Category: TV/Film Projects

The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 4 Episode 3

Welcome back to our ‘Billions MVP Fanbook,’ a compilation post commemorating all those in honor of achievement for the utmost brazen, uber shameless, ultra scheming, unmatched bad asses to date – from sports references, music, and tasty food to pop culture remarks, shocking twists and ultimate paybacks.

In case you missed our previous awards, here is season four episode one and episode two. Now, let us continue with that tradition as we award our Most Valuable Players (MVPs) this week.

Here are our Billions awards for Season 4, Episode 3, “Chickentown.”

Continue reading “The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 4 Episode 3”

Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 3: Chickentown

A migraine. An algorithm. A blossoming friendship. And lots of chickens! Billions gives us a fun episode in which Axe and Chuck fight at multiple fronts and end up in Chuck’s office drinking to their friendship of a sort 😀

Chuck’s day starts with a migraine and gets downhill from there.

Chuck Senior calls from Kingsford to tell his son it is time for Pericles, ahem, Chuck, to stroll the Parthenon, ahem, the casino built on Senior’s land.  They are having the grand opening with fanfare and two important union leaders with 400K potential votes for Chuck in attendance. Chuck has to show up with Wendy, smile, shake hands and seal the deal. And when Chuck resists:

Senior: “Do you think JFK complained when Ol’ Papa Joe sat him down with steel workers?”

Junior: “You’re delivering Schenectady, dad. Not Ohio.”

Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 3: Chickentown”

From the Trader’s Desk: Runnin’ with The Devil – Billions S4 E2

I live my life like there’s no tomorrow
And all I’ve got, I had to steal
Least I don’t need to beg or borrow
Yes I’m livin’ at a pace that kills
Runnin’ With the Devil – Van Halen

Greetings from the Trader’s Desk! I’m going to do things a bit different today. Instead of doing an in-depth recap (my partner in crime Damianista has done an amazing one), I’ll be giving my observations of the various relationships we saw this week. Also, on a good news front, I’ll be having surgery to remove my chemo port this week, and I’ll be on the disabled list for a day or so, so this will have to be a bit condensed. As always, if there is some “fin-speak” you need explained, please let me know!

I want to start with an explanation of what Private Equity is, since it was a big part of the Axe/Rebecca storyline. Private equity is composed of funds and investors that directly invest in private companies. For example, if a firm or an individual invested in Uber (a private company) they will have gotten in early, before the company goes public and IPOs. These investors now have a percentage (or shares) in the company. When the company does go public, the investment could have increased significantly, and now the shares can be sold publicly. Investing in private equity is not a guarantee – sometimes you need to kiss a lot of frogs before you get your Prince! Continue reading “From the Trader’s Desk: Runnin’ with The Devil – Billions S4 E2”

Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 2: Arousal Template

Billions creator and show runner Brian Koppelman tweeted earlier today that the first two episodes in Season 4 are the warm up. Well, if this is the warm up, I cannot imagine how crazy the best stuff will get!

Now that he has decided to put out the fire not by pouring water on it but by sucking oxygen out of the room, Axe is busy cutting off the credit lines to Taylor Mason Capital (TMC). We find him with Wags at an ambitious robotics raise by Patriot-Trust Bank where they claim the product has the brains of Will Hunting and strength of Artis Gilmore during his American Basketball Association days. The robot company is looking for five investors to put in $100M in this round that includes anti-dilution rights.

Enters Rebecca Cantu, a venture capitalist. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 2: Arousal Template”

Keep Yourself Alive – Billions S4 E1 “Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game”

Keep yourself alive
Keep yourself alive
It’ll take you all your time and money
Honey you’ll survive
Keep Yourself Alive – Queen

Happy Friday from the Trader’s Desk! Are you ready for some Billions? Yeah, me too. Let’s get down to it, shall we?

Before we get into the Axe/Taylor storyline, I’d like to say that I truly enjoyed Chuck’s! It was fun, and so New York. Not just the different restaurants, but the type of horse-trading Chuck does is typical high-power moves New Yorkers do all the time!

Last season, I started many of my posts with lyrics from songs that I thought were appropriate for the episode. That tradition continues with a Queen song, “Keep Yourself Alive”. It seemed like everyone this episode was doing “whatever it takes” to keep themselves alive, whether it be their political career or being the big dog of the hedge fund world. And oh, what lengths they will go!

We open with a flash-forward of 27 hours: Wags doing what Wags does best – partying. The debauchery is Wagner level, until Wags gets drugged and thrown into a closet. How did we get here? Continue reading “Keep Yourself Alive – Billions S4 E1 “Chucky Rhoades’s Greatest Game””