Industry's Marisa Abela Talks Yasmin's Constant Need To Prove Herself: 'Her Stress Level Is At A 10'
As pandemonium hit the floor of Pierpoint in Sunday's episode of Industry, poor Yasmin struggled to keep her head above water. Yet despite the madness that spawned from Lumi's launch and the immense pressure Yas was under, let's look at the bright side: At least she wasn't canned like Kenny.
When a power outage causes the market to get spooked on the day of Lumi's IPO, Eric instructs Yasmin and the rest of the team to sell the story of the company's growth trajectory as opposed to its debt profile. When Anna from FutureDawn calls Yas amid the panic, Yasmin literally collapses under the pressure. Concurrently, Petra tells Harper she wants to hedge their company's exposure on the IPO, but she wants someone from Pierpoint that's "naive and amenable." Harper doesn't hesitate to recommend Yasmin.
"Yeah, I think she is naive," her portrayer Marisa Abela tells TVLine. "I don't even think that Yasmin would try and deny that. I think that the things that Yasmin would have trouble reckoning or her biggest fears are that people would say that she has no talent and that she's not intelligent. I think 'naive,' she can blame that on her circumstances and be fine with it. But I think that if people suggest that there's no ability to learn and improve, [that's] where she sort of has a problem and feels upset by that. I also think that she thinks that part of the reason she's naive is because everyone shelters her from everything and no one really allows her to sink her teeth into meatier opportunities. How are you supposed to learn if you don't try?"
When Lumi CEO Henry Muck (Kit Harington) goes MIA amid the chaos, the market wigs out even more, so Yasmin thinks fast in order to change the narrative. She lures Muck out of the bathroom he's locked himself in and gets him inside a gentleman's club where some big wigs who previously considered buying Lumi are hanging out. Then, using her own infamy due to her father's embezzlement scandal, she calls in a tip to some paparazzi who arrive on the scene to photograph Muck shaking hands with some deep pockets. Lo and behold, her plan works. The acquisition gossip causes a re-evaluation of Lumi's fundamentals right at the last second.
"The stunt that she pulls with Henry and Robert sorts the situation out," says Abela. "A lot of people in this industry do what they gotta do and Yasmin uses the tools in her toolbox."
Despite the IPO drama at Pierpoint, the fact that her father made her a national pariah still weighs heavily on her. (Yas was previously photographed on his yacht just before the embezzlement accusations forced him into hiding.) Not only is she feeling immense pressure due to gossip rags stalking her every move, but her deep desire to prove herself at Pierpoint means "her stress level is definitely at a 10."
"I really think that Yasmin's in a state of fight or flight this season, which is just pure panic," Abela says. "It's like bile in her throat. It's not a happy, comfortable place to be at all. She's suffering the fallout of her father being on the run and that means that she's had all of her assets frozen, all of her money is tied up. She's living with Robert and Harper and she's trying to throw herself into work both to disengage from her emotional trauma, but also for the first time ever, she really needs a job financially."
Despite her efforts to broker the meeting that swung the pendulum in a positive direction, Eric isn't impressed, calling her tactics "market manipulation." He also calls her naive. (There's that word again!) He starts to condescend her until she calls him out for not treating her like she's human. They exchange warm smiles.
Despite Harper being out of the picture, Yasmin still feels like she's in her frenemy's shadow, particularly in terms of how Eric views her. She's well aware that Eric and Harper's relationship was "very special," according to Abela, causing Yas to continuously feel pressure to perform.
"There's a certain pressure to not be nothing in comparison," she says. "It would be a good moment for her to really make some strides in her own career, and if anyone's going to be able to mentor her to be good at this, it's going to be Eric. I think that he sees an opportunity for redemption in Yasmin because he failed in his mentorship with Harper. He knows that this will make its way back to Harper. The kind of dynamic that he is able to offer Yasmin, she can say he's changed and I think that means a lot to him. Lines are blurred [but] I'm not sure that Eric knows how to have a relationship with a young woman that is completely professional."
Adds Ken Leung: "Eric has had nothing to do with Yasmin for two seasons except for that small moment at the grad dinner in Season 1 where Kenny blows up at her and I sort of protect her. Yasmin has always been the thing I don't know. Something about that attracts Eric. Then there's a moment where she suddenly shows a side of her that we've never seen, which is [when she says] 'Drop the bulls–t.' She finds it in herself to confront Eric, finally speaking the language that he speaks. So in the package of this unknown quantity, I get a glimpse of something I understand, so it just draws Eric in. He becomes obsessed with that and that blossoms into something."
What did you think of Episode 2? Let us know in the comments!