Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 7, Episode 4 Recap: Bittersweet Symphony

NFT Scams, Hurricane Sabotage and Minion-Hood

by Sarene Leeds | Vulture | September 1, 2023

Billions stuck us with another formulaic episode this week — no Axe; finance bros skirting the law, etc. — but at least “Hurricane Rosie” and its two main story lines are moving toward some semblance of cohesion. Chuck and Mike Prince are finally back in each other’s orbit, as Chuck tries to indict Prince after he learns the billionaire is intertwined with a Taiwanese mogul whose son is an NFT scammer. (So the whole fake Super PAC investigation from last week is on hold now, or what?) Meanwhile, with no clear plan to destroy Prince from the inside, Wags goes rogue and sabotages a hurricane categorization, making Prince look like an insurance fraudster. The problem with this particular scheme is it has Wags’s fingerprints all over it, putting Wags in a precarious position at MPC. The last thing Wendy needs is to lose her top ally, so she gives him a necessary dressing-down before they regroup.

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From The Trader’s Desk: Crisis of Confidence?

Billions Season 7 Episode 3 ‘Winston Dick Energy’

by Lady Trader | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | September 1, 2023

When I was living this lie, fear was my game
People would worship and fall, drop to their knees
Powerslave – Iron Maiden

If it’s Friday, then it’s time for “From the Trader’s Desk”.

Before I get into the meat of my post, just some observations:

I was asked why MPC is claiming ownership of Winston’s software. If he developed it how does MPC have the rights to it? Well, the type of risk management software Winston is trying to sell would most certainly take months (if not years) to develop, code, back test, and debug. Which means there is no way he could have developed it overnight. If what Taylor says is correct, (that Winston used data to test his software using MPC trader transactions) then that also would make it property of MPC. By using data and equipment owned by MPC, legally Winston doesn’t own it. Could a court possibly rule that he co-owns it? Yes. Also, most funds would have a clause written in his contract that he would not be able to market any type of software for a stated period (usually 6-9 months). His best course of action would have been to offer it to MPC first to either buy him out or lease the program. If they passed, he then could have tried to get permission from MPC to market it to other firms. Just another example of unnecessary greed killing a golden goose.

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Billions on Showtime, Season 7 Episode 3: Winston Dick Energy

Performance Anxiety

by Damianista | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | August 26, 2023

The first Axe-less episode in the final season has three storylines that are light-hearted compared to those in the first two. A few lead characters doing soul-searching brings complexity that leave the viewers asking for more!

I do not know if Chuck’s first order of business as the U.S. Attorney of the SDNY has been to release Jock Jeffcoat from prison, but one of the first  is to offer a job to Ira as the two are eating a lavish breakfast from Russ & Daughters in some office at the SDNY. When Ira asks if they are having their breakfast in a random office so Chuck would not have any food smell in his office later, Chuck says the office is Ira’s if he wants to.

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Billions Season 7, Episode 3 Recap: Hamster Wheel

Classic Billions Sabotage

by Sarene Leeds | Vulture | August 25, 2023

It’s pretty hard to beat “Winston Dick Energy,” but if I had to give this episode a different title, it would be the overlong “How Wags, Wendy, and Chuck Got Their Groove Back.”

With no Axe in this week’s episode, Billions is forced to return to a business-as-usual model. The three major plots are entertaining enough, but none of them seem to be heading toward a strong season-long arc. Case in point, the best storyline of “Winston Dick Energy” is Wags’s orchestrated humiliation of Winston, his highly inappropriate brand name, and his risk-management software. Classic Billions sabotage and I loved every minute of it, but I don’t see how or if this plot device will affect Mike Prince’s presidential campaign. The narrative about Chuck losing his killer instinct is meh, relying mainly on an 11th-hour cameo by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and a delightfully cringe anecdote from Senior involving the Bedminster golf club. And I’ll always wonder if I’d even care about Wendy feeling threatened by a rival psychiatrist if said shrink wasn’t portrayed by the glorious Holland Taylor.

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Billions Season 7, Episode 3 Recap: Confidence Games

Mike Thinks He Sets a Trap for a Certain New U.S. Attorney

by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | August 25, 2023

Season 7, Episode 3: ‘Winston Dick Energy’

Chuck Rhoades is a man of action — most of the time. His proprietary blend of intellect and emotion is what made him the man he is today; his best friend and newly hired deputy U.S. attorney, Ira (Ben Shenkman), tells him this in so many words.

But that combination has unmade Chuck several times over, and he’s not the only one who knows it. His protégé turned foe, Kate Sacker, tells her boss Mike Prince that Rhoades’s emotion is what stops him from harnessing his full intelligence, which is every bit the equal of hers or Mike’s. So when Kate and company proffer a filing for a political super PAC to back Prince’s presidential campaign — a deliberate provocation meant to keep Chuck’s operations in plain sight — Chuck does not bite.

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From The Trader’s Desk: Everyone’s Playing 3-D Chess!

