Tag: John Malkovich

Only the Fittest Survive

by Dana Feldman | Forbes | April 22, 2019

We’re at the halfway point in the fourth season of Showtime’s hit series Billions. In this survival-of-the-fittest landscape, only the truly ruthless will make it out alive, or in this case, with their billions intact. Fortunately for some, the pain is not only worth it, it’s also something they rather enjoy.

Chuck Thrives On The Pain:

In the latest episode, “Maximum Recreational Depth,” Chuck’s (Paul Giamatti) requirement for BDSM is escalating. His need for punishment and physical pain just can’t be denied or ignored. This is exemplified by the safety pin he put through his nipple. Unfortunately for him, Wendy (Maggie Siff), is no longer willing to participate in satiating his appetites. He has a solution. Doesn’t he always?

Continue reading Billions Season 4 Episode 6 Recap: Forbes – April 22, 2019

Vengeance Comes In Many Forms

by Kyle Fowle | Entertainment Weekly | April 21, 2019

Navigating tricky and ever-changing relationships is a big key to success in the world of Billions. You can have all the brains and money in the world, but if you’re misreading a relationship you might end up with your pockets turned inside out. It’s not just that everyone has their own motivations and that they’re often trying to hide them in some way, but that the landscape is always changing. Axe may preach the Tao of Loyalty like it’s especially sacred, but he’s more than aware that loyalty is as limited a resource as Victor Matteo.

Tonight’s episode, “Maximum Recreational Depth,” kicks off with a renewed relationship of sorts. Wendy finally takes up Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) on their offer to meet and chat about Chuck’s public admission. She takes Taylor to a speakeasy that serves “vegan mango rice ice cream”—Taylor, despite their attempts to keep straight-faced, can’t help but smile when taking the first bite—and pleads her case, saying she’s ready to talk now, and that she just needs someone to listen. She seems genuine and open…but nobody would know how to put on that front quite like Wendy Rhoades.

Continue reading Billions Season 4 Episode 6 Recap: Entertainment Weekly – April 21, 2019

Side Mission

by Sarene Leeds | Vulture | April 21, 2019

Well played, Billions. I bow down to your expert manipulation tactics and admit to being completely suckered into that red herring of a friendship between Taylor and Wendy.

Tonight’s episode has reopened the discussion of whether Wendy is the most nefarious character on the show, and as of this moment, all signs point to yes. She possesses weapons that are far more destructive than Axe’s arsenal of money-draining methods or Chuck’s talent for trading favors. As a psychiatrist, Wendy knows how to earn Taylor’s trust by getting into their head and using all of their weak spots to her advantage.

Continue reading Billions Season 4 Episode 6 Recap: Vulture – April 21, 2019

Everyone Needs a Listening Ear

by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | April 21, 2019

Billions picks up the characters exactly where we left them last Sunday, takes them to places they have never been before and leaves me with several billion dollar questions. HATS OFF!

Wendy meets Taylor at Morgenstern’s – synonym of YUM. She seems to be friends with Nicholas Morgenstern who makes a cameo and turns the ice cream shop into a speakeasy for his friend! 🙂 Well, Mr. Morgenstern is definitely a good friend. Did you know he named his peanut butter ice cream cake after his friend Brian Koppelman? Meet The Koppelman!

While neither trusts the other one, they talk. At least Wendy does: Many at Axe Capital tried to get into her mind, but only Taylor did. Because they listen and they deeply care. And that is why they were the only one who reached out when Chuck made their sex life public.

Continue reading Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 6: Maximum Recreational Depth – April 21, 2019

Category is: Anger! So, bring it to the runway!

by Lady Trader | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | April 19, 2019

Those who try to burn him pay
You don’t do that to Johnny Blade
He’s the meanest guy around his town
One look and he will cut you down
Johnny Blade – Black Sabbath

Happy Friday, and welcome to the Trader’s Desk!

It seems this week’s episode, the category is anger, lots and lots of anger! Let’s explore why everyone is so damn pissed, so everybody, Bring It To The Runway!

