S05.E08: Copenhagen

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Quote

Axe dispatches Wags to dig up dirt on Prince, discovering a weakness that could wreck Prince's ambitions. A visit to Axe Cap puts Wendy and Tanner at odds.

Original air date: 2021.09.05

[SunnyBeBe]

I just finished watching season one.  Hopefully, I’ll be caught up when the show returns. 

[chocolatine]

That was not good. I know Damien Lewis has recently lost his wife, but it's very obvious in his performance that his heart is not in it. They should have given him more time to grieve and process before they resumed filming.

[Traveller519]

After the huge letdown that was the first part of season 5. I liked this one. Very Chuck focused. But that felt like it followed some good beats.

For a C plot, I actually liked how they wrapped up Taylor's story about not knowing yourself when the money comes.

[txhorns79]

I liked the scene between Chuck Sr. and Wendy where she got his healthcare POA.  It was nice to see two people actually acting like normal humans for a change without it being part of a scheme to destroy a third party.

[PrincessPurrsALot]

There were parts that I liked.  I too liked the resolution of Taylor's story; however, the employee mouthing off to them was so overplayed.  I also liked the scene with Wendy and Chuck Sr.  Also good that Wendy told Axe he hurts himself when he goes after people with a vengeance.  How exactly has Axe remained successful? 

But again the cultural references felt like sledgehammers.  Yes, we get it, writers, you are the cool kids.  Only your references feel almost older than me while these characters are not. Axe needs a mustache to twirl.  The folks working at Axe Capital are shown as buffoons yet again. And WhyTF does Axe Capital have employee medical records at a detail level that would let them know if there is a possible kidney donor? And Wendy, a doctor, would be looking through them? 

[dwmarch]

I'm glad to have this show back but it does feel a little disjointed from what I remember of the first half of the season. Axe was obsessing over Wendy and was quite upset by her sleepovers with Tanner. If he's still mad about that as of this episode, he's buried it pretty deep. Although I guess he did subject Wendy to interrogation by Spyros and he did drag Tanner to a bunch of functions where he knew the dude would not be in his element so I guess Axe has decided to go the passive-aggressive route instead.

I also distinctly remember a reference to the pandemic (shouted loudly by Krakow) but I don't feel like a year has passed in the show so they should be right in the middle of it.

Not sure I get the big moment of revelation in this episode. Axe Cap tries to get Prince on gambling and they fall flat on their faces doing so (and this drives a wedge between Axe and Wags so it will be interesting to see what comes of that if anything; they did just attack Prince's top lieutenant so Wags should be a natural target for retaliation and such a target-rich environment he is!) but when Prince is mwa-ha-ha-ing at them about how they'll never find anything in his past they seem to have this lightbulb moment of "ah, but what if there is something in his past we can use?" Like, did you not check previously? Was this not the first thing you checked? Also not sure about the time compression that would need to be involved to edit the television fluff piece into a hit piece but Billions has always been squishy when it comes to those kinds of things.

The Taylor plotline resonated with me because I have been in a similar situation where I got a new job that was way more money than the old one but I still wanted to keep my foot in the door at the old one just in case.

I'm glad Dollar Bill had a hero moment. The show sometimes uses him as a buffoon character so it's nice to see him rocking the mojo that gets Axe Cap chanting his name.

[Joimiaroxeu]

I don't think I've ever seen Paul G. that thin in a role before. I hope he's okay.

Taylor finds watching The Bachelor sleep-inducing. Same.

Axe built his fortune on the graves of the people who died because of the 9/11 attacks. If sins are being measured, I'd say Axe's are worse than Prince's but he's the star of the show, so...

Good lord, people with more money than sense. Deliberately splashing paint on a $10,000  jacket? SMH.

It's hard to imagine Prince left himself open like that. For one thing, in many places NDAs are no longer enforceable. And as long as his dead buddy's mother was alive he was always going to be at risk of being found out.

Is Frank Grillo's character bipolar or has Tanner decided imitating Jackson Pollock is the way to go to achieve fame and fortune?

So many forced perspective camera angles. It was dizzying to me at first. I get why they had to do it but still, oy.

[txhorns79]

6 hours ago, dwmarch said:

Like, did you not check previously? Was this not the first thing you checked? Also not sure about the time compression that would need to be involved to edit the television fluff piece into a hit piece but Billions has always been squishy when it comes to those kinds of things.

This.  And I didn't get how Prince wouldn't have been aware of the bad press coming his way.  Surely the fake 60 Minutes expose would have at least asked him for a comment about all the stuff his former partner's mother was saying before they ran the piece?  He seemed completely surprised by it. 

 

 

[Broderbits]

Was the person viewing Tanner's paintings a "famous" musician? Guess I'm not one of the cool kids.....

[aghst]

23 hours ago, dwmarch said:

I'm glad to have this show back but it does feel a little disjointed from what I remember of the first half of the season. Axe was obsessing over Wendy and was quite upset by her sleepovers with Tanner. If he's still mad about that as of this episode, he's buried it pretty deep. Although I guess he did subject Wendy to interrogation by Spyros and he did drag Tanner to a bunch of functions where he knew the dude would not be in his element so I guess Axe has decided to go the passive-aggressive route instead.

