Category: Billions

Previously on Billions: ‘Magical Thinking’

 

 

Previously on Billions…

Bobby waves Mafee into his office, but Mafee stays where he is. Bobby is perplexed until Wags explains Mafee wishes to talk about BioLance so has sent Wags in to get permission because Bobby told him he would be fired if he brought that up. Mafee thinks that they are about to lose £400+ million and is basically saying Bobby has this one wrong. Since he is executing the trade, Mafee fears if he does not speak up now, he’ll be fired after they lose the $400+ Million. Bobby sees how this could be a sticky one.

Bobby loves Mafee though so permission is granted.

Mafee has been losing sleep over this BioLance trade and he sleeps like a bear. Axe does that thing he does and asks Mafee what type of bear he usually sleeps like.

There is a special announcement call about BioLance in 9 minutes and Mafee is uneasy. Bobby, however, is giving Mafee no leeway when it comes to the actual information as Bobby understands the risks and has done the homework. So, despite the fact that the other analysts agree with Mafee and him being so loveable, Mafee is the one standing in front of Bobby and Mafee is fired.

He tried.

He is still there 9 minutes later when the announcement is made that BioLance has not gotten FDA approval. What does this mean? It means that Mafee would be perfectly entitled to jump up on the desk and scream “I told you so”. However, Mafee looks genuinely disappointed by the announcement. If he is fired, why does he care that Axe just lost $430 Million dollars for being an over confident and dismissive ass? Mafee might just be a team player.

The news has hit Bobby like a ton of bricks, but it is not really the fact that he just lost $430 million that is bothering him or that he really owes Mafee an apology. It is the realisation he has lost his mojo. He was wrong. Him! Bobby Axelrod.

Bobby
Source: Showtime

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Value of Loyalty and Bobby Axelrod’s varying degrees

A warning for those just starting to watch Billions in the UK, this blog will contain spoilers for all of season 1.

To know who Bobby Axelrod is means having an understanding of where he has been and how he has gotten to here. At the moment we just have ‘the here’ with a couple of anecdotes thrown in. Granted the 9/11 reveal was fairly big, but in the end just added more questions.

The simple view of Bobby Axelrod is a husband, a father and the owner of Axe Capital. Digging under the surface the clear picture starts to blur.

His wife loves him and is loyal to him yet it is clear there are things she does not know about him or about how he will react in certain circumstances. In Magical thinking Lara tells her sister Lu that she needs Bobby “to give her something” i.e. she needs him to share with her. It probably hurt her knowing he was off sharing his feelings with Wendy. In ‘the Conversation’ we see the first slither of doubts cross her mind even as the words she speaks say the opposite. I found it interesting that Bobby decided to leave all that money in the house rather than return it to the bank. Is this a test for his wife? At this stage I wouldn’t put it past him. Lara did not appreciate the inference of having to up and run soon by keeping the money in the house. Nor did she appreciate the affection with which Bobby spoke of Wendy in the same scene. It seems to me Mr & Mrs Axelrod may be about to hit choppy waters. I hope that boat came with life jackets.

Source: Showtime
Source: Showtime

His boys look up to him but then they are children who still think that dad knows best and are still at the stage where they prefer ‘cool’ dad far better than ‘realistic and responsible’ mum. The reality is that cool dad is not doing himself or his boys any favours. They are childish enough that they thank him for his undermining of whatever their mother says and does. They will grow out of that eventually. Continue reading “Value of Loyalty and Bobby Axelrod’s varying degrees”

Billions on Sky Atlantic, Episode 11: Magical Thinking

Billions, episode 11 airs on Sky Atlantic, and we have recaps!

Ah, “Magical Thinking”, the episode when Bobby and Wendy have their long-awaited therapy session. We see Bobby flitting around like a boy, a boy with wings (like Peter Pan!), and Wendy trying to keep up, trying to uncover just what in his mind requires “adjustment.”

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

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Previously on Billions: Quality of Life

Previously on Billions…

We open with the US Attorney’s office. Bryan is looking like crap, still covered in Donnie’s blood. Everyone is gathered there. Chuck starts talking about becoming a chess master. He talks of his flaw about feeling his opponent is unworthy of him simply because of the way his opponent played the game. Rage would take over and he would think about total destruction. It is clear where Chuck is going with this. “While I was trying to destroy him, I’d forget to win”.

He would use tactics designed to intimidate, leave voids in his defence. He knew better, but could not do better.

“At the end of the game my opponent’s arm would be raised in victory while I sat humiliated and alone, bathed in anger and defeat. Here I am again…beaten”

There is a saying that an angry man is a blind man.

Chuck then tells everyone that Donnie is going to die soon and that they have to assume that everything Donnie gave them was false. He wishes the loss were his alone, but it isn’t. He expects that, within the hour, Adam DeGiulio from the AG’s office will walk in and take them off the Axelrod case.

Chuck calls Axe bloodless for using Donnie in the manner that he did. That he was not as bloodless as Axe. Bryan tries to shoulder some of the blame, but Chuck won’t let him.

“They’ll call me sloppy, driven, and unhinged and for once they will be correct.”

Kate asks what they can do.

Chuck answers “we can remember how the game is supposed to be played. We will retreat so we can attack when it is to our advantage.” His stirring speech is fittingly interrupted by the arrival of Adam DeGiulio, who seems to bring tension right into the office with him.

Chuck
Source: Showtime

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Billions on Sky Atlantic, Episode 10: Quality of Life

A very dark episode revolving around a funeral with the most wonderfully perfect comic scene expertly inserted just where you’d want it and need it to be. That one scene, the fake fight between Axe and Dollar Bill, was something straight out of the golden age of slapstick comedy. Absolutely Laurel and Hardy, Three Stooges, Chaplin, and Buster Keaton territory. And no one goes there any more! Hm, an idea for a future post perhaps? Slapstick Reborn via Billions. *making a note*

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