‘Industry’ Season 4’s Penultimate Episode Brings Our Girls Back Together
‘Industry’ Season 4’s Penultimate Episode Brings Our Girls Back Together
Michel GhanemMon, February 23, 2026 at 3:00 AM UTC
0
Industry Season 4, Episode 7 Recap Simon Ridgway/HBO
Have you caught your breath since last week’s bombastic episode of Industry? Me neither! This week’s episode dives into the aftermath, in which Whitney does his best to steer a sinking ship. But how far can he take it in “Points of Emphasis,” season 4’s penultimate episode?
We begin with Yasmin and Henry, both back at their rental, where they debrief over Whitney’s tell-all letter (or as Henry calls it, his “guru-terrorist manifesto”). Emotions are running high as they both realize how deeply they’re implicated in Whitney’s fraudulent business. How can they possibly move forward? Henry has invested their financial security in Tender’s stock, so it’s not as if they can simply hand in their resignation letters and call it a day. Yasmin is spinning out, baffled at how they could end up broke—Henry’s wealth being one of the things that drew her to her now-husband in the first place—but Henry is more worried about his reputation. They both extricate themselves from the blame, at least emotionally: “Other people let this happen,” Henry says. It’s not as though they ignored every red flag or anything!
The next day, to my great surprise, we see Whitney at the Tender offices. He makes things clear for Henry: As CEO, Henry is implicated. He won’t escape jail time for fraud and embezzlement. Here, Whitney has returned to his frighteningly calculated and measured demeanor. He mentions that the motivation for Tender 2.0 was always to start bringing in “real” revenue, rather than depending on those fake acquisitions Sweetpea and Kwabenda discovered in Accra. In other words, he wanted to make real what had previously been fabricated. His plan to do so? Initiate hostile takeovers, starting with none other than Al-Miraj Pierpoint itself. Henry barely puts up a fight before he agrees to Whitney’s ill-advised plan.
Simon Ridgway/HBO
At a radio show recording between Lisa Dearn of the Labour Party and Sebastian Stefanowicz of the Conservative opposition, they debate the government’s involvement with Tender. Sebastian accuses the Labour representatives of being “in bed” with Tender and speeding up approvals for their own benefit, to which Lisa retorts: She has more or less been involved in this whole Tender mess against her will, and she’s now being forced to defend the partnership. Yasmin watches this segment at home and texts Jennifer Bevan, offering support in the midst of the government PR crisis. (According to some of the older texts between them, Jennifer blew her off after Yasmin suggested a girls’s night.)
We also get a look into the more political side of Industry. The PM’s chief of staff, Ricky Martyn (Andrew Sheridan), chews out both Lisa and Jennifer at their offices. Tender’s scandal is obviously intertwined with their government relationship, so this isn’t looking good for the party—and someone needs to be the scapegoat. Jennifer apologizes to Lisa, who has indeed been skeptical of this venture from the jump (and is, historically, not a big fan of Henry’s). Lisa points out that Jennifer has visited the Mucks’ homes and offices for off-book meetings, which will obviously look suspicious to any would-be investigator. Jennifer ends up giving Yasmin a call, hoping for some support from Norton’s newspapers to soften the blow of the inevitable fallout.
Yasmin is coincidentally with Lord Norton when she gets this call. He admits angling media coverage to favor Jennifer won’t help keep Tender afloat, but Yasmin is fine with doing it anyway. She sees this approach as an exit strategy from the mess she’s in…even if it hurts Henry in the process. Norton asks about the status of their marriage, which obviously is far from okay, especially in light of Henry’s relapse.
Yasmin decides to then pay an in-person visit to The Patriot, one of Norton’s newspapers. (There, she receives a prompt apology from the editor regarding how the outlet covered her father’s downfall. She doesn’t seem too upset about it, though. As she puts it, “He was a bastard.”) Jennifer is there at the Patriot offices too, and Yasmin makes it clear Lisa is positioning Jenni’s head on the chopping block. Yasmin puts on her PR hat: The spin could be that Lisa was actually the one to push the government relationship with Tender. In this moment—being, clearly, the only ethical character left on this show—Jennifer snaps to her senses and decides she’s not willing to let the lies go any farther. She walks out of the meeting, but Yasmin still has a plan to stick it to Lisa regardless. They need to feed some information to a source to get the ball rolling. That source? Well, Harper, of course.
At Stern-not-Tao HQ, the crew (whittled down to Sweetpea, Kwabena, and Harper after Eric’s exit last episode) discuss Tender’s current status over breakfast. They’re keeping their fingers crossed for the announcement of a new audit after Eric’s demands aired on CNN. Yasmin shows up once Sweetpea and Kwabena have left, and Harper fills her in on Eric’s departure. Yasmin slips on her best poker face and delivers her story: She claims there was a memo somewhere—a briefing note about Tender’s risks—that was ignored by the government, and by Lisa in particular. Harper sees through this charade, but she doesn’t get an honest admission out of Yasmin about what’s really going on. Still, she detects an opportunity in Yasmin’s (fictional) account. “Our interests finally align,” Yas says. Our girls are back on the same page! I applauded.
Harper takes this nugget to FinDigest’s editor, Edward, over beers at the pub. Edward is skeptical, as there’s no actual evidence of any memos. He can see right through Harper, but even the idea of a memo might be enough for him to raise a flag at the FinDigest offices.
Next, at a Tender HQ meeting, the company’s board members argue for a new audit while Whitney finds ways to delay it. Henry begrudgingly agrees to Whitney’s plans to consolidate with Pierpoint first, delaying a potential audit until next year at the earliest. The motion passes, somehow: The attempted acquisition will move forward.
