The overslept birthday boy, who was totally oblivious to his wife’s pain at Yonkers Racetrack, wakes up in an empty house. Lara has taken off with the boys leaving a note that reads “you lied to me.” Well, he did. Her phone is off and his first voice message is kind:
“Will you just call me? Please?”
Cameras show Lara taking four 10K bricks out of the vault and leaving with light luggage. She has not used the jets or the chopper. We find out Axelrods have a NYC apartment, homes in Aspen and Miami as well as a vineyard in addition to their two properties we have known of and Lara is not at any of them. Hall disabled the GPS in her car at Axe’s request months ago and she has not used EZ-pass or any credit cards yet.
While Lara has certainly rubbed me the wrong way this season, especially with her brutal stance on Sandicot, I AM WITH HER on this. Trust is the most important ingredient in a marriage – 20 years of experience is speaking here! – and once it is broken, I don’t know how you can keep it together. Having said that, Lara knows she is married to a man who lies, and it seems his lies become a problem for her only when he lies to her. It is too big to comprehend for my small head!
Wendy looks like a school girl who knows what she did is wrong when asked by a very creepy Hall to get in the car. Axe is right she knew she would make trouble when she told Lara she set the “no session” policy with Axe. And she obviously took pleasure in doing that but can you blame her? Lara started it all with her snarky “yeah, I’ve heard other people say that” at the poker tournament and so totally deserved “which is why I set the policy” from Wendy at Axe’s birthday party.
I understand that a man that has told only one lie to his wife in 15 years counts as “a black swan” in Wags’ book but I cannot help give Axe a Lara-esque “are you fucking kidding me?” Didn’t he lie to Lara about the boat trip in Season 1? But, hey, Axe’s conception of a lie may well be different from mine 😀
A call from an “unknown” number cuts their conversation. The “unknown” turns out to be Boyd who kindly asks Roberto to please find him at his new job for some “deep throat” conversation and bring a bottle of 20 year old, too, if he can.
Roberto continues his one-way voice-messaging with an “I wanted to protect you” bullshit, but then annoyed by Lara’s silence, he shifts gears in the next one:
“You know what? You leaving is one thing, but taking my boys, what the fuck?”
His next stop is Lara’s cop brother Matt’s house, which he bought for him, just to get introduced as the “asshole brother-in-law” to Matt’s friends accompanied with a lecture on what cops do to guys who abuse their wives.
Hall finds out Lara and the kids were at a Go-Kart place close to Cullen’s Tavern where Lara used to hang out in her youth. Axe goes there to find the two guys Lara hired in The Oath to pull a trick on her competitor Mercy Squad. They have a message from Lara: She is going to their NYC apartment and needs her space.
Axe is now a hopeless romantic who has got “struck by the thunderbolt like Michael with Apollonia” in The Godfather in his new voice message to Lara.
He talks about a night in Paris that they listened to U2’s “With or Without You” on iPod all night and promised if they hit a wall they would remind each other of that night and find a way back to each other. Axe is now reminding Lara of that night.
“Call me. Please.”
Wendy finds Axe lost in frustration in his office. We probably never really saw Axe in this kind of agony, not even after he lost a billion dollars at BioLance. It makes sense the possibility of being walked out on is way bigger than losing a billion dollars for the boy whose dad never came back. Wendy remembers Axe talking about marriage after only one date with Lara while Axe remembers how Lara helped her close friends to keep it together after they lost their husbands, all firemen, on 9/11. Axe knows he now has to wait and Wendy knows he hates it. As soon as Wendy leaves, Axe comes up with an idea to shorten his wait time. New message:
“Just say the word and I’ll erase Wendy Rhoades from our world forever.”
Feeling a bit guilty about what she did, and maybe because she knows Axe does not deal with waiting well, Wendy does her share to shorten Axe’s wait time, too. While Wendy thinks she is in the middle in THIS family crisis, Lara thinks she is ALWAYS in the middle. Wendy assures Lara she cannot pay her enough to disappear and tells her this is the first time she has seen Axe in fear. It is pretty ironic that the woman who has heard other people say marriage is hard is now asking whether her marriage would come out stronger if they were able to make through this. Wendy just advises her to forgive if she can. Lara seems to be listening.
