S05.E11: Victory Smoke

[PrincessPurrsALot]

With victory in sight for his bank, Axe plots to secure his deposits by poaching from Prince, a move that proves more complicated than it seems. Chuck, Prince and Sacker wrestle with the personal cost of their plan. Taylor looks to enlist an old foe. Wags prepares for a big day.

It is the penultimate episode for the season.  More plotting.  More alliances.  More Wags. 

Original air date 2021.09.26

[aghst]

Axe says they can't give away too generous a deal to Janeane Garofalo playing the pot mogul.

Then he proceeds to do just that, much higher interest rate than any bank is giving and throws in his Architectural Digest country home.

OK, banks have to make a greater return on their capital than whatever interest rates they pay out.

So why does Axe need the bank again?  I thought Axe Capital was so profitable yet he's willing to take bad deals to get all the pot money?

He didn't even wait for the Supreme Court ruling.  Surely his lawyers would have advised him not to take any money until that happened?

It doesn't matter, Axe waives due diligence or uses the fake one from Prince, so he doesn't find for instance that Janeane is mixing in illegal drug money with the legal pot money.  Axe has been portrayed as tiptoeing around the line of what's legal and what's illegal, if not cross over it sometimes.  But in this case, it's more about how easily Bobby is duped, because he's so desperate to make this deal.

Meanwhile, the Chuck and Prince alliance is wiling to at least piss off or throw close relatives under the bus to keep up the ruse so that Axe falls for the trap.  Chuck gives his father one more chance to avoid getting ensnared in Bobby's dubious business dealings but instead, Chuck Sr. demands a bribe from Axe.  

Sacker drops  dime on her own father so that it makes it appear that Chuck had him arrested for some unrelated issue, because the father was going to allow pot commercials on the TV network he controlled, which was part of the deal Axe offered to the pot gangsta.  By getting him arrested, it makes it appear Chuck is trying to stop Axe, which makes him double down on getting the pot money deal..

Prince is going to have his daughters pitch his fake deal to Janeane, knowing all along that it's just bait, not a real deal that they will win.  So after Axe wins the deal, the daughters are whining.  They were whining about having to take his private jet everywhere, because their classmates mocked them for having such privilege.

Meanwhile, Taylor punks Wendy by having Rian go to her to rat on Taylor supposedly trying to make a deal with old Lawrence Boyd.  Wendy doesn't even pause for a second of anguish before breaking doctor-patient confidentiality to run to Axe to rat out Taylor.  So much for their Mason Carbon partnership, Wendy chooses Axe over them, even though Wendy and Axe have only talked about getting together at this point, haven't actually done the deed yet -- they're talking of going to Fiji after he's out of quarantine because there, the water is the same temperature as the air and you can't even feel the water, which begs the question, why go into the water then?

Wendy is willing to pay off Chuck $25 million, accuses Chuck of wanting to get the check in person so that he could gloat.  Then she says, the minute Chuck targeted Bobby 5 years ago, she was "impelled" towards being with Bobby.🙄

Yes Wendy, Chuck drove you to Axe ...  She never once complained in the past 5 years for his prosecutorial decisions, other than the one time he sneaked a peek at her laptop.

 

[janeta]

Well, I just read somewhere that it got renewed for next season, so it will be interesting to see how they get out of this one.

[aghst]

3 minutes ago, janeta said:

Well, I just read somewhere that it got renewed for next season, so it will be interesting to see how they get out of this one.

I don't think they will take the Axe character out of the show and continue.  If he's defeated for good, it's like at the end of the series.

But Damian Lewis lost his wife so maybe he wants out, at least takes some time away from work.  I don't know if that's the case but iit wouldn't be a complete surprise.

[abe froman]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

Axe says they can't give away too generous a deal to Janeane Garofalo playing the pot mogul.

Then he proceeds to do just that, much higher interest rate than any bank is giving and throws in his Architectural Digest country home.

OK, banks have to make a greater return on their capital than whatever interest rates they pay out.

So why does Axe need the bank again?  I thought Axe Capital was so profitable yet he's willing to take bad deals to get all the pot money?

He didn't even wait for the Supreme Court ruling.  Surely his lawyers would have advised him not to take any money until that happened?

