S06.E11: Mike Money

[luckyroll3]

Quote

Prince's plan is put in jeopardy when Chuck unleashes a new kind of attack. Meanwhile, a discovery sets off chaos at Michael Prince Capital. Prince makes an announcement that pushes the tension between Philip and Taylor to the boiling point.

Original Airdate: 2022.04.03

[paigow]

Prince has seen Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome too many times. 

[aghst]

So $16-17 billion isn't even that much compared to what Musk, Bezos and Gates are worth.  Or Buffet or a half dozen other billionaires.

Hell it may not even be the biggest wallet in Manhattan.  That street where they parked the truck is full of homes well into 8 figures.  So why would they care

Wendy writes a draft of a tell-all book and the great psychiatrist and motivator of high-earners the she is, she's surprised at the negative reaction from the old Axe Cap employees?  (I thought Bonnie quit to join Dolla Bill and Maffee)

First of all, wouldn't that be a violation of doctor-patient confidentiality -- I thought she had a medical license.  Second, there were likely NDAs she signed with Prince.  Maybe Axe didn't make her sign an NDA though.

She was a cheerleader all those years for what they did at Axe and now she wants to unburden herself?

Even though she pulls it, those employees will never trust her again, so she's kind of worthless now to the firm.

So Prince is going to ride to the candidacy for the WH on a UBI scheme?  Hardly original.  Plus none of the investor class would ever support it.  Now maybe he'll get some votes but what else does he have beyond the gimmick?  It would get him noticed, otherwise he was just another billionaire with no public service background.

Will an outsider billionaire get not just the backing of voters but Congress to do the things he wants to do?  Not likely.

Good plan to tell off the Chinese and have the story leaked.  He probably sent Wags to China to set up the deal in the first place, without Wags realizing it.  Makes him look good, especially now.

However, funding the UBI pilot program himself makes it look like he's literally buying votes.

Philip and Taylor are so preoccupied with becoming the next chief that they don't see the obvious.  Chuck doesn't see it either until the episode is almost done.  You'd think Wendy would have realized it, especially after their convo in the previous episodes where he's talking about being once in a thousand years great man.

Chuck's reaction, that Prince must be stopped, is ridiculous as usual.  In the early seasons, that's how Chuck  and his father saw his path, governorship and then running for the WH.  So that's a crime by Prince, having great ambition?

He should have locked up most of NYC then.

[paigow]

Launching Universal Income in the Rust Belt would be a better play... Even though he has not laid off anybody at those money losing operations, his Indiana roots are more marketable as a candidate... 

[paigow]

1 hour ago, aghst said:

However, funding the UBI pilot program himself makes it look like he's literally buying votes.

So that's a crime by Prince, having great ambition?

Yes. The difference is buying votes from the populace instead of secret backroom deals and coercion like Chuck would have done

[Broderbits]

The Buddhist enclave Wendy visits must be one of those decoy places strictly for the wealthy; otherwise why would her "Teacher" accept all the lies, fawning and false humility. Wendy obviously believes her intelligence is so far beyond everyone else's that she can get away with this behavior and suffer no consequences.

[SnapHappy]

I LIKE MIKE!  And he can buy my vote anytime.  I'm assuming the content of his oblique conversation with Andy was actually "Can I run?  Sure honey, that's fine".   It's a fun storyline.  I like the way he smacked down the Chinese, though I felt bad for poor Wags.  

I'm glad Wendy literally burned her book.  Presumably for her, she learned what she needed to learn.  

Scooter as Chief of Staff, right?  

I'm thinking Dave is going to get her engraved invitation to be his VP running mate very soon.  Now THAT would make Chuck's head explode!

[aghst]

3 hours ago, Broderbits said:

The Buddhist enclave Wendy visits must be one of those decoy places strictly for the wealthy; otherwise why would her "Teacher" accept all the lies, fawning and false humility. Wendy obviously believes her intelligence is so far beyond everyone else's that she can get away with this behavior and suffer no consequences.

Looked like Wendy and the monk was about to get it on.

[dwmarch]

18 minutes ago, SnapHappy said:

I LIKE MIKE!  And he can buy my vote anytime.  I'm assuming the content of his oblique conversation with Andy was actually "Can I run?  Sure honey, that's fine".   It's a fun storyline.  I like the way he smacked down the Chinese, though I felt bad for poor Wags.  

