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Written By GingersnapComments Off on Behind the Billions Podcast S5E1 “The New Decas” – May 4, 2020
A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Season Premiere
by Brian Koppelman and David Levien | The Ringer | May 3, 2020
Following the season premiere, Koppelman and Levien discuss the show returning for its fifth season, what a showrunner really does, the importance of season openers, and Episode 1 of Season 5 of Billions, “The New Decas” (0:20), before talking to “The Man” Becky Lynch about her cameo in Episode 1 (32:20).
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Game’s Not Over, Buddy Boy
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | May 4, 2020
Take a look at what’s to come this season on Billions. Starring Damian Lewis and Paul Giamatti. Watch new episodes of Billions on Sundays at 9/8c on SHOWTIME.
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Written By GingersnapComments Off on VIDEO: Billions Showrunners Break Down the Season 5 Premiere and What’s to Come – May 4, 2020
Variety After Show
by Staff and Cynthia Littleton | Variety | May 3, 2020
Can the group of hardcore characters who fuel the “Billions” universe overcome their baser instincts to find success and happiness? These are the broad themes of the fifth season of “Billions,” Showtime’s twisty-turny drama series set against the backdrop of New York’s investment and high-finance community.
Brian Koppelman and David Levien, series co-creators and showrunners, join the Variety After Show, presented by National Geographic, to break down the season premiere and offer some insights about the rest of the season ahead. The opener, “The New Decas,” was penned by Koppelman and Levien and directed by Matthew McLoota.
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Season 5, Episode 2: “The Chris Rock Test”
by Gingersnap | damian-lewis.com | May 3, 2020
Axe chases a play at Mike Prince’s conference. Chuck wrestles with his demons and chooses a new path. Wendy takes the lead as Axe Cap faces a threat. Taylor confronts a figure from their past. Episode airs on Sunday, May 10, 2020 on Showtime.
To view more sneak peek photos, please visit our Gallery here
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Chopping Heads
by Sean T. Collins | New York Times | May 3, 2020
Season 5, Episode 1: ‘The New Decas’
Move over, Bobby Axelrod: You’re not the only pugnacious redhead in Axe Cap’s hallowed halls anymore.
For a brief time during the wildly entertaining Season 5 premiere of “Billions,” the truculent employees of both Bobby’s company and its quasi-independent subsidiary Taylor Mason Capital unite to admire a surprise guest, the flame-haired Irish professional wrestler Becky Lynch, playing herself. (Well, technically it’s Rebecca Quin, playing the same character she plays as a professional wrestler. Wrestling is complicated like that.)
At the end of last season, Taylor Mason’s breakaway firm was brought back into the fold as part of an elaborate scheme — as if there were any other kind of scheme on this show — and tensions have been running high. After a staged fight with Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff, who one hopes will get more opportunities to beat people up on this show), Lynch tells the assembled traders about the importance of “doing the job,” of allowing oneself to be humbled in the interest of the greater good. In professional wrestling, someone needs to lose in order to maintain the illusion that what’s going is unscripted — without a loser, no one could ever win.
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We’re Back to Chuck vs. Axe in a Brutal Showdown
by Kyle Fowle | Entertainment Weekly | May 3, 2020
As everything changes, everything stays the same. The Rhoades family has been through a lot lately. Wendy and Chuck are still separated, and it’s looking like there’s no path to reconciliation. Chuck Sr. is on to another marriage, this time tying the knot with Roxane, the young woman we learned about late last season. Chuck Sr. is also a father again. That’s a lot of change, but at the same time things are staying the same: Chuck is still feuding with Axe, and Axe is still tremendously unhappy, even as his wealth continues to build.
Let’s start with Axe. He begins Billions season 5 premiere in the middle of the woods, somewhere in Alaska or perhaps Northern Canada. He’s on a trip with Wags; it’s a literal trip, as they’re puking and seeing beyond their reality while taking part in a sweat lodge ceremony. Wags talks about all the goodness in the world and Axe talks about being a king and owning everything in the world, one piece at a time. “That’s a lot of war to wage,” says Wags. It’s both terrifying and thrilling to them, and it sets the stage for this season, where once again Axe and Chuck will go head to head.
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Written By GingersnapComments Off on Billions Season 5 Episode 1 Recap: Vulture – May 3, 2020
Bad Company
by Sarene Leeds | Vulture | May 3, 2020
It feels like any new episodes of scripted television nowadays should come with a disclaimer. In the case of the Showtime drama Billions, I imagine it would read something like this: “What you’re about to see was written and shot before the American outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, the behavior of Billions’ main characters may come off as even more solipsistic than usual.” So if you’re gonna watch a show about the morally reprehensible activities of the uber-wealthy in what now looks like an alternate-dimension New York City, my advice is to leave reality at the door. Think of it as a reflection of recent, but not current, history. And the start of a debate over whether or not rage rooms will still be a thing post-pandemic.
Seven episodes of season five were filmed before the coronavirus forced a production shutdown. But if “The New Decas,” written by co-showrunners Brian Koppelman and David Levien is any indication, it’s still business as usual for the ruthless moneymakers and dubious justice warriors populating the Billions world.