Written by Mickey Down And Konrad Kay
Directed by Lena Dunham And Tinge Krishnan And Ed Lilly And Mary Nighy
Harper: "I only want to ever be judged on the strength of my abilities."
Eric: "And paid for it."
It should go without saying that I've been late to this party and for that, I do apologise. As much as I wished I had caught onto this show sooner, I've finally decided to watch it from the start and I now see why so many have gravitated towards it so much.
Set in the cooperate world of investment banking, this show introduced five new entry level workers - Harper Stern (Myha'la Herrold), Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), Gus Sackey (David Jonsson), Hari Dhar (Nabhaan Rizwan) and Robert Spearing (Harry Lawtey) into the world of Pierpoint & Co abd needless to say, it's a tough world to be a part of.
Yes, the trading/banking industry has been portrayed as a ruthless and mercenary one and within the first episode, Hari ended up working himself to death as a result of the environment being such a pressure cooker. I mean, it's a really brutal world as the four remaining protagonists found out.
This first season alone largely focused on Harper, Yasmin and Robert with Gus getting less screentime than the other three. For Gus, he's got a good friendship with Robert, the fallout of Hari's death and a relationship with a closeted research analyst named Theo Tuck (Will Tudor). I would've liked more screen time with Gus.
That's not to say that Harper, Yasmin and Robert because they are and it's not surprising that those characters and respective actors have become the face of the show. There's a lovely triangle of sorts with the three of them throughout the first season that can be as frustrating as it was interesting. Outside of that, there's plenty of tension with the way they navigate themselves professionally.
Harper in particular was shown to be an utterly ruthless character. She ended up being a protégé for Eric Tao (Ken Leung) while occasionally stoking her line manager, Daria Greenock's (Freya Mavor) ire. Then there's also Harper's dynamic with client Nicole Craig (Sarah Parish) and the way Pierpoint often failed to seriously tackle issues such as sexual harassment.
Yasmin and Robert by comparison were a lot less ruthless but also rather determined to prove themselves. Yasmin tolerated abuse from Kenny Kilbane (Conor MacNeill) until she didn't while managing to bring in a new client with mixed results. As for Robert, there's a nice subplot with his manager, Clement Cowan (Derek Riddell) as well as hints of him having a less privileged background compared to the rest of his peers.
- Episode titles were Induction, Quiet And Nice, Notting Hill, Sesh, Learned Behaviour, Nutcracker, Pre-Crisis Activity and Reduction In Force.
- While the show wasn't shy in sex scenes and overall nudity, one of the most shocking scenes was Robert allowing Usman Abboud (Amir El-Masry) to snort cocaine off a certain area during the office Christmas party.
- There's a few hints of Robert being bisexual but mostly he spent the season trying to get closer to Yasmin. A threesome with Harper almost happened in the penultimate episode.
- There's some supporting performances from Priyanga Burford (Sara), Ben Lloyd-Hughes (Greg), Mark Dexter (Hilary), Andrew Buchan (Felim) and Caoilfhionn Dunne (Jackie) to name but a few.
- Standout music: Nathan Micay's score was nice, there's certain Christmas songs used well in the sixth episode and the title sequence was short but I like it.
- Chronology: The first season seemed to span over several months before our main characters got officially hired at Pierpoint.
Better late than never I guess. This was a brilliant debut season, throwing both the audience and these characters into the cutthroat world of finance. The characters are flawed, believable and engrossing to watch.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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