I'm glad Wendy literally burned her book.  Presumably for her, she learned what she needed to learn. 

Prince's conversation with Andy was about whether or not she was ready to play the role of dutiful wife. She mentions something about him engaging in embarrassing behavior by which she means his apparent proclivity for sleeping around. He informs her that since she wasn't available for last week's booty call that ship has already sailed. (As an aside, would that kind of thing be all that embarrassing in light of Chuck ever so helpfully moving the Overton window with his public BDSM admission? Smooth move Chuck!)

I am not sure if Prince's attitude towards China aligns with his previous position where a Chinese company was lined up to build his fancy subway cars. I'm of the impression that Chinese industry and government go hand in hand.

I think Wendy did indeed learn what she needed to. I thought that was some nice character development for her. Having said that I hope she didn't pay too much to that guru for advice that amounted to "write it all down and then burn it" because I swear I've seen that shit in Facebook memes that I got for free.

Good soapy episode. The only thing that didn't really work for me was Dave joining Chuck in tilting at windmills simply because of an animated billboard parked in front of Prince's condo. A small crowd was staring at it. But NYC has a population of several million so I would bet that at any given moment you can find a small crowd of people staring at anything and everything. Hardly means the revolution is coming.

[paigow]

4 hours ago, Broderbits said:

The Buddhist enclave Wendy visits must be one of those decoy places strictly for the wealthy;

Maybe it is a version of Shutter Island and the monk is an actor...

[Joimiaroxeu]

Chuck's office looks like a 70s flashback, and not in a good way. Was that secretary actually using an IBM Selectric? (On reddit they called it the set from Mad Men. 🥳)

Mike Money. Let them eat scones, huh, Prince?

Wonder how much the Chivas Brothers paid for that Chivas Regal 25 product placement? Maybe Kate put a bug in the label or something, ha ha.

Mother Husker. Who says that? Ugh, Prince performs earnestness.

Wow, such an amazing amount of shade thrown over fake milk. Taylor and Philip are both too precious with their virtue-signaling IMO. (I'm almost ready to take bets on those two having a drunken ONS.)

Are Dave and Chuck still working together against Prince? I didn't understand why she called Chuck as soon as Prince left her office.

A few weeks ago Prince handed out brand new Nike shoes to the staff. But now he claims he has a problem doing business with the Chinese because of child labor? Boy, bye. 🙄

So the spumors were true, Prince is running for POTUS. "I Like Mike"? Yeah, and I like vomit.

A better choice for the end credits song might've been Born to Run but maybe it was too costly to get the rights. And maybe it would've been too on-the-nose.

Countdown until Prince is getting #metoo'd when all the flings like Rian come out of the woodwork. I think his affected squeaky clean persona will have a hard time flying above it, even with his open marriage wife by his side.

[SnapHappy]

I can't believe Prince's electronics guru doesn't have some sort of super secret narrow-beam EMP he can aim at that net worth ticker truck to short out the signal.  He's got a dude to put gold things on his LP turntable, for crap's sake!  How can he not have a satellite or something to take it out?  

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by SnapHappy

[aghst]

Yeah no more said about the one-nighter on this episode.  Will it surface again?

Here's the thing though, why are they talking succession when he won't run until 2028?  The earliest he'd start campaigning, going to Iowa and stuff, would be in 2026.

Oh gawd, they plan to be around another 4 seasons at least!

[Broderbits]

2 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

I'm glad Wendy literally burned her book.

That scene reminded me of "The Group" (book and movie) where drunk Harald makes a big show of tossing his play down the trash chute and his wife reminds everyone that his agent has at least 2 copies. And Wendy's guru reminds me of Axe's shaman: I don't believe someone who advertises as a shaman is a real one.

[paigow]

All the trading computers are likely full of components made in China... Cellphones, tablets, all the DJ equipment used by Questlove....

1 hour ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

A few weeks ago Prince handed out brand new Nike shoes to the staff. But now he claims he has a problem doing business with the Chinese because of child labor? Boy, bye.

 

[Bluesky]

3 hours ago, SnapHappy said:

I'm glad Wendy literally burned her book.  Presumably for her, she learned what she needed to learn.  

Because she didn’t pass out dozens of copied and her publisher doesn’t have one along with who knows.  She had a medical license but was nothing but a scam. 
 