Billions Season 7 Episode 2 ‘Original Sin’

by Lady Trader | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | August 25, 2023

Got no religion, don’t need no friends
Got all I want and I don’t need to pretend
Don’t try to reach me, ’cause I’ll tear up your mind
I’ve seen the future and I’ve left it behind
Supernaut – Black Sabbath

Happy Friday from “From the Trader’s Desk”.

Axe is living it up in an absolutely stunning castle in the north of England. If you need to be in exile, well that is the way to do it! Besides the chip off the old block Gordie, Axe has no friends with him; he’s got all he wants and he don’t need to pretend! But does he really?

Let’s get into “Original Sin”….

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Billions Season 7 Episode 2 Original Sin Recap

Freedom, Plotting, and the Power of Cowboy Boots

by Kyle Fowle| Entertainment Weekly | August 20, 2023

Axe has a castle. I mean, of course Axe has a castle. As the second episode of the season kicks off, Wags (David Costabile), Wendy (Maggie Siff), and Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) are visiting Axe (Damian Lewis) in England in an attempt to persuade him to come back to the United States and prevent Prince (Corey Stoll) from becoming president. The four of them spend much of the episode walking around Axe’s massive estate, which he has managed to create during his time in exile, and having conversations in shadowy halls and rooms. The pitch? Axe surely can’t be happy about how Prince is running the company he used to own, the one he built from the ground up, and he must be itching to come back and defeat his nemesis. The thing is, Axe might not have the same motivations.

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Billions on Showtime, Season 7 Episode 2: Original Sin

Redemption

by Damianista | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | August 19, 2023

Two episodes in and my head is still spinning. ‘Original Sin’ reminds me of Axe’s trading style that Mafee talks about in the season premiere: Fast. Aggressive. Sure-footed. And I applaud the writers’ room and everyone behind and in front of the camera for this brilliant episode they give us with redemption or lack thereof at its heart in all different shapes and forms. I also want to take a moment here to express my support for the on-going strike. I so hope it puts a full stop to the big studios’ greed. Best of luck.

Now on to the episode recap which I break down into four parts – each named after Wendy’s lost boys: Bobby, Chuck, Mike and Others  🙂

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Billions Season 7, Episode 2 Recap: The Hard Sell

Castle Axelrod: Knights of the Round Table

by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | August 18, 2023

Season 7, Episode 2: ‘Original Sin’

Who’s the most terrifying egomaniac in the series right now? It might not be Mike Prince.

A man’s home is his castle. It’s a comforting, if patriarchal and consumerist, cliché. In Bobby Axelrod’s case, it just happens to be true. His home is a castle. In this week’s episode of “Billions,” it serves as the reunion site for his Knights of the Round Table, on a mission to bring their Arthur back from Avalon and take up the sword once more.

The target of this trio of do-gooders — one of them a guy who may never have done good before in his life, mind you — is the would-be future leader of the free world, Mike Prince. Wendy, Taylor and Wags have all come to the conclusion that keeping Prince out of the Oval Office is even more important than, get this, making money. They all make this case to their old boss in turn, each employing a different strategy and skill set, each yielding the same result: He’ll pass.

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Billions Season 7, Episode 2 ‘Original Sin’ Recap

It Aint Me, Babe

by Sarene Leeds | Vulture | August 18, 2023

We’re still a long way off from figuring out what Wendy Rhoades did to cause Mike Prince to break stuff last week.

By the end of “Original Sin,” the initial delight of seeing Wendy and the old Axe Cap gang practically skip off into the London night had faded into a portrait of gloom. Not surprisingly, an utterly dejected Rebel Alliance — Wendy, Wags, and Taylor — returned to the United States, as Axe refused their plea to help them bring down Mike Prince.

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From The Trader’s Desk: Guess Who’s Back, Back Again?

Billions Season 7 Episode 1 ‘Tower of London’

by Lady Trader | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | August 18, 2023

Now this looks like a job for me
So everybody just follow me
‘Cause we need a little controversy
‘Cause it feels so empty without me

Without Me -Eminem

Hello and welcome back to the Trader’s Desk. I won’t lie – I didn’t think we would be back here again, sharing our Friday’s discussing Billions, but I am so glad we are!

I will most certainly get back to quoting heavy metal lyrics to begin my posts (as one does) but to start us off, the above lyrics from Eminem just seem so right.

A job needs to be done that only Axe can do, and things just did feel very empty with The Big Man!

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Billions on Showtime, Season 7 Episode 1: Tower of London

Return of the King

by Damianista | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | August 13, 2023

Advance Warning: This is a long review. I wanted to touch upon everything that happened in the season premiere because it sets the tone for the season…and I also wanted to re-visit a thing or two from Season 6 as a refresher. I just missed writing about this show so much! So please bear with me. One episode in and my mind is spinning. Season 7 may turn out to be the most Billions-y Billions we have ever seen! My one word review for the season premiere: WHOA. Longer version follows. ENJOY!

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