Industry season 3 episode 4 recap: Rishi is in trouble in "White Mischief"

Industry season 3 continues with a surprising episode tonight, as "White Mischief" focuses all on Rishi. We all know Rishi as the aggressive trader and market maker on the Pierpoint trading floor, but after the latest episode, we now know just how far he's willing to go for his addiction to success. Though Rishi has redeemable qualities, he's also made a lot of mistakes throughout the seasons so far, including cheating on his wife with Harper on his wedding night. Ouch.

In an anxiety-inducing episode not dissimilar to the Sadfie Brothers' Uncut Gems, "White Mischief" gives us a day-in-the-life look at Rishi's ups and downs. And yes, there are many downs. We recap the episode below!

WARNING: Major spoilers for Industry season 3 episode 4 are below.

Following Lumi's failure, "White Mischief" opens up with a meeting at Pierpoint in which the team reflects on the loss. While Eric assures them it wasn't Pierpoint's fault, the others are conflicted. Robert feels disappointed he wasted all that time working with Henry, while others feel bad that they screwed people over selling the stock. Eric and Rishi are confident they'll find something new and better, however.

Rishi and Diana have a strained marriage

This episode takes place around Christmastime, and we get to see Rishi's home life. He and his wife Diana have a baby now, and they own a few acres in a posh village where she grew up. During a gathering at their place, Rishi does his best to get along with other residents of the village who Diana has known her whole life. One of the men, Nicholas, has a close connection to Diana that Rishi seems wary about. While in the bathroom, Rishi tries to pay a woman on his phone through a porn app similar to OnlyFans, but his card declines as blood drips from his nose onto his baby. As he checks his accounts, we see that he's thousands of dollars in debt.

Rishi wants to renovate the village's pavilion for cricket games and events, but both the other residents and Diana think it's a bad idea. When everyone leaves and they're alone, Diana expresses wanting to help manage their finances but Rishi says no. Their relationship is obviously strained, including their sex life. Rishi also has an irritation on his back, and while they gave away their dog in suspicion he might be allergic, Diana believes it's stress.

Rishi's in trouble — financially and professionally

A friend of Rishi's, Vinay, unexpectedly shows up, and the two of them take a walk alone. We learn that Rishi owes Vinay a lot of money, something that will come up again throughout the episode.

Rishi faces trouble in the office the next day, and all eyes are on him after the Lumi IPO. His position was wrong, and Anraj calls him out for being millions over his risk limit with another company. HR then calls on him for a meeting, confronting him over inappropriate comments he's made at work. They inform him about an anonymous subreddit called "Overheard at Pierpoint," in which he's been exposed. They don't have proof, however, and Rishi knows it. He yells at them before leaving.

Eric talks to Rishi, confronting him on being too risky with his positions. He tells him that they're in crisis mode, and his behavior could ruin Pierpoint. During a coffee run, Rishi waits in line with Sweetpea and calls her out for being on the porn app, presumably who he was looking at earlier in the episode. Things at work get more complicated when he thinks a big update will help his trade but it actually doesn't. He's out of luck and everyone is angry.

Vinay picks up Rishi and there's another man sitting in the backseat to intimidate him. He needs the money. Rishi runs out to the bar and collects money from some of his coworkers which they owe for organizing horse racing bets. He convinces Eric to give him more money to bet, and though he has at least $8,000 now, he returns to the car and tells Vinay he has nothing. Instead, he gives him his watch, which buys him a few more days.

Rishi has a big night out

Rishi then heads to a casino to try to make more money, and he ends up winning big. To celebrate, he hits up a club and pays for bottle service, placing the money in an envelope under his seat. He gets very drunk and starts making out with a woman, but is interrupted by a man, presumably her partner, who beats Rishi up. Rishi is able to leave the club with the money, but he pushes his luck again and goes back to the casino.

As expected, Rishi loses all of his money while playing roulette, and he leaves the casino as morning breaks. Diana calls him, understandably furious that he's been out all night without a heads-up. He shows up to the office looking absolutely terrible, with bruises and blood all over his face. Everyone stares at him and Eric questions what happened. Rishi brushes him off and says he walked into a door before he begins working. Anraj says he might get his license taken away for irresponsibly being so much over his risk limit. Ali begins talking about Rishi in Arabic, which makes Rishi angry. Overall, the morale is low on the trading floor.

Eric calls a meeting with the team to talk about the subreddit and Rishi tries to find out who snitched on him. Robert tells him that he makes people uncomfortable and Venetia tells him the way he speaks is misogynistic. He tries to get Anraj to have his back, but Anraj confesses that he's sometimes scared to come to work because of Rishi.

Rishi wins big at work

Back on the desk, Rishi continues acting recklessly, but it actually ends up working out in his favor. People begin calling looking to buy, and he makes Pierpoint $18 million. Anraj is in shock, telling Rishi that he's not even a good trader, he's just lucky, to which Rishi asks what the difference is.

While sharing an elevator with Venetia, Rishi learns that she's quitting and that she's the one who wrote about him on Reddit.

Rishi gets home and Diana screams and throws things at him for disappearing all night. She also calls him out for having sex with Harper. They both admit that they didn't actually want to get married, even though they love each other. She knows he's in debt, and he admits he's down $200,000. He asks if her parents can help them out, which offends her. She says that she has money saved up from her work as an influencer and agrees to help him out. Rishi breaks down and cries at this, and Diana then confesses to having an affair with one of the village residents. Rishi wants to know if it was Nicholas, but she doesn't want to say.

Rishi and Diana figure it out... sort of

When they get into bed together Rishi asks Diana if she thinks he's a misogynist. He questions if maybe he's depressed and says he misses their dog, and she admits that they never should've moved into the village. At the end of the day, though, they're there now, and Diana believes they should make it their home. They have sex.

Rishi later goes into the pavilion and begins breaking everything while laughing, and when he walks outside he sees Nicholas walking his dog. He yells out that he and Diana have a very good sex life before taking his dog back. The episode ends as Rishi calls up Vinay, telling him he has his $200,000 but that they should bet $50,000 of it. Some things will never change.

Throughout the new episode, it seems like Rishi has hit rock bottom, but by the end, we realize this is just part of the norm for him. How incredibly stressful. Rishi is far from my favorite character but I still really enjoyed watching this episode and getting a glimpse of his life. Onwards to episode 5! We are officially halfway through Industry season 3 and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Stream all released episodes of Industry on Max.