It doesn't matter, Axe waives due diligence or uses the fake one from Prince, so he doesn't find for instance that Janeane is mixing in illegal drug money with the legal pot money.  Axe has been portrayed as tiptoeing around the line of what's legal and what's illegal, if not cross over it sometimes.  But in this case, it's more about how easily Bobby is duped, because he's so desperate to make this deal.

Meanwhile, the Chuck and Prince alliance is wiling to at least piss off or throw close relatives under the bus to keep up the ruse so that Axe falls for the trap.  Chuck gives his father one more chance to avoid getting ensnared in Bobby's dubious business dealings but instead, Chuck Sr. demands a bribe from Axe.  

Sacker drops  dime on her own father so that it makes it appear that Chuck had him arrested for some unrelated issue, because the father was going to allow pot commercials on the TV network he controlled, which was part of the deal Axe offered to the pot gangsta.  By getting him arrested, it makes it appear Chuck is trying to stop Axe, which makes him double down on getting the pot money deal..

Prince is going to have his daughters pitch his fake deal to Janeane, knowing all along that it's just bait, not a real deal that they will win.  So after Axe wins the deal, the daughters are whining.  They were whining about having to take his private jet everywhere, because their classmates mocked them for having such privilege.

Meanwhile, Taylor punks Wendy by having Rian go to her to rat on Taylor supposedly trying to make a deal with old Lawrence Boyd.  Wendy doesn't even pause for a second of anguish before breaking doctor-patient confidentiality to run to Axe to rat out Taylor.  So much for their Mason Carbon partnership, Wendy chooses Axe over them, even though Wendy and Axe have only talked about getting together at this point, haven't actually done the deed yet -- they're talking of going to Fiji after he's out of quarantine because there, the water is the same temperature as the air and you can't even feel the water, which begs the question, why go into the water then?

Wendy is willing to pay off Chuck $25 million, accuses Chuck of wanting to get the check in person so that he could gloat.  Then she says, the minute Chuck targeted Bobby 5 years ago, she was "impelled" towards being with Bobby.🙄

Yes Wendy, Chuck drove you to Axe ...  She never once complained in the past 5 years for his prosecutorial decisions, other than the one time he sneaked a peek at her laptop.

 

that was an excellent recap! can't believe it is already the penultimate episode. Wags' revenge was so...Wags!

[txhorns79]

7 hours ago, aghst said:

Prince is going to have his daughters pitch his fake deal to Janeane, knowing all along that it's just bait, not a real deal that they will win.  

In that way, he's just like Axe.  He'll do what he needs to do to get his revenge even if he hurts people he supposedly cares about along the way.   

[aghst]

But the premise is dumb, that he's going to let his young and inexperienced, pampered daughters who are still in college make a big business deal pitch.

Of course he wanted to lose out the deal to Axe.

But he had to make it seem like he really wanted the deal in order to bait in Axe.

So the reaction should have been head scratching.  A deal worths millions and you're going to have a couple of 20 year olds try to convince the CEO of a successful company?

[RealReality]

2 hours ago, janeta said:

Well, I just read somewhere that it got renewed for next season, so it will be interesting to see how they get out of this one.

Really, the writing seems  so godawful that I assumed the show was hobbling towards a finish line.

Wendy is sanctimoniously annoying.   "You can't smoke the cigars yet. Put them out!" 

Her tone, ick.  If axe didn't have a perpetual boner for her she would be clowned as hard as that guy from from SEC.  

I hate this notion that is perpetuated that women have to act as shitty as men to be taken seriously in their space.  

Also, the entire wags storyline is beyond ridiculous.  Wags doesn't even sound like a badness, he sounds like a bad joke. 

I assumed this girl was broke or a government agent.  A young, rich girl fell for wags?  Who talks like a refugee from planet weirdo?

[RealReality]

2 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

In that way, he's just like Axe.  He'll do what he needs to do to get his revenge even if he hurts people he supposedly cares about along the way.   

I agreed with every single thing prince said to his spoiled brats.  

They wanted a chance to fail, and then took an opportunity their father handed to them.  That's not a soft landing?  

And they didn't want it for anything other than not falling behind their classmates?  Why should he have given them anything with really high stakes?

 

They have the luxury of failure, their father did not.  So "dad, it's so hard being rich, please hand me an opportunity to fail!" was ridiculous. 

