Industry Recap: Eurotrash

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Pop culture frequently borrows words from other languages, and German seems to be the best source for terms that capture very specific feelings or ideas that don’t easily translate into English. We’ve all heard of schadenfreude and zeitgeist, but there are others, like kummerspeck, which describes the weight you gain from eating when you’re sad. It literally translates to “grief bacon” – a pretty memorable term!

This week’s episode of Industry featured the German word habseligkeiten, described as the possessions closest to your heart. The show explains it as the few belongings carried by refugees or treasured keepsakes like sea glass – things often associated with those who have little. It struck me that the Bauer family, whose historic bank is being taken over by a newer, somewhat disreputable company, see themselves in this way. As they lose control of their financial empire – an empire that once funded even Hitler – what personal items or values will they hold onto as they step back from the modern world?

The novel “Habseligkeiten” introduces Johanna and Moritz Bauer, a mother and son living in a castle in Tyrol, burdened by family heirlooms, questionable beliefs, and paintings by an unremarkable artist with a dark past. For Henry, the new CEO of Tender, the Bauers represent the first of two major challenges. He must navigate their influence as Tender transitions from a payment processor to a commercial bank. The second challenge lies with the U.K.’s Prudential Regulation Authority, which must approve the merger with IBN Bauer and ultimately grant Tender the necessary U.K. banking license.

Yasmin consistently supports Henry, but her position as a consultant at Tender is awkward. She isn’t incompetent, but it’s unclear what value she brings. Sometimes she helps Henry prepare for meetings, particularly when he needs to convince Jenni Bevan about the merger. Other times, she’s put in uncomfortable situations, like admitting she lacks the knowledge to answer basic questions – which is often the case. She doesn’t even have enough authority to grant her husband’s assistant, Hayley, a night off.

Honestly, Yasmin is a master at handling delicate egos, and right now, that’s exactly what we need. The IBN Bauer board gave the Tender merger the green light, and Austria signed off too. But Johanna and Moritz are suddenly worried about losing their influence, so they’re bringing up the same old argument: that these Silicon Valley newcomers can’t be trusted with client privacy. (To be fair, the industry doesn’t really investigate whether that’s true, so I suspect there’s at least some validity to it.) Yasmin is pointing out that the more Moritz complains, the more trouble Tender will have with Labour’s PRA – they’re already suspicious of the whole ‘white knight, bank of the people’ image Tender is trying to project.

Henry, Yasmin, Hayley, Whitney, and Ferdy travel to Europe, hoping to smooth things over with Moritz while enjoying some local cuisine. However, they quickly discover Moritz is obsessed with the past, specifically a time when Europe had strong, centralized rule – he’s even created an environment to reflect this. While Whitney and Henry dismiss his views and proceed with a business merger despite his reservations, the episode, titled “Habseligkeiten,” feels less impactful than previous ones, largely because it doesn’t significantly advance the overall storyline.

The dinner party is a disturbing display of power dynamics and self-deception. Moritz is revealed to be both a fascist and someone fascinated by Chinese culture, but his refusal to sell his bank to Tender stems from Whitney’s Jewish heritage. While Whitney and Henry are understandably upset by Moritz’s antisemitism, their teasing actually comes from the thrill of getting something he’s unwilling to give. This is their unique, modern take on masculinity – a blend of startup culture and entitlement – and it’s something the German language will likely need a new word to describe.

Yasmin doesn’t quite understand the situation, but she agrees to stay in Austria to resolve issues with the Bauers while the men return to London for meetings with Labour and the financial regulator. Meanwhile, Harper seems perfectly suited to the Tender Boyz’s way of operating. She’s starting a new investment fund focused on short sales and is currently working out of Eric’s hotel room as they try to establish the basics. They’re figuring out who will handle trading and investigations, how much personal information they’ll share, and whether it’s okay for Eric to have his daughters visit or work in casual attire in the evenings.