Yeah what happened to that?  Decided to pretend it didn't exist?  Though Prince did mock his cold and lonely apartment.

20 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I don't think I've ever seen Paul G. that thin in a role before. I hope he's okay.

Taylor finds watching The Bachelor sleep-inducing. Same.

Axe built his fortune on the graves of the people who died because of the 9/11 attacks. If sins are being measured, I'd say Axe's are worse than Prince's but he's the star of the show, so...

Good lord, people with more money than sense. Deliberately splashing paint on a $10,000  jacket? SMH.

It's hard to imagine Prince left himself open like that. For one thing, in many places NDAs are no longer enforceable. And as long as his dead buddy's mother was alive he was always going to be at risk of being found out.

Is Frank Grillo's character bipolar or has Tanner decided imitating Jackson Pollock is the way to go to achieve fame and fortune?

So many forced perspective camera angles. It was dizzying to me at first. I get why they had to do it but still, oy.

I guess the actor decided to lose the weight?

It's probably been 1-2 years since they filmed the original first half of the season?  So during the pandemic he decided to lose weight?

16 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

This.  And I didn't get how Prince wouldn't have been aware of the bad press coming his way.  Surely the fake 60 Minutes expose would have at least asked him for a comment about all the stuff his former partner's mother was saying before they ran the piece?  He seemed completely surprised by it. 

As for Prince, I don't buy that he wanted that Denmark ambassadorship that much.  At most it's a gig for a couple of years but billionaires don't hand over their empires while they play diplomat.

I'm sure some very rich donors have gotten ambassadorships but he's been shown as actively running his company.

And he screwed over a former business partner who was "troubled" which is how his PR team would characterize him.  But what's going to happen, people are going to pull out their money from Prince's funds just because of some bad press?

That said, Prince does seem to chase the limelight, like being portrayed as the "good" billionaire.  So now he's going to join forces with Chuck to get Axe?

Ever since Chuck lost his US Attorney gig and the chance to be governor, he has limited reach at getting Axe.  For a time, there was detente but now they're back to the old feud.  First half of this season, there was low-intensity war between Bobby and Prince and Chuck was also after Axe but not being overt about it.

I don't know if the plan was always to turn this threesome into 2 on 1 war but I guess they don't mind being repetitive and going back to the original rivalry.

 

Wendy when asked says her bonus was $9 million.  People on Wall Street do make that kind of money but Axe's success is like surreal, probably beating the market handily, which most hedge funds haven't been able to say for a long time now.

Of course they were always doing crooked things like bribing insiders and such.  But the way Taylor described it in this episode, it was about grueling analytic work, all for not just money but something something "refinement of success" something.

🙄

Fake Gal Godot was right, Taylor wanted to own her soul.

 

Oh and Tanner as a character gets more ridiculous.  He really is fake Jackson Pollock.  I don't follow art that closely but pretty sure no other artists of note have tried splash painting since Pollock, since it would be so obvious a ripoff.

Anyways it seems like Tanner spends more time at the gym than painting.  But he got inspired to have a late-night splash session after hanging out at Axe Capital?

Seems like his character is about giving Wendy a love-interest and show another way in which Axe is not just a money grubber but cool as hell.

Meanwhile Julianna Marguiles seems to have bailed on the show or had other work.  Just when Chuck got slim too!

[Broderbits]

4 hours ago, aghst said:

 I don't follow art that closely but pretty sure no other artists of note have tried splash painting since Pollock, since it would be so obvious a ripoff.

Pollock wasn't the first or last artist to produce drip paintings, but he might be the most famous.

Collecting art on this show is a blood sport.

[l star]

Wendy and Tanner were so awkward with their money talk. I get why Wendy was worried but at the same time, shut up Wendy. Tanner's idea of winning is on a completely different level than hers. One more reason they are unsuited for anything more than a rebound.

Taylor didn't grab me with their crisis but the music was really good. The trader was right- Taylor wanted to own her and didn't know what to do with the pushback. I couldn't get past the fact that it was essentially a fight about appearances. Catering in her off time wasn't hurting Taylor. They just didn't like it.

I don't care what Chuck did in college. I guess this was an effective way to finish up the Yale storyline and everything that came with it, including Julianna Margulies' character.

Wags is too ridiculous for me to take seriously, even when he's being threatening.

I liked Wendy's scene with Senior. I completely get why he asked her instead of Chuck, but I also get why she was reluctant. She's just letting herself be sucked back in again right when she's getting away from Chuck. I also liked her convo with Axe. I realize it didn't go where she intended but I enjoy them.

Edited September 20, 2021 by l star

[The Solution]

On 9/7/2021 at 10:17 PM, Broderbits said:

Was the person viewing Tanner's paintings a "famous" musician? Guess I'm not one of the cool kids.....

Yes-ish, Jason Isbell. Wanna join me for a smoke outside the lunchroom?