Billions on Showtime, Season 7 Episode 5: The Gulag Archipelago

The Gulag Archipelago, mentioned by Victor and that titles the episode, is a book written by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. I never read it but I am familiar with the author thanks to my Russian literature loving parents’ home library. Solzhenitsyn wrote to help raise global awareness about the political repression in the USSR. This particular book tells the story of a zek (a Gulag inmate) from his arrest to the show trial to being sent to a Gulag (labor camp in Siberia) to reflect on and learn from “his mistakes” based on interviews, reports,  legal documents and  Solzhenitsyn’s own experience as a zek. And as Solzhenitsyn revisits the ways things could have gone in his book, our characters deal with their past mistakes in their unique ways in the episode. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 7 Episode 5: The Gulag Archipelago”

The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 7 Episode 4 ‘Hurricane Rosie’

Billions is back and so is our MVP series! We continue to award our Most Valuable Players for Billions season seven in our series compilation, the ‘Billions MVP Fanbook,’ which commemorates all those in honor of achievement for the utmost brazen, uber shameless, ultra scheming, unmatched bad asses from the episode – from sports references, music and tasty food to pop culture remarks, shocking twists and ultimate paybacks. In case you missed it, catch up with the MVPs of the season seven premiere Tower of London, episode two Original Sin and episode three Winston Dick Energy.

Now let’s dive in. Here are the Billions MVP awards for Season 7, Episode 4, “Hurricane Rosie.”

Continue reading “The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs from Billions Season 7 Episode 4 ‘Hurricane Rosie’”

Billions on Showtime Season 5 Episode 6: The Nordic Model

A painting. A drawing. A kidney. A patent. Oh, and an IQ test!

This fast-paced and clever Billions episode gives us an extremely  fun hour in which Axe, Chuck, Taylor and Wendy all have to play fast chess to deal with both personal and professional matters. Anything is fair game to get what they want. Some win, some lose and some get, well, outright creepy! Continue reading “Billions on Showtime Season 5 Episode 6: The Nordic Model”

Billions on Showtime Season 5 Episode 5: Contract

So where to begin about this episode – entertaining, surprising, and heartbreaking – absolutely the best so far in Season 5? The best point of departure may be the definition of  “contract” as Axe gives during his game of billiards with Savion since we see a number of contracts – explicit and  implicit – drawn, signed, or not, in one of the best hours Billions has given us in its history.

“A contract is an understanding between men that they’ll see things the same way, that they’ll keep code. That they’ll honor the spirit of their relationship even in unforeseen circumstances.”

Axe, Wags and Bach are sitting in Leah Calder’s – the head of the office approving state charter applications – office clueless that Chuck was there earlier with Kate to convince Ms. Calder not to approve Axe’s application and thereby preventing a crime before happening! Continue reading “Billions on Showtime Season 5 Episode 5: Contract”

Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 5: A Proper Sendoff

As winter has arrived tonight, the level of intrigue, negotiation and backstabbing in the world of finance and law in New York is on par, if not higher, than what happens in Westeros. Axe and Chuck, the real-life dragons in disguise as human beings, forge on and give proper sendoffs to those who mess with them, making this episode my favorite this season!

While Jack Foley gets into the oven for cremation, a delicious-looking pizza gets out of the oven at Una Pizza Napoletana. Axe, Rebecca, Chuck and Wendy are having a private double date with chef Anthony Mangieri personally serving their pizzaz.

Axe makes a toast to the new State AG. We find out this is Wendy’s first night out in a month. She thinks this opportunity of great pizza in total privacy was too good to skip. And when Chuck says if the only way he could eat this pizza naked on Times Square, he would, Wendy puts him in his place immediately. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 5: A Proper Sendoff”