Who better than former traders to make us live an exhilarating adventure in the heart of the City ? Slightly parasitized by a technical jargon that tended to suffocate in The Big Short, Industry still manages to transport by its story and its staging. Imagined by Mickey Down (You, Me and The Apocalypse) and Konrad Kay, the series tells the feverish first steps of five young graduates in the business world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbM84z4XYgc
Industry : diving into a world of sharks
The beginnings of Industry are reminiscent of Murder. Like Peter Nowalk's ABC series, five young protagonists discover themselves for the first time in an amphitheater that looks like a gloomy arena. Here, Harper, Yasmin, Gus, Robert and Hari are no longer students but freshly graduated, and ready to fight. Sweat on their foreheads and minds foggy with psychostimulants, these twenty-somethings from radically opposite backgrounds will have to snatch their place in the City with risky financial transactions. Within this cruel meritocracy governed by hostile raptors, the competition is tough, and the course, trying. Broadcast for the first time on November 10, 2020 on OCS, Industry explores the pangs of the twenties between alcohol, drugs, sex, and uncertainty.
Finance, but not only
The subject seems trivial, but it is not. Full of excesses of all kinds, the world of finance lends itself perfectly to the tumultuous tale of the twenties. Wild flirtations with a taste of infidelity, violent disillusionment and abuse of psychotropic drugs mingle in London clubs decorated with neon lights. Industry explores human relationships, full of betrayals, thwarted idylls and self-questioning. Office romances bring a surprisingly adultteen side , without ever falling into the meekness. To better illustrate its point, Industry brings together five beginner actors who got to know each other during the shooting. Like the characters they play, their relationships evolve slowly and are revealed as the story progresses. The spectator sees them grow, doubt and appropriate an environment in which they aspire to flourish.
What if it was you?
At first glance, it is difficult to imagine oneself in the monstrous and grayish universe depicted by Industry. Obviously, this excessive and disproportionate world has nothing to do with the lives we lead. But over the course of the episodes, the essence of the series emerges little by little. Tinged with strangely familiar themes such as harassment, overwork, and class struggle, Industry convinces with its realism. The series points the finger at burnout, a real scourge of the 21st century. From the first moments, the tone is set. "In six months, half of you will have left us," Eric Tao tells an army of would-be financiers. Nabhaan Rizwan delivers a touching interpretation of Hari, a young graduate lacking confidence and ready to do anything to prove himself worthy of the position he holds.
The displayed hypocrisy of a company
Supposedly concerned about the well-being of its employees, Pierpoint & Co actually displays only a façade to fool the outside world. When one of the young graduates is found dead in the premises, the incident is immediately ignored. Gus's manager (David Jonsson), will openly recommend him to consult the company therapist and reduce his working hours, so that his management method is not questioned by management.
Pierpoint & Co is ultimately nothing more than a gigantic company with ruthless cogs. Dropped in the middle of traders with sharp teeth, the young cubs will have to prove themselves, whatever the cost. Some will choose to impose themselves by remaining true to their principles, like the fearsome Harper, played by Myha'la Herrold. Like Yasmin (Marisa Abela), others will perform thankless tasks to exist in the eyes of their seniors. In this striking cocktail of realism, sexism is obviously not forgotten. Between derogatory remarks and demeaning behavior, Industry reminds us that it is difficult to be a woman in the workplace.
A feeling of confinement even on screen
Eating in front of the computer, sleeping in the toilet, chaining alcoholic evenings and drug taking… The frantic pace of daily life of Hari, Yasmin, Robert, Harper and Gus makes you dizzy. From smoky nightclubs to ultra-realistic trading halls, daylight is almost never visible on screen. Composed by Nathan Micay, the music plunges us into a strange parallel world, an unhealthy dream that never seems to end. If we forget its ambient claustrophobia and its London time massacring, Industry almost looks like a contemporary Mad Men … without Jon Hamm.
Broadcast in H+24, Industry is available now on OCS! 
