Tag: Bobby Axelrod

Bobby Axelrod Season 2: The “eyes” have it

Hello, friends!  Hope your summer is going really well.  We’ve rounded the corner to August now, which in Minnesota means STATE FAIR TIME! All the fried food on a stick, people watching, and petting goats that you can handle!

oh look, a slow day

I am basically inside the house hiding from the evil “day star” (I am fair with freckles, tanning ain’t for me!) so I’ve been re-watching some favorite shows to pass the time.  Season 2 of Billions, of course, has been an easy choice!  Let’s stroll back, together, and tell a tale of two Bobbies!

source: Showtime

Let’s do a little comparison work between the Bobby of season one, and the Bobby in season two. As always, I’ll be viewing Damian’s work through the lens of a Delsartean. Continue reading “Bobby Axelrod Season 2: The “eyes” have it”

Billions Homeland Crossover Fanfic: Somebody That I Used to Know

Summer seems to be the time when showrunners are heads-down working on writing next season’s episodes. Seems it may also be the time when those of us awaiting those stories can make up some of our own. I made up the following story last year when we were waiting for Billions Season 2. Enjoy!

Standard disclaimer: I own nothing, neither of these characters, nor their history, real or imagined, not the coffee they share, nor New York City, their current home.

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Continue reading “Billions Homeland Crossover Fanfic: Somebody That I Used to Know”

Paul Reynolds : Lizzie Thomas :: Bobby Axelrod : Wendy Rhoades

Of all the compelling themes in Billions, perhaps the most compelling is the relationship between Bobby Axelrod and Wendy Rhoades. We’ve all explored it as some point whenever we’ve talked about Billions. Damianista did a two-part treatise on the relationship between Bobby and Wendy: Part I, Part II. Bookworm saw the story of Peter Pan in them: Fly Away, Fly Away. I focused on their revelatory therapy session in “Magical Thinking”  and imagined their back story as a fanfic: Rubble. Suffice it to say, the relationship has provoked a lot of thought.

Damian took part in a project that focused on a relationship very similar to Bobby and Wendy’s, many years prior to and a continent away from the world of Billions. That film, BBC’s Friends and Crocodiles, centered on a similarly charged platonic relationship between a vibrant man and the practical hard-working woman who could never leave his side, despite herself.  Written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff, Friends and Crocodiles was an ambitious production exploring such lofty themes as class, creativity and navigation of British socioeconomic trends over several decades. It was also primarily focused on the possibilities within the passionately-felt work relationship between Paul Reynolds and Lizzie Thomas. Paul and Lizzie, in a way precursors of Bobby Axelrod and Wendy Rhoades, foretold the intricacies of creating and dramatizing such a relationship on screen. (For an excellent recap of the film, refer to Damianista’s TBT summary.)

I’ve alluded to the analogy of Paul and Lizzie to Bobby and Wendy fleetingly in some of my previous posts on Billions. Now, read on as I venture a bit deeper into the comparison. Continue reading “Paul Reynolds : Lizzie Thomas :: Bobby Axelrod : Wendy Rhoades”

A Tribute to Everyone’s Favorite Billions Moment: The Fake Fight

“Pretend we’re having an argument.” —Bobby Axelrod

source: Showtime

A good hour of television absolutely starts with good writing and I pride myself in calling Willie Reale, the writer of Billions Season 1 Episode 10 Quality of Life, a genius way before I find out that he is, in fact, one! I don’t know if you are familiar with MacArthur Fellowships also known as “Genius Grants” but Mr. Reale is a recipient of this fellowship “in recognition of his ingenuity in creating theater and theater education programs for young people.” Bravo!

Quality of Life, with Donnie’s memorial service being at its heart, has a number of moving parts; however, Mr. Reale delivers the story seamlessly with a number of timely back and forths between the memorial service and all else going on and the episode’s director Karyn Kusama perfectly translates the writing into action. And, in my humble opinion, Brian Koppelman’s tweet sharing with us that the fake argument scene between Axe and Dollar Bill was Reale’s idea alone deserves standing ovation for this brilliant writer! Continue reading “A Tribute to Everyone’s Favorite Billions Moment: The Fake Fight”

Following the Footsteps of our Resident Londoner

Gotta love it when a passing thought from one post leads to an entire new fully-fleshed-out post. I had remarked, during my two-week tour in London, I was reminded often of places I’d seen Damian in images and film. In particular, when I was walking from Shakespeare’s Globe west towards Blackfriars Bridge along the Thames Path I looked down to the river and saw the moss covered walls where Damian and Helen leaned and loafed for a photoshoot, as well as the pier under which Hector made a phone call in Our Kind of Traitor.

That bit of Proustian mind-wandering lead Damianista to the thought, “Hey, why not do a post where we follow along in Damian’s footsteps throughout London?” “Isn’t that a bit stalkery?” I worried. “Nah,” we both concluded. Happily, Damian knows we are the most harmless variety of stalkers he could ever have. So, here it is, a catalog of all the places and sites where we “saw” Damian, characters he’s played, and stories he’s been a part of in his beloved home town.

Continue reading “Following the Footsteps of our Resident Londoner”