Categories Billions Review

Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 2: The Wrong Maria Gonzalez – April 1, 2018

You Can Take the Boy Out of the Trade, But You Cannot Take the Trade Out of the Boy

by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | April 1, 2018

Axe needs to stay away from trading. He does not. Chuck needs to stay away from the case. He does not. As both suffer from insomnia and operate behind the scenes to remove any uncertainty in their way, I cannot help think they have so much in common that they could have been BFFs in another life.

We find Axe where we left him at the end of the season premiere: His terrace. No wonder he said he might as well give up his license to breathe when Spyros and Bach advised the only way to make Axe Capital liquid immediately was for him to give up his license to trade. Axe feels suffocated and his phone call to Wendy in the middle of the night brings nothing but an idea that this is an opportunity for him to realign who he is.

The man who does not regret the crime he committed and feels rage for only getting caught believes the law gets in his way. But I agree with Wendy it is not the law that made the deal, which Axe now sees as a mistake, necessary. His disregard of the law did.

As he went down to the crossroads, Axe notices some breaking news.

Source: Showtime

Seeing an opportunity where everyone else sees a disaster made Bobby Axelrod. Not being able to act on this should be eating him alive.

Well, you can take the boy out of the trade, but you cannot take the trade out of the boy. As Axe approaches his “satellites” (Hello, Carly!) with a plan, his lawyer is standing next to the Eastern District Boys to find out what judge the wooden wheel will draw for United States v Robert Axelrod.

Source: Showtime

Leonard Funt, or in Bach’s words, the prosecution just got Funted. Funt is known to champion free markets.

Chuck meets Dake at Kossar’s to discuss how to get the case de-Funted. If Funt does not take the case, there is no more wheel of fortune, and it is up to the chief judge to decide who will take the case. And more often than not the judge who lobbies the chief judge first gets it.  Where Dake sees “tempering” Chuck sees “finesse.” And this research article argues even though assigning judges at random is widely assumed in the SDNY, “finesse” seems to take precedence.

Chuck gives Wendy the detailed description of the judge they need:

“…that believes the rich has gotten away with too much for too long, and one that won’t allow Axelrod to create a distraction that I set up a roach motel to lure him in.”

Has Chuck just called Axe a cockroach? Well, Damian is probably used to his characters being called a cockroach by now.

Read the rest of the original article at Fan Fun with Damian Lewis