Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 3, Episode 9 Recap: Entertainment Weekly – May 20, 2018

Axe Invites the Devil Into His House

by Kyle Fowle | Entertainment Weekly | May 20, 2018

Source: Showtime

Icebreaker

At the outset of “Icebreaker,” Chuck is in a strange spot. He’s not fighting for his life in Southern, or working to bring charges against an enemy. Rather, he’s in West Texas in the middle of the night. He’s come to see the Attorney General about the case against Jose Lugo, the kid who was nearly beaten to death by a prison guard before killing him in self-defense. It’s a case Chuck didn’t want to take, but he had no choice but to prosecute the kid on instructions from Attorney General Waylon “Jock” Jeffcoat. Now, Chuck finds himself in the back of a pickup truck, shooting a coyote that’s bothering Jock’s cattle herd. Out of place indeed, but an apt visual metaphor for the kill or be killed nature of this episode.

“Icebreaker” is packed to the brim with important, weighty decisions that all boil down to that question of killing or being killed. It’s an episode filled with decisions that seem to have a monumental impact on the character arcs of the season, and it all begins when Axe decides to take a meeting with an advisor who works for Grigor Andolov (John Malkovich, deliciously creepy as always), a Russian oil baron and oligarch who’s also a very dangerous man. He’s the kind of man whose reputation of violence precedes him. But, he also has a ton of money and influence, and what Axe needs is an icebreaker, a first investment that gets him back in the game and tells other investors that it’s safe to start letting Axe play with their money.

Continue reading Billions Season 3, Episode 9 Recap: Entertainment Weekly – May 20, 2018

Categories Billions Recap

From The Trader’s Desk: “All The Wilburys” – May 18, 2018

Is Axe Going to the “End of the Line?”

by Lady Trader | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | May 18, 2018

Source: Showtime

Every day I sit and wonder
How my life it use to be
Now I feel I’m going under
Now my life is hard to see
So tell me people, am I going insane, insane?
Am I Going Insane – Black Sabbath

Greetings from the Headbanger’s Ball, oops, I mean the Trader’s Desk! It will never get old for me, but once again I’m starting my post with lyrics from Black Sabbath. This episode had me yelling at my television, and asking if Axe is going insane. He is making all the emotional decisions that have brought him to the brink of disaster.

Continue reading From The Trader’s Desk: “All The Wilburys” – May 18, 2018

Categories Billions Recap

Billions on Showtime, 3.08: All The Wilburys – May 16, 2018

“Ya think, Rickles?”

by JaniaJania | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | May 16, 2018

Source: Showtime

First question when we got the title for Billions, Season 3, Episode 8, “All the Wilburys”:  what, not just the traveling ones? Seems the Wilburys are a clever in group and the goal of this episode, now that our glorious Three are out free and clear is to delineate who among the satellites is out and who is in.

Foley and Senior catch Wendy and Junior in flagrante delicto engaging in the “childish enthusiasms” of their married sexual behavior. This gives them ammo for 1) displaying the fact they can access anything and 2) getting Chuck to commit to the work of becoming Governor by resigning his position as U.S. Attorney. Jack Foley says:

Continue reading Billions on Showtime, 3.08: All The Wilburys – May 16, 2018

Categories Award Submissions Emmy Gold Derby

Gold Derby Submissions – May 15, 2018

Emmys 2018 Exclusive: Showtime Categories for Billions

by Chris Beachum | Gold Derby | May 15, 2018

Source: Showtime/Photo by Jeff Neumann

In a Gold Derby exclusive, we have learned the category placements of the key Emmy Awards contenders for Showtime.  Below is a list of Billions‘ lead, supporting and guest submissions for their drama. More names might be added by the network on the final Emmy ballot. Also note that performers not included on this list may well be submitted by their personal representatives.