Eric is trying to launch a hedge fund focused on short selling, but he needs capital to do so. Much of the book, “Habseligkeiten,” follows him desperately seeking investments from wealthy families and individuals – those willing to take bigger risks than more conservative investors. Stern Tao organizes a breakfast meeting to reconnect Eric and his partner, Harper, with potential investors who are already familiar with them. These investors weren’t pleased with a dismissive email Harper previously sent, and they’re skeptical to see Eric seeking funds without having assembled a team. The meeting quickly deteriorates when Harper announces her plan to bet against Tender, a popular company she believes is failing, without providing any evidence to support her claim. Even Eric appears ready to abandon the pitch at that point.

Harper is likely correct about Tender. However, her confidence isn’t based on solid evidence, but rather a strong feeling supported by James Dycker, a reporter for Fin Digest with a questionable ethical background. They communicate regularly, though neither is happy with the arrangement. Jim wants Harper to reveal concrete information about Tender, as he suspects the company is still involved in illicit transactions through its new businesses. Unfortunately, his editor won’t fund a trip to investigate. Harper, meanwhile, wants Jim to promote her new firm alongside criticism of Tender, without offering him any information in return. Eventually, Harper admits to Eric how she first learned about Tender, and even he—a man who previously manipulated a mentor into doubting their own memory—recognizes the potential for serious market manipulation.

I’m really enjoying the new season of Industry, but tonight felt like it was laying the ‘plot’ and ‘themes’ on a bit too thick. It was jarring to hear Yasmin casually use the word ‘narrativize’ while discussing how her husband’s addictions would be portrayed in the media. And when Tender received Jim’s request for a preview of the story, Whitney, always focused on controlling the narrative, told Henry to simply ignore it, asserting their control over the storyline. The show is making it clear that those who create stories believe they have a lot of power.

Eric often surprises us with his approach. Harper asks him how difficult it is to damage the reputation of a major company. He explains that simply having a compelling narrative isn’t enough; you need solid evidence and you need to aggressively publicize it. He points out that if a company like Herbalife could withstand a challenge from a wealthy investor like Bill Ackman, then Tender likely has a chance against a financially troubled reporter – Jim lost everything with Sam Bankman-Fried – and a so-called financial expert who can’t maintain employment.

I’m still really invested in Sweetpea’s storyline! She’s stuck working at that awful Mostyn Asset Management, but it feels like she’s about to jump ship. Between Rishi revealing her OnlyFans and Harper mentioning a ‘Siren leak,’ things are definitely heating up for her. She’s been digging into Tender, and what she’s found is wild: they were making money from shady sources like porn and gambling when they first went public, but now their profits are coming from their European operations. It’s a totally different business model, but it’s like nobody’s noticing or the numbers aren’t adding up – almost unbelievable. It made me think back to something Jonah said to Whitney at the start of the season: sometimes, the best move is just to keep doing what you’re already good at.

Inspired by Sweetpea’s discoveries and Eric’s support, Harper dedicates the rest of the episode to uncovering evidence of Tender’s wrongdoing. She spends hours poring over spreadsheets and calling Tender’s Ghanaian acquisitions, only to be repeatedly directed to an unanswered call center in Dublin, where the constant sound of Enya’s “Orinoco Flow” drives her crazy. Following Eric’s advice, Harper takes a 90-minute break to meet Kwabena, which gives Eric just enough time to find an address hidden in the Tender spreadsheets. Surprisingly, a Google Street View search reveals a run-down house instead of the expected corporate office.

Harper and Sweetpea visit Sunderland and discover Geoffrey, a man working from his mother’s attic. He’s secretly entering data for a company called Tender, specifically tracking financial transactions from Africa and hiding what those transactions were actually for in a spreadsheet. By the time people like Geoffrey are finished – and there are many of them across the UK – the details of who paid for what are lost, with only Tender knowing the full picture. Sweetpea is energized by this discovery and joins the struggling organization, Stern Tao. Harper, motivated by proving her suspicions, shares the information with James. His initial attempt to expose Tender was toned down by legal and editorial concerns, resulting in a weak headline: “Tender, Investigated.” But with Geoffrey as a source, how can they stop James from revealing the truth now?

