Billions: Fly Away, Fly Away!

This blog has been a long time coming. Damianista and JaniaJania have been wishing to see it up for a long time . I wanted to wait until I had seen all 12 episodes before posting.

We had devoured all the early promos for the show and have been blogging about Billions for over  a year. We attempted to get a feel for the characters as early as we could and this helped immensely as we discussed what we thought about Bobby and Wendy. Even early on, it was clear those two had a connection. After Naming Rights, we were having one of our discussions and I mentioned that I thought there was some Peter Pan in Bobby and Wendy. I was encouraged to investigate this further as Jania Jania said “Peter Pan is an archetype now…the boy who doesn’t want to grow up.” Investigate I have and there is a fair bit of Peter in Bobby. I am not saying this was intentional on the writer’s part, but that I had fun digging through the book looking for it. .

Quotes from Peter Pan by J M Barrie are in italics. The other quotes not in italics are from Billions.

Bobby and Dr Mojo/Peter & Wendy with sprinkles of lost boys and Tink

Bobby even has his own Wendy, (hereinafter referred to as “Dr Mojo”) and he has built his house around her.

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

“She knew of no Peter, and yet he was here and there in John and Michael’s minds, while Wendy’s began to be scrawled all over with him. The name stood out in bold letter than any of the other words and as Mrs Darling gazed she felt that it had an oddly cocky appearance.”

Dr Mojo’s mind seems to be scrawled all over with Bobby Axelrod and Bobby Axelrod is quite as cocky as Peter Pan. Dr Mojo knows what Bobby is, but she stays by his side for a very long time. She forgives his transgressions and mistakes.

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Billions on Showtime, Episode 12: The Conversation

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

May I just say I will miss Sunday nights so much? Here’s my typical Billions Sunday: Watch at 10pm and live tweet. Take notes. Watch for a second time at 11pm. Take more notes. Sit down at midnight and start to write. Go to bed as the sun rises. It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Sitting down to write for hours as if the world is waiting for my recap to be published… But it is not that. It is the thrill. I just LOVE the ride. Billions is such a pleasant puzzle to think about and write on. Standing Ovation for all brilliant minds behind and in front of the camera for the last 12 weeks! And special thanks go to my husband for bearing with me for the last couple of months and letting me sleep until noon on Mondays.

Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 12: The Conversation”

Catching up with Axe & Wags on
Billions Season 1 Finale Set

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

Time flies! Can you believe it’s our last rendezvous with Axe & Co, fortunately only for a while, in a couple of days? I just can’t.

Bad news: We will have serious withdrawals.

Good news: We can always go back to Billions Season 1 and watch it. Again. And again. And again.

Better news: They are starting to shoot Season 2 later this year.

Best news: We will have Billions Season 2 coming our way sometime next year.

So the season may be coming to an end, but we still have so much to say about it. For starters, we are currently working on a FUN Best of Billions post that we will publish as soon as the season is over. One of the categories we have to take our pick in is Best Chemistry. And I just can’t help reveal my vote here today: In my humble opinion, Axe and Wags have the most brilliant chemistry on screen and, believe me, off screen, too!

Continue reading “Catching up with Axe & Wags on Billions Season 1 Finale Set”

The Many Faces of Damian Lewis: Part 2

Sometimes an actor will find themselves type-cast, and the reasons for this can vary greatly. It can be the fault of a narrow-minded industry, a lazy agent, an iconic role that they find impossible to be divorced from, or simply from the actor’s own lack of range.

damian173
We are all lucky to be fans of a man who has not experienced this. Damian has had the pleasure of embodying many different types of men. And while so many of these characters have some sort of overlap(just how many times has he put on a military uniform now??), he has used his incredible skill set to create a different, iconic character in each role. Specifically, I want to talk about how he uses his body language to create believable characters that resonate. Continue reading “The Many Faces of Damian Lewis: Part 2”

Billions on Showtime, Episode 11: Magical Thinking

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

Well, night is young and magical for some and not so much for others in Billions Episode 11 Magical Thinking. 

Mafee sends in Wags to ask for permission to talk to Axe about BioLance that will make a special announcement in nine minutes about whether the FDA is giving approval for their diabetes type II drug. All the research points to the approval being a coin flip and Mafee, who usually sleeps like a bear, is losing sleep on it. He can pare their position right now just before the announcement and they can still make 10%. But they will lose 400 million should the FDA deny approval. Axe is not having any of it. 10% could be good for a benchmark fund which Axe Capital is NOT. They are already in BioLance where the win is. He fires Mafee on the spot. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 11: Magical Thinking”