Tag: jason isbell

Billions on Showtime, Season 5 Episode 8: Copenhagen

And just like that – THEY ARE BACK!

Episode 8 picks up soon after Axe decides to go to war with Mike Prince. It sets the tone for the rest of the season, and  is packed with Billions-y twists and turns, wonderful cameos, and some serious punches in the face!

So what is Mike ‘Thomas Aquinas’ Prince doing, in full costume, rehearsing  lines before the mirror??? Look at his face, he can not have enough of himself in the mirror with that ridiculous hat… Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 5 Episode 8: Copenhagen”

Top Billions Songs: Damianista’s
“Running” Playlist

Firstly, I identify a lot of things in my life with music. Almost every piece of music I love reminds me of some moment in my life, particularly good ones. And I associate my memories with music so much so that I believe we all should have a life soundtrack!

So when I hear a particular song from Billions soundtrack, I associate the song with the particular Billions scene it plays in. And every time I listen to the song, I re-live the scene as if I am watching the show again. So it is no surprise that most of the songs in my Billions playlist accompany some of my favorite scenes in my favorite show. Continue reading “Top Billions Songs: Damianista’s “Running” Playlist”

Billions Season 2 Music

We know how important music is the world of Billions. Showrunner Brian Koppelman recently said on his podcast The Moment that he writes to music. He shared that he wrote the penultimate episode of Season 2, “Golden Frog Time” with Tom Petty’s “Even the Losers” as inspiration and that song played during the writing of the show as well as within the show itself. When the question arose to whether they’d get the rights to use the song in the episode, Koppelman insisted that without the song there’d be no episode, literally and metaphorically. Thankfully they did get that song and many more memorable cuts for Season 2.

In a wee bite of a taste of what to expect in Season 3, we learned that “Born in San Antone” by Garrett T. Capps will open the first episode. Here’s some of his Lou Reed-ish styling here:

Just occurred to me and I had to go and listen and check to make sure they indeed haven’t used this song in either S1 or S2: LCD Soundsystem’s “North American Scum” totally brings up the ethos of the Billions world. Again, not one from the show as we know it, but certainly one metaphorically connected, at least in this viewer’s head.

In the spirit of getting geared up for another season of rich musical accompaniment to this show, let’s revisit Season 2’s playlist. Enjoy!

Continue reading “Billions Season 2 Music”

Music of Billions Season 2 – Repost

Compared to Season 1, this season of Billions, for whatever reason, used a bit less music, fewer seminal tracks to accompany its richly crafted scenes. Music was still important this season, but somewhat less so than last. In my review of last year’s music, you’ll count 36 tracks. Here, the major songs in all episodes amounted to 20. Interesting revelation from this exercise is that they seem to follow a certain pattern in genres from one season to the next. That is to say, the aural landscape of this season seemed to contain the same proportion of arena metal, 70’s funk, contemporary alternative, live ballad, perennial classics, and lovely alt-country. All the tracks they chose, regardless of number, hit all the marks.

Let’s follow along with Season 2’s playlist, shall we?

Continue reading “Music of Billions Season 2 – Repost”

Billions FanFic: Rubble

Always such touchy business posting fanfic. Folks more versed in the fanfic world always give such effusive disclaimers, it’s almost like an admission of guilt somehow. Guilty because somebody else’s work inspired them so much that they had to write their own? You’d think such a thing would be the highest form of praise. Anyway, all those standard disclaimers apply here as well. I love these characters a lot, but I own them not one bit. And, if it needs to be said, I earn absolutely nothing from this blog for anything I write. Nothing but readers, which to any writer really, are the real gold (albeit actual real gold is quite useful too, don’t get me wrong :)).

Here’s an expanded version of the Billions fanfic I wrote before Season 2 began. Setting remains a flashback to the time around 9/11, possibly a couple days, or maybe a week, after it happened. In this version, it’s more of an imagined bookend to the end of this year’s fantastic season. Also, I should add, I’ve written this only because, I think, it is decidedly NOT something that’s going to happen on the show. I wrote it because someone had to go there. I figured, why not me. Enjoy!

Continue reading “Billions FanFic: Rubble”