Harry Lawtey) is decidedly done with the drugs and parties. He rejects Yasmin’s offer to snort a line of coke at a work party, then rejects Harper’s drunken attempt to hook up after. Instead, he cleans up her trashed hotel room. Their deteriorating mental health will provide crucial context for their increasingly reckless decisions.
Harper, who has delayed her return to the office for as long as possible to continue working from the comfort of her hotel room, finally goes back to work due to her boss Eric (Ken Leung)'s insistence. When she arrives, she has an icy, tense bathroom run-in with Yasmin, who says she’s blocked her number and is in the “you're dead to me” stage of anger. Yasmin’s vitriol toward Harper goes back to the Season 1 finale when Harper got her lower-level manager Daria (Freya Mavor) fired to save Eric's job. This rightfully enraged Yasmin, who was counting on Daria to help her get away from her own abusive manager, but Harper viewed it as a necessary and smart power play. The ramifications of this are felt throughout the season premiere, culminating with an ugly confrontation outside an after-work party. Yasmin's words are vicious but understandable, and Harper seems to now hold remorse for her decision. They have both caused each other pain, but beneath their anger is a sincere love for each other.
This episode introduces us to the new intern in Yasmin’s department, Venetia (Indy Lewis), who confidently speaks out against all the toxic workplace traditions that should be changed. When Yasmin coldly tells her she is supposed to get the department’s lunches, Venetia turns to their manager, and with a confidence and ease that astounds Yasmin, tells him it isn’t right to have the intern get the lunches. Surprisingly, he is receptive to this, clearly impressed she had the gall to speak up. Yasmin’s shock and inner turmoil are written all over her face. She had to suffer the cruelty and hazing that came along with being the young female intern, so why shouldn’t Venetia? Venetia’s ability to stand up for herself forces Yasmin to reflect on her traumatic experience as an intern and question why she couldn't do the same.
Yasmin's increasing frustration with Venetia is compounded by the news that her abusive boss Kenny (Conor MacNeill), who was sent to rehab, is back at the desk. He appears to be a new, improved, and reformed man, thanking Yasmin for inciting his self-improvement. To further send Yasmin into a state of mental disarray, he tells her she should also consider seeking help, noticing in her sunken eyes that she was clearly on a coke-fueled bender the night before. This interaction has Yasmin seeing red. The victim of her vitriol? The new intern, of course. She puts Venetia on the spot and makes her propose an idea in front of the team, and Venetia rises to the challenge with ease. Yasmin tries to stump her with questions, but Venetia effortlessly responds to them with a smile. Determined to break her down in the same way that Yasmin was broken down as an intern, she snaps at her, raising her voice and successfully making her cry. It’s completely unwarranted and painful to watch, but her rage is the unfortunate result of the mistreatment she's endured.
Harper is also lashing out and facing internal struggles. She is trying and failing to get back into her grove as the masterful, conniving saleswoman she once was. On her first sales call back in the office, she notices people listening in and gets stage fright, freezing up and losing the sale. Noticing her male colleague laughing at her, she fights back and looks to Eric to come to her defense. To her shock, he doesn't. He's more concerned with her anxiety affecting her performance and tells her to get help at the company’s mental health services. She doesn't take this well and tells him he should mind his business. Both Harper and Yasmin seem firmly in denial about needing help, and this is likely because asking for it is a sign of weakness. When a male client attempts to give Yasmin career advice, she responds, “I don’t need you to daddy me.” The episode, aptly titled "Daddy," speaks to Harper and Yasmin being constantly on the defense. As women in a male-dominated space, they know any moment of vulnerability can be used against them, so they must act accordingly. Their cold-blooded behavior is both a product of their mistreatment and a means of survival.
The episode ends with Yasmin and Harper both making bold, risky power moves that will undoubtedly lead to more chaos. Harper skips a big client breakfast with Eric to attempt to secure a new, bigger client, Jesse Bloom (Jay Duplass). Yasmin goes to meet with the mysterious Celeste (Katrine de Candole), a higher-up in Pierpoint’s private wealth management division who she connected with over lines of coke at a party the night before. Both Celeste and Jesse have danger written all over them, but Yasmin and Harper see these relationships as vital means of advancement. While they are stubborn and merciless in their pursuit of power, it's impossible not to root for these frenemies to come out on top.