With Billions, you’ve got that easy on the eye and ear appeal going, but, look closer and there’s so much more. Look closer still, and there’s, like, everything.
Billions Season 3 Episode 4, “Hell of a Ride”, shows us, more than any episode so far, that “everything.” That is, everything, sans women. Though the women are well-written, this show will never be in danger of passing the Bechdel test, and that’s fine, because it is a story about men and their use and misuse of power and of men begetting men, which, to bring it all home, does indeed apply to everything. This episode is about men’s legacy and men’s vanity and the intersections between the two.
From a tragic death, to people trying to dig themselves out of their own grave, to those searching for the ultimate resting place, and to kiss of death, eventuality, literally and metaphorically, is at the heart of this episode.
Three Days Ago
Chuck drives his Porsche, which was probably bought by Axe Capital money, into a private garage only to find Dake waiting for him with bad news: Connerty knows about Chuck Senior’s involvement in Ice Juice and Chuck needs to make sure his father will not testify against him. And when Chuck Senior does not answer his son’s calls, Chuck decides to go to his 25th year class reunion at Yale, which he RSVP’d no earlier, because it is celebrated together with his dad’s 50th year class reunion and Chuck Senior will be there to receive an award. We hear an extremely worried Wendy not only telling Chuck to convince him but also to do it for her. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 4: Hell of a Ride”
We are absolutely thrilled to have a new blogger on Fan Fun! The Tail That Wags the Dog is not only a big fan of Billions but also has a personal connection to the show, exactly like we do, but in a slightly different way.
With David Costabile after his performance in The Hairy Ape
Here is a short bio in his own words:
“I am a high school math teacher – mostly focused on AP Statistics. I also run the theater program at my school. None of this is even remotely interesting or relevant except that the school I do this at also happens to be the school that I went to, which is also the school that David Costabile went to. David was a year ahead of me in high school and I was a part of five shows with him. I say “was a part of” because I was an ensemble player back in the day while David was, quite naturally, the star. I have followed his career from when he left Tufts and moved to NYC onto Broadway, then to TV, then movies, then back to TV and now here on Billions. Having found this show, I am now completely enraptured by the brilliant writing and acting of this show, and my newest bucket list item is to be able to have a drink with Dollar Bill, or maybe even get Kelly AuCoin to follow me back. :)”
The Tail That Wags The Dog is most interested in the character development in Billions and keen on tracking some of our favorite characters during the rollercoaster ride they have over the season and give us his take on where they stand and where they may be going next. Let’s give him a warm welcome! Cheers! Continue reading “Billions Season 3: Capital Offenses”
Billions Season 3, with “A Generation Too Late,” just got real dark, folks. Not the sort of dark that takes you weeping to a fetal position when it’s done, your poor heart bleeding from the pain of it. No, this episode is the kind of dark that makes you mad, even when you thought the madness had already reached its upper limit. I don’t mean the characters have become unrecognizably hateful and ugly and you want nothing more to do with them ever. Quite the contrary. This episode instead shows you how real breathing people in technicolor reality sometimes need to go monochromatic, all black and white, when those are the only colors left available to see the world. You feel sorry for them for losing their color a bit and you know it’ll come back eventually (it always does, it has to!) For this hour, though, it’s gone, baby, gone.
Talk about twists and turns — Billions is on fire!
As Ira and his girlfriend are having dinner at Craft, the new Halls are sitting at the next table recording their conversation. We do not know if it is her ordering $14 a gram white truffles, 20 grams of them, on her Tagliatelle with Guffanti Butter from Emilia Romagna (the region of Italy which I believe has made the most sacred contributions to human kind: prosciutto, parmigiano-reggiano, and balsamic vinegar) but Ira hesitates to propose. Since he has lost all his savings in Ice Juice, they cannot have the wedding she deserves, cannot go to the honeymoon they discussed and cannot even afford the engagement ring he has picked for her. He can barely give her truffles! Ira is in love and probably expecting his girlfriend to say she would marry him no matter what, but guess what, she wants to wait! Is anyone marrying for love anymore? Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 3: A Generation Too Late”
