Tag: Lara Axelrod

Billions on Showtime, Episode 9: Where the **** is Donnie?

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

I know why Episode 9, directed by Susanna White, who also directs Damian Lewis in the coming soon Our Kind of Traitor, does not open but just closes with Townes Van Zandt’s Waiting Around to Die.

“Sometimes I don’t know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can’t even see the reason why
I guess I keep a-gamblin’
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin’
It’s easier than just waitin’ around to die.”

Because you feel it.

It was certainly an aha moment to see Donnie frantically hiding his pills during the FBI raid in his house in Episode 8. I have been uneasy since Axe rewarded him for his loyalty: tripling his stack and giving him 200K shares of Rubinex despite the fact that the guy was not able to deliver! But the pills last week and Wendy noticing his weight loss this week and… I knew… Donnie is seriously sick. And this makes a few other things make sense for me. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 9: Where the **** is Donnie?”

Billions ep 9 : Where the **** is Donnie?

Familia Axelrod is taking a stroll through downtown quizzing each other on Yankees trivia. Axe quickly diverts the kids into an ice cream shop, while Lara reasonably asks “On a school night?” She follows his eyes to the graffiti sprayed on their car. “It’s getting bad,” she says. Axe says, “it’s just started.”

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Back at home, Axe is shooting flawless pool and Lara suggests they skip town for a while. She’s scared. “There’s hatred, I can feel it.” Axe will have none of that.

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Continue reading “Billions ep 9 : Where the **** is Donnie?”

Billions on Showtime, Episode 8: Boasts and Rails

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

If Bookworm had not given me the heads up, I would have been totally clueless: The title of this episode refers to two fundamental shots in Squash, a fast-paced racket sport that is also known as turbo-charged chess: the more skilled a player is, the more strategic the game becomes.

A boast shot is any shot that hits a sidewall or back wall before hitting the front wall. There are two types: The best time to use the attacking boast is when you are in front of your opponent. A good attacking boast forces your opponent to run the full diagonal to be able to return it. The best time to use the defensive boast is when you are behind your opponent. A good defensive boast gives you time to recover and sometimes can win you the point, too.

A rail shot is when you hit the ball, parallel to the side wall, to the front wall and back into the corner. It is useful when your opponent plays you into a corner.

So… Who is boasting? Who is railing? You decide! Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 8: Boasts and Rails”

Billions on Showtime, Episode 7: The Punch

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

The Punch opens with a bang and throws a number of punches, literal and metaphorical, at us all.

We find Axe doing laps in his Hamptons pool and listening to Replacements’ The Ledge that goes “I’m the boy they couldn’t ignore, for the first time in my life, I’m sure” on his waterproof headphones. We cannot ignore the boy does not look okay today. We have never seen him like this before. The pressure is taking its toll on Axe. He is at the end of his rope. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 7: The Punch”

Billions on Showtime, Episode 6: The Deal

The King is back. He loves what he does. He, in fact, lives and breathes what he does. Real or not, he tries his hand a bit in having the good life  — collecting fresh eggs in the morning, quality time with wife and kids, prospect of getting on his new boat and sailing to Galapagos… And maybe, just maybe, there is really a moment where he thinks there could be another life he could be living.

But the fact is Axe Capital is where the good life is for Axe.

Source: Showtime
Source: Showtime

Maybe not the perfect life as the smug on his face is gone the moment he comes eye to eye with the Windbreakers raiding Axe Capital to get to “Dollar” Bill…  But it must be something about the game that he just cannot give up… Axe advises Danzig after his “deer shooting” spree: “What drives you does not understand enough.” It’s obvious what drives Axe does not understand enough, either. Is it the adrenaline? Is it the sweet feeling of winning? What drives Axe? Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 6: The Deal”