'Industry' Season 4 Episode 6 Recap: Is Eric Going To Prison? 

This week’s episode 6 of the 4th season of HBO’s brilliantly scandalous finance drama series, Industry, shatters all expectations and theories about where the season has been headed, with horrific revelations about the central characters. As Harper had found crucial incriminating evidence against Tender when Sweetpea and Kwabena had travelled to Accra to investigate in the previous episode, it is only a matter of time before she presents her findings to the world and waits for Tender to fall apart. Season 4 episode 6 does present such a scene, as Harper takes the opportunity at the ALPHA conference to address the public, but there is so much more happening in this episode, which shockingly stirs things up for the rest of the season.

Spoiler Alert

Can Harper change how Tender is perceived by the public? 

Industry season 4 episode 6 begins with Harper Stern arriving at the Tender headquarters in London, not for a fiery confrontation with the leaders of the payment processing company, but rather for a friendly chat with its head of communications, Yasmin Kara-Hanani. Only out of respect for their prior relationship, Harper comes to the place with what seems to be a plan of intervention to rescue her friend and her husband from the mess that is bound to unfold very soon. She very openly states that there are far too many discrepancies in Tender’s finances, which she has proof of, and which she is about to expose to the world very soon. Harper’s view of the situation is that the manipulative and conniving CFO, Whitney Halberstram, has brought the gullible Yasmin and Henry onto his team with lies so that they will be held accountable for his crimes in the future. Therefore, she tries to convince Yasmin to take some action before it’s too late, and even acts sympathetic towards her, by saying that she must not feel guilty for having been tricked by a top-grade scamster.

However, Yasmin takes Harper’s apparent concern for her in a totally negative way, which once again highlights how every central character in Industry is superficial with a fragile ego. She believes that her old ‘friend’ is simply trying to jeopardize her life once again, out of sheer jealousy for her and Henry’s success. Yasmin instead tries to prove how Harper has always tried to burn down everything that Henry has built—Lumi in the past, and now with Tender again—and suggests that there must also be some personal financial motive in her present actions as well. Rather foolishly, as she too learns by the end of the episode, Yasmin protects Whitney from slander, stating that he is an ambitious businessman whose only fault is that he takes unconventional approaches, which have taken him to unprecedented heights of success. By the end of this awkward conversation, Harper leaves after clearly stating that she is going to present her findings against Tender at the upcoming ALPHA conference, and Yasmin feels smug for having fended off her friend’s attempt to scare her and Henry into leaving the company. Unfortunately, she suffers a personal setback very soon after, when Henry prioritizes Whitney over her and even gets intimate with him during a business trip.

Finally, Harper walks onto the stage at the ALPHA conference, where she has been invited to speak as a woman founder in the finance industry, and just as she and Eric had planned earlier, she takes this opportunity to expose Tender. There is no whataboutery in her speech, as she talks about how Tender’s share price is massively overvalued, even going on to state that, as per SternTao’s valuation, the payment processing company’s stocks should be valued at zero pounds. She claims the company has been duping users, business partners, and even the government with its complicated and false finances, and describes how most of its claimed acquisitions, especially in the African market, are nothing but fake deals. The conference is attended by numerous journalists and also by Tender’s non-executive director, Ferdinand, and Yasmin herself, both of whom are shocked at the allegations.

Despite their previous setbacks, SternTao is finally able to pull off the short that they had been planning for so long, as people instantly start to grow wary of Tender’s position, and investments from overseas start to dry up. There is also massive shorting carried out by the clients of SternTao, as the fund starts to see increasing profits, much to the delight of Eric and Harper. The presentation at the conference leaves Yasmin in tatters, as she immediately tries getting in touch with her husband, who is unfortunately reeling from a night out with two sex workers, as he had once again given in to his alcohol addiction. Harper’s presentation at the conference is followed up by Eric appearing on a CNN interview, in which he directly calls Tender a fraud and demands for a new audit to be carried out by external sources. The whole fiasco quickly changes public perception of Tender and, most importantly, makes Henry himself suspicious of the possible financial misdeeds of his partner. He even suspects that the current auditor, Jacob Oleander, has been receiving bribes from Whitney to hide the company’s financial malpractices and immediately fires him.

