Lingo. Gab. Chit-chat. Slang. Chatter. Flow. Yada-yada-yada. Dialogue is one of the most important ingredients in making a hit script that, if all works out right, ultimately becomes a hit movie, show, series, etc. For every Gone With the Wind and All About Eve, there is an I Love Lucy and The Brady Bunch. Good content benefits from excellent writing. After all, everything you see on the screen starts on the page.

HBO’s sophomore hit Industry follows in that vein. The London-based HBO series about a young crew of stockbrokers fighting it out as they rise through the ranks of a fictional trading company called Pierpoint has a certain language, lexicon, shorthand, and flow that is assaulting and intoxicating, even though it is confusing and incomprehensible at once. It’s easy to be seduced by its crisp wordplay. When fired in rapid succession, however, it is arresting, almost lethal, leaving viewers to wonder what is going on. Is this a lesson in SAT-level vocabulary or a crash course in industry jargon, both, or neither?

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The intrigue is there, so it’s worth the confusion. From the cast of characters to the seductive world of finance, there’s much to like about Industry, especially the way they communicate with each other. That rat-tat-tat is what every writer strives to craft; when it works, it works, and when it doesn’t, it shows.

The Lingo in Industry Is a Doozy to Follow

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Yards, payrolls, trades, bid aways, shares, market value, and logistics all have new meanings in this show, as if it were a new dialect. The speed at which facts and figures whiz around from character to character adds suspense and tension to a dizzying pace.

It’s almost a Herculean effort to keep pace, with each episode requiring at least a second viewing with the subtitles on, and even then, sentences like “ask Rishi for the level of one-year Europ swap in 500k DV01” is what co-creator Konrad Kay calls a “fool’s errand” in Time Magazine:

Then there’s the British dialogue, bound by the series’ London-based location, which confuses the dialogue further, begging to question if enjoyable television should be this much work. Should stories be mazes instead of maps? Should banter guide or confuse? It depends on who you ask, what you like, and how much of a glutton for punishment you are. Series like The Sopranos use their dialogue to introduce culture and class dynamics in America. Likewise can be said about Seinfeld, whose pithy banter makes yada-yada-yada a relatable, understandable lexicon that transcribes all cultures.

The Last Two Episodes are Great Examples

There is a lot to like about the show. The characters, the business, and the drama surrounding the characters, especially when it involves the nitty-gritty business. Season 1 was dedicated to letting those moving parts evolve, albeit with the hard-to-follow jargon of this world. Still, at least it felt watchable, understandable, and, most of all, relatable. This second season seems mismanaged so far, and as the show enters its halfway point, it’s unclear whether all the hard work of following what is going on will be worth the effort.

Let’s take the last two episodes, for example, where Industry manages to pull off moments of suspense in what Ready, Set, Cut calls “unintelligible banking terms.”

What’s tangible is the ferociousness of the acting, crystal clear as we see the likes of Harper Stern (Myha’la Herrold), who executes a critical command in the third episode when she goes around her boss Eric (Ken Leung) to snatch up a big client, make millions for the firm, and cement her place as a usurper to the throne. Harper is commanding yet vulnerable, talented yet reckless. She is able to execute when it matters most, though it’s still up in the air whether this will work out to her benefit.

Industry dabbles with a babble that is impressive, sexy, and manipulative. It’s almost impossible not to get dragged into the workplace verbiage in a hustle and flow that begs you to pay attention. The reality, however, is something quite different. It begs the viewer to question if it’s worth another watch and a half day researching the trading terminology to understand what’s happening.

Ultimately, what’s keeping Industry from being great is itself.

They’ve wooed viewers to the screen, and now they must invite everyone into the joke. Otherwise, the writers are just writing for themselves, and what’s the point of that? Either way, Industry deserves another watch (or two, or three) to decipher, but if they do not find their footing, they may find their stock in decline. Fast.