Chuck gets to meet George Minchak (a wonderful Mary-Louise Parker) who has vetted all candidates Foley backed to date. Minchak needs to make sure, if there is a possible October surprise out there, they drop it in February during The Super Bowl when no one is paying attention! 😀 She has already checked the small stuff which Chuck passed with flying colors and she will now get into his receipts, browsing history as well as everyone who has known him intimately since school days. And, today, they go over a number of topic areas from aborted pregnancies to employing undocumented workers to see if there is any flag raised. And, hey, is it me or does Chuck get distracted by Minchak’s high heels? 😀 Well, she is THE expert and may have just done it to figure him out.
Minchak also needs to know what they will be selling in terms of marital status so it cannot be a “process.” She knows EVERYONE has something to hide and so pushes Chuck to give her whatever it is he is afraid to whisper:
“Don’t think you’re doing your daddy, or Jack Foley or certainly yourself any favors by holding back. “
Chuck shares a hazing story from boarding school in which Minchak is quick to figure out Chuck was the victim: “You were Santiago, not Dawson.” (A Few Good Men, anyone? A second, indirect,reference to Tom Cruise 🙂 While Chuck took his revenge two years later, in an intramural baseball game, by sending a ball right in the face of the ringleader who was catching, Minchak knows to spin this story as a strong anti-bullying stance for the campaign!
“By the time I’m finished with you, you’ll be signing baseball bats every time you appear in public.”
Finally, knowing that the only candidate Foley backed and that has not cooperated with Minchak was Spitzer, Chuck submits his “biggest potential vulnerability” to her: the laptop owned by the dominatrix who calls Chuck “Mr. Martinez” stolen by the former FBI guy Chuck Senior hired. Does this mean Senior knows about Junior’s BDSM tendencies?
While Chuck is busy getting vetted, Bryan is playing Ed Harris to Taylor’s Tom Cruise (The Firm, anyone?) at City of Saints Coffee. And I REALLY have to make a personal note: Tom Cruise is my all-time LEAST favorite actor and it is an on-going joke in our house that if Damian made a film with Cruise, I would have to watch it. And here is the whatsapp message I got from my husband tonight as we watched the show in parallel 😀
Bryan believes he may turn Taylor because they donated to Urban Justice Center and were active in Occupy Wall Street while in college. What Bryan does not know is Taylor is about to rent a fancy apartment at 8 Union Square South. The real estate agent needs a quick decision because once the listing goes online, the apartment will go by lunch time. A 26K a month apartment in Manhattan does not even stay for a day on MLS. Right!
When neither Ben Kim nor himself can see the short on Klaxon, Mafee goes to the “golden child” who sees things differently. Taylor sees through Axe: He needs justification FOR LATER to be able to say they had a reason to short Klaxon. Taylor finds it in Klaxon’s “stretched” lending department assuming there are “other factors” Axe takes into consideration for a short 😀 The Head of Crim seat is still vacant, but the Head of Research seat has just been taken by Taylor with a 500K mid-semester bonus!
Taylor, before putting their signature on the short recommendation, makes sure the US Attorney has nothing on them. And Bryan trying latte and a cookie plate along with “you’re an intelligent, a good person” on Taylor is no Ed Harris : D Taylor gives him a lecture on stocks as living organisms along with the finger. Job promotion. Fancy apartment. Is Taylor, who was talking about the air being toxic at Axe Capital a few episodes ago, ready to do it all in the one life they get?
Chuck has his ways to charm Wendy, but Axe, without knowing, gives him a real hand today! Wendy talks to Chuck about feeling lonely and scared over green and yellow “Ice Juice” drinks with nine antioxidants in the afternoon, and the two are like high schoolers skipping class as they skip couple’s therapy for dinner in the evening! We now find out why Chuck received a file on Antoine Casson early in the episode. Remember the bistro they always went when they were first married which Chuck found out has been closed for four years in Victory Lap? Well, Chuck uses “the long arm of the law” to pursue Chef Casson who now greets Monsieur Le Prosecutor and his “college girl” in his new restaurant!
Chuck tells Wendy about his potential run in gubernatorial elections and Wendy tells him her experience with Lara without naming her. Chef Casson and his yummy food bring back good old memories that the evening ends up with Wendy telling Chuck to come home. The dominatrix is back and I agree with the Chef, too, she is “shaming the angels.” Wendy is a keeper and Hall seems to be keeping notes about her.
