Review: Industry, “White Mischief” | Season 3, Episode 4

For an episode devoted entirely to Rishi Ramdani, it’s fitting “White Mischief” starts with a voiceover instead of an image. For two seasons now, Rishi’s heard more often than he’s seen. The master of ADR, Industry tends to give the character some of the best background chatter—a highlight from season one was shortening Zac Efron’s name to a glorious portmanteau, “The Zefron.” There’s a direct correlation between Sagar Radia’s voice and his character’s place in the show: he’s present but rarely the presence, mostly functional in how he’s meant to support the other cast leads. But that changes this week, bringing with it Industry’s best episode of the season and a series highlight.

Structurally speaking, “White Mischief” is the total opposite of what viewers would ideally anticipate after last week’s propulsive ending. With Harper firmly back in the mix with Pierpoint, the natural assumption would be for Industry to dive into this new dynamic. Instead, halfway through the season, we get this standalone installment that bucks convention at every step. In that opening sequence, Rishi throws Lumi under the bus, calling it “yesterday’s news.” Harper and Yasmin, our defacto leads of the show, have one scene each. And it takes place during the holidays, resulting in Industry’s continued commitment to presenting some of the most fucked up Christmas episodes around. After all, this show featured a holiday installment in its first season where a character got too hopped up on cocaine and repeatedly ran into a glass door. Holidays are tough. 

But few are more challenging than the one Rishi has here. “White Mischief” does circle back on one of this season’s biggest themes but through a coke-smeared mirror. Rishi’s alpha personality—what draws the audience to him—is interrogated throughout the entire installment as he and others question his identity. “That’s just who you are at work,” Sweetpea says to him. “Is that you?” The answer is complicated. Rishi’s life, as the tag says on his desk, is about printing tickets and making money. He tells Eric that so long as he’s making money, he’s free, but that liberty is quickly evaporating. Overleveraged in a countryside house by old money white men who parrot customs and tradition as a mask for racism, he’s robbing Peter to pay Paul. No amount of money—”freedom”—is enough to spring Rishi from the hell he’s created.

“White Mischief” is intense from the get-go, slowly ratcheting the tension. Yes, the Uncut Gems comparisons are there and easy to make, but the episode is more akin to a journey through Inferno. Lifts in Industry serve as portals for honesty—that’s where Eric and Harper have their moment of sincerity in the Season 2 finale moments before he fires her. Here, the elevator shows that despite Rishi’s bravado, he’s not holding it together, with the descent out of Pierpoint positioning Rishi as both Dante and Virgil as he guides the audience into his hell. The entirety of the gambling sequence, fittingly scored to Algiers’ “Irreversible Damage,” sounds like the roar of the Hellmouth. The frenetic shredding of Lee Tesche’s guitar combined with the haunting vocals of Franklin James Fisher and Ryan Mahan and the constant refrain that “time is over” further underscores the stakes. This never feels like it will end well for Rishi, which Radia plays superlatively well, rising to meet the low point in front of him.

And yet, it does end well. Rishi’s big bet on the sterling, long-simmering across the first three episodes of the season, pays off—stupidly, to be certain, but as Rishi points out, there’s no difference between being lucky and good. They’re two sides of the same coin. You win, or you lose. It’s all binary outcomes tied up in social constructs, as we’re reminded throughout this episode. But what’s the cost it takes on your soul to carry yourself through this hell? That’s what makes the conversation between Diana and Rishi so compelling. The idea that it’s easier to raise strong boys than fix broken men is a direct rebuttal to the “I am a man, and I’m relentless” moment from the premiere. The societal pressures to succeed, and to provide, require a certain drivenness, sure, but not at the expense of being a world-killer. Life can’t be just about printing tickets. Shame is of no use, as Diana says. It’s time for Rishi to course correct and take control.

There’s a victory in seeing Rishi destroy the pavilion’s tradition and take control in that way. The power of seeing a South Asian man erase years of oppressive white history is a euphoric moment. But it’s immediately tempered by this idea that if you need to take and take to succeed, it’s hard to know when and where to stop. It’s not surprising he dives back in for another big bet. Rishi may believe that Fate is on his side, but the line between being lucky and good is razor-thin, and that coin toss may not fall his way next time. What’s not left up to fate is episodes like this one, which allow Industry to continue to shift, reshape, and surprise in its third season.

Stray Observations

• Quote of the week: “The ghost of Margaret Thatcher in a handsome Asian kid.”
• Industry Fashion Corner™: Bottega shoutout, courtesy of Sweetpea! 
• Speaking of Sweetpea, incredible reveals this week in that she 1) slept with Rishi and 2) has an OnlyFans. Considering that Sweetpea is part of a generation that seemingly wants to make money as quickly as possible, it’s such a smart reveal that she’s cultivated this whole side hustle. 
• Another shoutout this week to characters of Industry past as Harper mentions to Rishi that Leviathan has enough money now that even Daria from Season One is willing to work with her again. 
• The buyer for the yard (that’s billion quid btw) is Al-Mi'raj, which is also the name of a one-horned rabbit-like beast that, despite its semi-cuddly appearance, is known to charge toward its prey before using that horn to impale and subsequently devour its meal. 
• Of course, working-class Robert is the first to rib Rishi about the Tories.
• As wonderful as Sagar is in this episode—and he’s tremendous—I also want to give a shoutout to Ken Leung, especially for the conversation they have at the start.
• I did interview Sagar for GQ for those interested. While I’d love for you to read the whole thing, one story I will share here is that the fight between Diana (Emily Barber, also great in this episode) and Rishi is largely handheld due to time constraints. Director Zoé Wittock and crew had about an hour to film that sequence and, as such, didn’t have time for extensive setups. Sometimes, constraint leads to great results, as the roaming camera makes that moment feel all the more intimate.