Prince doesn’t have the personality to run for president.   Boring 

[Starchild]

A couple of meta observations:

• Wendy's storyline had her acting significantly out of character. Since when is she so unsure of herself? That came out of nowhere. And burning the book had to be symbolic. It's not like she doesn't have digital copies with cloud backups FFS.
• It was kind of pathetic to watch that last scene where everyone slowly comes to a conclusion that the audience had already come to weeks ago. What a waste of an opportunity for a twist.

[Bubbles1967]

By the title of her book Wendy sure thinks highly of herself. “How I train killers”. She also thought she should head up some type of committee for Olympics using her skills to make winning teams( or something like that.

I can’t pinpoint it but I just don’t like her.

[chick binewski]

On 4/3/2022 at 6:54 PM, dwmarch said:

Prince's conversation with Andy was about whether or not she was ready to play the role of dutiful wife. She mentions something about him engaging in embarrassing behavior by which she means his apparent proclivity for sleeping around. He informs her that since she wasn't available for last week's booty call that ship has already sailed.

The writing is so dry especially during the more 'personal' scenes that I'm sure I miss a lot but my take has been (since the scene where Prince went to Andy's hotel room with some esoteric food product that he private jetted in and she told him she had other plans) that Andy has her own booty call list. Mike's statement that 'we don't embarrass each other' made me think he was aware.

Idk. Andy is ready to be devoted to Mike if he gets the Olympics but she'll only act devoted if he runs for president? They're both individually boring so I don't care if they get together for any reason. At least Malin Akerman was pissed off all the time.

7 hours ago, Bubbles1967 said:

By the title of her book Wendy sure thinks highly of herself. “How I train killers”. She also thought she should head up some type of committee for Olympics using her skills to make winning teams( or something like that.

I can’t pinpoint it but I just don’t like her.

I've never been a Wendy fan but I feel like the writers stopped knowing what to do with her a few seasons ago.

[paigow]

46 minutes ago, chick binewski said:

Andy has her own booty call list.

She surrounds herself with hot, ripped people of both genders in high adrenaline environments... the list is long....

[l star]

No, Dave, no! Hold onto your sanity! I hated so much that she went back to Chuck. He’s hit that point where even an occasional good point gets lost in the crazy. 

They should have made Prince one of those mega billionaires if they wanted this much hand wringing about his wealth. The truck was a novelty but hardly shocking. 

On 4/3/2022 at 5:10 PM, SnapHappy said:

I'm glad Wendy literally burned her book.  Presumably for her, she learned what she needed to learn.  

I found it very disappointing that this all ended up with Prince teaching Wendy a lesson so she burns the book. At no point was anyone worried about the book but the traders. It had zero impact. My only hope is that all the copies come back to bite Prince’s casual attitude. If it’s that revelatory, surely it would cause him trouble in an election. 

On 4/3/2022 at 7:05 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Countdown until Prince is getting #metoo'd when all the flings like Rian come out of the woodwork. I think his affected squeaky clean persona will have a hard time flying above it, even with his open marriage wife by his side.

Sleeping with Rian just seems so reckless. And now he apparently has a string of these one night stands? That’s a lot to bury even if he says he and Andy were separated. Speaking of, no wonder she was so noncommittal to their reunion. Their relationship really is shockingly shallow but they’ve apparently been together for 20+ years? Why? All in preparation for his run? I don’t see why Andy, with her own very involved, successful career would hang around for that. She clearly has no interest in the marriage. Even his commitment is contingent on her jumping to his whims. I haven’t even seen enough shared values or goals for it be a marriage for show. They just seem like two wildly different people with entirely different priorities stuck together. She didn’t even stick around for breakfast. 

On 4/3/2022 at 9:23 PM, Starchild said:

A couple of meta observations:

• Wendy's storyline had her acting significantly out of character. Since when is she so unsure of herself? That came out of nowhere. And burning the book had to be symbolic. It's not like she doesn't have digital copies with cloud backups FFS.
• It was kind of pathetic to watch that last scene where everyone slowly comes to a conclusion that the audience had already come to weeks ago. What a waste of an opportunity for a twist.

This. Why was she shocked that she would get negative reactions? Since when does she let nasty looks phase her? I understand that her two scenes this season have been about processing everything that happened and her part in it. I even get why she wanted to write the book. She knew exactly who Axe was and her place in his world. Prince is a massive change even ignoring that she hates him. That would take adjustment. None of that explains the weird behavior though. She has a better read of people than this showed, and she knows all these people, well. She even knew people would be unhappy- that’s the whole reason she passed out copies. She should have had reactions prepared to deal with each trader and their individual issue. Not the nervous, guilty fluttering she showed. 

