Billions: Half-Time Valuation Report

While Billions took a day off this Sunday, we stayed busy thinking about the highlights of the season so far. And here’s a Half-Time visit to all the things about this series that have made it a highlight of the cable TV this year so far.

JaniaJania:

When the Billions pilot first aired, I bemoaned the literalness of it all. The literal dick-wagging and pissing contests. Men literally horrified and driven to impulsive action by dogs getting fixed. But, even then when I called out the literal, the in-your-face straighforwardness of it all, I did not mean to imply that the show is simplistic or the writing patently obvious. Now, half-way through the season, I need to hammer home that fact: NOTHING about this show is obvious or easy. We’ve gotten more layers with every episode, more alternative readings of character motivations. We’ve had plot twists, but more interesting are the riveting psychological twists giving us new glimpses into what is driving these people to do what they do.

As Damian Lewis fans, we’re floored by all the ways Bobby Axelrod isn’t Damian Lewis, nor is he Nicholas Brody, Dick Winters, or any other character Damian has ever played. Yet, of course, he’s an amalgam of all of them, developed by the script and by Damian into a brand new man we’ve never seen before. We learn how Bobby Axelrod has a bone to grind with every trust fund baby who crosses his path. He has an attachment to a neighborhood, and older way of doing things, an old school wife with old school ride-or-die tattoos and some yet to be revealed and not easily guessed secrets surrounding an event that happened near the turn of the century, an event in which the world he knew burned, and, apparently (we don’t know yet!), he had to rise from the ashes by whatever means necessary. He remembers hunger and is determined to never experience it again, which, in turn, has made him all the more hungry. What he is, what he does, and what he stands for, doesn’t know the meaning of the word “enough.”

Just when I think I’ve said all I can say about Damian’s skills as an actor, he gives us something else to think about. Never seem to be able to say “enough” with this guy!

Now, I’m not a student of acting. Stanislavski and Method are words I’ve heard, but haven’t the foggiest what they mean. My only experience of acting was one single five minute skit speaking the part of Juliet in ninth grade. It was just one scene from Romeo and Juliet when Juliet’s parents are railing at her about marrying Paris and she’s hiding behind the Nurse. The thing I remember the most from that experience is that my mom found a great gown for me to wear while my classmate playing the Nurse wore her candy striper nurse’s uniform with the starched white cap (we were all too kind to tell her: no sweetie, she wasn’t THAT kind of nurse) Being a science track memorizer, I knew everyone else’s lines, and, especially remember having to cue my friend who played Juliet’s father. She loved me for having her back throughout the scene. It was fun and nerve-racking and exhilarating to step into someone else for five minutes, especially Juliet, and I never got the chance to do it again, although I probably would have liked to.

That entire five minutes of me “acting” was entirely lived in my head. I knew my lines, I knew the blocking (because I’d done it myself!) and I knew everyone else’s lines. What makes what I did quite different from REAL acting is that an actor who’s worth his salt does not stay inside his head when he’s performing.

In Damian we don’t see a self-conscious iterative defining of the character going on in every scene. There’s no voice in his head questioning his every move: “What am I saying? What am I supposed to be saying? How am I saying it? How do I look right now as I’m saying this stuff?” No, instead of that internal dialogue, that pedantic voice watching him watch himself and schooling him about his craft, as he’s engaged in it, Damian is IN the scene, he is living the scene. Such a mind-blowing difference between being inside one’s head vs being inside the scene. And it’s the difference that separates the wheat from the chaff as far as actors go.

An actor inside the scene, cell for cell, has already got a handle on the What, How and even the Why of the scene. He’s asked questions of the directors, he’s done his own research, he’s wondered and cogitated and prepared, gone over the “inside the head” bits as much as he possibly can already. By the time he’s shooting a final scene, he’s pulled all of those “inside the head” bits even deeper inside himself, such that he need not even think about them anymore because they’ve already become a part of him. Hair and makeup can take care of what he looks like, he trusts them to do their job. And he trusts his scene partner. There is no need to think at all, just BE. The only thoughts, if any, are “I’m here in this moment, opposite this other person, with these objects between us sharing this space, and I am ON and fully engaged.”

Let’s go back to the scene on the Axelrod back porch with rain in the background, wine on the table and Bobby and Lara talking about this deal that he may or may not take. Do you see how his glance moves at the pouring of the wine? I will bet that’s not something that was written into the script or direction: Bobby follows the pour of the wine with his eyes. Why would it be? It’s such a small thing and I’m like probably the one person who even noticed it. But, to me, Damian following the wine as Lara pours it tells me that in that moment he is THERE. He is engaged in even the most minute and inconsequential of the actions of the scene. And THAT has made all the difference!

TBkWrm:

This show is about the players, leverage and belief. What happens when it is not only the enemy that challenges the beliefs of a player with their actions, but your boss with his?

