Industry just delivered an unexpected twist that triggered a departure which will fundamentally change the series moving forward – here’s what stars Myha’la and Ken Leung had to say about the Season 4 Episode 6 fireworks.
From humble beginnings on HBO/BBC, Industry has grown in size, stature, and success over three seasons, with the fourth currently airing to great acclaim, in spite of financial bros failing to understand the show.
The toxic working relationship between Harper Stern and Eric Tao has been central to the series, but they became awkward business partners in the most recent episodes, via their SternTao investment fun.
The latest installment – titled ‘Dear Henry’ – saw the company go from strength-to-strength via Harper’s anti-Tender speech at a business summit, and Eric’s anti-Tender appearance on CNN. But when Eric receives a mysterious message on his phone, their uneasy alliance quickly falls apart. SPOILERS ahead…
Why Eric goes through a lawyer during Industry S4E6
During Episode 4 of Season 6, Eric receives secretly recorded footage of him with a sex worker, plus proof that she was a minor. This sends him into a tailspin that sees Tao dissolving his partnership with Sten through a lawyer, and refusing to tell her why.
“I felt bad for both of them,” Myha’la told The Hollywood Reporter of the devastating scene. “I felt bad that Eric – understandably – couldn’t tell Harper what was going on. I felt bad for her because she was traumatized by the fact that she didn’t know the real reason. But of course she couldn’t know the real reason. But then it’s like duh, this is Industry and HBO, it’s got to end this way.“
Ken Leung believes what Eric is doing is all for Harper’s good. “I think he’s protecting SternTao as an entity,” Leung told Deadline. “He’s protecting Harper’s baby, basically – that’s the first time I’ve articulated it that way, that feels very right, like he’s protecting her baby – and he knows that he did something that will destroy it, so he has to remove himself.
“I think at first it’s for himself. It’s to keep that a secret, keep that locked away, but it’s for her. It’s his version of the most giving he can be. And the lawyer is so that he doesn’t have to actually do it, go through the work of it, which is very Eric.”
Myha’la on why Harper wants him to feel pain
The scene is both heartbreaking and painfully awkward. “He won’t look at her or speak to her or tell her,” Myha’la told Deadline. “Obviously something bad has happened, but she’s like, ‘Well, you can tell me, obviously you can tell me anything.’
“That’s the kind of relationship we built, that’s the relationship you asked for, and because he won’t do it or can’t do it or whatever, she obviously thinks, ‘You forced me, you backed me into this corner where I now rely on you emotionally and you won’t do the thing you forced me into, like, f*ck you bro.’
“So it feels [like] cowardice. It feels like there’s a limit to what he’s able to share. But it shouldn’t be for her, and that feels really unfair.”
She added of Harper: “She’s pretty pissed and extremely hurt, and feels alone in the world. She’s in so much pain and she wants him to feel pain too.”
Ken Leung on what’s next for Eric Tao
The episode ends with Eric walking towards some unknown destination as the credits roll. “All we know is that he’s on a vaguely reckless walk, being that it’s right down the middle of a street that cars drive down,” Leung told THR.
“So there is a defiance to it, an ‘I dare you to knock me off this street, I dare you to honk at me’ type of thing. He’s also walking with purpose. But the show doesn’t tell us where he’s going or what he’s feeling.”
As for what Leung thinks, he told Deadline: “This might sound funny, but I don’t think it’s my business to say where he’s going.
“The way he walks away is offering the audience a voice in where he’s going, so it’s kind of where my playing the role ends and us sharing the role – me the actor, and you the viewer are both responsible for what that means.
“So it’s not my province to say. All I know is that he’s walking away and that is the story. The walking away is the story.”
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