You might recall the conclusion of Industry Season 3, and if you're particularly astute, you'll remember that it felt like a proper, no-take-back ending. Pierpoint is gone. Eric has retired. Harper got the fund she always wanted. With this in mind, it's a bit of a surprise that Season 4 is here, but throughout Episode 1, "Paypal of Bukkake," it becomes obvious that there's been a necessary reinvention. And it's a pretty comprehensive one, which is why the premiere devotes virtually all of its hour-long runtime to establishing it properly.
This includes checking in with all of the major characters – the ones who have returned, anyway; Robert is sadly absent – and figuring out where they're at these days. There's a new Labour government in the U.K., and that government is wheeling out some particularly Orwellian policies about online safety that are threatening to cost people a lot of money – or make them a lot of money, depending on where they're standing when the die is cast. All the key players need to get themselves in the right position, and this episode is about getting them there. It isn't masterfully tense in the way Industry sometimes can be, but it's still pretty damn good for such a functional chapter.
Curiously enough, the season opens not with any familiar faces, but with two new characters. A young man locks eyes with a young woman across the dancefloor of a crowded nightclub. They take some drugs, dance, and go home together, as people in nightclubs tend to do. Whatever they do with each other is uncharacteristically kept off-screen. But it's the next morning when things go wrong.
The man is Jim Dycker, a journalist. The woman is Haley Clay, assistant to the man who will play one of the key roles of this season. His previous assistant disappeared from public view in mysterious circumstances. Jim has been talking to her. He's looking to find out more about Haley's boss, Whitney Halberstram, who we will later learn is the CFO of Tender, a payment processing company that made its name in gray markets like gambling and pornography. Needless to say, Haley isn't very happy about the deception and throws Jim out.
With nobody else to turn to with the power to do anything about what may or may not be going on with Tender, Jim turns to the show's perennial disruptor, Harper Stern. But we'll get to that.
The slightly provocative title of this episode, “Paypal of Bukkake,” is a subtle nod to Tender. Here's some important context: The new Labour government is planning to pass online safety legislation that would mandate age verification for accessing ostensibly "adult" content on the internet, which would drastically affect the bottom line of companies with financial stakes in the darker corners of the web. This includes Tender, the payment processor of choice for Siren, a fictional OnlyFans-style website that has become extraordinarily popular.
Tender's CEO, Jonah, wants to maintain the company's unique position, but the CFO, Whitney, wants to pivot away from adult content and rebrand Tender as a kind of "bank killer" that'll reshape the financial markets. Jonah and Whitney have been best friends and business partners since college, but their ambitions differ vastly. Jonah is content with his current status, while Whitney has ambitions that extend beyond spending company money on alcohol, drugs, and women. So, Whitney presents Jonah with an ultimatum, disguised as a conversation, and when he realizes that Jonah is never going to see his point of view, he pulls the trigger on having him ousted as CEO by a board disgusted with his general sense of hygiene. Of course, Whitney also nominates himself as the interim CEO. This comes after he has already severed the company’s relationship with Siren, so Whitney’s well on his way. For now, it isn’t entirely clear what his plans consist of, but they definitely involve cozying up to British high society - represented mostly by Yasmin, who is still engaged to Henry Muck, who is in a state of deep depression that she’s disguising as a cold he needs to get over - and the current Labour government. Whitney also has a sinister aura about him, given the missing assistant. He’ll fit right in.
This brings us to Harper, who begins Industry Season 4, Episode 1 as the queen of her own little fiefdom, a short-selling fund bankrolled by Otto Mostyn. But she’s becoming increasingly frustrated by being constantly babysat by Otto’s lackeys, who keep nixing her propositions for viable shorts. She’s big into the idea of shorting Siren, a theory she confirms by paying Rishi - whose life has evidently imploded to a considerable degree - to peep through some emails on a phone swiped from someone in the government. This is successful but causes a bit of a rumble, given she’s going off-script, and she’s also adamant about holding the position rather than cashing out at a profit since she’s just pathologically predisposed to risk.
Speaking of which, when she gets word that the LilyLara fund has put in a request to withdraw their capital, she makes the bold step of gating it, sending out a client-wide email promising a change in strategy and more lucrative short-term gains, but crucially cutting a lot of very rich people off from considerable amounts of their money. It’s a disastrous play. One of her clients almost dies of a stroke in her office, and Otto tells her, to her face, that the tactical play of keeping her around as a “progressive face” is no longer worth the effort. Otto has just been anointed in the House of Lords, so he can basically say whatever he wants at this point.
LilyLara emerges as Eric's financial backer, and when Harper confronts him about his withdrawal, it turns into a flow of wise counsel, leading to a roundabout business proposition. Harper seeks a partnership with Eric for a new venture, and given Eric's retirement seems unsatisfying - he's lounging around playing golf with wealthy friends, one of whom, in the background, is a clear nod to Donald Trump - he gives it serious consideration. But can they trust each other?
Through Yas's introduction, Harper meets Whitney and within five minutes, she manages to seduce him into her bedroom. Unsurprisingly, he has some very specific sexual preferences, which Harper is more than happy to indulge in, presumably because it will give her more leverage for their future partnership.
The next morning, Jim calls with his own proposition. Harper can't go into detail as she's still in Whitney's company, but it's clear she'll accept. And, given Eric is waiting for her when she gets home and agrees to join forces with her on their own venture, it's equally clear that much of Industry Season 4 will be defined by Harper and Eric taking on Whitney and Tender - and perhaps even the entire British government and aristocracy while they're at it.