What if the win or lose/lose (if you prefer) for Team Axe is currently sitting on Team Chuck?

When I indicated I was going to concentrate on the growth of Bryan Connerty and not Axe/Damian (there will be/is plenty of time to gush over him), Damianista said “You’re going to the dark side.”  I assured her that I believe Bryan is coming to us.

Half-time Growth Valuation – Bryan Connerty

Best line from Bryan – “What the fuck does that mean?”

Open

Bryan Connerty is the Assistant US Attorney. He is just, true and strong in his beliefs.

Bryan appears to have a good and respectful working relationship with Chuck, but not a personal one.

When word of Axe buying a $63million beach house reaches Team Chuck’s ears, Bryan goes off to dig around Axe’s lawyer. It turns out he was Bryan’s professor at law school.

As he enters the barber’s where Orrin Bach (Axe’s lawyer) is having his hair cut, he asks Orrin “So this is how a man with no conscience spends his time?”

Orrin retorts “It is how a grown up does.”

This sums up not only their interactions going forward, but Bryan himself. Bryan is still a child in comparison to Orrin. He is noble, but naïve. Bryan is sure of himself, of his cause and absolutely certain that he won’t defect to the defence.

High

In episode 3, when they go to pick up Decker the first time, Bryan does not wish to make the arrest in front of his kids.

When Kate advises that Decker takes care of his parents’ finances and they are therefore caught up in the Pepsum Trade, Chuck decides to threaten Decker with his parents’ freedom and reputation. Bryan is visibly uncomfortable with this method.

In episode 6, being handed the reigns of the case against Axe as Chuck recuses himself.

Low

Bryan perfects the look of being thoroughly disgusted for most of episode 4 while listening to Pete Decker flip on Axe. It is the fact that the language Pete uses practically hails Axe as a deity to be worshiped that sickens Bryan. I am counting this as a low because Bryan makes himself too easy to read. Something which Orrin Bach is happy to take advantage of. Bryan allows himself to be goaded easily by Orrin in episode 6, gives away the fact that they don’t have anything on Axe and that he is struggling with how potentially dirty this could get. Orrin subtly referred to Bryan as a child in the Pilot and he really had it right.

In episode 6, realising Chuck will still be ‘unofficially’ yanking the strings on the Axe case.

Close

The seeds are sown for Bryan in episode 5. He is having money issues and shows his pride by refusing Kate’s help.

He starts to question Chuck by bringing up the conflict of interest issue a couple of times and is not happy when Chuck accompanies him to Iowa.

He seems to project on to Kate. They discuss her brilliance and he, with respect for her, comments how it is likely she will end up defecting to the defence. It seems to me that Bryan is concerned about thoughts that have perhaps started to take root in his mind about his own future.

In episode 6, Bryan struggles to hide his disgust at Orrin’s tactics in Bill Stearn’s defence. However, it is undoubtedly Bill’s instructions to Orrin to tell Chuck and Bryan that he “Does not recognise your authority” that sees Bryan start to unravel.

Bryan becomes upset when he thinks that Chuck is holding back on Axe and he does not want Axe to walk away like Birch did. Chuck assures him that is not going to happen.

Just as Bryan thinks matters are looking up reality bitch slaps him in the face. He discovers that Bill has two families and is delighted because they can use that to flip him. There is one problem with that…Bill has no intention of flipping.

Bryan has another discussion with Orrin in the mens’ toilet and Bryan’s exasperation for Bill’s loyalty to Axe is clear.

It gets worse for Bryan as it becomes clear Chuck is now willing to make a deal with Axe. He is angry. “I didn’t come here and sacrifice real money to let these guys write their own get out of jail free cards.”

There is brief respite for he has the biggest smile in the room as “the deal” disintegrates. Chuck officially recuses himself and Bryan is now in charge of the case against Axe. When talking to Chuck he uses words/phrases like “Always”, “I’m all in” and “You can count on me”. How quickly that can dissipate. Chuck advises Bryan he is to be kept in the loop about what Bryan is doing. There can be no trail back to Chuck.

Adjusted Close

This realisation about Chuck still being unofficially on the Axe case poses two problems for Bryan (1) he is possibly not trusted to handle the case himself; and/or (2) Chuck’s methods are all wrong. “Whatever it takes” sounds far too much like something someone like Axe would say.

Behaviour that crosses the line from Axe may rankle, irritate and make Bryan irate, but it is expected. Behaviour that crosses the line from Chuck shifts the ground beneath Bryan’s feet and threatens his beliefs more than Axe ever could.

He handed Bryan a lesson or two, but Orrin Bach sees something in Bryan and it is clear he would happily take Bryan on his team. “For true believers like you, it is the worst because you never see it coming.”