They basically jumped the line even getting to make a pitch.  

If they want a genuine opportunity to fail they can have it by not including their father.  

[Marley]

I finally get what’s going on kind of but still I don’t get why Axe wants a bank so bad. He’s a billionaire isn’t there something better he can be doing.

Theres too many triple crosses going on lol.

Why would anyone wanna be with Wags. He’s so weird and fucked up. 

Prince’s daughters were annoying as fuck. Wah wah we are so rich and hard done by. We are falling behind but give us some opportunity we don’t deserve. Bad actresses too.

Im still rooting for Axe. I don’t know why but Chuck just annoys the shit out of me. I thought Axe was supposed to be smart tho. He just keeps making stupid mistakes.

[l star]

I missed something. Why is Kate doing a SCOTUS brief?

I continue to enjoy Wendy and Chuck Sr scenes almost as much as I dislike Wendy and Chuck scenes. He used the divorce to keep her off her game. He knew that if she was focused, she would raise red flags. At a minimum she would make Axe think twice. So he pulled all that bullshit with the money and the check. That line about lines drawn, tattooed on was telling. It's always him v. Axe with Wendy the prize in the middle. I wonder if Taylor has told him yet that things are 'different' now with her and Axe. Probably considering what he said about some of her money going to him and the rest of her going to Axe, which was just gross.

"I look forward to being clear of your fucked up family"- finally someone reasonable.

Wendy and Axe were distracting each other. I think Wendy started that call like one of their normal calls, checking where his head was at. But as soon as he mentioned Fiji, away it went. I wonder if he is going to blame her for not catching him. Wags was right- Wendy was holding back. She saw the red flags. If she's not Axe's constant voice fighting his worst impulses, what will she be to him? Will he value her as a girlfriend? Wendy managed to be both for Chuck for a lot of years so I think it is doable. I'm just not sure they can figure it out fast enough to matter when Axe is looking for someone to blame. That shocked stare between them at the end seemed less than promising. There are still those Taylor Mason Carbon shares of hers that he owns that were in the previews too and her insistence that he won't hurt her. Maybe he'll blame Wags for not telling him about Taylor and Laurence Boyd. That was very short sighted.

I don't think Wendy broke confidentiality. That was arguably much more of a report to her boss than session talk which she pointed out to Rian. She also brought it up with Taylor quickly. I thought their talk about trust was telling. Taylor will never trust Wendy because of Axe. Wendy will never trust Taylor because of Axe. As much as I have enjoyed their partnership, I think it has a believably short lifespan.

I continue to enjoy Kate. She's the only sane one on Chuck's side.

[RealReality]

5 hours ago, l star said:

I missed something. Why is Kate doing a SCOTUS brief?

I continue to enjoy Wendy and Chuck Sr scenes almost as much as I dislike Wendy and Chuck scenes. He used the divorce to keep her off her game. He knew that if she was focused, she would raise red flags. At a minimum she would make Axe think twice. So he pulled all that bullshit with the money and the check. That line about lines drawn, tattooed on was telling. It's always him v. Axe with Wendy the prize in the middle. I wonder if Taylor has told him yet that things are 'different' now with her and Axe. Probably considering what he said about some of her money going to him and the rest of her going to Axe, which was just gross.

"I look forward to being clear of your fucked up family"- finally someone reasonable.

Wendy and Axe were distracting each other. I think Wendy started that call like one of their normal calls, checking where his head was at. But as soon as he mentioned Fiji, away it went. I wonder if he is going to blame her for not catching him. Wags was right- Wendy was holding back. She saw the red flags. If she's not Axe's constant voice fighting his worst impulses, what will she be to him? Will he value her as a girlfriend? Wendy managed to be both for Chuck for a lot of years so I think it is doable. I'm just not sure they can figure it out fast enough to matter when Axe is looking for someone to blame. That shocked stare between them at the end seemed less than promising. There are still those Taylor Mason Carbon shares of hers that he owns that were in the previews too and her insistence that he won't hurt her. Maybe he'll blame Wags for not telling him about Taylor and Laurence Boyd. That was very short sighted.