Why does Tony Day switch sides once again?

Although half of SternTao’s job is done at the conference, their total domination over the situation depends on the Tender CFO in Africa, Tony Day, turning whistleblower and helping them validate their claims. Therefore, arrangements are made to have Tony fly down to London and meet with Sweetpea, so that they can go over the upcoming plans of appearing on public platforms together. Sweetpea and Harper want Tony to talk about the fraudulent practices of Tender on these public platforms, which would complete the shorting procedure, as the company’s reputation would be totally destroyed. With this sequence of actions in mind, Sweetpea and the editor at FinDigest, Burgess, reach a café in London to meet with Tony, but they find an unexpected figure already present at the scene.

All this while, Whitney had been trying to get in touch with Tony, as he obviously knew that his house of cards would fall apart if his African counterpart turned against the company. When he learns that Tony has already left Accra and is headed to London for some meeting, Whitney figures out that his time is very limited, and he immediately takes a flight back to England to intervene before it is too late. Whitney does not mince his words as he tries to briskly explain, in just 5 short minutes, how Tony will not benefit in any way from the situation. The people asking him to be a whistleblower do not care for him at all and only treat him as an accessory whom they need in order to fill their own pockets. If he does go on with their request, then Tony might get the legal protection that is being offered to him, but he will surely never get hired in the finance industry ever again.

Instead, Whitney insists, it would be far more beneficial for him to stick by Tender and bury all the claims made by SternTao, which means that he would definitely not require the legal protection that is the most important part of the deal he is being offered. In that case, there would be no need for Tony to appear like the victim, and not one of the perpetrators of the financial fraud, as the crime would be simply hushed up. Ultimately, Tony Day is convinced by these words of Whitney and realizes that it would be more beneficial for him to stay loyal to the man who had once put trust in him by putting him on a professional pedestal that he definitely did not deserve. Thus, when Tony appears on the panel of a news program, he changes allegiance and bashes SternTao’s allegations as being racist rants made because of a lack of understanding and respect for African business practices, suggesting that such complicated trade deals are quite common on the continent, and Tender has done nothing wrong.

What shocking revelations does Hayley make?

Shockingly, these are not the only major developments in season 4 episode 6, as more horrendous revelations are made, starting with what Hayley Clay exposes about her boss. The executive assistant of Whitney, who had recently been taken under the wing of Yasmin, sees the opportunity to secure even better resources for herself and demands a massive amount of hush money from Whitney, threatening to reveal his secrets otherwise. When Whitney does not comply with her demands, Hayley directly visits Yasmin and tells her the truth about herself and her exact responsibilities in the company, which leaves Yasmin shocked beyond her wits. Hayley is not a professional in the industry, but is actually an escort, as she had been hired by Whitney from a reputed escort company. In fact, all the executive assistants that he has had over the years had been hired from the same escort company, including the former employee whom James Dycker had been investigating.

In reality, Hayley’s responsibility was to get physically and emotionally close to the important clients and partners of Whitney so that she could bring him crucial information about deals and possible business strategies in an indirect manner. Even worse is the fact that Hayley’s duties included secretly making videos of her getting intimate with said individuals so that these videos could then be used to blackmail them into abiding by Whitney’s orders. As Yasmin connects the dots and asks Hayley with an almost innocent disbelief, she learns that Hayley had secretly made a video of herself with Yasmin and Henry as well. This means that there is no longer any means for the couple to escape the sinking ship that is Tender, as Whitney is bound to blackmail them with the video. 

Both this practice, and what seems to be Whitney’s plan at the moment, which is discussed later in the article, it is confirmed that the CFO has been preparing for a situation for quite some time now in which he can easily quit the company if anything goes wrong, pinning the blame on Yasmin and Henry instead. The revelation by Hayley also confirms that the executive assistant before her had possibly tried to expose Whitney as well when he made her disappear, most possibly by having her killed or by scaring her into hiding.

Is Eric going to prison?

