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by Alison Herman and Chris Almeida | The Ringer | May 13, 2018
The Ringer’s Alison Herman and Chris Almeida link up to talk about Ari Spyros’s cringiest moments of the episode (17:06), the tense relationship between Axe and Taylor (10:42), and their MVPs and LVPs of the week (35:32).
Source: The Ringer
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Comments Off on Billions Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: New York Times – May 13, 2018
by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | May 13, 2018
Source: Showtime
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
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by Nicole Cliffe | Vulture | May 13, 2018
Source: Showtime
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
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by Kyle Fowle | Entertainment Weekly | May 13, 2018
Source: Showtime
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
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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 yeahYour 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
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
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by David Sexton | Evening Standard | May 10, 2018
Source: Showtime
An extraordinary episode of the glossy financial drama, which was recently renewed for a fourth season.
Showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien contribute a storyline that swirls around the two main protagonists, Axe (Damian Lewis) and Chuck (Paul Giamatti), making it clear that whatever moral distinction there used to be between the rogue trader and the attorney general, they are both now morally compromised.
Last week’s show ended with Axe and Chuck in conference with Wendy (Maggie Siff) trying to work out a plan to avoid them all being sent to jail. This week, much to the men’s surprise, Wendy proposes a dubious idea which involves the framing of the almost blameless oncologist Dr Ari Gilbert (Seth Barrish), and persuading her colleague Mafee (Dan Soder) to lie (a talk which requires her to wield her sexuality). In the end, Axe takes a relaxing bath, but the dynamics have changed, with Wendy’s flexible morality promoting her to the role of a key player.
Billions began in the Obama years as a fight between right and wrong. As the drama evolves to mirror the Trump era, those distinctions have become very blurry.
Read the rest of the original article at Evening Standard
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Comments Off on Billions on Showtime, 3.07: Not You, Mr. Dake – May 9, 2018
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
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Comments Off on The Schneiderman Allegations Make the TV Show Billions Look a Lot More Like Real Life – May 9, 2018
by Eve MacSweeney | Vogue | May 9, 2018
One of the credibility stretching conceits of the Showtime drama Billions is that one of its lead characters, a high-ranking government lawyer played by Paul Giamatti, is a hard-core sexual masochist. We meet him in the pilot, bound, gagged, and hooded, cringing under the heel of a dominatrix. (That she turns out to be his wife is another of the rapid plot twists that keep the series’ heart pumping.)
With the accusations breaking this week of the physical abuse of four women by former New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, that high-concept premise is starting to look less contrived. Schneiderman is the alleged perpetrator, not the recipient, of violence in news accounts, but the disconnect common to both characters—the real and the fictional—is unsettling. Giamatti’s Chuck Rhoades, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, is so possessed by the desire to nail his nemesis, hedge-funder Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) that he is willing to sacrifice friends, family, ethics, and his own financial interest in its pursuit. This punitive zeal makes an ironic contrast with his sexual preference. Schneiderman’s apparent hypocrisy lies in his support of #MeToo, taking action against Harvey Weinstein, and, as a legislator, introducing specific laws against verbal threats and physical choking, two of the crimes of which he now stands accused.
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Comments Off on Photos & Videos: Next Time on Billions Episode 8 – May 7, 2018
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | May 7, 2018
On the next episode of Billions, Axe tries for a fresh start at Axe Capital. Chuck asserts his political autonomy—and wrestles with whether to honor his word to a friend. Taylor asks for more independence at Axe Capital. Lara and Axe negotiate a new arrangement regarding Lara’s money. Connerty adjusts to an uncomfortable situation.
Source: Showtime
To view more sneak peek photos, please visit our Gallery
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Comments Off on Billions Superlatives: Best, Worst, Most from S3E7 – May 7, 2018
by Miles Surrey | The Ringer | May 7, 2018
Source: Showtime
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.
Continue reading Billions Superlatives: Best, Worst, Most from S3E7 – May 7, 2018
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by Dana Feldman | Forbes | May 7, 2018
Source: Showtime
The third season of Showtime’s No. 2 drama series Billions is on fire! In the latest episode “Not You, Mr. Dake” the circumstances of our favorite characters have drastically shifted. One dictum clearly played out: Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
Maggie Siff (Wendy) discusses the show, her role and clarifies a misperception from last week’s episode “The Third Ortolan.” It was reported (not here) that Wendy set up the meeting with Axe (Damian Lewis) and Chuck (Paul Giamatti) knowing Chuck’s plans to plant the slide at Axe’s penthouse. Siff confirms this is not true. “Wendy has the revelation that the only way any of them can survive is to put their heads together collectively. She trusts that they can find a way together. There’s absolutely no way Wendy would’ve known Chuck had that slide. When he presents it, you can see looks of surprise around the table.”
There Are Clear Winners And Losers In This Episode:
Continue reading Billions Season 3, Episode 7 Recap: Forbes – May 7, 2018
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by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | May 7, 2018
Source: Showtime
Well, we all knew they would get out of this, didn’t we? Yet, Billions has once again kept us at the edge of our seats while finding out HOW. And this is what I love the most about this show. The true thrill is not in what happens but in how it happens and I bow in front of the brilliant writers and actors for giving us yet another thrilling hour of TV where the holy triangle proves there is nothing that can stop them when they are out there to get what they want.
And, in this particular case, they want to make Wendy’s short disappear.
Continue reading Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 7: Not You, Mr. Dake – May 7, 2018