As he has no family waiting for him home, Axe stops by Bruno’s for a slice and a chat. Bruno puts it very clearly:
“You’re my business partner. So, you get the slice and a coke on the arm. pizza and a coke. But that don’t buy you a conversation with me.”
GO, BRUNO!!!!
Axe had to think twice before breaking this old man’s heart with his “there will still be a finder’s fee” when Bruno drove all the way from Yonkers to tell him not to screw Sandicot. THAT was when Axe forgot where he came from. And now that his only remaining “family member” has also turned his back on him, Axe gets creepy on voice message:
“I teach the fucking lessons and you are about to get one. I will lock you the fuck down and operate you by fucking remote control with a flick of my motherfucking fingers, Lar!”
Well, Matt may want to call to remind Axe what happens to guys who abuse their wives. What the fuck?
Despite his very bad day, Roberto still makes time for Boyd who brings a brief ray of sunshine to his day and earns the Michter’s he gets. Chuck Senior has taken a sizable stake at Ice Juice. The company is going public and Axe has an opportunity to be the “turd in the punchbowl.” As they shake hands, I am concerned if this is Boyd’s plan to take revenge or if this is somehow Chuck’s plan to get Axe. We know he is not in Ice Juice to help Ira or dad but he is in it to get to Axe.
While he buries his sorrows in his own Michter’s bottle, Axe leaves the longest and the dumbest message of the day on Lara’s phone: Oh, “the fucking opportunities” he had! BIG SIGH. While he is still yelling into the phone, front gate calls to let him know Lara and the boys are back. While the boys are happy to be back, Lara coldly reminds Axe of Apollonia’s fate when he tells her he thought a lot about the thunderbolt today. No, the family crisis is not over yet and I am concerned about how Lara will handle IT.
I have said it before and will say it again: I LOVE the symmetries in Billions! Axe is now doing to Lara what Chuck did to Wendy last season. But when you come to think of it, Chuck sneaked into Wendy’s private patient files where as Axe has just deleted his own messages 😀 So I forgive him for that! And it feels good to see, as much as he claims he is a “terminator”, Bobby Axelrod is a human being after all. And a very flawed one at that. And, With or Without You, giving us, above all, what money can and cannot buy, is now my favorite episode of the season.
Great recap…. I was shocked axe threatened wendy. All that work to get her back just to get rid of her?
Thank you, Jenna! I was shocked when Axe left a message on Lara’s phone saying “just say the word and I’ll erase Wendy Rhoades from our world forever” as soon as Wendy left his office. I think he felt very threatened himself that Lara would leave her. It is HUGE for the boy whose father never came back. Axe would probably make a decent family man under all scenarios, but the extra effort he put into his marriage in the last 15 years on his own right could be related to his fear of being left again. So, I think, he was ready to do anything at that point to get back Lara and his kids.
Wow, those voicemails were brutal! Two in particular. The wrath of Axe when he’s fearful was almost sad to watch. Fear of being left, again.
Exactly! We never saw him in this kind of agony and it makes sense being walked on is much bigger for the boy whose father never came back than any business deal that could make him lose a billion dollars. He starts kind, then gives bullshit, goes a bit angry when his bullshit is not responded to as usual, then becomes romantic, or believes “romantic SELLS” like Chuck’s Bistro Grisby. And when there is nothing good left to say, he yells ridiculous threats and ass-holey remarks into the phone. As much as I did not like him delete the messages from Lara’s phone (are they deleted forever when we delete them?) I know where he is coming from and totally forgive him. Still, I don’t think that “episode” is over!
I wonder if we will see the flowers we saw in Axelrods’ house during Jim Axelrod’s CBS interview with Damian in the next episode 😀
I keep looking for those roses to show up!!!
Lara knows what to do with those roses 😀
This episode was misnamed. It should have been titled, “The Many Layers of Bobby Axelrod”. If I said I had a favorite episode earlier this season, I lied! This was it! This was Damian Lewis at his best! Saddest scene being Axe eating a meal ( or not, his plate looked full) all alone at a long table. The only bit I didn’t care for was Lara coming back on the advice of Wendy, but then of course we know I strongly dislike the Wendy character. Also, look how much more human and less terminator Axe looks with his hair a bit mussed, rather than that 1950’s style pompadour (like my hubby had when we were in high school). While I have been critical of this series’ writing several times, they outshone themselves this time and I really appreciated the way we have been shown how the tables have been turned on both marriages. Of course, less business talk, except for Taylor’s monolog with Brian, and more details of the families involved undoubtedly influenced my enthusiasm over this epi. I’m sorry there are only 2 more episodes left, but glad I was wrong about the number. How in the world are they going to finish up this season? What cliff hanger will we be left with this year?
