musings about the actor and the characters he brings to life
Author: Damianista
Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history!
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”
We have had our “educated” speculation last couple of weeks and we now have it all out in Episode 10 Quality of Life: Axe has known Donnie was sick. He sees something is seriously wrong with him in the meeting where Donnie does not see the matrix and follows him to the men’s room.
“Cancer.” “Yeah.” “Shit.” “Pancreatic.” “Shit.” I would probably say “Double scoop of shit” Wags-style. Axe will make sure Donnie sees the top oncologist in the country. He should put himself together and see Axe by the end of the day.
We learn Donnie was closeted until he met Walter. He feels guilty about his wife so gives her all he has and starts back at zero with a plan to make the money his kids would need for a comfortable future in 10 years. Alas, life intervenes. He wants his kids to live a comfortable life. Axe offers “rewards of paradise” on earth: 40 million dollars pre-tax. But there is a downside. His last months will not be his own. Donnie is in unless he is going to jail. Axe assures him lawyers will take care of that part. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 10: Quality of Life”
Happy World Theater Day! Let’s celebrate this beautiful day dedicated to the wonderful art form that is theater with a little walk down the memory lane to live and re-live bits and pieces of Damian Lewis’ brilliant stage career!
Damian discovers theater at a young age at Ashdown House, the boarding school he went at age eight: “Each summer we staged a Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta. It was all so English. I used to sing the solos. I had a sweet treble voice.” His first ever role was a policeman The Pirates of Penzance, a Gilbert and Sullivan. And, by age 12, he had already played in 12 Gilbert and Sullivan Operettas.
Damianista’s note: I wrote this post after watching The Pilot. And I have now updated it with all the new information we have got in the last two weeks. Are things as black and white as they seem… or are they gray? You decide. I just want to applaud the show creators for making us think about such a sensitive topic, and think about it hard.
Billions is first and foremost a New York show. And there is nothing more natural than the darkest day of the city, September 11, still shadowing the lives and relationships of our characters even after 15 years. Obviously the darkest day in the history of the nation, September 11 is also a very dark day for financial services firms many of which had offices in the World Trade Center. I remember Cantor Fitzgerald losing two thirds of its workforce on 9/11.
source: spoilertv.com
One of the first things we learn about Axe in Billions is he is a 9/11 survivor. He is, in fact, the only partner that survived the terrorist attacks because he was out of office on meetings while most of his colleagues and friends died. And seeing that Axe Capital is now located in Westport, Connecticut, we also learn Axe Capital is among the financial houses that chose to move from Wall Street to neighboring Connecticut or New Jersey after the destruction of downtown NYC on 9/11.
We then find Axe in a conference room at Axe Capital with the widows and kids of those friends that died on 9/11. Axe has been giving college scholarships to these kids for years. He has been keeping it private that there has never been a press release or an interview with him about it. It is, in fact, a reason for him to leave an interview.
“Sometimes I don’t know where
This dirty road is taking me
Sometimes I can’t even see the reason why
I guess I keep a-gamblin’
Lots of booze and lots of ramblin’
It’s easier than just waitin’ around to die.”
Because you feel it.
It was certainly an aha moment to see Donnie frantically hiding his pills during the FBI raid in his house in Episode 8. I have been uneasy since Axe rewarded him for his loyalty: tripling his stack and giving him 200K shares of Rubinex despite the fact that the guy was not able to deliver! But the pills last week and Wendy noticing his weight loss this week and… I knew… Donnie is seriously sick. And this makes a few other things make sense for me. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 9: Where the **** is Donnie?”
