Tag: Axe Capital

A Tribute to Everyone’s Favorite Billions Moment: The Fake Fight

“Pretend we’re having an argument.” —Bobby Axelrod

source: Showtime

A good hour of television absolutely starts with good writing and I pride myself in calling Willie Reale, the writer of Billions Season 1 Episode 10 Quality of Life, a genius way before I find out that he is, in fact, one! I don’t know if you are familiar with MacArthur Fellowships also known as “Genius Grants” but Mr. Reale is a recipient of this fellowship “in recognition of his ingenuity in creating theater and theater education programs for young people.” Bravo!

Quality of Life, with Donnie’s memorial service being at its heart, has a number of moving parts; however, Mr. Reale delivers the story seamlessly with a number of timely back and forths between the memorial service and all else going on and the episode’s director Karyn Kusama perfectly translates the writing into action. And, in my humble opinion, Brian Koppelman’s tweet sharing with us that the fake argument scene between Axe and Dollar Bill was Reale’s idea alone deserves standing ovation for this brilliant writer! Continue reading “A Tribute to Everyone’s Favorite Billions Moment: The Fake Fight”

Catching up with Bobby Axelrod on
Billions Season 2 Finale Set

Advance Warning: This post has SPOILERS about Billions Season 2 Finale.

source: Showtime

Billions Season 2 leaves us with more questions than answers, exactly in the way that it should, and I want to add to the already long list of questions: Who do you think is the first person Axe talks to after his arrest? No, not Chuck. Be open minded. Be creative. Make a guess. Find the answer below 😀

December 9, 2016 starts as an extraordinary day. I wake up to news any academic would kill to get! My co-author and I get a revision for a paper we wrote on civil wars from one of the top journals in the profession, and believe me, given that top journal acceptance rates wander around 10%, this kind of thing RARELY happens. So, I am over the moon and decide to reward myself by taking the day off for some shopping! And, while thinking the day could not get any better, I check my Instagram on the subway and THIS happens:

Continue reading “Catching up with Bobby Axelrod on
Billions Season 2 Finale Set”

A Tribute to Everybody’s Favorite Scene in Billions Season 1: The Fake Fight

“Pretend we’re having an argument.” —Bobby Axelrod

source: Showtime

A good hour of television absolutely starts with good writing and I pride myself in calling Willie Reale, the writer of Billions Season 1 Episode 10 Quality of Life, a genius way before I find out that he is, in fact, one! I don’t know if you are familiar with MacArthur Fellowships also known as “Genius Grants” but Mr. Reale is a recipient of this fellowship “in recognition of his ingenuity in creating theater and theater education programs for young people.” Bravo!

Quality of Life, with Donnie’s memorial service being at its heart, has a number of moving parts; however, Mr. Reale delivers the story seamlessly with a number of timely back and forths between the memorial service and all else going on and the episode’s director Karyn Kusama perfectly translates the writing into action. And, in my humble opinion, Brian Koppelman’s tweet sharing with us that the fake argument scene between Axe and Dollar Bill was Reale’s idea alone deserves standing ovation for this brilliant writer! Continue reading “A Tribute to Everybody’s Favorite Scene in Billions Season 1: The Fake Fight”

Bobby Axelrod and Wendy Rhoades: A Special Relationship – Part I

Damian’s character is brilliantly cerebral. Everything’s fast and light and facile, and I feel like I’m doing a ballet with him. —Maggie Siff

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

It is the most intriguing relationship in Billions. It is personal and it is professional. It is sincere and it is strategic. It is friendly and it is flirty. It is complex. It is intense. It is delicate. It is difficult. It is delicious.

It is Bobby and Wendy.

Maggie Siff’s words inspire me to look at them in a new light: A ballet indeed. I will take the next step and say it is a ballet of three acts and dive deep into it!

Let’s first hear from one half of this relationship! I had the wonderful opportunity to ask Damian about his take on Bobby and Wendy after his appearance at Times Talks in June. You can hear it below and I am also transcribing Damian’s answer for our non-English speaking readers who prefer written English to spoken English. Continue reading “Bobby Axelrod and Wendy Rhoades: A Special Relationship – Part I”

Previously on Billions: Naming Rights

Previously on Billions…

Pete Decker is on the phone and apparently trying to make a ‘gold play’ to Bobby. If you have been paying attention you know Gold is not currently a good investment. It is quite interesting that Danny Margolis made contact with Bobby in the Pilot and here we have Decker with a play which is utterly ludicrous to even think Bobby would get involved. Hmmm…I make that two out of three.

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

Wags tries admirably to keep transport low key because some investors have had their feathers ruffled by Bobby and his beach house being all over the Post, but the King isn’t having it.

Over at Chuck’s office, Bryan is lecturing on noodles while they discuss how to bag Axe. Pete Decker’s name comes up again as the ‘in’ to getting at Axe. Chuck orders that all of Decker’s Analysts and Traders should be tracked and they jump on the first one to make a mistake.

“That Ponzi thing” is mentioned. We have no indication of what that is, but as Kate was just discussing “spraying shit all around” maybe we should take note of it.

Continue reading “Previously on Billions: Naming Rights”