Connie
SO TRUE. I can imagine this episode could be many viewers’ most favorite thanks to the fact that, in parallel to a lot of intense financial speak, this episode goes deep into the world of Bobby Axelrod where we again see the boy whose father never came back. And even though he claims he is a “terminator” it makes sense being walked on is much bigger for this man than losing a billion dollars in a business deal. It is good to see Axe is a human being, too.
It seems Wendy felt guilty about what she did, since she knew she would make trouble, and she did her best to minimize Axe’s wait time… maybe she knew he would get even more out of control — well we saw the last couple of voice messages he left with threats of locking Lara down and crazy remarks about the opportunities he had and did not use. I wonder if the messages we delete are deleted forever…
Only two more weeks to go and we know, whatever comes our way will be one thrill ride!
I like the name “Submission” for this episode. Works twofold. The Rhoades are back into play their dom/submissive roles and the Axelroad marriage works better (in Axe’s eyes) when Lara is controllable.
Good one!
Oh. My. God.
The feelings. I have ALL of them.
This was INTENSE. But it feels good to see, as much as he claims to be a “terminator” Bobby Axelrod is a human being, too! 🙂
I feel like Lara was damned if she did/damned if she didn’t with regards to taking the kids. Like, if she walked out and left them, he would have been mad about her walking out on the family, but since she took the kids, she was also bad for taking them away from him. Like, his solution was that she just stay there and do nothing? Like, he needed to feel that power. Like, he really thinks he has all the power, and sure, ultimately, maybe he does. But like, she is mama bear. Don’t fuck with mama bear. She has more power over him than he realized. And as we saw? He did NOT like that.
Also I don’t feel like its Wendy’s fault at all that she “told on” Axe. And that she did something, purposefully, to hurt Lara. Like, Lara? You kinda opened the door to that dynamic by being such a nasty passive aggressive shitface to Wendy at the poker tournament. What, you don’t like that feeling? Hmm. Maybe don’t do that to other people, then? And like….Axe has no place being mad that she told on him. He lied! He lied! He did the wrong thing. Not her!
The deflection was nasty, too, in his calls. Blaming her, deflecting it all back on her. Like, how are you gonna go and be mad at her for being hurt by your actions? How does that even work? ARGH! it was all very real. Painful to watch. But good, compelling story telling.
Agreed on all fronts!
I completely agree with you it is not Wendy’s fault at all to tell on Axe. Axe lied and Wendy told the truth! But I think she feels a bit guilty because she knew she would cause trouble when she told Lara it was her that set the “no session with Axe” policy, and as a professional, she may be seeing what she did as a weakness. Well, she is a human being and no one can blame her for what she did. Lara started it all and deserved what she got from Wendy. Right? RIGHT 😀
Axe started kind and went all crazy by the end of the episode. His creepy threats and asshole-y remarks like “Oh the fucking opportunities I had!” felt all real and very disturbing. I loved the episode’s deep and rich exploration of Axe’s flawed character and in particular his weakness. Axe is paranoid about being left again, and I empathize with him on that, but the way he is trying to stop it from happening is not healthy in any way.
The family crisis is far from over. I wonder if Lara heard Wendy about “forgive” and came back home, or now that she knows money cannot solve a problem like Wendy, she will use her own special ways to solve it. I have been constantly thinking about the 5 million “bribe” to come back to the table and I now wonder (without knowing the extent of information she has on it) if Lara could be the one using it against Wendy to make her disappear. Oh well… 2 more episodes to go and we all know it will be a crazy roller coaster!
Someone in that writer’s room has seen some shit. Those messages he left? I have been on the receiving end of things just like that, during fights and in therapy during my divorce. Like, it was almost triggering, I’ve been reliving several moments that I had buried years ago, due to how horrible they were. He better hope that she doesn’t retrieve those messages, because once you uncork that bottle, you cannot put the genie back. It was amazing, because they were said in desperation, to me, while trying to make me stay(much like how he wanted her to come home and talk to him). Like, how are you gonna say such hideous stuff and think that will make me stay? What even the fuck?? But it just shows pain, it shows wounds and trauma and dysfunction. He truly is a deeply flawed man under the surface.
