Industry Season 4 Episode 5 Review: Eyes Without a Face

On Industry Season 4 Episode 5, “Eyes Without a Face,” Harper receives some personal news while Sweetpea and Kwabena travel to Accra to expose Tender once and for all.

The death of Jim Dycker sends SternTao into a tailspin as their position on Tender crumbles before their very eyes. Everything hangs in a precarious position and every move forward is crucial. Sending Sweetpea to Accra now feels like a make or break moment for the character.

Sweetpea’s always been a character with something to prove, but her leak hovers over her like a dark cloud. She’s been unable to land a job, her own mother won’t even acknowledge it. Working for Harper is the opportunity she’s waited for and she’s hungry to rise to the occassion.

Miriam Petche carries this storyline with the gravitas of a seasoned movie star as Sweetpea descends deeper and deeper into Tender’s web. Equal parts tenacious and achingly vulnerable, Petche performs a precarious tightrope act of accelerating the narrative and expanding the character. 

The contrast of Sweetpea’s nose to the grindstone attitude with Kwabena’s relaxed approach nicely underscores her motivations as well. This is much more than just a job for Sweetpea and Kwabena responds to that. Toheeb Jimoh turns his breezy charm up to an eleven and masterfully rounds out the good cop/bad cop dynamic between him and Sweetpea.

As Industry is wont to do, “Eyes Without a Face” pushes Sweetpea to her absolute breaking point. However, the closer to the edge she gets, the harder Sweetpea doubles down. As opposed to other characters on this show who’ve similarly been pushed, she uses it as a launching pad.

Her confidence cuts through the palpable danger permeating the episode (especially after her assault). Though we are worried for her, there’s an odd sense of comfort because we know Sweetpea will handle it. Sweetpea finds her voice throughout the course of the episode and Petche nails the arc.

Sweetpea’s confrontation with Harper upon return cements her journey and echoes a moment from Industry Season 4 Episode 3, “Habseligkeiten.” There’s a firm barrier between Harper and Sweetpea. They are not friends, they are colleagues and Sweetpea is there for her own financial gains, not out of loyalty to Harper. 

The final moment where Sweetpea cries alone in her apartment acts as a complicated culmination of this episode. On the one hand, she’s just endured this harrowing experience where her life was threatened and she was brutally assaulted. Her life was on the line in ways she’s never experienced before.

But there’s also a sense of triumph through the tears. She saw this all the way through successfully and proved to everyone, most importantly herself, what she is capable of. 

While Sweetpea and Kwabena go to hell and back, Harper and Eric navigate more personal matters.

Ken Leung and Myha’la take audiences on a rollercoaster during their heated confrontation, navigating the labyrinth that is Eric and Harper’s relationship. These two performers know each other so well, they’re able to surrender and navigate the levels of that scene with ease.

It’s a wonderful exploration for Harper in particular, who has felt a smidge unexplored so far this season. The way she takes Eric’s personal matters and throws it in his face says so much about her and the ways he weaponizes information to her benefit.

Losing her mother shakes the table; this is her prime motivation and now it’s gone. What else does she have driving her? This admission of emptiness is perhaps the most honest Harper’s ever been with herself, Eric, or the audience. 

That emptiness resonates with Eric who doesn’t relent on building an actual relationship with Harper. He’s at a complete loss with his own daughter and Harper is his last chance to get it right.

Their confrontation evolves into something profound for the two when Eric tells Harper that he thinks she’s undeniable. It’s the very thing she’s waited her whole life to hear and, for a moment, it stirs something in her. While the cycle hasn’t been broken, there’s a crack there that allows Eric and Harper to continue moving forward into new territory. 

Like Yasmin, both Eric and Harper want to feel necessary and valuable. They fill these voids with power, but it feels like Eric and Harper start to realize that maybe that’s not enough.

Stray Thoughts

• Eric with this sex worker will not be good…
• Sweetpea standing up for herself is important, but I worry Harper will take it as a threat.
• Harper plans to fight dirty and, knowing this show, it’s going to be spectacularly messy.

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Industry airs Sunday at 9:00 PM ET on HBO.

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