HBO's "Industry" - season 3 episode 4 recap: "White Mischief"

September 4, 2024

Courtesy: HBO

Do you know what being a man is? It's not how you seem around other men or what you do to feel a certain way around them. It's how you treat the people who expect your love. - Diana

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This episode belonged to Rishi, played by Sagar Radia, and boy, was it an episode! There was so much to unpack that it deserved a second and third viewing. "White Mischief" proved what a fantastic actor Sagar is, who never really gets the opportunity to shine. This episode showed his fall, rise, and ultimate fall again as he once again placed another bet at the end of the episode and we collectively groaned.

Third way through the episode, it felt like Harper's (Myha'la Herrold) streak would be broken as having been one of the few characters to be featured in every single episode since the show's debut, but with only two short scenes, they were still impactful as she tips Rishi on a "rumor" that proves fruitful.  

"Industry" continues to be the best show on HBO, and episode 4 was masterfully chaotic. This show does comedy well, but it excels at having its characters go through stress and anxiety, and Rishi's anxiety levels were through the roof. Eric (Ken Leung) tells Rishi they are on the precipice of a crisis as Lumi continues to crash and burn and the government is stepping in, but that's the least of Rishi's problems. Rishi has a gambling problem, a serious gambling problem, so when he tells Robert (Harry Lawtey) that "money is an illusion. It's a social contract built on trust," he does not believe the machismo he's posturing anymore than he's trying to sell it. He has accumulated debt to the point that leads to a scene in the car where it feels like kneecaps are about to be broken. Coupled with the fact that he hasn't gotten a win at work, Rishi is stressed, and that's an understatement. The first sign of his distress is when his nose drips blood on his baby's cheek while watching FansOnly and he decides to solve the problem by doing a line of coke.

Courtesy: HBO

It's the Christmas holidays, but there's nothing to be cheerful about as we get a personal look into Rishi's life and the not too subtle racism he encounters in his affluent countryside neighborhood away from the trading floor, especially when his inappropriate and very condescending neighbor Nicholas (Al Roberts) takes the liberty to prune his hedges at the crack of dawn. He reminds Rishi that his neighbors don't like hearing the roar of his fancy car and accuses him of loitering at night when he "didn't realize" it was him. Oh, and he renamed his dog - swell guy.

The anxiety is palpable when his bookie (Asim Chaudry) makes a house call to collect on Rishi's late payment. The bookie returns with his enforcer in the back seat, but Rishi desperately says he can cough up the money. All he needs is twenty minutes - max. He makes a manic plea, rounding up our beloved bankers, including Robert and Eric, who knows something is not right. Surprisingly, he gets enough money to hopefully fend off his bookie, but he pockets the cash instead of giving it to him. He gives him his over-expensive watch worth " at least 18k thousand plus" and decides to gamble it instead. This is where "Industry" excels, and Rishi spirals into the abyss.  

He gets called into HR with a full meeting with our beloved bankers. It almost feels like an intervention, but nope, HR got intel from the "Overheard at Pierpoint" from subreddit that his ultra vulgar language is making everyone uncomfortable. Rishi balks and says that's just him being him, which is much ado about nothing after 15 years working at the bank, but the others confirm that he does make them uncomfortable making Rishi even more incredulous. Anraj continuously tries to warn Rishi that he's surpassing his risk limit and they're both going to get in trouble, but Rishi basically tells him to shut it. 

Courtesy: HBO

The scene between Eric and Rishi is absolute gold. We got some insight into Rishi, but also as Rishi sees Eric. "You trap everyone into a power struggle where they don't know where they stand with you." He's absolutely correct. Please have more one-on-one scenes with these two and less of whatever is going on between him and Sweetpea.

Surprisingly, the money that Rishi used to gamble with actually makes him a boatload of money, but instead of knowing when to quit, he uses all of it to get more in a drug-induced, euphoric binge interspersed with hitting on a random woman at a club, getting pummeled by her boyfriend, almost loses the money and then ultimately loses everything at a game of roulette. At that moment, Rishi is completely relatable to anyone who has hit rock bottom in complete self-loathing as he fingers his ring in a sea of nothing.

 When his wife Diana (Emily Barber) calls the next morning, after trying to reach him several times prior, he promptly hangs up after she accuses him of sleeping with another woman and leaving her alone to care for their newborn. Earlier, he had rebuffed her offer of help. Why is he so much in debt? That explanation was never really given. Clearly he is living up to the affluent standards he set for himself by having something to prove. Another episode revealing how he grew up would be a fantastic exploration of the character.

Courtesy: HBO

Rishi literally staggers into work the next day a bloodied mess, not even caring about his appearance to attend another mandated HR meeting, where Eric comically says they need to spend less than 15 minutes. 

Through sheer good luck and opportune timing, Harper's tip pays off and he reverses course with a profit of 18 million dollars for the company just as Eric called security to have him thrown out. When Anraj tells Rishi he isn't even a good trader he's just lucky, Rishi cheekily replies what's the difference.

Rishi returns home to dishware being thrown at him by Diana. It results in a screaming match and the revelation that she had an affair with Nicholas. After Diana balks at the suggestion that she ask her parents to cover the debt, she reveals that she has a secret account that he is unaware of from being a podcaster, and she will bail him out of the two hundred thousand dollar hole he dug for them. 

Courtesy: HBO

It's obvious Rishi's idea of marriage to Diana is not the reality. The following day, when he takes a bat to the pavilion and reclaims his dog, it seems he's back on track but then he calls his bookie and makes another gambling bet. There's the suspicious feeling that the broken kneecaps may come into play again. 

Industry airs on HBO and steams on MAX Sundays.