Critic’s Rating: 4.1 / 5.0
4.1
After Industry Season 3 Episode 5, Robert Spearing may no longer be a company man.
The hour strongly focused on the Pierpoint puppy, which came with some revelations that may impact his future moving forward.
Yet Robert wasn’t alone in having some epiphanies about his future.
Many other characters also had to face the music and what the future of their world and Pierpoint had in store.
Sending a Baby Lamb to Slaughter
They did a whole dog-and-pony show, with a sham inquiry into Lumi, Pierpoint, and the government to unpack why the people had to foot the bill to bail Henry out.
What makes Industry an intriguing series is how the primary characters, regardless of their motivations, are the sort of individuals that you shouldn’t want to see win.
Yet, as Robert sat there looking like Harry Potter after Pierpoint threw him to the wolves, you wanted the attack on him to stop regardless of whether those challenging him and the entire situation had a valid point.
It’s grotesque that someone as powerful and privileged as Henry Muck could run amok, doing whatever his heart desired, running full steam ahead with passion projects that may be keeping him alive, and then evade accountability when it all goes tits up.
We’ve watched all season as Robert deals with managing the billionaire toddler and all of his dramatics and whims while also juggling the comings and goings of everything Pierpoint.
Despite Eric’s supposed pep talk about being a relentless man and even sharing a room with this man, it was a slap in the face to know that Eric sent him in front of the firing squad woefully ill-prepared.
Robert Deemed Expendable
For Eric, Robert is a young, attractive, white British man in this business, and he could potentially bounce back from the potential fallout at that hearing.
No matter what Robert has done over time, and it’s true that he’s never been the best at his job, all his efforts are for naught to everyone around him.
In their eyes, he’s not cut out for the industry, and Robert is always the most expendable person in the room.
Robert easily should’ve gone down in absolute flames, and it was maddening how his lawyer (who was really Pierpoint’s lawyer, the Pierpoint company woman, and even Henry) were all prepared to cast him aside the second the tides turned if it meant redirecting blame and accountability.
The hour drives home with precision the notion that whether it’s because of a business entity or a billionaire, some working-class wanker who is the epitome of “the little guy” always suffers.
The game is always rigged, and no matter how one tries to ascend to a higher class, it doesn’t change the fact that the same class of people suffer the most.
The Room Where It Happens
The inhabitants of a tiny secret room run the whole world.
It looked bleak for Robert, who spent most of the installment puking his guts out for one reason or another.
But the unexpected game-changer in all of this was Aurore.
Leave it to a politician who politicks with some of England’s wealthiest and most influential people to distract from what was happening and put a cap on things.
She was willing to fall on her sword for a price because she knew the powerful would handsomely reward her sacrifice.
The corruption and elbow rubbing runs unfathomably deep, revealing just how far of a reach the wealthiest and most powerful people have.
Otto happily works behind the scenes with everything, along with Henry’s uncle and others, and it’s demoralizing to learn that they aren’t history; they create.
In Industry Season 3 Episode 5, History is Told by the Victors
The quote about how history is written by the victors comes to mind, as we literally had to listen to how they casually spun the situation in the news.
Essentially, whether it was Henry or Aurore, everyone came out smelling like roses.
As a publishing company, controlling the media means controlling pretty much everything, which the season has touched on multiple times.
It should’ve been evident that Henry didn’t have a concern in the world about the hearing or all the whispers and allegations against him when we know he’s the same man who took down that damning article and photo about Yasmin and could pull strings in many capacities.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter how terrible Henry treats his employees or the inappropriate behavior he exudes with women.
It doesn’t matter that hundreds of people have suffered from Lumi’s failure, that the working class took all of these hits they couldn’t afford, or that everything he pitched and sold was a sham and made a mockery of the green movement.
Robert Fails Upward But Not Enough to Matter
In the end, Henry gets to wash his hands of it all, snort a few celebratory lines, and move on with his life, never even blinking at all the casualties and destruction he left in his wake.
Robert’s naivete kept him from throwing Henry and Lumi under the bus, as he probably should have.
Pierpoint was banking on it when they hung him out to dry because if he wasn’t cutthroat enough to turn on Henry or anyone he could for his own benefit, he deserved to fall.
Ironically, Robert’s unintentional loyalty served him well in the end, to some degree, as Aurore’s assumption of culpability protected him.
