In the fourth episode titled “White Mischief” of the Industry’s third season, the audience finally witnesses a breakthrough moment of Rishi Ramdani, portrayed incredibly by Sagar Radia. This episode offers a detailed inside view of Rishi’s deteriorating life, be it private life or his career, and the struggle is real through and through.
Industry Season 3 Episode 4 Recap
The story starts with Rishi, now a married man to Diana (Brittany Ashworth) and a father, struggling to adapt with his wife’s family, affluent class background during a Christmas holiday in Somerset. There is a time when Rishi the son of middle class immigrant family feels so lonely and eager to fit upper class culture that he redecorate a cricket pavilion, which is the symbol of old money gentlemen clubs – but is as out of place as in India. It is a painful thing to watch him try and assimilate, especially since he knows that money cannot buy him into those circles. Behind the closed doors, Rishi returns to being that vulgar, I insecurities that we have come to see ever since, he is depicted as trying to parent while watching an OnlyFans video which is later revealed to be SweetPea’s.
As was to be expected, Rishi struggles with married life. His initial relationship with Diana – as seen by the ability to lack intimacy as they struggle with being affectionate – is also seen as he is unable to relate with her especially because of her new role as a mother. Squeezing the atmosphere even more is their neighbor with whom Diana has known since childhood; the man leers obscenely at her. Besides that, Rishi, has credit card debts that he has not disclosed to Diana. When Vinay Sarkar (Asim Chaudhry), a so-called old school friend, arrives at their home, the truth emerges: Vinay actually is not a close friend of Rishi but his enemy – a loan shark and the amount he lender him is not only credit card debts.
Even at workplace, Rishi’s condition is no better, and similarly vulnerable. In collaboration with his workers, he is making a lot of cash from them by duping them that they are participating in a horse racing betting, all the money they give him is never used for betting. Rishi’s recklessness does not end here; he is over-leveraged on sterling cable and indeed has a gross exposure holding a humongous position to bet for pound to strengthen against the U.S. dollar. His stake is high and so if the prospects do not work as expected, it could prove disastrous to the bank.
It even gets worse when Pierpoint HR fires Rishi and leads him for questioning over the link to writing wrong comments on a subreddit. Although they cannot come up with anything solid, the heat is on, and one can see the discomfort on Rishi’s face. Even his interaction with the stranger Eric Tao (Ken Leung), who tells him that he is financial endanger, contributes to his rebelliousness. Rishi continues with his reckless behavior as he even humiliate SweetPea Golightly (Miriam Petche) today when he told her that they slept together.
As the episode unfolds, Rishi’s long position appears to be advantageous when a top-rate tax cut is announced, but there is rejoicing only for a moment. The pound starts going down which disrupts his strategic moves. However, Rishi barely gathers enough money to pay Vinay and in terms of paying up a debt ends up squandering all the money in a casino. A night spinning the wheel, and fighting at a club cost him heavily both physically and financially signifying the state of disorderliness in his life.
The next day at work it goes from worse to worse and Harper convinces Rishi to sell pounds – a sign that something is going to happen very soon. As the UK chancellor reverses the tax cut, the pound rises, and Rishi makes a whopping 18 million across the bank’s ledgers at least making him a hero for a while.
However, the episode doesn’t end on this high note. At home, Diana say that she has cheated on him and this statement somehow makes them even more connected despite the fact that their connection is sick and perverse. Rishi’s reaction is to make love with Diana, albeit in an impatient and ungentlemanly manner, and an interlude of passion in the midst of the storm.
Without a doubt, the last scene is the most emotional for the viewers of the series. Desperate and furious he takes an axe and destroys a newly repaired cricket pavilion which was the manifestation of the life he tried so hard to lead. However, rather than that, Rishi having learnt nothing from his follies and mistakes has the audacity to call up Vinay and asks him for another loan to set himself up for another round of self-destruction.
In this episode, Industry brilliantly captures Rishi’s downward spiral, portraying a man trapped by his own insecurities and addictions. Nevertheless, as can be seen, Rishi is doomed to destroy himself no matter what; he will apparently reach the point of no return soon. By the end of the episode, the suspense is mounting, and you are left to wonder how much worse can Rishi get for him to reach the rock bottom?