Advertisement
On a flight to New York on their way to Pierpoint’s AGM, Henry asks Whitney about the alleged recording of his threesome with Hayley and Yas, and Whitney more or less confirms the recording exists. Yikes. Over a flight call, Pierpoint’s CFO Wilhelmina Fassbinder agrees to give Tender the opportunity to pitch their hostile takeover at the AGM. We’ll see how that goes.
Whitney, we learn, is still hanging on to his Lithuanian passport. Hours before the AGM, he’s about to leave his hotel room with a bag—in an apparent escape attempt—when he’s stopped by a mystery man in the hallway, who leads him out to the parking garage. Henry witnesses this from the doorway of his own room and tries, unsuccessfully, to call his runaway CFO.
As it turns out, Whitney was trying to flee, but he’s intercepted by Tender’s Ferdinand Schwarzwald and a third mystery man, who could be the guy who kept turning up the music in Rishi’s apartment back in episode 4. (Together, they also confirm they were responsible for Jim’s overdose and subsequent death that night). They had been tracking Whitney’s attempted escape; they knew all about his burner phone and wire transfers. Apparently, Ferdinand is more than just a Tender colleague with ties to the Russian mob, and he refuses to let Whitney go, even after the man begs to be free from the mess he’s made. It is satisfying to finally know who the big bad is. Although, when it comes to Industry, isn’t everyone a little bit bad?
Simon Ridgway/HBO
When the AGM finally arrives, Whitney is understandably dealing with cold feet. (In his mind, he would have been on a plane to Lithuania by now). But, like Whitney Houston at a sold-out concert, he has no choice but to grab the mic and perform. He almost flubs his way through his presentation but gets himself together and presents his hostile offer to the packed room. There are some skeptics in the crowd who point out Tender’s wonky stock, but Whitney waxes poetic and hopes it’s enough for the Pierpoint C-suite to consider the offer.
Lisa has a chance to review a copy of The Patriot’s cover story, set to print the next day, and it’s pretty damning…even if it’s all made up. She’s upset. And rightly so! Ricky demands her resignation on the PM’s desk ASAP. These consequences should be for Jennifer, but Industry is once again showing us the power of perception and reputation, regardless of the truth. Norton gives Yasmin a call to offer her one last chance not to run the piece, especially since Henry has no idea what’s going on behind the scenes. Both Norton and Yas break down in tears, unsure how best to help Henry in this circumstance: Throw him to the wolves or let him continue to spiral? Both seem like terrible options.
We get our answer as we watch Henry open an email during his flight back from New York. It asks for his comment on the story that’s about to break, and as he reads he’s immediately on the verge of a panic attack. Whitney “tries” to calm him down by calling him a child who can’t regulate his emotions. I miss when they were hot and heavy for each other.
Back at the Tender offices, Henry desperately searches for Yasmin, but she’s apparently already resigned (and abandoned him). He gets a call from Wilhelmina, who’s slurping from a McDonald’s cup when she admits she allowed Whitney’s performance at the AGM in order to drive some leverage for a different Pierpoint sale. This leaves Tender’s planned acquisition—and Tender itself—basically dead in the water. Henry finds Whitney’s phone in his desk drawer and realizes the CFO, too, has jumped ship, leaving Henry alone to manage the catastrophe.
Jennifer receives a big bouquet of red roses from Lisa, wishing her former mentee the best. What a classy yet cutting lady! Jenni then gets a call from Yasmin, who’s just “checking in,” offering her own communication services to Jenni moving forward. To Yasmin, this is a successful outcome, but to Jennifer, it’s devastating: It led to the firing of the person who encouraged her to get into politics in the first place. At this point, Jennifer is done with niceties, and she finally draws her daggers out for Yasmin. She calls their “friendship” a “marriage of convenience,” and throws in, “But I suppose you’re used to those.” Ouch. I mean, she’s not wrong…
At SternSternHQ, the team is celebrating. Tender’s stock is set to open down 77 percent. This is a huge win. The evil finally defeated, Harper and Yasmin meet for a drink. Harper boasts about coming out on top, and they reflect on the years that got them both to this point. Yasmin admits she’s jealous of her frenemy: “You have this command,” she says. She calls herself “soft,” to which Harper admits she would do anything to live a day in Yasmin’s body and experience her privilege. They hold hands while Enya plays at the bar, and a little psychotherapy session follows. Where does Yasmin’s need to dominate come from? Her desire to feel “necessary”? It’s a beautiful scene, and probably the episode’s best.
Simon Ridgway/HBO
As much as we needed to finally conclude Tender’s arc, Industry’s tangents into the political arena this episode didn’t land with me as much as I’d have liked. The character relationships are always where this show really shines, and we barely know Lisa or Jennifer. But, thankfully, there is so much depth and nuance to the YasHarper dynamic. They decide to hit the club and promise to look after each other throughout the drunken evening that follows, shaking off this season’s insane stress while we get a gorgeous Daft Punk needle-drop. (I screamed at my screen when the pair shared a kiss on the dance floor.) The episode ends with them collapsed on each other, smoking cigarettes. They are Industry. Chef’s kiss. See you next week for the grand finale.
You Might Also Like
The 15 Best Organic And Clean Shampoos For Any And All Hair Types
100 Gifts That Are $50 Or Under (And Look Way More Expensive Than They Actually Are)
Source: “AOL Entertainment”