The second season of the Anglo-American series Industry has been broadcast in France by OCS since Tuesday, August 2. After suffering a relentless selection, then a no less harsh hazing in the brilliant season 1 (2020), the young recruits of the (fictional) London investment bank Pierpoint do not have the leisure to rest. They must now navigate the midst of Covid-19 and find the opportunities that will allow their customers, their company and themselves to enrich themselves handsomely in the midst of the crisis.
We are pleased to find the gallery of characters led by Harper (Myha’ la Herrold), Yasmin (Marisa Abela) Robert (Harry Lawtey) and Eric (Ken Leung), the tension and suspense specific to a universe of sharks or even sex scenes as explicit as judiciously brought.
But according to the cultural site Vulture (which depends on New York Magazine), this HBO/BBC Two co-production has another trick up its sleeve:
“What really sets ‘Industry’ apart as a series about wealth and power – and especially the schemes and other underhanded ways that breed that wealth and power – is the quality of its dialogue and its soundscape.”
“A verve devoid of explanatory objectives”
Unlike legal or medical terms, notes the critic of Vulture, finance jargon is not widespread in the series. That’s why it will seem almost incomprehensible to silly people (which she claims to be), for example when Harper asks a client if he needs advice on his currency investments, in a tirade full of technical terms. In addition, a police or hospital series often has tangible stakes, such as a suspect who ends up in prison or a patient in the morgue. “The lively verve of ‘Industry’ is for its part just as devoid of explanatory and pedagogical objectives as it is detached from any concrete and immediate reality.”
All the force of the work is to have taken its party, judges the criticism. And to immerse the spectator in a world apart thanks to its sound environment. “Far from being discouraging, this linguistic opacity adds to the charm of the series. When the characters are under the stress of the trading floor, ‘Industry’ makes their tension palpable: everywhere voices are heard, picking up the phone and whispering something with all the distress of one who feels the ground give way under his feet. .”
Besides its scathing humor, dramatic moments and suspense, the HBO series paradoxically manages to have something heartwarming, even concludes the review:
“Like white noise or a café atmosphere, ‘Industry’ immerses you in a pleasant sound universe. Even though everyone is always on the verge of losing everything.”