Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 11: Kompenso

While I stand behind my words that Axe and Chuck have so much in common that they could be BFFs in another life, this episode finds them at opposite ends of the generosity scale. While Axe does not even want to hear the word accommodation when it comes to people helping him make money, Chuck goes out of his way to accommodate his old pal Ira.

The opening of Kompenso makes me smile and laugh for different reasons. It makes me smile because the opening song “Wicked Game” brings back sweet prom memories. It makes me laugh because it features Nusret Gokce, a Turkish chef and restaurateur, whose Instagram videos of slicing and salting steak went viral and made him an international star overnight! Nusret now owns several restaurants, including one in New York, called Nusr-Et because Et means meat in Turkish! And while his dramatic serving skills seem to turn Kate Sacker of all people on, Kate prefers to look at the eclipse through the cereal box when Chuck offers to order the Tomahawk and have Nusret perform at the table šŸ˜€ Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 11: Kompenso”

Billions on Showtime, 3.07: Not You, Mr. Dake

Billions, Season 3 Episode 7, ā€œNot You, Mr. Dakeā€, starts where the last episode ended. We find Bobby, Wendy and Chuck where we left them, holed up in Bobby’s digs, mappingĀ their next move. We see that dinner came and went while they were getting their stories straight.Ā  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, theĀ “nuanced shifts in loyalty” as our central three, who I borrowed Swift-ianĀ lyricsĀ to define asĀ the A-team, the endgame, the first string, in that Last Supper promo, have transformed into aĀ beautifulĀ “trifecta of chicanery.”

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Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 7: Not You, Mr. Dake

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”

Billions on Showtime, 3.06: The Third Ortolan

Like three delicately delicious birds, Wendy, Bobby, and Chuck are poised above the deep fryer in Billions Season 3, Episode 6, ‘The Third Ortolan.”

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Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 6: The Third Ortolan

Well, I said it time and again that it is only Wendyā€™s short that could force Axe and Chuck to take a break from their pissing contest and get themselves and the woman they both care about deeply out of the huge mess called Ice Juice. And the first half of the season has seamlessly built to this climactic episode which I believe is the BEST hour of television in a while, at least since we had Golden Frog Time!

Well, Dollar Bill is not alone in carrying bags full of money for business. We now find Chuck, the US attorney of the SDNY, paying $50K to a man who will plant the slide in Axe’s medicine cabinet while he is away at Art Basel in a few weeks. Axe and Chuck have so much in common they seriously could have been BFFs in another life. For one, they both know how to deal with vulnerable immigrants! Like Axe ended an American dream by having Maria Gonzalez deported to Guatemala in Episode 2: Wrong Maria Gonzalez,Ā  Chuck is now creating an American Dream by promising Mr. Adubo $50K more as well as U.S. visas for his family in Congo once he completes the job. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 6: The Third Ortolan”