What are the odds that the two most anticipated events of the year for yours truly fall on the same day? I got up at 5am to run NYC half-Marathon earlier today and I found out later that Showtime kindly released the Billions Season Premiere today which gave me time to watch the episode two times, sit down and write.
Hear Bobby Axelrod say it: “Previously on Billions”
As we cannot wait for Billions Season 4 to arrive at 9m ET on Showtime tonight, we would like to share with you our recaps from Season 3 Finale as a refresher about where we left our characters! We will as usual have our weekly Billions episode reviews on Mondays (Damianista) and Fridays (Lady Trader). Besides the Fan Fun team will collectively talk about the MVPs of the week’s episode on Wednesdays! Hope you come visit us, enjoy our Billions posts, and join the conversation on the blog. Cheers!
Damianista’s Note: Who should we turn to for moral guidance in Billions Season 4? Well, we are thrilled to have The Tail that Wags the Dog on the blog today writing about his take on this very question. And, you’ll never guess his answer. ENJOY!
When Billions opened 3 years ago, viewers were immediately presented with a choice – whose side are you on, Team Axe or Team Chuck? Both had characteristics that made you want to root for them, and both had characteristics that made you want to root against them. As the seasons have progressed, it has become more and more challenging to root for either one, as both of them have had moral failings that have shown their true colors to be somewhat less than redeemable. Bobby turned on his childhood friend and mentor Bruno, was a deadbeat dad to his two sons, and ruined Taylor’s love life. Chuck, no slouch in the louse department, broke into Wendy’s private files to get dirt on Bobby, played a vicious and unethical game of hardball on a number of people, and even used his best friend and dad’s own money for his own sense of vengeance. Both of them have long since passed the point where they can be looked on as having any sense of moral center, as they show a far-too-easy willingness to sacrifice it to get what they want. Continue reading “Who should We Turn to For Moral Guidance in Billions Season 4?”
Billions is first and foremost a New York show. And there is nothing more natural than the darkest day of the city, September 11, still shadowing the lives and relationships of our characters. Besides, we all know 9/11 was particularly a very dark day for financial services firms many of which had offices in the World Trade Center. Cantor Fitzgerald lost two thirds of its workforce on 9/11.
source: spoilertv.com
One of the first things we learn about Axe in The Pilot that he is a 9/11 survivor. He is, in fact, the only partner that survived the terrorist attacks because he was out of office in meetings while most of his colleagues and friends died. And seeing that Axe Capital is located in Westport, Connecticut, we also find out Axe Capital is among the financial houses that chose to move from Wall Street to neighboring Connecticut or New Jersey after the destruction of downtown NYC on 9/11.
We then find Axe in a conference room at Axe Capital with the widows and children of his friends that died on 9/11. Axe has been giving college scholarships to these kids for years. He has been keeping it private that there has never been a press release or an interview with him about it.
Billions has never shied away from shocking us over its first two seasons; say it is when Bobby threatens Wendy with the pictures Hall had taken of the two of them naked at the spa, or when Chuck sells out both his dad and his best friend to get Bobby, or when Bobby steals Donnie’s Christmas because he cannot risk him living longer. And now it is time for Wendy to shock us all with her cold-blooded calculations as she makes her decisive move to save her two boys and herself from going to prison.
It is fascinating how Bobby and Chuck immediately recognize the need to dump Ice Juice scheme on someone else when Wendy leaves the table for a few minutes. They have to make Wendy’s short go away but in such a way that the case does not go to trial. They divide the work: Firstly, Bobby will have the new Halls to “massage” the phone records so they do not locate Wendy in Chuck’s office when she calls Mafee to short Ice Juice. Bobby will also make it look like Dr. Gilbert has made profits in Ice Juice. And he will need to make sure Mafee does not share with the Feds what they want to hear about Wendy’s short. Chuck, on the other hand, will ensure that the good doctor will take the plea and go to prison without a trial. Yet, both men hesitate to mention sending someone innocent to prison in front of Wendy thinking that she may not take it. Continue reading “Bobby Axelrod and Wendy Rhoades: A Special Relationship – Part VI”
