Industry season 4 delivers a gut-punch as Eric Tao’s future — and SternTao — appear to collapse
Season four of the finance drama hit a definitive turning point in episode six, “Dear Henry, ” as an escalating shake-up leaves one of the series’ most stable partnerships in tatters. The episode sidelines Eric Tao in a storyline that threatens to end the SternTao fund and reshapes the remaining power dynamics among the traders and Tender’s executives.
A career-ending twist for Eric Tao and the end of SternTao
In the episode, Eric Tao faces blackmail that forces him out of the finance world, abruptly removing his steadying hand from the street-level gambits that have defined SternTao. The fallout is swift: the boutique fund’s takedown of banking app Tender — which had been building toward a dramatic revelation — is compromised, and the fragile alliance between Eric and Harper now hangs by a thread.
The sequence plays like the culmination of four seasons of careful relationship and business-building. Harper’s frustration and sense of betrayal are palpable as the once-promising partnership disintegrates, and the consequences ripple across the show’s moral landscape. With Eric’s apparent exit, SternTao loses not just a principal but the particular chemistry and long game that propelled many of the firm’s gambits.
Cast reactions, creative process and a trimmed Trump detail
Longtime scene partners who portray Eric and Harper have said they were taken by surprise by the narrative turn. The showrunners’ choice to withhold scripts until the season was in production meant actors often discovered their characters’ fates alongside the audience. That secrecy heightened the emotional impact for the performers when they filmed the scenes that effectively close the book on SternTao’s arc.
Both leads have reflected on the professional and personal sting of the storyline: the loss of a collaborative partnership they had cultivated for years, and the sudden erasure of the venture they helped build on screen. One performer summed up the moment with stunned disbelief, noting how much effort went into the fund only to see it end so abruptly.
Behind the scenes, the creative process also involved edits that removed a politically charged element from the final episode. Cast members confirmed that a Trump-related detail was present during filming but was later cut from the broadcast. The choice to excise that material underscores the showrunners’ careful calibration of tone and focus at a moment when personal and corporate calamities dominate the narrative.
Aftershocks for Tender, Whitney and the season arc
The collapse of SternTao intensifies scrutiny on Tender, whose internal tensions and external pressures were already reaching a boiling point. Whitney’s efforts to keep the banking app afloat become increasingly fraught as regulatory interest, audits and interpersonal betrayals converge. Meanwhile, Henry and Yasmin’s relationship cracks further under the weight of addiction and secrecy, and the show leans into ambiguity about loyalty and self-preservation.
Episode six’s blend of financial maneuvering, intimate betrayals and theatrical risk-taking marks it as a standout installment that reshapes the balance of power across the ensemble. With one major player effectively written out of the business, the remaining characters must maneuver in a landscape suddenly devoid of the stabilizing influence Eric once provided — and viewers should expect those shifts to define the remainder of the season.
The episode’s combination of plot reversals and trimmed political material highlights how the series is tightening its focus on personal consequences rather than headline-grabbing references. As the season progresses, the show appears poised to explore how ambition and damaged alliances reverberate through both private lives and professional fortunes.
