Billions ep 6 – The Deal

This episode halfway thru the season opens with a scene I didn’t expect to see until series end. That’s where we start and that’s where we’re taken, into an episode that feels like a season finale. I’ll get to that starting scene in a bit. First, we must draw all hands to deck, look up and witness the King. Axe climbs up on office furniture, his head nearly grazing the dropped ceiling, and he gives his troops a war speech worthy of Patton.

Yesterday we came under attack from an unscrupulous adversary…

Unblinking, unflinching, determined righteous passion. Despite the zeal, Damian somehow keeps the speech from being over the top. It’s a rapid spitfire rallying speech, then, just as rapidly, Damian draws the energy he just exerted right back in. It’s this masterful balance between release and stillness, between exertion and absorption. Wendy watches from the sidelines and she feels the rawness too. Witness her halted breathing, and the decidedly dilated pupils watching Axe on stage, then the averted gaze as he descends and walks past her, spent. I’m making this all sound vaguely sexual aren’t I. Well, probably because it IS.

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Billions on Showtime, Episode 6: The Deal

The King is back. He loves what he does. He, in fact, lives and breathes what he does. Real or not, he tries his hand a bit in having the good life  — collecting fresh eggs in the morning, quality time with wife and kids, prospect of getting on his new boat and sailing to Galapagos… And maybe, just maybe, there is really a moment where he thinks there could be another life he could be living.

But the fact is Axe Capital is where the good life is for Axe.

Source: Showtime
Source: Showtime

Maybe not the perfect life as the smug on his face is gone the moment he comes eye to eye with the Windbreakers raiding Axe Capital to get to “Dollar” Bill…  But it must be something about the game that he just cannot give up… Axe advises Danzig after his “deer shooting” spree: “What drives you does not understand enough.” It’s obvious what drives Axe does not understand enough, either. Is it the adrenaline? Is it the sweet feeling of winning? What drives Axe? Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 6: The Deal”

Billions on Showtime, Episode 5: The Good Life

Well, I give it to the Billions writers that Episode 5: The Good Life has an opening like no other: A No Trespassing sign exactly like in the opening scene of Citizen Kane!  

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Welcome to Citizen Axe’s Good Life!

We leave Axe at the end of Episode 4: Short Squeeze telling Wags to sell everything: Sell 5% of all positions across the board first and then sell sector by sector starting with Telecom.

And now we’re finding him on his Passoni bike, a hand crafted Italian beauty, cycling to Axe Hills, no less, to collect fresh eggs from the chickens. He suggests Tito to “franchise that fucking hen” with the double yolkers and trades his Passoni with Tito’s well-worn bike… But we already know Bobby “Axe” Axelrod is the man of the people, don’t we? 🙂 Axe brings the eggs, cooks “Grandma’s recipe” – his mom was a waitress – signature dish at Empire Diner, an iconic New York City institution, for family breakfast and makes an announcement: The new boat is coming Friday afternoon. What about a trip to Galapagos? Lara does not fall for the idea right away since mid-summer is a crazy time for her restaurant, but it seems some afternoon sex in the pool followed by lying on the lawn with her better half is quite persuasive. She is in! They will be free and say “fuck you” to gravity together. Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 5: The Good Life”

Billions on Showtime, Episode 3: Yum Time

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

Just two episodes in and we have received terrific news that Showtime has renewed Billions for a second season – Woot Woot! The news is not surprising given the quality and the instant popularity of the show; however, man, THIS WAS FAST! Congratulations to the entire cast and crew, we are over the moon for you and yeah, for us, too!

We find everyone busy playing mind games in Episode 3. Axe is busy dipping his finger into yet another pie. Chuck is busy working for the public good at several fronts. Lara is busy keeping the family reputation intact. And Wendy is busy with a dilemma of her own. All four are all lost in their own worlds that we don’t really see them hang out with each other much in this episode.

We know September 11 lingers in Bobby Axelrod’s mind and life. It is now lingering further in Episode 3; in fact, a storm is brewing that could further damage Axe’s “man of the people” image. June, the widow of Rake, Axe’s partner who died in 9/11 attacks, has a 70,000 word story to tell! Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 3: Yum Time”

Billions on Showtime, Episode 2:
Naming Rights

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

We have left Axe saying “I am ready” on the phone at the end of Pilot. Now we find him in Episode 2 Naming Rights with some time in his hands — he is about to derail Chuck’s plans by presenting the US attorney’s office with Steven Birch’s head on a silver platter — to figure out ways to be ready!

While Pilot opens with a bound and gagged Chuck in his underwear on the floor in submission to a dominatrix, Naming Rights opens with Axe his underwear telling Pete Decker on the phone Gold Standard is never coming back and if it did, the world would be so fucked up that he would buy space travel… while his secretary as well as his COO are on standby to dress him for his next gig!

Axe is the King of his realm.

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

A comparison to the other king Damian Lewis has recently brought to life is inevitable. Do Axe and Henry have anything in common? Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Episode 2: Naming Rights”