From the Trader’s Desk: We Sold Our Souls, Recapping Billions S3 E7 “Not You, Mr. Dake”

You’re searching for your mind don’t know where to start
Can’t find the key to fit the lock on your heart
You think you know but you are never quite sure
Your soul is ill but you will not find a cure yeah

Your world was made for you by someone above
But you chose evil ways instead of love
You made me master of the world where you exist
The soul I took from you was not even missed yeah

Lord of this World –  Black Sabbath

It seems this episode has a lot of lost souls – will they be missed? Characters we thought we knew dive even further into the abyss. For some, its par for the course; for others (at least in my opinion) it’s a bit of a shock. In the world of “Billions” if you’re not part of the Triumvirate, you are not seen as anything but usable. Even though our trio weasels their way out of their mess, it seems like a Pyrrhic Victory.

Nobody knows what they are capable of doing in a stressful situation. We all say we won’t cross an imaginary “line”, but when faced with jail, the loss of your freedom, and the pain that would inflict on your family, your “line” can and will move. Continue reading “From the Trader’s Desk: We Sold Our Souls, Recapping Billions S3 E7 “Not You, Mr. Dake””

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

Billions, Season 3 Episode 7, “Not You, Mr. Dake”, starts where the last episode ended. We find Bobby, Wendy and Chuck where we left them, holed up in Bobby’s digs, mapping their next move. We see that dinner came and went while they were getting their stories straight.  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, the “nuanced shifts in loyalty” as our central three, who I borrowed Swift-ian lyrics to define as the A-team, the endgame, the first string, in that Last Supper promo, have transformed into a beautiful “trifecta of chicanery.”

Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, 3.07: Not You, Mr. Dake”

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”

From the Trader’s Desk: 2 for 1 Special – Your Questions & Wendy’s Personal Kobayashi Maru

After a brief hiatus, Lady Trader is back to answer some questions about “A Flaw in the Death Star” and my take on “The Third Ortolan”.

I received some questions regarding “A Flaw in the Death Star”: Dollar Bill’s trade, why Axe Capital would hire someone like Ari Spyros, Taylor’s meaning of “ETFs have sucked all the dumb money out of the market that hedgies used to prey on”, and last but not least, the biggest question of the season so far: Why did Axe Capital move to NY?

In “A Flaw in the Death Star” we see Dollar Bill plan to short a pharmaceutical company, Mendham. He has paid off one of the employees to blow the whistle on the animal cruelty that is going on there. A simple short for Dollar Bill and a crap load of money for Axe Capital. But, Dollar Bill has come up against something he can’t throw a duffel bag of cash at – Head of Compliance, Porsche driving, cappuccino making (and I’m guessing its cappuccino since I don’t drink coffee), and all around boorish , Ari Spyros. Continue reading “From the Trader’s Desk: 2 for 1 Special – Your Questions & Wendy’s Personal Kobayashi Maru”

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

Well, I said it time and again that it is only Wendy’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,  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”