I don't think Wendy broke confidentiality. That was arguably much more of a report to her boss than session talk which she pointed out to Rian. She also brought it up with Taylor quickly. I thought their talk about trust was telling. Taylor will never trust Wendy because of Axe. Wendy will never trust Taylor because of Axe. As much as I have enjoyed their partnership, I think it has a believably short lifespan.

I continue to enjoy Kate. She's the only sane one on Chuck's side.

I find it incredibly hard to believe that wendy is considered such a genius svengali and never once even considered that that woman gho came to her might be setting her up.  

You've never come to my office before, you're dropping this giant turd on me about someone you really don't seem to have a bad relationship with instead of going to them first and you're in THIS industry and have a problem with backstabbing even though you're effectively doing that right now to Taylor.  

The way they write Wendy is just so incompetent sometimes.  

The minute she smirked and was like "well I don't know how I'm telling you" wendy should have at least been curious about whether or not there was an ulterior motive.

Does that look like the sort of woman who wants to answer to Victor and that tool from the SEC?  You don't think she knew that would happen if are found out the information?  

[Diapason Untuned]

14 hours ago, aghst said:

I don't think they will take the Axe character out of the show and continue.  If he's defeated for good, it's like at the end of the series.

But Damian Lewis lost his wife so maybe he wants out, at least takes some time away from work.  I don't know if that's the case but iit wouldn't be a complete surprise.

We've never seen Axe take a really solid loss the way Chuck has, so it would be a good change of pace. Axe on the run would also make it easier on Damian Lewis if he wanted to take some time off from the show.

 

13 hours ago, aghst said:

But the premise is dumb, that he's going to let his young and inexperienced, pampered daughters who are still in college make a big business deal pitch.

Of course he wanted to lose out the deal to Axe.

But he had to make it seem like he really wanted the deal in order to bait in Axe.

So the reaction should have been head scratching.  A deal worths millions and you're going to have a couple of 20 year olds try to convince the CEO of a successful company?

Axe's team literally discussed it. They believed it was all about the optics, no one thought they were actually going to be doing much of anything, just that it was there to make Prince and the cannabis lady look good.

 

9 hours ago, Marley said:

I finally get what’s going on kind of but still I don’t get why Axe wants a bank so bad. He’s a billionaire isn’t there something better he can be doing.

It's pure ego, like everything else with him. 

 

9 hours ago, l star said:

I missed something. Why is Kate doing a SCOTUS brief?

Part of the plan to take down Axe. In order to get Axe to accept FYC's money, they needed the Supreme Court to be more amenable to legal cannabis.

[aghst]

No Axe was busted and he couldn't trade for awhile and then by the end of that season, he was back.

He also got his old clients back, including the firefighters union.

Remember one season ended with Axe having his offices ripped apart looking for a bug that didn't exist.

Of course he was never fully off the shelf.  He still had the snarl, like "gimme back what's mine!" attitude.

[auntiemel]

I hated the characters of Prince's daughters, but I love Gracie Lawrence of the band Lawrence, who played the younger one. So I'm torn. LOL.

[RealReality]

After seasons of being completely turned off by Chuck......and then annoyed with Axe after that little speech he gave at Gordy's school......the show did something right and gave me someone to root for with Mike Prince.  

I've had a crush on that actor since he was on law and order, so I could be biased, but goodness! 

[chick binewski]

On 9/27/2021 at 12:49 AM, RealReality said:

I agreed with every single thing prince said to his spoiled brats.  

They wanted a chance to fail, and then took an opportunity their father handed to them.  That's not a soft landing?  

Ugh. I understood Prince's conflict but holy balls the bratting. 'Daddy I don't want to go to our private hideaway on a French island pleeze drop a fake opportunity in my lap that will give me the unearned feeling of success after coordinating one meeting.' 

On 9/27/2021 at 2:47 AM, Marley said:

I finally get what’s going on kind of but still I don’t get why Axe wants a bank so bad. He’s a billionaire isn’t there something better he can be doing.

I think bailouts and cashflow? And probably a dozen things about federal law that I don't understand?

On 9/27/2021 at 3:15 AM, l star said:

I continue to enjoy Kate. She's the only sane one on Chuck's side.

I do like the way Rashad plays the role. I wish Connerty would come back in some capacity and/or someone who gave her another person to interact with apart from Chuck's directive.

On 9/27/2021 at 8:59 AM, RealReality said:

The way they write Wendy is just so incompetent sometimes.  

