Categories Billions Print Media Review

Billions Is Spending Its ‘F— You Money’ in Season 4 – March 19, 2019

After earning a fortune of goodwill over three seasons, the latest from Brian Koppelman and David Levien is cashing in on some fast fun.

by Ben Travers | IndieWire | March 18, 2019

The greatest “Billions” line in a long history of great lines is the one that started it all: “What’s the point of having ‘fuck you money,’ if you never say ‘fuck you’?” In Showtime’s series premiere, hedge fund billionaire Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) was mocking the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), in the first of many verbal smackdowns between sworn enemies. The two men’s vitriol for one another ran both professional and personal — Chuck’s wife, Wendy (Maggie Siff), is also Bobby’s in-house therapist — and fueled the series through multiple hoodwinks, betrayals, pranks, gambits, and a very dicey bit of business involving poisoned juice.

That was then, this is now: Having been kicked out of office, Chuck is at his wit’s end. Bobby, who lost his wife (Lara, played by Malin Akerman) and nearly went to prison, isn’t far behind. So at the end of Season 3, with a little coaxing from Wendy, the two team up. And with that, “Billions” started spending the fuck you money its been hoarding for three increasingly impressive seasons — and, boy, is it going places in Season 4.

Continue reading Billions Is Spending Its ‘F— You Money’ in Season 4 – March 19, 2019

Categories Billions Magazine Print Media Recap

Billions Season Four is Game Of Thrones With Less Sex But More Drugs and Rock’n’Roll – March 19, 2019

Damian Lewis is back as hedge fund alpha Bobby Axelrod. And hell hath no fury like an atomic asset manager with his billion-dollar balls in a vice.

by Paul Henderson | GQ Magazine | March 19, 2019

Within five minutes of the start of season four of Billions, hard-rockin’ hedge fund alpha Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) has woken to the sound of “Ace Of Spades” by Motörhead, skipped breakfast (“A man like you should eat something. You’ve got fuel to burn,” says Axe’s manservant. “Do I look like I need to fan the fire?” snaps back the response) and unleashed a maelstrom of iron-clad legal documents that his lawyer Orrin Bach (Glenn Fleshler) describes as “tighter than AC/DC in ’78”.

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, former US attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) kicks off proceedings by air drumming his way through the Rev Al Green’s “I Feel Good”, before getting on with his new and far less prestigious job: playing the small-time power broker as he sets about trying to re-climb the greasiest of political poles.

In other words, Billions is back, baby, and it means business.

Continue reading Billions Season Four is Game Of Thrones With Less Sex But More Drugs and Rock’n’Roll – March 19, 2019

Categories Audio Billions Podcast Recap

Recappables Podcast: Billions S4E1 – March 18, 2019

Breaking Down the Season 4 Premiere

by Alison Herman and Miles Surrey | The Ringer | March 18, 2019

The Ringer’s Alison Herman and Miles Surrey break down the first episode of Billions Season 4: “Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game.” They discuss Chuck attempting to drum up good will after being ousted as attorney general and the ongoing battle between Axe Capital and Taylor Mason Capital.

Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game

Source: The Ringer

Categories Billions Poll Print Media Recap

Billions Superlatives: Best, Worst, Most from S4E1 – March 18, 2019

An Episode Tighter Than AC/DC in ’78

by Miles Surrey | The Ringer | March 18, 2019

Here is the best, worst, and most from the season four premiere 

For a ton of people, the upcoming slate of springtime television will be largely defined by dragons, White Walkers, and incidental incest on HBO. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also looking forward to the last season of Game of Thrones, but there’s something else I’ve got my eye on. You can have your Night King and the 55-night battle sequence at Winterfell; I have Bobby Axelrod with a killer short position. You can stare into the fire and worship the Lord of Light; I already have a god, and he goes by the name of Wags.

That’s right, folks: Billions is finally back. The fourth season premiered on Sunday night with two new battles: It’s Team Axe versus Team Taylor, and Team Chuck versus Team Jock/Connerty/Sacker/anyone who rubs Chuck the wrong way. Axe and Chuck are buds now—I know, it’s strange—and appear willing to help each other squash their respective enemies. (For now, at least.)

With the fourth season’s first episode, “Chucky Rhoades’ Greatest Game,” now in the books, let’s celebrate Billions’ boisterous return with some premiere superlatives.

Continue reading Billions Superlatives: Best, Worst, Most from S4E1 – March 18, 2019

Categories Billions Gallery Media

Next Time on Billions Season 4 Episode 2 – March 18, 2019

Season 4, Episode 2: “Arousal Template”

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | March 18, 2019

On the next episode of Billions season 4 episode 2, Axe, still focused on wrecking Taylor and their new company, hits it off with a venture capitalist. Chuck sets his sights on a new position. Wendy asks Chuck to make a change.

To view more sneak peek photos, please visit our Gallery

Episode 2 trailers:

Continue reading Next Time on Billions Season 4 Episode 2 – March 18, 2019

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 1: Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game

After All, Tomorrow is Another Day!

by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | March 17, 2019

What are the odds that the two most anticipated events of the year for yours truly fall on the same day? I got up at 5am to run NYC half-Marathon earlier today and I found out later that Showtime kindly released the Billions Season Premiere today which gave me time to watch the episode two times, sit down and write.

My one word review for the Season Premiere: WHOA.

Longer version follows. ENJOY! Continue reading Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 1: Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 4, Episode 1 Recap: Vulture – March 17, 2019

You Gotta Pick Sides

by Sarene Leeds  | Vulture | March 17, 2019

If you had trouble untangling yourself from the intricate web that was the Billions season four premiere, you’re not alone. Even star Paul Giamatti has admitted that he can’t keep track of the Showtime drama’s mind-bending plot twists. That’s not to say “Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game” isn’t a fantastic episode, but it is an exhausting one. And by the end, we’re still left asking the same question: Is the quest for such all-encompassing power worth it?