I have a lot of stuff from this episode for me season one vs season two bobby post. Holy cow.
Then I understand it really FEELS real. I am so sorry you had to go through a similar time in your life. I think desperation can make people do scary things. I am so glad that is SO behind you now. Exactly. It shows huge open wounds and Axe seems to have lots of them. I think one of the reasons Wendy went to see Lara is because she knew Axe would not be able to handle the wait time right.
I am so looking forward to your “comparison” write-up!
Is there anyway you can post Taylor’s lecture to Brian on stocks as living organisms? It reminds me of a TED talk on why there are so many physicists are on Wall Street, the use birds and fish as models for economic models. WOW.
I will try. I believe you want a transcript of their “lecture” about stocks and sparrows, is that right? I have a feeling the “lecture” could have been inspired by the TED talk you heard.
Here you go:
“A stock is like a living organism, a sparrow, say. And we’re able to create an emergent-based abstraction of that sparrow, which closely approximates the sparrow itself, accounting for migration patterns, wind, weather and other variables. We can create a similar abstraction of a stock, combining the information from the specific ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds) which represent its underlying dependencies. And if we apply this to the stock, we can predict its delta, following the path of its abstracted self because nature follows abstraction.”
The “lecture” is basically about how they process information to make projections.
Wow and thanks.
You’re welcome.
Hallo Ihr lieben Gleichgesinnten in aller Welt.
Was soll man nur tun, wenn man von diesem Genie nicht mehr loskommt. Ich bin ein Wassermann und neige grundsätzlich zum idealisieren und zur Begeisterung. In Falle von Damian Lewis ist das allerdings alles nicht nötig, er ist einfach perfekt, vollkommen, unglaublich, phänomenal und göttlich.
Ich ziehe heute mal den Vergleich mit seiner Verzweiflung bei Homeland. Vor allem mit der Szene in der Dana verschwunden ist, weil er nicht mit ihr auf die Polizeistation gegangen ist.
Diese Verzweiflung als er mit seiner Frau Jessica gestritten hat, ist eine komplett anders gespielte und gefühlte Tragödie wie das hier mit Lara. In Billions bleibt er aufgrund seines Reichtums immer ein kleines bisschen „Obenauf“. Er lässt es hier nicht komplett zu, dass diese Situation ihm den Boden unter den Füßen wegzieht. Dieser feine Unterschied ist gigantisch gespielt und haut mich von den Socken.
Was sollen wir nur tun, wenn diese Staffel zu Ende ist ??
Hi Petra!
How fun! You’re an Aquarius, I’m an Aquarius, and, hey, Damian is an Aquarius, too! 😀
Spot on comparing Axe’s frustration with that of Brody’s in Homeland. I think Axe has more anger, he has a dangerous edge, and of course Brody had a dangerous edge, and he was angry, too; but not towards his family. Both these two men had big traumas in their lives that shaped them.
I think Axe’s trauma was father leaving him at an early age. He is paranoid about being walked out on again. So “leaving” could be the worst thing that you can do to Axe. He could not let Wendy “leave” him, either. He just can’t deal with it. He cannot wait for people to return, he has to make them come back. That may be the reason Wendy does her share to go talk to Lara because she knows that Axe may not deal well with the wait, and he certainly does not. I think Axe was quite creepy where he was yelling threats into the phone.
Well, 2 more episodes, and then we will have serious Billions withdrawals!
La razón por la que Axe borra los mensajes es por el que promete dejar a Wendy. Una vez que Lara regresó, su desesperación desaparece y se arrepiente. NO puede vivir sin Wendy!!!
That’s certainly one reason! But some of his messages were really creepy.
I don’t know if Lara is done with Wendy or because she now knows money cannot work in this situation she will try to find other ways to get rid of her!
I love Lara. I think she has given up a lot for Axe and even though there are certain perks of the life she has, Wendy rubs her the wrong way.
I don’t think she sees Wendy as competition in marriage, but certainly Axe used to trust her with a lot of personal things…and business things, and because of circumstances (ergo Chuck being an ass) it hurt Bobby… and I think she sometimes feels like there is nothing she can do.
