Damian Lewis

Trust is the Most Valuable Currency in Billions

by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | May 31, 2020

So where to begin about this episode – entertaining, surprising, and heartbreaking – absolutely the best so far in Season 5? The best point of departure may be the definition of a “contract” as Axe gives during his game of billiards with Savion since we see a number of contracts – explicit or implicit – drawn, signed, or not, in one of the best hours Billions has given us in its history.

“A contract is an understanding between men that they’ll see things the same way, that they’ll keep code. That they’ll honor the spirit of their relationship even in unforeseen circumstances.”

Axe, Wags and Bach are sitting in Ms. Calder’s – the head of the office approving state charter applications – office clueless that Chuck was there earlier with Kate to convince Ms. Calder not to approve Axe’s application and thereby preventing a crime before happening!

Continue reading Billions on Showtime, Season 5 Episode 5: Contract – May 31, 2020

Old Men

by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | May 31, 2020

Season 5, Episode 5: ‘Contract’

“Old man, take a look at my life — I’m a lot like you.” This week’s episode of “Billions” uses Neil Young’s song “Old Man” to tie a bow around two of its story lines. In the first, Charles Rhoades Sr. has kidney failure, and his advanced age (and bad habits) makes him an unlikely candidate for a donor. It’s a predicament even his son Chuck’s legal wizardry may be unable to remedy.

In the second story line, Bobby Axelrod discovers that his abusive grifter father has re-entered his mother’s life. In a fit of explosive rage, he threatens to cut her off if he ever discovers she is in contact with him again — and then destroys the expensive car she had given to the man after first receiving it from Bobby. With his confidant Wendy Rhoades by his side, Axe watches as the compacted hunk of metal is deposited in front of his father’s house, a final anonymous act of vengeance.

Continue reading Billions Season 5 Episode 5 Recap: New York Times – May 31, 2020

Bobby and Chuck Should Learn from the Godfather

by Paul Vigna | Wall Street Journal | May 31, 2020

Sometimes you gotta break a bank to make a bank. Or something like that.

“Contract,” tonight’s episode of Billions, (written by Theo Travers and directed by Adam Bernstein) finds Bobby Axelrod continuing his odd quest to start a bank, and destroying another bank in the process.

Axe’s plans for his hometown of Yonkers have evolved beyond just rebuilding every store brick by brick in his opportunity zone. He wants to be Yonkers’s bank, too. He’s applied for a bank charter from the New York Department of Financial Services. Of course, the state’s Attorney General Chuck Rhoades, for some reason, wants to stop him from getting the license.

We’re here to unwind what makes sense and what doesn’t. There’s a lot that doesn’t.

Continue reading Billions Season 5 Episode 5 Recap: Wall Street Journal – May 31, 2020