In my head Maggie Siff somewhere around the fourth season of this show and SOA stopped understanding what the showrunners were doing with her characters but kept plugging along. She eventually goes dead in the eyes and gives up.

[chocolatine]

On 9/27/2021 at 5:59 AM, RealReality said:

The way they write Wendy is just so incompetent sometimes.  

I feel there's too much telling and too little showing with her. We've been told that she keeps the traders at the top of their game, and that Axe can't function without her, but all I see is a glorified HR lady who says "fuck" a lot.

[l star]

On 9/27/2021 at 7:59 AM, RealReality said:

I find it incredibly hard to believe that wendy is considered such a genius svengali and never once even considered that that woman gho came to her might be setting her up.  

You've never come to my office before, you're dropping this giant turd on me about someone you really don't seem to have a bad relationship with instead of going to them first and you're in THIS industry and have a problem with backstabbing even though you're effectively doing that right now to Taylor.  

The way they write Wendy is just so incompetent sometimes.  

The minute she smirked and was like "well I don't know how I'm telling you" wendy should have at least been curious about whether or not there was an ulterior motive.

Does that look like the sort of woman who wants to answer to Victor and that tool from the SEC?  You don't think she knew that would happen if are found out the information?  

Wendy has been off her game, but I think keeping her distracted is a crucial part of Chuck's clusterfuck of a plan. That's why he keeps screwing with her with the divorce and alimony. Parts of the plan like the dinner party setup are dependent on Wendy being pissed and upset enough about the money demand that she doesn't see the actual moves taking place. He forced a wedge between her and Taylor keeping her out of that part of the plan. He pulled her out of the office on the big day to go back to their old house and hand him a check in person.

If Wendy is focused and on her game, there's no way this cannabis scheme gets this far. She would be making Axe second guess and questioning the rush and revenge motivation. Instead, she's close enough to see a few red flags but too distracted to follow the whole plan and see the setup. The fact that she's further distracted by Axe declaring feelings for her is just luck for Chuck.

[aghst]

Or Chuck doesn't have to distract Wendy because her value to Axe Capital is overrated, mainly by one person.

 

If she starts sleeping with Axe, the employees are going to be highly resentful, like she slept her way to the top.  Even if it's not true, it's only human nature and the misogyny of the culture to accuse of doing so.

In fact, if they're being consistent, there would already be a lot of resentment against her in the office by all those trader bros.  Does that culture look like a place which would be accepting of a woman earning an 8-figure compensation without making a single trade or cutting a single deal?

 

 

[l star]

I don’t think anyone is going to be resentful of Wendy. If there’s one thing that this show has established over and over, it is that in the world of Billions, Wendy and her work are valued and respected. 

Two questions:

Wendy said in her conversation with Chuck that he had done everything to impel her towards Axe and his actions wouldn’t make sense unless you knew him. Is she saying that Chuck’s end goal was always her with Axe? Or that it was always going to be the result of his actions? I couldn’t tell if she was saying he should have known or what. 

Hall, Wags and Hard Bob told Axe to just say the word and they would get things started. Last time the plan was to run; Lara got out all the money and gold. Everyone knew it was the immediate action plan. So why does he not know what to do? From the looks between them, is he not running because of Wendy?

[Joimiaroxeu]

So was Chuck Sr in on it too? How far back? Did they work Axe for the kidney?

Zales in a pushup bra. Pigeon blood ruby.

Who walks around with a $25M check in their bag? Why would anyone even do a transaction with a check that absurdly big? How would you deposit it?

I dunno about Chuck convincing Prince to deploy his kids in the scheme to take down Axe. That's never going to sit right with him.

Tom Hagen. Now there's a reference. One of the few I actually got.

Man, Taylor has ice water in their veins. The way they sat still for that Axe cabal confronting her was amazing. They seriously, seriously wanted to take down Axe, even at the cost of the boys club all but spitting on her.

Oh damn! Wags, no! Come on, surely that girl is playing him now. He basically treated her like a prostitute. A very expensive one but still...

They practiced their pitch all night! Gah, Daddy Prince!

The chickens. They've come home to roost finally? (I haven't watched the season finale yet.)

Edited October 4, 2021 by Joimiaroxeu