There is deep personal turmoil in her, it got me so good at the end of last episode and in this one too.
Sometimes it feels like Bobby doesn’t quite know what he wants…if that makes sense.
Superb acting from all of them.
Hahaha it seems we are at the opposite ends about Lara in terms of her relationship with Wendy I think Lara has been very rude to Wendy. No, I don’t think she sees her as a possible love interest for Axe but she does not want anyone to be closer to her husband than herself which I completely understand. I think conversation is the most intimate human relationship and Axe is having THAT with Wendy. Malin Akerman is getting better and better with each episode. Billions has a dream cast indeed ❤️
What an episode. Damian is masterful here, very much so and I applaud him for it. However, Bobby gets no such applause. This was very raw and naked. This was a man out of control, a man who thinks and feels he has the right to push into other’s boundaries, a man who needs to control all and everyone around him. No! Just, No!
I get the feeling that Lara has listened to those messages. Their scene at the end screams it at me. The way she is snappy with him and the speed of her retort to his comment about the thunderbolt. Yes, we know she knows their history, but the quickness of her response suggests to me that she listened to the messages as he mentioned the thunderbolt in one of them. She then leaves her bag down stairs with her phone in it. I am not buying that either tbh just because of what has been going on. I think Mrs Axelrod might be a step ahead this time.
Lara’s brother, Matt…Oh fnaly someone not willing to allow Bobby to rule the roost or impose himself. Someone not willing to allow Bobby leverage via money. “You don’t own it any more than you own her.” Bobby you clearly does think such things. It is good to know there is a character on this show not willing to put up with his BS.
Bruno follows it up too and good on him.
When I read this review before seeing the episode I was dreading Bryan’s scene. Somehow, even though Bryan is left yet again like a kicked dog, it wasn’t as bad as I was fearing. This kicked dog keeps getting back up and hopefully eventually he will stay on his feet.
What an episode!
OMG Damian really stormed it and gave us so many different faces of Bobby Axelrod. As much as I understand where he is coming from, what he does to Lara is unacceptable. Lying is one thing, it is unacceptable, but the series of ridiculous voice messages some of which are nasty are UNACCEPTABLE. I think Wendy went to see Lara knowing that Axe would screw this gloriously. And he did.
Hmmm… I don’t use voice mail at all so I have no idea if one can see the voice mail has been heard or not. Or if you can hear a voicemail and then make it look “unheard” on your iphone? If you can, then I am with you, Lara should have listened to them.
Another thing I am curious about Lara is whether she came back because she contemplated what Wendy told her at the door, or because she now knows she cannot buy Wendy, she came back to regroup and make a new game plan to get rid of her. Does Lara know about the $5 million dollars that Axe gave to Wendy? I am scared!
This episode, IMHO, has given us, above all, what money can and cannot buy. Axe may feel himself entitled to respect because he has all this money and power, but I am sorry it does not work like that. He can buy a house for Matt but that house will never buy respect for Axe by Matt or he may partner with Bruno in pizza business but now that he has broken his heart, he will not be able to afford a conversation with Bruno – probably the only father figure in his life. On the other hand, it seems he has been able to make Taylor his “protege” with what he has given them. Maybe, just maybe, Taylor is similar to Axe in more ways than we thought they would be.
Haha I am thinking maybe my review lowered your expectations about Bryan 😀 I really did not think of him as a kicked dog but I thought of him as a bit naive thinking that Taylor would turn since they participated in Occupy Wall Street or because they donated to Urban Justice. It seems Taylor is getting more and more comfortable breathing Axe Capital’s “thin air” and taking Axe’s “You get one life, You should do it all” to heart.
There is no excuse for Bobby’s behaviour and people are rushing to defend him. Like, how they even see that sort of behaviour as acceptable is beyond me. It is emotional abuse and it is unacceptable. His messages were a disgrace.
I hope Lara is home to pack for good.
Bobby is clearly in need of a good kick back to earth. He is a childish, spoilt brat who has not heard no for far too long and that is being kind to him. The reality he is far worse and more dangerous than that. He needs to learn the lesson that money does not entitle him to do what he likes, when he likes to who he likes. Matt and Bruno were the best bits in this episode. They stuck it to him.
Matt refusing to allow Bobby any physical or emotional domination was the highlight for me.