And that’s what got him in the room with the big wigs, rubbing elbows and sharing drinks and coke with the most powerful men in England as they essentially danced to the misfortune of the working class.
Robert’s proximity to power is fascinating because, on the one hand, he’s in the room even if he’s not necessarily at the table.
Proximity to Power Still Leaves Robert Powerless
And proximity to greatness can still be pretty damn good and beneficial.
But that same proximity to greatness means that he’ll never actually be those powerful men in the room; he’ll forever be at their mercy and beneath them.
It’s a humbling thought when it hits that your quest toward approval in these circles and ascending a prestigious ladder comes with a ceiling.
It harkens back to what Wilheimina told Eric about when you think you’ve reached the top rung but end up at the bottom of a new ladder.
It’s similar to how Rishi could achieve all of these things and place himself in the circles of the upper crest, but as we saw in Industry Season 3 Episode 4, he’ll never fit in.
None of it matters when, no matter what you do or achieve, the same caste system or systemic oppression that shackles you in varying degrees makes the world turn.
Everyone in that room can happily cackle at how many times they’ve gotten over as they sit on their piles of money, and Robert still goes home to a rundown house with a leak in the ceiling.
Peyote-Fueled Epiphanies
What’s interesting this time is how so many things pile together at once, and it feels as if Robert is finally coming to grips with how little he actually wants this.
Initially, it seemed callous on Yasmin’s part when she told him not to question it when the jailer gave him the keys.
She sees Pierpoint and this industry as a prison for Robert and thinks he’d be best off leaving.
The fact that this doesn’t apply to her, or maybe she feels she belongs in the confinements laid out by Pierpoint, doesn’t go unnoticed.
But Robert had one of the worst trips of his life at the peyote ceremony, and “Company Man” treated us to a truly unhinged dream sequence that featured some of Robert’s low points, the constant drug use, Hari’s shocking death at Pierpoint, Nicole’s apparition peeing out a waterfall and visions of him finding her body the night she died.
We opened the hour with that damned ceiling leak and Robert reflecting on his late mother, and we caught glimpses of her amid the sequence, too.
Monsters in the Mirror
The complexities of one’s relationship with a parent were captured quickly but well when we heard the voiceover of how Robert described his mother as often too needy and a vapid hole of endless need.
Still, there was the fondness of recalling how much she cared about him, too.
Has Pierpoint become like his mother, minus the nurturing?
Are there some parallels between Robert’s mommy issues and his love for Yasmin?
This woman’s relationship with him is rarely reciprocal, but Robert is her safe harbor when she disappears into him with her wants, needs, and vulnerabilities.
Often, Henry’s words also granted Robert some clarity about his current situation and this industry as a whole.
“I saw a monster. Whatever you do, don’t look in the mirror.”
Henry knows that he is positively monstrous, and he’s at least grounded enough to understand how horrible he is, enough that it fuels his self-loathing.
But that’s the thing about Robert, unlike Henry when he looks in his mirror, he can still smile at what’s reflecting back at him.
It’s mainly because, despite his tireless efforts, he’s not savage enough for this job, and he’s generally still a fundamentally decent person compared to the shark-infested waters around him.
Now, however, it feels as though he may be embracing that, and it’s enough for him to let go of Pierpoint and his aspirations there, which places him at an intriguing crossroads in his life and the series.
Is Yasmin Destined to Marry the Father She Killed?
Yasmin opened the hour, giving into Henry’s urine kink with a golden shower in the shower.
Later, Henry made her regret it as he dismissed his bad behavior with female employees (something Yasmin knows all too well) and loudly boasted about how she submitted to his will in front of everyone.
Henry’s asshole friend was on a roll, from snorting over Henry to getting another poor woman to pee on him, supporting the notion that Henry does use women with no regard for protecting their privacy or dignity to that diabolical Kamala Harris Café au lait quip.
Yasmin can peel back all the layers of Henry that she wants, but in the end, he’s still a privileged prick with no regard for those around him who look at her like this pretty fixture he can dump all of his issues on.
Henry is like her father, and she is coming to grips with that throughout the hour.
Fate, Destiny, Generational Trauma, and Love Triangles
Ironically, as a result, the love triangle tipped in favor of Robert in the most realistic way we’ve seen in the series yet.
Despite her self-absorbed and selfish Yasmin is when it comes to Robert, it’s one of the first times where it genuinely feels like she could want him for who he is because she knows he’s a good guy and the type of man that she should have and needs in her life.