“BILLIONS”
Drama Series
Drama Actor – Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis
Drama Supporting Actress – Malin Akerman, Condola Rashad, Maggie Siff
Drama Supporting Actor – Kelly AuCoin, Clancy Brown, David Costabile, Jeffrey DeMunn, Christopher Denham, Asia Kate Dillon, Glenn Fleshler, Toby Leonard Moore, Dan Soder
Drama Guest Actor – Mike Birbiglia, Eric Bogosian, Terry Kinney, John Malkovich, Rob Morrow, David Strathairn, Danny Strong

Continue reading Gold Derby Submissions – May 15, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: Forbes – May 14, 2018

“Axe Returns to Axe Cap to Cheers and High-Fives Befitting a Rock Star”

by Dana Feldman | Forbes | May 14, 2018

Showtime’s hit series Billions continues to prove itself worthy of the legendary Wilbury status that’s the basis of this latest episode. This week, it’s made abundantly clear who is up and who is down and out.  

In “All The Wilburys” Axe (Damian Lewis) and Wags (David Costabile) explain to Spyros (Stephen Kunken), as he’s being fired, the difference between those with Wilbury, or legend, status, and those without. Spyros falls into the latter category but gets a little help from an unexpected source: Dollar Bill (Kelly AuCoin). Do these enemies actually become friends in this episode? More on this below.

Continue reading Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: Forbes – May 14, 2018

Categories Billions Recap

Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 8: All the Wilburys – May 14, 2018

Handle with Care

by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | May 14, 2018

Source: Showtime

Now that Axe and Chuck have dug themselves out of their own graves, both embrace their victories, and are ready to pick up the game where they left. We find them handling new situations they face in their own unique ways: sometimes with utmost care, and sometimes not so much.

Continue reading Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 8: All the Wilburys – May 14, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Recap Review

Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: New York Times – May 13, 2018

Downright Gubernatorial

by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | May 13, 2018

Source: Showtime

All the Wilburys

The dust has settled, but “Billions” has not. After last week’s tour de force put an end to two and a half seasons’ worth of warfare between Bobby Axelrod and Chuck Rhoades, you might expect the show to settle into what remains of its status quo: Chuck’s run for governor, for example, or Bobby’s relatively cautious relationship with his company. But by the time the closing credits roll on this week’s episode, all that has been torn to pieces too.

Written by two of the show’s creators, Brian Koppelman and David Levien, and directed with minimal flash by Mike Binder, this week’s installment tosses the seven-dimensional chessboard out the window in favor of a series of direct confrontations. Characters get together, face off, and verbally pound away at one another until only the strongest remain standing. No room for stealth mode here: It’s vulgar displays of power all the way down.

Continue reading Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: New York Times – May 13, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: Vulture – May 13, 2018

O Captain, My Captain

by Nicole Cliffe | Vulture | May 13, 2018

Source: Showtime

All the Wilburys

I love a good messy Billions episode as much as the next girl, so it seems churlish to complain that we jammed in a few too many arcs this week. Ideally, however, we really did need two episodes to correctly accommodate all the necessary shenanigans and false flags and power moves that went down. It was too much, and I’m man enough to admit it. Give us a MINUTE to process, guys!

I might have been more forgiving if I had ever really committed to Chuck’s gubernatorial ambitions, I think. It’s never made sense for Chuck to become governor from the show’s perspective; like, no offense to Albany, but there’s a reason we don’t set a lot of prestige and prestige-adjacent dramas there. It’s always just been a matter of when Chuck would decide to stick with the U.S. Attorney’s office (or when it would be decided for him).

Continue reading Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: Vulture – May 13, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: Entertainment Weekly – May 13, 2018

Axe and Chuck are Back on Top…For Now

by Kyle Fowle | Entertainment Weekly | May 13, 2018

Source: Showtime

All the Wilburys

The third season of Billions has essentially been split into two. Everything leading up to last week’s episode involved the indictment of Bobby Axelrod over the Ice Juice sabotage, which ended up roping in Chuck and Wendy Rhoades when Bryan Connerty started to sniff out how his boss was involved in the scheme. Bryan’s always had a nose for justice, but it’s that guiding force that gets him fired in “All The Wilburys.” That’s where the second half comes into play. With the indictment behind them, Chuck, Wendy, and Axe are feeling good about their futures. This is Billions though, and all three of them should know that no play is safe, even when it’s relegated to the past.

