Tag: Chuck Rhoades

Cast Yourself in Billions!

Greetings from the Trader’s Desk!

Here at FanFun we think there is something you should probably know: we love “Billions”! We are always trying to bring you different points of view and unique opinions on our favorite show. But, what if we were part of the show? Who would we be? What would our role be? We decided we would explore those questions in “Cast Yourself in Billions”. We each wrote up a short character description and a short scene. We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we had writing them. Now on with the show!! Continue reading “Cast Yourself in Billions!”

Billions Brings the Drama

Saw a tweet go by a couple days ago: something to the effect of “Let’s not forget literary fiction is also a genre.” It’s a response by writers and readers of genre fiction to the idea that the stuff they read and write isn’t “serious”, and that it’s unfair to ghetto-ize so-called genre fiction.

One part of me, thinks, sure, I get the argument: there are features common to literary fiction that make it just as much a genre as fantasy, mystery, and romance. Literary fiction often adheres to realism and has a certain quality of angst, dramatic tension, with flawed characters who are presented lots of obstacles that may or may not be resolved. These traits, along with the pursuit a universality, the goal of getting at the heart of the human condition, could be the identifiers for the genre ghetto we know as literary fiction.

A bigger part of me, however, says: Nope, literary fiction is not a genre, it is ALL the genres. The best literary fiction has elements of humor, romance, mystery, and even fantasy. Same applies to drama: it is the umbrella under which live comedy, romance, and even the supernatural. Call me a pretentious throwback, but where art is concerned (even visual art!), all other ways of seeing and being are subservient to drama. Being subservient doesn’t mean inferior! Drama is not better than comedy or romance or thrillers. Drama is simply the limitless space that lets all of the others in. Drama doesn’t refuse any possibility. And, in order to be really really good, comedy can’t divorce itself completely from drama, romance can’t either. Drama is what all other genres need, or at least acknowledge in some way, even ironically or derisively, in order to be totally believable and totally entertaining.

We know that Billions brings the lulz. What Damian (not Bobby) would probably call good old laddy humor (er, humour). It’s got plenty of really fun moments, both words-wise (“Viscosity.”) and scene-wise (fake fight, anyone?). As for romance, it’s a bit lacking in that department only because everyone is already married! There was the bit of cuteness when Mafee swung a date, and then apparently a long-term thing, with Deb using nothing but his self-effacing charm. Absent the romance, there’s still plenty of lust (for power) and longing (for the upper hand). What turns my head and keeps my eyes glued is the drama. In this post I’m going to look back at a couple of scenes that worked very well as great drama. Of course, there are more than these two, but these are the ones I remember most vividly, even now, a couple years after seeing them for the first time.

Continue reading “Billions Brings the Drama”

Billions: Tale of Two Marriages

As a drama about the high stakes financial world, Billions already stands apart from other dramas. It has none of the violence and very little of the sex of its counterparts in so-called “elite” cable. What it has instead is soapy twists and turns and a fair amount of serious relationship ins and outs. As I’ve said before, the show is written by folks who care about portraying marriage in all its complexity. And the Axelrods and Rhoades are both wonderfully complex in totally different ways.

Valentine’s Day comes but once a year, but marriage is forever. Or so they say! The Axelrod and Rhoades relationships embody the lovely messiness of marriage portrayed in often surprising ways. Here’s a look at these couplings so far, peppered, of course, by a healthy dose of speculation on what’s to come when Season 3 kicks off March 25 on Showtime. Continue reading “Billions: Tale of Two Marriages”

What we are looking forward to (and not so much) in Billions Season 3

source: Showtime

Hello from the Trader’s Desk!

As we all eagerly anticipate Season 3 of our favorite show, “Billions“, we here at FanFun thought it would be interesting for us to share some of our thoughts on the upcoming season.

What do you think will happen in Season 3?? 

Here are some of our expectations, wishes/hopes, fantasies, and things we are (and not) looking forward to:

Continue reading “What we are looking forward to (and not so much) in Billions Season 3”

Bobby Axelrod and Wendy Rhoades: A Special Relationship – Part III

Damian Lewis teases about Bobby and Wendy, a relationship that keeps fascinating us, before Billions Season 2 premiere, in an interview with AssignmentX:

“As the paranoia increases, their relationship is challenged, too. Wendy is quite capable of taking care of herself, as we saw at the end of last season, when she plays Axe in that last moment and runs away with the Maserati and a five-million-dollar bonus. Was it five million? It suddenly doesn’t seem like very much in the world of Billions. And she doesn’t work with Axe anymore. Axe relies on her heavily, though. Of course, there’s always going to be a question of pride with him, and he attempts to lure her back. But it’s because, I think, there is some truth in the fact when she says, “We built this company together.” I think she is good counsel for him, and he needs her. He feels more confident with her. There certainly isn’t, for now, any kind of romantic interest between them.”

Continue reading “Bobby Axelrod and Wendy Rhoades: A Special Relationship – Part III”