“They don’t get to have the sort of youthful unvarnished romance after all the things they’ve done and been through. They were too much victims of their circumstances to slip away into the sunset. The reality of the world they created is the world that is stopping them from getting together.” – David Levien, co-creator of Billions
So I am picking up where I left Bobby and Wendy last week in the middle of Season 5.
Bobby is now obsessed with Wendy. And when he invites Wendy and Tanner to a sushi dinner, it is not to show his appreciation for the artist but to observe them as a couple and understand what Wendy finds in Tanner, so that he can take action to ruin their relationship. I find this utterly unhealthy.
Bobby, who is paying utmost attention to Wendy as she cannot keep her hands off Tanner, talks about the viewing party he is planning for the series of paintings Tanner is creating for him! While Tanner prefers not to attend the party – it seems he and Wendy talked about this before – Wendy shares that Tanner cannot stand the “bullshit interpretations” of his paintings.
Voila! Bobby now knows what Wendy likes about Tanner! And as he calls Tanner “the mythical incorruptible artist” we all know that he is being sarcastic. Bobby Axelrod believes that that everyone is corruptible – if you pay the right price… and now he will do anything to prove to Wendy that Tanner is not the man she believes he is. YIKES!
Even though he has lots on his plate about his bank business, Axe decides to move forward with the viewing party Mary Giuliani is organizing for VIP guests such as David Solomon, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, who recreationally records electronic dance music under his stage name DJ D-Sol, Marc Lasry, and former Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia. And while Wendy believes that Tanner will not attend the viewing party, guess what, he is not only there but also paying utmost attention to a lady who is providing obviously bullshit interpretations of his art!
This is exactly what Axe has been trying to do. He had to make sure that Wendy knows there is no incorruptible man and that the man she has fallen for is not who she thinks he is. Come to think of it, I think Axe first tests Tanner with the Krakow painting in Episode 6 The Nordic Model– I was naive to think Tanner accepted the commission so Wendy would not feel bad that Axe saw the drawing Tanner made of her – but it was actually the greens Krakow used to sign that made Tanner accept the offer!
Wendy is disappointed to see that Tanner is now getting more interested in money and what it can give him, particularly freedom. It is particularly ridiculous to her that he thinks he beats Axe Capital employees when they pay him $3,200 for a signed doodle!
And I am pissed with Wendy for the first time in five seasons. It seems she is genuinely concerned for Tanner because he has started to see money as freedom. BUT why is it okay for Wendy to fine tune Axe Cap employees and receive a $9M bonus in return while it is not okay when Tanner needs a new commission to afford some land in Vermont? This is hypocrisy!
And Axe is of course there to inquire with Wendy about how Tanner is doing… Wendy hesitates but finally spills the beans: Tanner is a bit off. He has taken a commission from that collector Lisa, had dinner with some other collector, too; and he is looking at some real estate in Vermont…
Well, Axe is ready to offer his helping hand just to take the pressure off… How about him giving his two paintings to Lisa the collector, and Tanner paints two more for him?
Wendy knows that Axe will give Lisa the collector a call even when she tells him to leave it. And, believe me, Axe is not there to help Wendy. He is there to persuade her that Tanner is not the “mythical incorruptible artist” who is immune to temptations! Axe has been orchestrating the end of Wendy – Tanner relationship for a while and it now costs him four paintings! Tanner destroys the paintings as he leaves Wendy and the studio.
It was the drawing Tanner made of Wendy that triggered Axe to stir the cup in the first place. And now he can keep it forever as a token of his big accomplishment.
Next time we see Bobby and Wendy together, it has been a few months since Tanner left the studio. The pandemic is on and it is the employees’ first day back at the office. Axe cannot be there since he has ben exposed to Covid courtesy of his pilot!
When he sees that Wendy is upset to see the painting that Tanner poured a bucket of black paint hanging on the office wall, Wags immediately lets the big chief know that his head of HR is not happy. And we have Bobby and Wendy on Facetime! This is the first of the four calls they have today.
Bobby is straightforward with Wendy. That is his painting and they are his walls. Wendy was supposed to make Tanner work productively and she could not. So, if there is someone who should be upset, it is Bobby. UGH.