It doesn’t take long for reality to come crashing back in to their dream state of freedom. As Wendy and Chuck enter their favorite BDSM club, they’re confronted not by the dom they’re looking for, but rather Black Jack Foley and Chuck Rhoades Sr. Nothing quite like seeing your father in your kink room to kill any illusion you had that everything was going to be alright from here on out.

Continue reading Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: Entertainment Weekly – May 13, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

From the Trader’s Desk: Recapping Billions S3 E7 – May 11, 2018

We Sold Our Souls

by Lady Trader | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | May 11, 2018

Source: Showtime

You’re searching for your mind don’t know where to start
Can’t find the key to fit the lock on your heart
You think you know but you are never quite sure
Your soul is ill but you will not find a cure yeah

Your world was made for you by someone above
But you chose evil ways instead of love
You made me master of the world where you exist
The soul I took from you was not even missed yeah

Lord of this World –  Black Sabbath

It seems this episode has a lot of lost souls – will they be missed? Characters we thought we knew dive even further into the abyss. For some, its par for the course; for others (at least in my opinion) it’s a bit of a shock. In the world of “Billions” if you’re not part of the Triumvirate, you are not seen as anything but usable. Even though our trio weasels their way out of their mess, it seems like a Pyrrhic Victory.

Nobody knows what they are capable of doing in a stressful situation. We all say we won’t cross an imaginary “line”, but when faced with jail, the loss of your freedom, and the pain that would inflict on your family, your “line” can and will move. Continue reading From the Trader’s Desk: Recapping Billions S3 E7 – May 11, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions on Showtime, 3.07: Not You, Mr. Dake – May 9, 2018

Puppet Masters Walk Free, While Puppets Walk Away with the Phantom Pain of Having a Hand Up Their Ass

by JaniaJania | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | May 9, 2018

Source: Showtime

Billions, Season 3 Episode 7, “Not You, Mr. Dake”, starts where the last episode ended. We find Bobby, Wendy and Chuck where we left them, holed up in Bobby’s digs, mapping their next move. We see that dinner came and went while they were getting their stories straight.  What’s a strategy session without a nicely prepared steak as accompaniment? And once you share a meal, you’re friends, right? Thus, we witness the shift in tone, the “nuanced shifts in loyalty” as our central three, who I borrowed Swift-ian lyrics to define as the A-team, the endgame, the first string, in that Last Supper promo, have transformed into a beautiful “trifecta of chicanery.”

Continue reading Billions on Showtime, 3.07: Not You, Mr. Dake – May 9, 2018

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Superlatives: Best, Worst, Most from S3E7 – May 7, 2018

Al Dente Pasta, Hot Tubs, and Dudes Named Dudley

by Miles Surrey | The Ringer | May 7, 2018

Source: Showtime

Here is the best, worst, and most from the seventh episode of Season 3

There’s a short routine I follow whenever a new Billions comes on. It begins with a fist pump, because Billions is a national treasure that should be protected under the same security measures as the Declaration of Independence. Then, I look out for the credits—if they say that showrunners David Levien and Brian Koppelman wrote the episode, then you know the installment is going to be spicy as hell. That was the case for “Not You, Mr. Dake,” the seventh episode of Billions’ third season.

This episode deserves a place on the Mount Rushmore of Billions episodes. It’s one that leaned heavily on the fascinating moral compass of Axe Capital’s lovable doofus Mafee, how Chuck and Axe plan to avoid legal ramifications for the Ice Juice sabotage, and the second-most-unexpected kiss of the season (Chuck and Chuck Sr. snogging still takes the throne, and unless Axe courts death itself with a smooch before shorting the grim reaper stock, that won’t change). Let’s stop wasting time and go through the superlatives.

Most Wholesome Family Image

Continue reading Billions Superlatives: Best, Worst, Most from S3E7 – May 7, 2018