Bryan is now a very important player. What and how much is he willing to compromise? Regardless of whether or not he stays on the prosecution or defects, he is going to have to get comfortable with compromising.

If he feels the strength of the law and his ability to serve justice is compromised might Bryan feel he can take the money now?

The defence is calling…

Damianista:

“You know, Mr. Bernstein, if I hadn’t been very rich, I might have been a really great man.” — Charles Foster Kane, Citizen Kane

Rodin’s Thinker is a good representation of my Billions state of mind. Why did Axe do this? Why did he say that? Why did he do it like this but not like that? Yes, I am trying to get into this man’s mind, or in other words, sneak into the writers’ room where some brilliant minds create this fictional mind I am obsessed about! And, this Billions-less weekend, as much as I can’t wait for more, presents a unique opportunity to collect my thoughts and give a half-time report on who Axe is; in particular, what drives him.

Axe knows he is playing a zero-sum game. He is there to kill and eat. And not be eaten: “It’s a crush the other guy business” and one needs to be vigilant at all times. As Decker tells Chuck: “To be Bobby Axelrod is to keep so much in your head, just to keep it from blowing up your brain takes Benedictine-monk-like discipline.”

Short Squeeze is a superb example of how costly it is to be Bobby Axelrod. There is always someone trying to fuck him that Axe just CANNOT unplug.

The way he looks out of the plane window — Damian blows me away — on the flight back from the Metallica concert attests to the HIGH price he has been paying to keep it altogether. As he smiles at his contractor friend who had the time of his life at the concert and is now going back to his “eat/move/shit/repeat” (read “normal”) life; Axe, for a split second, may really be thinking of another life that he could be living…

Axe has much more than he will ever need. Why is he still pushing so hard to be on top?

I believe, at least, part of the answer lays somewhere in Yonkers, in that paperboy, in that golf caddy, in young and ambitious Bobby, in that backstory, that we have only heard bits and pieces of. It is not hard to imagine the journey from being nobody to being somebody has been a strange and steep one dotted with roadblocks thanks to his modest background. Wendy says: “Axe came from nothing. So he unconsciously fears, no, he may even expect, that he’ll have nothing again.”

So even though he is today, in Pete Decker’s words, “like a nation state” with his own constitution, his own rules and his own game; Axe is still carrying deep inside THAT boy who came from nothing and who probably vowed long ago he would never forget but also never go back to where he came from.

And Naming Rights does not only give us the boy settling an old score with Eads Family but also gives us the man still seeking to cement his place in society. Axe slaps his name onto a glorious building to be part of the firmament.

And this is not about money. This is about power. Billions tagline says it all: Power is the ultimate currency. It’s power that makes you and keeps you as somebody. It is his power, his influence on the game that makes Axe the king that he is. Revered. Respected. Envied. Axe knows, without power, he will not be any of that.

And this could be Axe’s biggest fear that ultimately drives him: He is addicted to the game. Every win feeds the addiction. He wants to win more. Bigger wins mean bigger risks. Bigger risks bring more fear that makes him more alert than ever. He just cannot stop playing the game.

The whole thing seems to be a vicious circle, doesn’t it? But Axe seems to LOVE this circle. The Good Life is a testament to this man living and breathing this circle. He loves to play big and win. He does what Lady Trader calls “pure insider trading” in his telecom play. Why? Not just for the fuck of it but to feel the sweet adrenaline pumping in his veins. What drives Axe does not understand enough. Axe arriving at Axe Capital after his telecom game plays out is proof to that: With a sly look, arrogant eyes, and overconfident pride in his swagger, Damian is making hubris look like a greek god. Perfect.

This is Axe’s GOOD LIFE. And he will never let anyone “fix” it.

We have seen time and again even the slightest possibility of getting “fixed” makes Axe take actions that may come back to haunt him later. In The Pilot he decides to pass on the beach mansion after a conversation with Wendy. But a call from Wags saying some “son of a bitch” is making an offer on the mansion tickles him… so much so that he goes ahead with the purchase at the cost of unleashing the hounds!

The Deal brings back the man who fights back against the unleashed hounds now working hard to “fix” him. Axe does his battle cry to mobilize the “troops.” He does not want “getting on bended knee and pledge fealty to the king.” He sees turning his company into a family office as a humiliation, as being “dead to the world” and probably to himself, too. Axe no more. He agrees to the deal only to do the right thing for all people that have been with him all the way. But, no, he ultimately cannot let Chuck “fix” him like a vet fixing Elmo. Axe leaves the room with no deal but as himself. He feels ALIVE as he drives his Rolls Royce (Bentley) passing everyone left and right on the highway. The signature smug that was nowhere to be seen in this episode is back! Bobby “Axe” Axelrod has not let the US attorney “fix” him. He will now play his own game and I hope he does not try flying “too close to the sun” like Icarus.