She recognizes what he offers to her, yet she’s still so out of touch that she expresses how much she wishes he’d fall in love with her instead of realizing that he’s been in love with her this entire time.
Robert has become a safe space for Yasmin, and she’s at a point where she acknowledges that and actively seeks him out in times of need.
But they both seem cognizant that their fates may already have been outlined for him, and she’ll be the girl who ends up with a man like Henry or her dad because she can’t free herself of the shackles of her traumatic background.
It was particularly galling when she freely admitted that she wanted her father not just to like her but to desire her physically or sexually.
Sins of Our Parents Reign
It’s Freudian levels of fucked up, for sure.
Abela and Lawtey were mesmerizing during that conversation. The rest of the world seemed to float away then, just as it did when she curled up in his bed, and they chatted.
Of course, the cocoon of comfort Robert provided her allowed her to make another admission: she killed her father.
She even waited as if she hoped he’d say more about that, but bless Robert’s heart, he didn’t read far into this admission.
However, he provided the support and safe space she sought despite her testing the waters with that statement.
But now, we must revisit what happened on that yacht.
If the authorities have found Charles’ body, it’s well past time for the truth to come out.
Two Plus Two Equals Fucked
Finally, someone listened to our girl Sweetpea! It only took half the season!
Listening to this woman spill all this financial tea and jargon while dressed up as Geri Halliwell was a hilarious experience.
The juxtaposition of this serious conversation about what must amount to Pierpoint’s complete fall while she and Eric were wearing these ridiculous yet fitting costumes was hilarious.
And her spilling her guts out to Yasmin as Harper ear hustled from the bathroom stall was just outlandish enough for me to enjoy the predicament still.
Harper will always stay ahead of the fray (even if she’s frustratingly and criminally underused).
But Sweetpea and her network of people from various departments and industries concluded that the company had overextended itself, among other things, and that no one would want to work for them.
All of her numbers predict Pierpoint’s downfall, and Eric’s face as he tries to downplay it while inwardly panicking is another masterclass from Ken Leung.
But his most surprisingly compelling moments weren’t dismissing Sweetpea, selling out Robert, or trying to ensure that Yasmin knew he didn’t see her as his daughter AT ALL.
Industry Season 3 Episode 5 Reveals the Storm is Already Here
His most compelling scenes were with Adler.
He’s had a contentious relationship with this man for as long as the series aired, but just as Henry said that all is fair in love and war with this business, Eric and Adler carry on much the same way.
It was one thing to learn that the CEO would be stepping down and someone new would be heading Pierpoint.
However, in a season that has dwelled heavily on male insecurity, displacement, and masculinity on such a profound level with all of its characters, these two “dinosaurs” learning that some youthful guy would be taking over was such a blow.
Adler and Eric have poured everything into this job and lost just as much because of it.
For Eric, Pierpoint and his drive have cost him his marriage and family — hearing him talk about fighting his ex for custody of girls we know he rarely saw in the first place was pathetic but so honest.
But for Adler, his relentless pursuit of success in this job has cost him his health and possibly life, as he shared that he has an inoperable brain tumor.
It was a raw moment of vulnerability between these two men, who have been adversaries and even frenemies.
Eric displayed such an uncharacteristic amount of emotion after that.
Does Industry Season 3 Episode 5 Allude to the Beginning of the End?
It’s hard to say whether it was the sudden realization that Adler, and by extension, he, weren’t immortal after all or because he understood that the company wasn’t either.
It was probably all of it combined that hit him like a freight train, and again, in a season that has spent so much time on the fragility of masculinity, it was a refreshing and gratifying sight to see these two men be so openly vulnerable and intimate with each other.
Adler’s revelation about his health does feel like the beginning to the end, like this fast-paced series that always barrels ahead, which could be imploding as we near the end.
Is it the end of an era or the conclusion of the whole book on the horizon?
It added an extra layer of uncertainty for the future and uneasiness that aligns with an industry where one minute is when extreme highs and lows are the norm and borrowed time exists.
Changes are on the way; they’ve already arrived.
Ali’s identity, the books, Harper, the Lumi disaster, Adler’s diagnosis, the CEO stepping down — the storm is definitely here.
“Company Man” highlights what people sacrifice for the company’s sake and what they have to lose.
It was a great way to lead us into the final episodes.
Over to you, Industry Fanatics.
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