Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 10: New Year’s Day

A phone conversation between Chuck and Krakow lets us and the US Attorney’s office know that Qatar State Bank is going back to the restricted list 😀 This means Chuck Senior may lose his sweet deal with the bank and so Chuck and Krakow agree to meet on New Year’s Day.

And as the U2’s “New Year’s Day” plays in the background, the opening sequence of iconic New York landmarks reminds me that of Manhattan, one of my favorite New York movies.

New Year’s Day at Axe Capital

Helena and Peach had to cut their vacations on St. Barths and Turks and Caicos, respectively, short to be at the office on New Year’s Day. But they are still smiling since should they have not had these jobs, they would have seen those beautiful islands only on TV – if they could have afforded cable! Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 4 Episode 10: New Year’s Day”

Catching up with Bobby Axelrod:
Billions Comes to the Upper West Side!

While Billions Season 4 shoot starts in New York in the first week of September, we still have so much to talk about Season 3 and have expectations, hopes and fantasies for Season 4. So please stay tuned for our Billions posts, from thematic to personal to speculative, in the coming weeks and months as we follow the new season shoot as closely as possible!

As I mentioned a billion times before, Billions is my dream show! And not only because my favorite actor is in it, but also New York, from its landmarks to city parks to its distinct neighborhoods, appears as a cast member! As someone who feels the only home she has in the world is the city that never sleeps, I love it that the show is taking over New York, the big film studio that it is, and shooting all over the place, from Manhattan to Queens to Brooklyn to The Bronx to Long Island and to northern suburbs. I cannot thank enough to the show creators and show runners Brian Koppelman and David Levien for giving us a love letter to the city in Billions.

That said, one little problem I had until last October was, while they shot Billions all over Manhattan, they did not shoot a scene showcasing not only my but also Mr. Koppelman’s neighborhood, the Upper West Side, or as Lewisto and I love to call it, the Upper Best Side 😀 Continue reading “Catching up with Bobby Axelrod: Billions Comes to the Upper West Side!”

Billions Season 3 Dining Guide

It is no secret that one of my favorite things about my favorite show is how it showcases the New York dining scene from hole-in-the-walls to neighborhood gems to Michelin-starred restaurants. And it has been my pleasure to share the information about restaurants appearing on the show first in my weekly recaps and then in a full dining guide by the end of the season for Season 1 and Season 2.

But now that our dining guides are two of the most widely read articles on the blog, and that we constantly get questions about the restaurants on the show, I have decided to take a different route this season. I am kicking off our dining guide early with the restaurants our characters visited in the first two episodes in Season 3 and updating the post as we go. Continue reading “Billions Season 3 Dining Guide”

Billions on Showtime 3.11: Kompenso

Billions, Season 3, episode 11, “Kompenso” was an episode built around annual comp reviews, those pesky one-on-ones with the boss where you justify your existence/paycheck, hope for good reviews of your work while fearing the worst. Who woulda thunk such events make for good drama?

Continue reading “Billions on Showtime 3.11: Kompenso”

Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 11: Kompenso

While I stand behind my words that Axe and Chuck have so much in common that they could be BFFs in another life, this episode finds them at opposite ends of the generosity scale. While Axe does not even want to hear the word accommodation when it comes to people helping him make money, Chuck goes out of his way to accommodate his old pal Ira.

The opening of Kompenso makes me smile and laugh for different reasons. It makes me smile because the opening song “Wicked Game” brings back sweet prom memories. It makes me laugh because it features Nusret Gokce, a Turkish chef and restaurateur, whose Instagram videos of slicing and salting steak went viral and made him an international star overnight! Nusret now owns several restaurants, including one in New York, called Nusr-Et because Et means meat in Turkish! And while his dramatic serving skills seem to turn Kate Sacker of all people on, Kate prefers to look at the eclipse through the cereal box when Chuck offers to order the Tomahawk and have Nusret perform at the table 😀 Continue reading “Billions on Showtime, Season 3 Episode 11: Kompenso”