In the second phone call, Bobby admits to Wendy that he exposed Tanner because that man was not right for her. Wendy would see who Tanner really was anyway but he helped accelerated the process.
“He was a dime-store Pollock with a full head of greasy hair.”
BULLSHIT. If Tanner was a dime-store Pollock, why would Axe get a studio for him and commission four paintings?!?!
But what I am really surprised here is that Wendy is not asking the question I do. Not at all. Moreover, she appreciates Axe’s intent. It seems like Dr. Mojo has reflected a bit during lockdown… Besides, Chuck asking for a lump-sum amount of $25M as a divorce settlement and threatening to take a close look into TMC books if she did not pay him also lets Wendy emotionally get closer to Axe.
Wendy does not have the cash in hand to lump-sum Chuck so she turns to Axe who saved her medical license as well as gave her his spare apartment so she can live on her own. And now, he is saying things like he needs to come clean about why he hated Wendy and Tanner together… Wendy knows what is coming but she first needs to get Chuck out of the way. Would Axe be kind enough to buy her TMC shares and let her buy them back whenever she can?
DONE. Oh God. The love in this man’s eyes. I think we have seen Axe looking like that only at Bruno before! And maybe at his kids…
Wendy selling her shares to Axe is a huge blow to Taylor who has seen Wendy as their ally at TMC! And now Wendy is saying that they can trust Axe?!?!
“He would not do anything that would hurt me. I’m the only person in the world that’s true of.”
Wendy’s words to Taylor are very telling about the status of her relationship to him. And in the last call of the day, Bobby and Wendy finally open their hearts to each other.
“I’ve never allowed myself to really think, I feel the same things when I look at you.”
“I’ve waited so long to hear those words.”
You know – some fans have been waiting to hear these words for the last five years 🙂
Not me.
I have always been, and still am, in the tiny minority that does not want Axe and Wendy to get into a romantic relationship. It is not that I do not think it is unrealistic or cheesy because some good friendships can organically evolve into romantic relationships over time (my husband and I were very good friends first so I know the experience!). But a romantic relationship between Bobby and Wendy may not work due to the circumstances they are in which show co-creator David Levien rightly points out in the quote I have at the beginning of this post.
Besides, this is Billions. This is not a show for “…and they lived happily every after” kind of story. So my heart breaks as I hear my two most favorite characters saying beautiful words about love without using the L-word.
And I think Wendy is spot on when she diagnoses the situation they are in when she hands in Chuck the check for $25M.
“Congratulations, then, are in order, to you. For orchestrating it all. Since the moment you set your sights on Axe five years ago, you have orchestrated a perfect plan to impel us together, which makes no sense. Unless someone knows you, which I have.”
I also have to admit that this relationship has been doomed from the get-go, courtesy of Chuck. He is not interested in Wendy’s money one bit. He is only interested in destroying Bobby and he shamelessly distracts Wendy with the demand for financial disclosure and uses her to take down Bobby! So I think it is worth re-visiting Season 5 Episode 10 Liberty to see how Chuck turns Wendy in a Trojan Horse at Axe Capital.
Now tell me. If you are Chuck, and you are holding a “Jeffersonian Dinner” with the likes of the NY governor, a NY senator, the Manhattan DA, the Solicitor General and Mike Prince of all people. Would you actually like your soon-to-be-ex-wife interrupt your dinner with a Facetime call?
No.
Given that Chuck certainly knows Wendy will get pisses and give him a call as soon as she receives the demand for financial disclosure, why does he insist Ira send the papers to Wendy tonight?
Because, ladies and gentlemen, Chuck wants Wendy to call, see the meeting, and let Axe know about it right away. Notice that Chuck does not even try for Wendy not to see anyone at the table; on the contrary, he lets Wendy see Prince on the screen so she knows Chuck and Prince are cooking something together.
Remember – Chuck is a chess player. He knows that once Wendy gives Axe the news about the dinner, Axe will give a call to Senior – his new ally – and make him crash the party at Chuck’s as Axe’s spy! And Chuck also makes sure that Solicitor General shows up only after Chuck Senior is there so he can hear what De Giulio has to say about legalization of cannabis. Coupled with Taylor, in cooperation with Chuck and Prince, recommending Axe to go after legal cannabis money for his bank, the game is set.