There’s a significant difference between reality and what gets reported in the news, a point consistently made in the story. While Moritz is genuinely unstable and eccentric, a newspaper article by Lord Norton presents his ideas – under the innocent-sounding title “The Case for a Benevolent Dictatorship.” Yasmin, who secretly placed the article, doesn’t realize its potential danger; she simply sees it as proof to Moritz’s friends that he’s still active.

An article in the same newspaper announces Jennifer Bevan as Labour’s new leader, even though it’s likely not confirmed yet. The Prime Minister’s chief of staff is noticeably holding that paper when he unexpectedly joins a meeting between Tender, the PRA, and Finance Minister Lisa Dearn (played by Chloe Pirrie). If Jennifer, the potential future of Labour, supports Tender, the PM could be seen as anti-business if his PRA hinders the merger – that’s the narrative the press could create. Despite being presented as the driving force behind the revamped Tender, Henry unexpectedly freezes during the meeting, shaken by a mention of his past failure at Lumi. However, this meeting isn’t where the real decisions are being made. Later, a headline in the business section proclaims Tender’s inclusion in the Footsie as a “Major Milestone for U.K. Fintech,” but the source of that claim remains unclear.

Across London, a different meeting is happening. Stern Tao has assembled its team, now including Harper’s almost-boyfriend, Kwabena, and surprisingly, Kenny. Yes, Kenny – the one Eric fired while hungover! He bounced to Goldman Sachs and is now trading at Deutsche Bank. (This story really does bring everyone back into the fold!) They’re planning to bet against Tender, using the money they won at the disastrous breakfast meeting, plus an additional £10 million from Eric, who worries losing it could ruin his family’s investment firm.

Honestly, as a viewer, I’m frustrated with Harper. Eric is clearly all in on Stern Tao, putting a ton of his own money on the line – shouldn’t that tell her something? Instead, she spends the whole episode grilling him about now wanting to be involved with his daughters. It’s like she’s actively pushing him away. They end up agreeing to basically ignore each other’s personal lives, which is just…weird. She claims Stern Tao’s success is everything to her, a matter of life and death, but then acts like anything personal is a distraction. She thinks her drive to succeed is her special talent, and that relationships get in the way, but she never stops to actually think about whether that’s true. Is it really her secret weapon, or is it just why she keeps jumping from job to job?

Honestly, the whole dynamic between Hayley, Yasmin, and Henry is just… a mess. Sometimes you need a French phrase – like ‘ménage à trois’ – because English just doesn’t quite cover it. Watching Yasmin constantly fawn over Henry at Tender was painful, so I almost welcomed it when she started being her usual scheming self again. And Hayley isn’t exactly innocent. She throws out little hints here and there – flirting with Yas at Henry’s birthday, sharing secrets about being followed, even going to his boss late at night for a chat that really could have been an email. It’s all so complicated and frustrating to watch!

Henry needs very little encouragement. He tells his wife, “You’re all I need,” just before propositioning his assistant. When Henry and Hayley kiss, Yasmin appears briefly distressed, possibly by how quickly it happened. She sits down and lights a cigarette. Earlier, Harper cautioned Eric against reducing someone’s trauma to a simple explanation for their behavior. However, it’s hard to watch Yasmin witness her new husband with a young woman, amidst disturbing Nazi-era objects, without recognizing her pain. Yasmin used to seem empowered by dominance, but this season she evokes the image of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Honestly, it’s ridiculous that her husband is now blaming her for his own actions, claiming something just doesn’t “feel right.” Seriously? It doesn’t “feel right” that you had an affair with someone who worked for you, especially with your wife, who is also your business consultant, right there? Henry, what you’re experiencing is simply a lack of self-awareness – a kind of inner turmoil.

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2026-01-26 05:57