Notes on - Billions: The Deal

 

The Deal – Notes

Oh, Wendy with hall walking behind her down a sinister basement. That can’t be good.

What’s Wendy walking into?

Oh… naked Damien Lewis in a hot tub. So… not sinister

This joint nudity in their completely platonic friendship is a weird vibe

72 hours earlier

OK, Wendy just figured out after leaving the broadway show we saw her entering that Chuck deliberately got her out of the way for the raid

Wendy: Did you strike a blow for Justice this day, Mr. Rhoades?

Terri: Should I go?

Chuck and Wendy: YES!!

Wendy’s not wrong, this is going to make her look guilty to the firm

Chuck is desperate to defend himself

Wendy: It’s my job.

Chuck: You’re beautiful and talented, and I’m sure you’ll land on your feet

Wendi: Fuck you!

That evening, at the Rhoades home

Wendy’s sleeping with the kids

Axe rousing the troops

Chuck wants to seem intimidating SO bad.

Axe is doing a good job rallying

This is Axe’s St. Crispin’s Day speech

Dollar Bill isn’t remotely phased. Impressive

Axe is comparing Axecap after Chuck’s raid to America after Peral Harbor. Powerful rhetoric

Axe: This company will not wait for an uncertain future. We will make our own future! We will fight back hard. We will mobilize the war machine. And those who would try to bring down our house will see their own houses fall!

One side is operating from strength and Chuck is grasping at straws

Damn Orrin Bach is a good lawyer. Playing the sick kid angle

You can see that distrust of Wendy is already spreading

Chuck’s trying to dig up everything about Dollar Bill he can because he’s failing

Chuck: He has a weak point, we need to twist a knife in it.

Chuck is spiraling hard at how much he needs to beat Axe just for the sake of beating Axe

Hey, Lara gets a plot!

It’s kind of Lara to visit Bill’s wife with muffins

Ah, covering lots and lots of cash

Where do I find my Lara?

Chuck: I want to apologize. I was a big, puckered asshole yesterday.

Chuck: I don’t want to have this fight again.

Wendy: Then let’s not fight. Let’s talk.

Wendy is not wrong to call him out for being this obsessed with Axe. She’s right. He should recuse, but his pride won’t let him.

Chuck should be ashamed of himself for trying to pump Wendy for information. And she’s dead on for calling him out on the false equivelancy to justify not recusing himself

Wait, Kate AND Bryan both speak Japanese?

I wonder how good their Japanese is.

What’s the significance of Bill having two minivans?

Wags is worried.

Wags: The smoke is enough to choke you. There doesn’t need to be a fire.

MOW:   Axe: Another rich dick playing the market with his own money.

Wags: But you’ll be the biggest dick. And it’s so much money!

Axe’s solution is to get a reputable investor vouch for him

Get me in those waters – Echo of the opening scene.

Dollar Bill has two families?

This clinches it, he definitely doesn’t have the time to be a volunteer firefighter

Dollar Bill had a pre-prepared letter to his wife explaining the second family and sent it without hesitation

Deep conversation at the urinals

Bach totally has Bryan’s number.

Lara’s kids weren’t invited to a birthday party? What’s that about?

Ah, Axe has discovered that Wendy took money out of the fund to invest in the woman that quit and went to a different firm

Wendy: I am not my husband. And I am not going to be the shuttlecock that you two smack back and forth.

Wendy telling Axe some hard truths!

Bach sees that Bryan is rattled and smells blood in the water

Man Bach is confident

What is Bach suggesting that they settle to?

We’re kind of spinning our wheels on this one with chuck trying to lean on Bill and Axe complaining that he won’t take a deal because he would be diminished

The AG’s office is pressuring Chuck to drop things due to conflicts of interest

Wags managed to get Lawrence Boyd to agree to appear with Axe, thus giving him credibility

Axe: Well played.

Wags: I have my moments.

Lara is giving Axe solid advice about listening to his lawyers

Lara is looking at things from the social standpoint. Their kids were uninvited from a highbrow birthday party at just the suggestion of prosecution. They could become pariahs

Axe is still too proud to even consider capitulating

Chuck Rhoades Sr. is heavy into gloating

What is Wendy’s relationship with Chuck Sr.?

Chuck Sr. only cares about his family getting the credit

Chuck Sr. is trying to live his dreams through his son again

He’s not wrong. Victory will not be swift. Axe is gearing up for trench warfare

Wait, did Wendy just try to play Chuck through his father? Awesome!

Chuck: You want me to think that, uh, you’re trying to save your job? Really you’re trying to save Axelrod.

Wendy: I am trying to save you. And me. And him. And your father.

*** Just because I trust you, doesn’t mean I think you’re right.

Wendy’s read on Axe’s motivations is interesting

And now a mention of the Eads. They’re really doing the midseason ‘remind everyone of things that have happened before’ thing

Wendy just talked Chuck into dialing it back and doing a deal. Even better if it involved Axe thinking he tricked Chuck

Both Axe and Chuck are determined to be the one in charge on the deal

Axe is morning drinking

Boyd screwed over Axe by sending him to the suite on mailroom night. He wasn’t there.

Hall wants to trash Wendy to make the case go away. Axe doesn’t outright refuse the offer

Chuck is giving up and accepting the reality of making a deal. Bryan is refusing to surrender

Hall: Hello, Wendy.

Wendy: Hello. Have we met?

Hall: No, and we still haven’t.

And this is how we got to the opening sequence of naked hot tubbing

So the naked hottubbing was solely to ensure that they were private and not being overheard

Axe doesn’t understand why Wendy is sticking around at AxeCap

I am also interested in her answer

Wendy: I’m here for me. Because I built this company just as much as you did.

Axe: That’s a bold statement.

Wendy: That’s a true statement.

Putting Axe back together brings Wendy’s life meaning.

This is, in a twisted way, a really sweet scene between two friends

So Axe is now ready to make a deal

Adam

1.9 billion fine?

Man Chuck Sr. is a piece of shit

Ben Kim, enthusiastically explaining that you eat Ethiopian food with your hands. Bless. They really have no idea what to do with him at this point

An admission of guilt is the bridge that Axe can’t cross

Oh yeah, Ari Spyros blackmailed his way into being in charge on this

Chuck and Bryan couldn’t resist twisting the knife.

Chuck’s pride made him cut out the family office option

Chuck just overreached out of pride. Had to kick Axe while he was down and blew up the deal

Chuck HAD him and couldn’t resist ruining his own success by gloating and twisting the knife

Chuck’s decided to recuse himself for the good of his marriage

And vaguely violent sex

Bryan does not at all understand why Chuck was wrong at the deal signing

Chuck isn’t actually recusing himself. He wants to be informed