Wendy is a smart woman. But now that Chuck being interested in looking into TMC books occupies a lot of her headspace, she does not even think about Chuck’s timing of the demand for financial disclosure delivery!
So Wendy unknowingly drags Bobby into cannabis business. Then she makes a huge mistake by telling Taylor about the new status of her relationship with Bobby when she sells him her TMC shares to be able to “lump-sum” Chuck. Taylor now knows that they can manipulate Axe through Wendy…
…and, lo and behold, Rian, in her usual quirky way, is in Wendy’s office telling the office shrink (but also her boss at TMC) that Taylor secretly had a meeting with Larry Boyd and advised him the opposite of what they advised Bobby!
I do not even want to think of Wendy as the Trojan Horse Chuck has in the company to destroy Bobby. But she is becoming one. Taylor knows that Wendy will go to Bobby before she talks to them about their meeting with Boyd, and the boss will get even more aggressive about taking FYC money. UGH.
On top of that, Wendy has been emotionally distracted since she and Bobby opened their hearts to each other. And, as Wags rightly observes, she wants to accept Axe as he is, and is not trying to change him.
In normal times, Wendy would have given Bobby a call and tell him to approach cannabis money with utmost caution. She would actually have seen through Chuck by now, too! But now that they are romantic with each other, instead of talking about the very serious matter in hand, the two are talking about Fiji! UGH. And that is why Wendy is, unknowingly, hurts Bobby.
So Axe swallows it, in Kate’s words, like sushi laced with polonium. If The Fine Young Cannabis CEO Winslow goes down for criminal drug trafficking, Axe will go down with her because he has banked the resulting money! This is truly a nightmare for Team Axe but even worse for Axe and Wendy.
Hall and Bach are there for Bobby to tell them what he wants them to do. But Bobby can now only look at Wendy in disbelief and say he has no fucking idea.
I wonder what Axe is thinking as he looks at Wendy like that. Is he scared shitless their relationship may have to end before it starts? Or is he trying to figure out why Wendy has not warned him? Could it be that he is realizing they are two different people in friendship and relationship and that the Wendy in a romantic relationship will not be the Wendy he needs to keep him grounded.
…Well, I certainly understand this is not the beginning Axe dreamt for them. And I would also take board shorts over orange jumpsuits! Yet if they had talked about risky business decisions rather than their dream trip to Fiji in the previous episode, Fiji would not have been a dream right now. UGH.
And while Bobby tells reporters as well as Chuck himself that this is not judicial but this is personal and that he will fight this very publicly and loudly, he has other plans!
Bobby and Wendy meet at the country house at sunrise. As Wendy is ready to set their base there and fight the case, Bobby finally spills the beans. He knows that, even if he fights, he will lose. So he will flee the country and he asks Wendy to go with him… Hmmm I wonder if he thinks Wendy would go with him at all. Even though she leaves everything behind, there is no way a mom can leave her kids behind. I think Bobby is sincere that he would like to have any version of her with him, but he knows that Wendy will stay behind.
And as, in my imagination, many fans shout at their screens “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”Bobby and Wendy do not start a thing that they cannot finish. Exactly as they should. Well, they will always have (the dream of) Fiji 🙂
Final thoughts about Bobby and Wendy: I believe that a man and a woman can have a relationship based on care and trust without any sexy time. Understanding each other with words is a beautiful rarity. And that is what these Bobby and Wendy have. I find their relationship intimate, sexy and delicious as it is. Yes they had a moment but after a year or so I think they are over it. So I hope they keep off the red line but keep dancing around it in Season 7. I adore their relationship as is 🙂
I thought I was the only one hoping these two would not get together romantically. Even though it makes sense i just don’t see it working. Damian Lewis said in an interview “they not know who they are”. Honestly Bobby already saw her naked and even though it wasn’t romantic I think that’s all the sexy time we need.
Thank you for reading! Haha we’re a tiny minority but I really think the show creators are with us on this one. I believe they wanted to show that Bobby and Wendy created the circumstances in which they can’t start a relationship. And more than a year later, I don’t expect them to have the characters still crazy in love!