Spoiler Alert: This list contains spoilers for Industry Season 4.There’s a new hedge fund in Industry, and its name is SternTao. Fresh off the season finale, the sleeper HBO hit series is the yuppie, millennial mix of Succession and The White Lotus. It’s been a long way since their early days as graduates at London’s Pierpoint & Co., only for the entire trading desk to be laid off, with nobody spared — not even the managers.
However, Industry‘s main anti-hero, Harper Stern (Myha’la), knows a thing or two about starting from the bottom. With nothing but her eagle intellect and ruthlessness, Season 4 of Industry sees Harper building her own hedge fund, proving that she could make it without the bureaucracy of banking institutions. But when her latest target company turns out to be a shady, fraudulent operation, Harper has bitten off more than she can chew. With the final season officially underway, Industry Season 5 needs to address these things (or else).
1
What Is Harper Stern’s Next Move With SternTao?
Harper finally launches her own hedge fund focused on short-only strategies — a fund designed to profit from the downfall of specific, often unethical companies. This time, her main target is Tender, a London-based payment processing platform that primarily handles transactions for adult content. When Harper and her team investigate to find concrete proof of Tender’s shortcomings, what they uncover is even more disturbing.
The valuation Tender claims to have is practically nonexistent, and its so-called “offices” in Accra turn out to be nothing more than a fluke. After exposing Whitney Halberstram’s (Max Minghella) true intentions, they manage to short Tender, gaining a £110 million profit. At this point, she has nothing left to prove. She makes it clear that she can run a hedge fund after being fired from Pierpoint. But to Harper, this line of work for her is “life or death.” There’s no way she’s putting down the books anytime soon.
2
Will Eric Tao Return to SternTao?
The layoff from Pierpoint & Co. really put a dent in Eric Tao (Ken Leung). At least he has his $20 million severance pay, which he generously spends by playing golf and indulging in hookers. So when Harper approaches him about forming SternTao, he accepts the offer. However, unlike the relentless Eric from his Pierpoint days, this version of him is noticeably calmer and more reflective.
Retirement seems to have softened Eric. He apologizes to Kenny Kilbane (Cono MacNeill), comforts a grieving Harper after her mother’s death, and attempts to reconnect with his estranged daughter. But when he is blackmailed with an illicit video of him, he chooses to leave SternTao to protect Harper. Whether his departure signals the actor’s exit remains unclear. However, Harper has seen the video for herself, and it’s unlikely that she’ll let him walk away without resolution.
3
Will Yasmin Kara-Hanani Be in Trouble?
Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela) spends much of Season 4 trying to shape her husband Henry Muck (Kit Harrington) into the man she needs him to be. Whether she is sobering him up from severe alcoholism or pushing him toward becoming CEO of Tender through her connections with Whitney, Yasmin treats her partner like a puppet. When he relapses or disappears from work, she pulls him back into place.
However, as Henry gains a stronger footing at Tender, Yasmin gradually feels sidelined. Following her divorce from Henry, Yasmin finds new endeavors with a group of questionable neo-Nazi right-wingers. Most shockingly, she appears to orchestrate a Ghislaine Maxwell-esque escort operation, which completely stuns Harper. When her best friend tries to snap her out of it, Yasmin insists that this is the only way she feels “necessary.” She is clearly playing with fire, and it is only a matter of time before Yasmin gets burned.
4
Will Henry Muck Be Free From House Arrest?
The only reason Henry is allowed to become — or rather, pretend to be — CEO of Tender is because Whitney needs him. Not for his leadership skills (or lack thereof), but as a convenient fall guy to take the blame when Tender collapses under fraud accusations. Of course, Henry had no idea. He believes Whitney genuinely cares about him, especially when his wife has been nothing but critical.
The moment Henry discovers Whitney’s involvement in the scam, he panics at the thought of arrest. For a brief second, he considers fleeing the country, which Whitney had pre-planned just for Henry. However, Henry realizes he would rather face arrest than live under a false identity like Whitney. For now, he remains under house arrest — but for how long remains uncertain.
5
Will Sweetpea Golightly Recover From Her Attack?
With no leads in Tender’s investigation, and the FinDigest journalist dead, the team’s last resort is to visit Tender’s headquarters in Accra. Since the idea came from Sweetpea Golightly (Miriam Petche), she volunteers to go, accompanied by colleague Kwabena Bannerman (Toheeb Jimoh). The trip proves to be even more productive than they realize, with a bounty of evidence that could lead to Tender’s short.
However, the trip also leaves Sweetpea deeply scarred. She is followed into a women’s bathroom and brutally assaulted, presumably by a man from Tender’s side. Her face is smashed into a mirror, instantly disfiguring her face. When she returns, Harper apologizes and gives her hazard pay. Though Sweetpea insists she does not want pity, she ultimately breaks down alone, revealing the trauma she is still struggling to process.
6
Is Kwabena Bannerman Together With Harper?
Harper is not the relationship type, and Kwabena is fully aware of that. Still, he does not mind entering a sexually active situationship with someone as emotionally guarded as Harper. Because the boundaries of their arrangement are never clearly discussed, their relationship is blurry. While in Accra, Kwabena sleeps with Sweetpea, awkwardly admitting that she is more his type physically.
When they return to SternTao, it is Sweetpea who tells Harper that the two slept together. Surprisingly, Harper reacts calmly, much to Kwabena’s confusion. Later in Paris, when Kwabena suggests ending their relationship, Harper rants about her difficulty with relationships, which Kwabena sympathizes with. In the finale scene, they board a private jet together, seemingly for a work thing. Whether they are officially together remains uncertain, though it’s most likely that things are still casual.
7
Where Did Whitney Halberstram Escape To?
In the end, Tender is revealed to be a proxy front for Russian activities, as orchestrated by Whitney. However, Whitney has already prepared for this moment, securing a Lithuanian passport and wads of paper cash for his escape. At this point, the show has yet to reveal who Whitney is actually working for or what business he is truly involved in. But if it requires Tender as a front, it suggests a much bigger operation behind the scenes.
When word gets out to Interpol about Whitney’s arrest, he flees, changing both his identity and physical appearance. He secures a private jet, where Henry is supposed to join him before storming off. Later, news reports reveal that Whitney has flown to the Philippines and is proceeding to enter China. It may take a while before Whitney is finally found, but he’s probably in a country where white-collar criminals like him could walk freely due to a lack of proper regulations.
8
Does Hayley Clay Actually Have the Video Recording?
One of Industry‘s most surprising characters, Hayley Clay (Kiernan Shipka), is not to be underestimated. At first, Hayley is depicted as a carefree executive assistant to Whitney. After Henry becomes CEO, Hayley transitions into serving as his assistant. During a business trip to Vienna, Yasmin even arranges a threesome with Henry and Hayley.
What Yasmin fails to realize is that Hayley is far from ditzy. It is later revealed that she is a former escort employed by Whitney to seduce targets and obtain compromising footage for blackmail. It is strongly implied that Hayley possesses a recording of the Vienna threesome. When Yasmin directly asks whether a recording exists, Hayley sheepishly denies it — or at least, that’s what she claims.
Industry
- Release Date
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November 9, 2020
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Isabella Eklöf, Tinge Krishnan, Ed Lilly, Birgitte Stærmose, Zoé Wittock, Caleb Femi, Mary Nighy, Konrad Kay, Lena Dunham, Mickey Down
- Writers
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Konrad Kay, Mickey Down, Joseph Charlton, Matthew Barry, Kate Verghese, Sam H. Freeman, Zara Meerza
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Marisa Abela
Yasmin Kara-Hanani
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Harry Lawtey
Robert Spearing
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