Also, there was some new “fin-speak” in this week’s episode. I have updated the Glossary with new definitions. Most are not integral to the story lines, so I won’t be going into too much detail about them here. As always, if there is something you would like me to explain, please comment below!

A brief comment about the Chuck/Axe bromance: Does Chuck know who he has gotten into bed with? Axe wants to put Taylor in a “fucking cell” now! Chuck has names higher on his hit list, but Axe does not care: “I did earn your seat as much as you did.” Axe will be friends with Chuck as long as he does what Axe tells him to do, and Chuck has been known to thrown anyone under the bus as long as it advances his interests. Is this the first signs of this buddy movie coming to an end?

Continue reading From the Trader’s Desk: Billions S4E5 A Proper Sendoff – April 19, 2019

Chuck and Axe Give Their Enemies ‘A Proper Sendoff’

by Dana Feldman | Forbes | April 14, 2019

Ok, so there may not be dragons on Billions but the merciless way in which these characters slay their enemies on this show is just as frightening. This week’s episode “A Proper Sendoff” begins with both Chuck (Paul Giamatti) and Axe (Damian Lewis) struggling to maintain their power. Those that cross them quickly learn what a mistake it is to underestimate either.

At a dinner in the opening scene with Chuck, Wendy (Maggie Siff), Axe and Rebecca Cantu (Nina Arianda), Wendy is given some very good advice. And, she needs all the help she can get as she copes with the fallout of Chuck’s announcement to the world about their proclivity to whips and chains.

Continue reading Billions Season 4 Episode 5 Recap: Forbes – April 14, 2019

Best Served Cold

by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | April 14, 2019

Season 4, Episode 5: ‘A Proper Sendoff’

This week on “Billions,” revenge is the order of the day. All right, fine: Every week on “Billions,” revenge is the order of the day.

But this episode is special even so. Written by Michael Russell Gunn and directed with gangster-movie brio by Matthew McLoota, the episode has Axe and Chuck conduct some of their most brutally total takedowns of their enemies yet. What, you thought dispatching Grigor Andolov and outfoxing Jack Foley and Jock Jeffcoat was going to keep these two happy? Don’t you remember that happiness is nothing more than a moment before you need more happiness?

Longtime “Billions” watchers will remember that Bobby Axelrod made his fortune on 9/11, which he was lucky enough to have survived while many of his colleagues perished. Since then, he has funded the college tuition of the children of those who died in hopes of a sort of karmic offset. Now those children are adults, and many are successful in their own right.

Continue reading Billions Season 4 Episode 5 Recap: New York Times – April 14, 2019

Chuck and Axe Throw Their Power Around Simply Because They Can

by Kyle Fowle | Entertainment Weekly | April 14, 2019

It’s the day of Jack Foley’s funeral here on Billions, which thankfully doesn’t mean it’s a somber day. Billions doesn’t do somber. Instead, the day sees more power moves, more backstabbing, and more personal reckoning. As the opening scene states visually, cross-cutting between Foley’s coffin being incinerated and a pizza being cooked in an oven, life must go on. One man’s death is another man’s opportunity, after all.

Chuck and Wendy are having dinner with Axe and Rebecca, and it’s still weird to see Axe and Chuck in this kind of setting, where everything is friendly. Things don’t stay friendly for long, but that’s because Wendy and Chuck are at odds. The night is still young when she rips into Chuck again for exposing the details of their sex life, and what she lays out makes a lot of sense. She says she’s no longer a blank slate, she can’t be “Wendy” and just build up from there in the way she needs to, depending on whom she’s interacting with, be it an investor or a patient. “Now they just know all of it,” she says, which is fair. But Rebecca sees it another way. She sees people so concerned with their own problems that they’ll forget about Wendy in due time. She’s got a point too, and when she agrees to give Wendy a blank slate in their relationship, Wendy finds a new friend.

Continue reading Billions Season 4 Episode 5 Recap: Entertainment Weekly – April 14, 2019