I was hoping the presidency speculation was wrong simply because I don’t want it. And it was SO obvious. The only thing that isn’t obvious is why Prince wants to run. The presidency would be very restrictive for a man like Prince. 

Edited April 5, 2022 by l star

[paigow]

8 hours ago, l star said:

The presidency would be very restrictive for a man like Prince. 

He can appoint his daughters Joint Secretaries Of Strategic Cannabis Reserves

[AntFTW]

On 4/3/2022 at 12:56 PM, aghst said:

So $16-17 billion isn't even that much compared to what Musk, Bezos and Gates are worth.  Or Buffet or a half dozen other billionaires.

Half dozen in front of him and 7 billion behind him.

[paigow]

On 4/7/2022 at 12:33 PM, Pop Tart said:

Chuck's dislike for Axe was organic and realistic - Axe did gray/illegal things all the time plus Chuck was jealous of Wendy's relationship with Axe. Makes all kind of sense. This with Prince? Nope.

Prince betrayed Chuck by letting Axe escape. Sure, there are more egregious offenders- but Prince made himself into the consolation prize by helping Axe. 

[aghst]

Doesn't mean Chuck gets to use his office to persecute, not prosecute, Prince or anyone else he doesn't like.

[paigow]

4 hours ago, aghst said:

Doesn't mean Chuck gets to use his office to persecute, not prosecute, Prince or anyone else he doesn't like.

Technically, Prince aided and abetted escape of a wanted felon. Chuck has no proof, but Prince ended up with Axe Cap... Chuck is overzealous but has a thread of probable cause.

Ben Stone frequently threatened to ruin the reputation of white collar / arrogant suspects when he could not prove Murder 1 or 2 so they would accept Manslaughter 1.

Chuck is not plea bargaining. He skipped ahead to scorched earth.

[Nathuli]

On 4/4/2022 at 4:18 AM, aghst said:

Looked like Wendy and the monk was about to get it on.

Yea, she seems capable enough to corrupt anyone to feel good in the moment and "regret" later. 

[AAEBoiler]

Finally binging this whole season. As with everyone, there's isn't a likable person in the bunch and the dialogue with endless, pithy quotes and pop culture references is not how real people talk. One thing I noticed is the endless stream of semi-obscure professional wrestling references (e.g. Ken Patera, Dusty Rhodes, George "The Animal: Steele, etc.). I refuse to believe that these hedge funders are that well versed in '80's and '90's wrestlers. - that's 30-40 years ago!!! Damn, now I just made myself sad that I'm old enough to know those references.

[Ottis]

On 4/3/2022 at 6:10 PM, SnapHappy said:

I LIKE MIKE!  And he can buy my vote anytime. 

As long as you are OK with him occasionally taking your stuff and sleeping with your spouse/daughter(s), that works. Because Mike is all about a facade to get what he wants, which is power over everyone and everything - that he is compelled to demonstrate, at the cost of others.

On 4/5/2022 at 3:37 AM, l star said:

This. Why was she shocked that she would get negative reactions? Since when does she let nasty looks phase her? I understand that her two scenes this season have been about processing everything that happened and her part in it. I even get why she wanted to write the book. She knew exactly who Axe was and her place in his world. Prince is a massive change even ignoring that she hates him. That would take adjustment. None of that explains the weird behavior though. She has a better read of people than this showed, and she knows all these people, well. She even knew people would be unhappy- that’s the whole reason she passed out copies. She should have had reactions prepared to deal with each trader and their individual issue. Not the nervous, guilty fluttering she showed.

I think the point of all this is that Wendy doesn't even know herself. She is supposed to be an expert at motivating others. She could manipulate Axe. Mike is different. She has met someone more manipulative than she is. And so she is lost, and once you are lost, you don't do things you used to do without a thought.

That said, it's all ridiculous. If she had somehow grown a conscience after seeing who Mike really is, had her eyes finally opened, and the show gave us more realistic examples of how these trading practices hurt other people, then she could have written the book to expose him or shady practices. Maybe, maybe, it could work. Instead, she sees it as self-therapy and an attempt at stardom. So she is like the rest of them.