Notes on - Billions: Pilot

 

Billions notes 

Yeah, that first scene is a lot

US Attorney’s office SDNY

Kate giving the intro talk to some guy named Michael.

Bryan was the one who gave her that speech 18 months ago

Chuck is already playing with recommendations for judicial appointments

Ari Spyros.  FCC here to introduce Bobby as the antagonist

Lots of dry insider trading stuff

Would they really introduce a possible crime with a head shot?

Meanwhile Bobby is introduced enjoying pizza with his wife and being a good guy.  In contrast to Chuck getting burned and pissed on.

It’s not believable that Lara hasn’t ever tried Bobby’s favorite pizza before at this point in their marriage.

And now Bobby is saving his childhood pizza place from going under out of altruism.   They’re really leaning against type.

And from there to Axe Capital

Mick Danzig and Ben Kim

And now they’re demonstrating that Bobby is smarter

Bobby:  Yale?

Ben:  Stanford.  Then Wharton.

Bobby:  Ok, Stanford/Wharton.

And it begins.  People aggressively figuring things out at one another.  I like that you don’t actually have to understand anything about stocks to sort of follow this

Bobby:  My cholesterol’s high enough.  Don’t butter my ass, Danzig, just get smarter.

They definitely established how cutthroat the industry is

Bryan’s kind of a hot head

Bobby has the scholarship envelopes with him in the bathroom

Giving scholarships to 9/11 orphans.  Hard to top that

June.  Angry widow

Why wasn’t he there.  That’s going to come back up

He’s painting himself as just trying to do right by his dead colleagues

Lara’s brother Dean was a firefighter who died in 9/11

Are we supposed to assume that Chuck is the good guy because he’s the DA.

He’s much more interested in success than justice

Axe gave the NYC firefighters foundation 100 million

Chuck:  A good matador doesn’t try to kill a fresh bull.  You wait until he’s been stuck a few times.

The other issue?  Chuck’s home?

Poor June had to sell her yacht

Establishing Lara as a street kid married into money

Lara:  Certain things you learn in Inwood, they never leave you.  You know, like that if someone has a problem with you and they come to you in person, you do what you can to take care of it. But if they take that beef public, the ground just falls out from beneath them where I’m from.  You find yourself all alone.

June: Are you threatening me?

Lara: You’re fucking right I am.

The Norton house – Bobby wants to buy it.  So what?

Naked Damian Lewis!

83 Million

Oh, so it’s just that buying a house that expensive will make the public dislike him

Mick Danzig at the company therapist

He’s down 4% year to date and worried about how he’s comparing to everyone else.

Wendy is very intuitive and persuasive

Wendy has an interestingly specific job.  She gets both the details of finance and people.

Was he actually a Navy SEAL, or is this a metaphor?  I don’t think he really was

Mick:  You’re Mrs. Mojo, so I booked the appointment.

Wendy:  It’s Doctor Mojo.

We don’t know who Wendy is in telation to anybody at this moment

Chuck arriving home

And here the reveal of Wendy being Chuck’s wife and Bobby’s psych doctor.  Now we know what the reference to his home issue being the problem earlier

Seeding the idea of session notes

Chuck is trying to find Wendy a new job to get her out of Bobby’s orbit.

Wendy’s intuitive enough to immediately know what Chuck’s real issue is and call him out on it.

They do seem to have healthy open communication with one another

Wendy makes eight times what Chuck makes

And the first mention of Chuck sr.!

Chuck:  And, who makes more money?  Really?  Is this what we’re teaching the kids?

Wendy: Oh, are we teaching them that Daddy’s job is always more important that Mommy’s?

Chuck:  Hey, I work for the public good.

Wendy:  No, you work for the good of Chuck Rhoades.  Maybe sometimes they intersect.

Wow, they’re able to take things down a notch by choosing to.  They really are a healthy couple.

Elmo the dog

Chef Ryan!

You should not encourage the dog to piss on the furniture.

Gordie knows how to play his brother.  Walked him right into a trap bet.

This might not be the healthiest parenting

We don’t welch.  Yeah, this is super unhealthy parenting

And here is Charles Rhoades Sr.  Manipulative bastard

Skip was convicted for some financial crime, and Charles Sr. is his friend and is trying to manipulate the system to benefit his friend by playing his son

Chuck is bringing the hammer down on Skip

Yeah, powerful rich white guys always cry when they face actual consequences

Chuck:  My father always told me that ‘mercy’ was a word that pussies used when they couldn’t take the pain.  I love you dad.  But if you walk into my office and try to use your influence again, you are gonna walk out of here in handcuffs.

Chuck is being the good guy here

Nice that we get the reference to Charles Sr. the scene before we meet him and see what Wendy was talking about.

Wags!  First appearance at 28:40

Wags is already clearly Bobby’s right hand. 

Dollar Bill!  DB bought insider information

Wags is very restrained here

Chuck doing a press conference about seizing cocaine.

Chuck is being baited by a planted question about Axe cap

And is throwing Skip under the bus to verify that he’s impartial

Orrin Bach – Another link between Chuck and Axe

Spyros is a weasel and sent in the reporter to ask about Axe capital

Bach was Bryan’s law school professor who has since sold out and works for Axe

I still don’t get why Bobby buying the house is a big deal to anybody

Wendy can just walk into Bobby’s office.  Why is Bobby eating White Castle?

Bobby and Wendy clearly really get each other

They started together in the dust of 9/11

Wendy’s advising him to not buy the house

Danzig came through on Wendy’s advice

Wendy’s thinking about leaving Axe

Wendy:  I’m better paid than anybody in my med school class except the guy who invented the synthetic bladder.

Axe:  I’ll short his company.

Wendy’s been missing outside patients.  And Bobby seems to really care about her enough to accommodate what she needs.

Chuck’s mom!  And she’s still with Charles sr.

Charles Sr. was playing Chuck in the earlier scene.  He set himself up so that Chuck would be in the news as tough

Buying the big house affects his popularity which makes him more vulnerable in the court of public opinion.  Seems a little weak to me

Jeffrey DeMunn!

They’re all investing this house with a lot of significance.  Bobby buying it is to say to Chuck that he has nothing to hide.  Chuck tricking bobby into buying it is to turn the public against him.

Danny Margolis – Left Axe Cap and now wants to come back

Bobby notices Danny’s fingers sweating

Hall?  Who’s Hall?

OK, wetwork guy

Dan Margolis is being used as a bait against Bobby

Steven Birch is being offered up as a sacrifice to save Bobby

Delivering Alpha conference

And Bobby want’s Hall to look into Wendy

Bobby’s making the reporter that Spyros set up into his inside man

Ah, and Bobby is feeding Steven Birch to the reporter to get him off his track

White blood cells

Jerry O’Connell

Showing up at the Delivering Alpha conference caused Bobby to commit to buying the house.  Chuck wins.

Wags again!

Bobby knows to use Charles Sr. to trigger Chuck

Damien Lewis and Paul Giamatti are electric together

David Costabile

Where is Axe that there’s snow?

The image of the dog that had his balls cut off is what makes Bobby act.  Subtle.

And just like that, Chuck got Bobby to buy the house

Skip committed suicide.  That’s sad.  They’re all playing a game and he was human consequences

**** What we do has consequences

I still don’t think anyone would really care about his buying the house.

GREAT reveal via Wendy’s boot that she was the dominatrix in the opening.