Something great I’ve just binged online is Industry (2020) on HBO Max. It’s a show about a bunch of recent London graduates in banking, and they’re all super sick and twisted in these interesting ways. I was made to dislike each character pretty fast, similar to Succession. 

S1 of Industry follows along with the graduates as they work on a probationary period to earn a full-time role. All of their seniors are awful: the office wouldn’t be the office without constant screaming, abuse, hazing, and harassment. But sell-side banking is one of the most prestigious jobs to work in London, and this means that none of the graduates care that they’re being abused (as long as they’re on their way to money and success). Really the show is just about ambition and how nothing can get in the way of it. It addresses the question of, how much are we willing to do to realize our goals? Its answer: anything. Each season of Industry brings out a new low that the characters are willing to stoop to in pursuit of value creation. So much betrayal!

I also wanted to mention that I drew a lot of similarities between Succession and Industry, given that they’re both shows about insufferable people in finance. Both shows spend time illustrating the grotesque effect of money on sex. The difference is that Succession sometimes depicts money as a limiting factor of sex (Roman Roy can’t experience intimacy and Shiv Roy always looks to her husband last for sex). Industry, on the other hand, depicts having sex as a thrill tantamount to making money; the two are one and the same.

I’d recommend Industry to anyone that isn’t annoyed by finance jargon and likes dramatics; S3 just came out in August.