Taylor is far too comfortable for my liking. I think Taylor is being set up to represent a young Axe. I hope that Taylor won’t end up full Axe. One Axe is bad enough to cope with.
You didn’t lower my expectations of Bryan 🙂 I am just impatient to see one of the few genuinely ‘good guys’ on the show get a win.
Ah Bobby has really got you pissed off! And for the right reasons, too! I also loved the way Matt and Bruno let him know about what they think about him.
I completely agree about Taylor. They have been lured into the world of the rich and famous pretty quickly. My hunch is that it could be really authentic that seemingly very idealistic people may find themselves fascinated by money and power. Now that Taylor has become a regular on the show, I hope we will have an opportunity to see how the character will further develop.
Go, Bryan! (but I don’t think he’s able to get anything from Taylor)
Yup. Totally not happy with Axe.
Taylor is the golden child who can’t put a foot wrong it seems. That won ‘t last. I await Taylor’s “I didn’t think he would do that to me” moment with interest.
Go Bryan indeed…but nah, he isn’t getting answers from Taylor because they are too angry to give him answers. They don’t like his assumptions which is fair enough but absolutely no reason to cut your nose off to spite your face, which is ultimately what I believe Taylor will be doing.
I think one other thing about Taylor could be that they have been a marginal character in everything they have done so far and for the first time they start feeling they belong to some group, some community which could be nurturing for them to get used to Axe Cap way of doing business.
I’m really confused as to why Axe put Taylor in charge of the analysts based solely on the conversation they had in Axe’s office. Is it possible that you could shine some light on that for me?
Hi, Jared.
Axe needed someone to find a reason to short Klaxon when the information they had did not seem to support a short. Axe had inside information that told him a short was the correct course of action but insider trading is illegal. What Axe wanted from Ben and Mafee was for them to find something to justify his decision to short Klaxon so that if the SEC comes calling the trade looks legit. Neither Ben nor Mafee caught onto the fact that this is what Axe wanted. Taylor did and, not only that, Taylor is seemingly fine with doing it.
Axe promoted Taylor on the basis they are someone who would sees what needs to be done and does it.
Thank you so much! I rewatched the scene like a hundred times and I was simply overthinking it!
Got E10 watched yesterday so I’ve enjoyed catching up on everyone’s takes on this episode. A common mistake I’ve observed women making is falling for a renegade/rule breaker and believing that no one knows him as she does. That the two of them occupy a private world and he will never do to her what he does to everyone else. Of course he does. That’s how Lara and Axe look to me. Romance is the opium of women.
Watching Damian act in these last two episodes is wonderful. His ability to transition between emotions; to convey those transitions with certainty and subtly is genius. He lives in the tight close up! The scene with is Bruno case in point.
Coincidentally I admire that ability in Al Pacino as well. Note to the young: he used to be beautiful.
I found Axe’s offer to “erase WR from our world” tremendously threatening. Theirs is a big world. We’ll see. I sympathized with Wendy for setting the record straight and with her regret. Dealing with these aggressive people must be exhausting and,perhaps, addictive?
No, Damianista, it’s not you – those heels were there to BE a distraction. By the character or the writers?
Taylor seems to be being quickly seduced by power.
My iPhone shows no record of deleted messages.
For the first time I am truly eager to see the next episode. They finally made me care about their awful selves!
And you could not have made me happier! I am so glad they finally made you care about their awful selves!
So true about Lara. How come she has come to believe that he would never do something that he does on a daily basis to others to her? Especially if it is something he really wants to get! I think Axe’s paranoia about being left has brilliantly showed up in Episode 10 and it probably explains why he also did what he did to bring Wendy back. No one can leave Axe unless he wants them to leave. As much as he does appalling stuff, that side of him should be deep down about his dad having left him. So he just cannot deal with waiting (how long did the little guy hold hope his dad would come back?) and is seriously afraid of being left again. I think the writers have done a brilliant job exploring the character in this episode. And I cannot agree with you more that it was true delight watching Damian spanning the whole spectrum of emotions seamlessly. I thought the scene with Bruno was ace!
Thank you for giving a nod about the heels! I think the character does it deliberately to figure out Chuck seeing that he is constantly trying to control it and not giving her much about his vulnerabilities.
I cannot wait for the last two episodes which I am sure will be a crazy roller coaster! Now I just have to take myself back to the US after a lightning trip to London!
I can’t live with or without you…and you give yourself away
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