For now, the main players — Chuck Rhoades, Jr. (Giamatti), Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis), Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff), and Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillion) — are going to answer with a resounding “yes.” Four seasons in, and the adrenaline rush of the game continues to fuel their existence. Never mind that it’s come at some seriously crippling costs: Axe has lost his family and now requires a personal detail of six bodyguards (getting mixed up with Russian oligarchs will do that). Chuck, stripped of his U.S. Attorney title, has been reduced to a private law practice in which the strings are, unsurprisingly, being pulled by his blue-blooded father, Charles Rhoades, Sr. (Jeffrey DeMunn, still making his loathsome character one of the most delicious things about Billions). And Taylor is learning some uncomfortable lessons about the high-stakes world of which they so desperately want (and deserve) a piece.

Continue reading Billions Season 4, Episode 1 Recap: Vulture – March 17, 2019

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 4, Episode 1: Entertainment Weekly – March 17, 2019

It’s a Fresh Start, and the Same Old Enemies, for Chuck and Axe

by Kyle Fowle | Entertainment Weekly | March 17, 2019

The fourth season of Billions begins with a very familiar image: Wags in a club, flanked by women, snorting coke. Apparently, he’s on a mission to secure a deal for a sovereign wealth fund, and as always, that means partying hard until the deal is done. Things seem to be looking good. Wags tells the man he’s meeting with that their final stipulation is that the client does no business with Taylor Mason. The man seems to agree, telling Wags that they can bring the party back to the Embassy of the Arab State of Qadir, where he’ll get to seal the deal with the Shiekh. Things don’t go as planned though. Rather than get a big meeting, Wags gets drugged and thrown into a dingy storage closet.

Continue reading Billions Season 4, Episode 1: Entertainment Weekly – March 17, 2019

Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 4, Episode 1: Forbes – March 17, 2019

Season 4 Opens With ‘Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game’

by Dana Feldman | Forbes | March 17, 2019

The fourth season of Billions begins with the episode entitled “Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game.” In the new 12-episode season, everyone has a score to settle and vengeance is the name of the game.

In the first episode, Chuck (Paul Giamatti) is no longer U.S. Attorney and as he struggles to regain power, he comes up with quite the plan.

Meanwhile, Axe (Damian Lewis) is also closing ranks, determined to destroy Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon). Taylor, however, is doing absolutely whatever it takes to keep their company afloat.

In the opening scene, Wags (David Costabile) parties at a strip club with the sheikh’s henchman and he makes it quite clear that Axe wants no money going to any former Axe Cap employees, meaning Taylor. That is, if the sheikh wants Axe to keep “jacking up” his returns.

Continue reading Billions Season 4, Episode 1: Forbes – March 17, 2019
Categories Billions Print Media Recap

Billions Season 4, Episode 1: New York Times – March 17, 2019

by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | March 17, 2019

“You win some, lose some, it’s all the same to me,” howls Lemmy Kilmister, the raspy singer-bassist of the heavy metal band Motörhead in their signature song, “Ace of Spades.” As he explains over warp-speed riffing, when it comes to gambling, “the pleasure is to play.”

The metal fandom of the hedge-fund billionaire Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) has been a key trait of that character from the start. It is equal parts enjoyment and self-aggrandizing, bad-boy image-making. But rarely had it been deployed as astutely as when he made his first onscreen appearance this week, in the Season 4 premiere of Showtime’s ruthlessly entertaining financial thriller, “Billions.” As “Ace of Spades” powers the soundtrack, we’re reminded that no matter what game they’re playing, men like Axe aren’t happy unless they go all-in on every hand.

Continue reading Billions Season 4, Episode 1: New York Times – March 17, 2019

Categories Billions Video

PSAs by Billions Cast – March 17, 2019

Public Service Announcements-Season Four

by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | March 17, 2019

View more:

Continue reading PSAs by Billions Cast – March 17, 2019

Categories Billions Interviews Print Media

Why the Creators of Billions See the Show as a “Rorschach Test” for the Trump Era – March 16, 2019

“It’s hard to find the people in positions of power who don’t at least dance with hypocrisy”

by Tonya Riley | Mother Jones | March 16, 2019

Billionaires, Saudi investors, political favor-trading —it sounds a lot like the basis of a Mother Jones article on any given day under the Trump administration. But in fact, it’s the logline for the season premiere of Showtime’s Billions, a surprise hit that is as comfortable being part of the Golden Age of television as it is commenting on a politically turbulent time.

The show stars Paul Giamatti as Chuck Rhoades, former US Attorney for Southern District of New York, and Damien Lewis as Bobby Axelrod, an unorthodox, up-from-his-bootstraps-sort-of hedge fund manager at Axe Capital. They’re joined by Maggie Siff as Wendy Rhoades, wife to Chuck and psychoanalyst at Axelrod’s company; she further complicates their relationship (and often calls the shots for them both). The drama, which was loosely based on the legal battle between Preet Bharara, a former US attorney for the same district Rhoades serves in Billions, and billionaire Steve Cohen, a hedge fund manager who escaped indictment despite being at the heart of a massive insider trading scandals, has evolved over four seasons into must-watch television that evokes the politics of today without the didactic morality of, say, an Aaron Sorkin venture. The show is smart, sexy, and dark, and vest-wearing finance bros and media hipsters alike count themselves among its fans.

Mother Jones called up co-creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien in advance of season four to discuss America’s fascination with the rich and powerful and how they keep their show fresh in the mercurial age of Trump.

Continue reading Why the Creators of Billions See the Show as a “Rorschach Test” for the Trump Era – March 16, 2019