Tender is not the only side that is torn apart in this episode, though, as shocking revelations about the other side leave SternTao in tatters as well. Midway through the episode, Eric Tao receives a message on his phone that contains a video of him getting intimate with the sex worker that he had been hiring recently. Along with the video is also a photo of the young woman’s passport, which clearly reveals her year of birth to be 2011, confirming that she is a legal minor. This absolutely blows up Eric’s life, as the fear of what will happen to him once this information—that he has been paying a minor to spend nights with her—is revealed to the world is evident on his face. To be honest, Eric does possibly grow slightly guilty as well, as he mentally connects how he has been getting intimate with a girl his daughter’s age, but it is the fear that takes a stronger hold over his conscience.

As for who sends the threatening messages to Eric, Industry season 4 episode 6 does not confirm anything, although Whitney and his associates at Tender are the prime and only suspects. Unless any other individual wants to expose the vile old man solely to expose his secrets, it is definitely Whitney behind the whole operation, as he wants to threaten Eric into keeping his mouth shut and leaving his company alone. The girl had most possibly been planted in Eric’s life by Whitney, as he wanted to have something against his opponents. However, Eric now chooses to continue to act against Tender, letting his world burn down in the process, which is quite a changed response compared to how he has been in the previous seasons of the HBO show. Eric’s decision also shows how he was genuinely invested in this project and in trying to help Harper this time around, which is why he appears on the CNN interview to further expose Tender and call for a new audit of the company.

Right after the TV appearance, though, Eric brings his lawyer to the hotel suite from where SternTao was operating, and officially gives up his ownership of the fund. He also demands that the money that he had invested, and the amount that is still owed to him be transferred to the accounts of his two daughters, which all the more makes me believe that there is a sense of guilt working in the man. Despite Harper’s confused objections, Eric leaves the business without revealing his exact reasons, only stating that his presence would only harm her fund. The episode ends with Eric walking away into the distance, as he has possibly made his last appearance in the show. It seems unlikely that the matter will be legally pursued, and that Eric will end up in jail, since Whitney and Tender are completely lost by the end as well.

Who does Whitney call in the end?

The fact that Whitney Halberstram is a crook with quite a few shady involvements has been clear since the previous episode, but the extent of his fraudulent activities and his criminal involvements are truly shocking. The non-executive director in Tender whom Whitney has always been keeping close by his side, Ferdinand, is revealed to be mixed up with Russian spies and intelligence agencies like the digital wing of the FSB. He reveals that the current form of Tender as a banking app, and especially their recent deal with IBN Bauer, have all been influenced by orders from Russian intelligence, who have really been in control of the company all this time. Ferdinand states how the FSB wanted the list of IBN’s elite and influential clients, suggesting that the reason for Tender bringing them onboard was only so that the Russians could get what they wanted. In reality, Whitney has had very little control over whatever has been going on at his company, which also answers why a non-executive director like Ferdinand is always in board meetings, as questioned by Jonah Atterbury in the very episode of the season.

Whitney’s next step is still a bit unclear, although it is evident that he believes that the time has come for him to vanish into thin air so that Henry and Yasmin have to face the consequences of his actions. More than once, Whitney considers ending his life, as he glances at the emergency exit of his private aircraft and then looks down from the balcony of his office in some high-rise tower in London. But the desire to continue living, so that he can get into more such thrilling and criminal situations, takes over him by the end, and he is seen making a call to someone and speaking in a foreign language, mentioning a specific code. 

In all probability, Whitney calls his contact in the Russian intelligence, who is possibly going to clean up his mess for his sake, which might even result in him getting killed. Around the middle of the episode, he is also seen pulling out a Latvian passport, with his photo on it but under a different name. This could either suggest that Whitney is actually a Latvian national with a completely fake identity, or it could mean that the Latvian passport is a fake document that he has kept prepared for difficult situations, meaning that he will now use it to flee England. Either way, this unexpected twist now turns the rest of season 4 into a tense thriller, and what happens to Whitney, and whether Henry and Yasmin can avoid the mess coming their way, will be very interesting to watch.

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