S03.E01: Tie Goes to the Runner

[PrincessPurrsALot]

The new season starts 3/25/2018. 

[scrb]

Can't wait.

Have to wonder how well this series is doing ratings-wise.  Could whatever success Billions has had motivated HBO to produce their forthcoming Succession?

I hear Wall Street watches Billions and that is probably a demographic that HBO targets.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

Chuck gets a mandate from a new boss; Axe braves a difficult choice following his indictment; Taylor generates a monster strategy; Lara threatens to pull her money from Axe Capital; Sacker strives to prove herself.

Promo:

 

Sneak peek:

Edited March 19, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[scrb]

Season 3 premier is already up on Showtime Anytime.

[riverheightsnancy]

God, I love Taylor so much.  They make the show for me. 

[scrb]

Season 3 begins with Axe seemingly at his lowest point, but not necessarily for the reasons one would think based on the way season 2 ended.

 

His assets have been frozen by Oliver Dake so Axe and his firm are isolated from the action.  Bobby is brooding in his new penthouse bachelor pad in Manhattan while the traders at Axe Capital are antsy because they don’t have assets to trade.

 

Meanwhile the Ice Juice case doesn’t seem such a slam dunk and Chuck’s role in luring Axe into sabotage could be the loose thread that unravels his world — which Axe promised he’d find.  

 

OK, why would this case be weak?  The FBI has video of the fakers in the act of committing fraud and every one of those fakers can easily be linked directly to Bobby, who actually arranged the fraud, instead of having any kind of plausible deniability.  You can’t ask for the better smoking gun than that.

 

And I would think this is a criminal case as well as securities fraud, as Connerty laid it out to Axe’s lawyer.  If they didn’t have a very strong case, the new Attorney General wouldn’t be backing it nor would Dake have been able to freeze Bobby’s money.  So they really don’t have to negotiate for Bobby to give up his trading license at all.  They should be able to revoke it, though in real life Steve Cohen had to give up trading clients money for several years — but I don’t think Cohen was involved in a scheme to sabotage a drink in order to make money off it.

 

Now Chuck doesn’t want it to be known that he lured Axe by risking his money, his father’s money and Ira’s money.  But Axe knows that’s what Chuck did so he could easily tell everyone, which wouldn’t look good for Chuck to be embroiled in any way with this case, as he looks to make his political run.  The previews show Axe trying to talk Ira into revealing Chuck’s role.  But Chuck has plausible deniability.  His father promised to say that he took Chuck’s money, without Chuck’s knowledge.  Even if Ira or pops rats him out, there’s really no evidence other than his word against theirs.  They would both have to testify against Chuck to have credibility.

 

Seems they’re going to spend at least a big part of this season to see if the case unravels or not.  Even if Chuck did lure him, as he said there’s a difference between baiting Axe into what he did and entrapment.  Chuck had no way to know exactly how Bobby would try to sabotage the Ice Juice IPO.  Again, Axe committed criminal acts as well as securities fraud.

 

I guess they can’t exactly have Axe neutered for any length of time or the show won’t have this big rivalry to drive the narrative.  They’re going to say Taylor is in charge but Bobby is kind of involved behind the scenes, even though he isn’t suppose to be.  That would pretty much be the same thing as letting him get away with the crimes.  Steve Cohen’s firm couldn’t trade client’s assets for several years and they’ve just started again, with a re-branding.

 

As for Taylor’s supposed slam-dunk idea with IoT silicon, I’m skeptical.  While  products like the Alexa-enabled home automation products may sound cool, the most common things people do with Alexa or Google or Siri is to play certain music, check weather and set timers.  People are buying things like Hue speakers and Nest thermostats but it isn’t yet a huge market.  It is still a sliver compared to phones.  And on the other end, IoT devices are already somewhat commoditized, especially things like cheap security cams which the Chinese have flooded the market with.  And these things have more impact by being taken over and used in botnets.

 

In any event, it’s highly doubtful that a $20-30 Wifi-connected power outlet have the same silicon as what’s used in a Nest or smart door locks or the example they gave of a smart washing or drying machine.  

 

They bring back the dominatrix because Chuck can’t sleep.  I thought he wasn’t going to go because it would be risky when he runs for office.  The dominatrix had her laptop stolen last season as well.  Well it turns out Chuck has cuckhold fantasies of other men fucking Wendy?  Come on, they should have dropped this bit of weirdness about Chuck’s personality.  By now, the powerful men like to get dominated and humiliated has become a tired trope.

[PBSLover]

I have such a stupid question: Why is Axe Capital now in Manhattan?

Good episode. I need to watch again as the actors speak quickly and the dialogue is heavy with pithy quotes and euphemisms. I agree with @scrb that the dominatrix storyline is wearing a bit thin. 

[jvr]

Good start to the season. I'm happy that it appears Axe is going to be single(?) or more apt separated this season. I'd like to see how that changes things without Lara and the kids for him to go home to. Personally I think Lara is a bad influence (stupid ideas + the power to convince Axe to consider them) but the kids might make him think twice about being extra crazy.

Quote

They bring back the dominatrix because Chuck can’t sleep.  I thought he wasn’t going to go because it would be risky when he runs for office.  The dominatrix had her laptop stolen last season as well.  Well it turns out Chuck has cuckhold fantasies of other men fucking Wendy?  Come on, they should have dropped this bit of weirdness about Chuck’s personality.  By now, the powerful men like to get dominated and humiliated has become a tired trope.

I though the whole governor thing was his fathers dream for him and since his father has basically written him off I could see him not giving a fuck but it appears he is still pursuing it. They could just be more cautious with the dom lady, just have her write them in her books under an alias or not at all. It is a risk though.

Also, do we know if Wendy requires this play as part of their sexual relationship or it's just Chuck and she does it for his emotional well-being? I might have missed this being spelled out before but I think she enjoys the scene but doesn't need it while Chuck needs it. I do wonder if they ever have 'regular' sex. No costumes, whips, role play or safe words. Even without these elaborate scenes they put on there is always an element of power/roles in any sexual act but I wonder if Chuck and/or Wendy have to have it like this all the time. I might be forgetting some vanilla sex at some point between them. We saw Wendy have non play sex with poor man's Elon Musk but she appeared disappointed. His game might have been weak sauce or it was supposed to convey that sleeping with him hadn't changed anything (in a good or bad way).

I don't have a problem with them continuing this storyline that has existed since the first moment of episode 1 season 1 and has been interwoven throughout each season. And adding this element of him enjoying thinking about Wendy with other men isn't far fetched. Was he angry when he found out last season she had slept with that dude? From what I recall he didn't have much of a (negative) reaction and still seemed determined to get back together, his main concern still seemed to be making sure their marriage didn't end completely.

I'm looking forward to Taylor crashing and burning. It's coming. I have a feeling somehow they will be the fall guy (person). Unless they see it coming and destroy some asses on their way to world domination.

 

Quote

I have such a stupid question: Why is Axe Capital now in Manhattan?

Hmmm, I hadn't noticed this...I thought they were still where they always were (CT?)... but you are right that all the office scenes near windows showed a Manhattan looking skyline (edited: And I thought someone mentioned it, Dollar Bill complains about coming into the new swanky manhattan office). Maybe Axe moved everyone closer to his bachelor pad. Or it's all for show, a power play to make them still seem like players.

Edited March 26, 2018 by jvr

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Showtime has posted the first episode on their Youtube channel:

[27bored]

Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis deserve a lot of credit for the acting on this show. 

I hope they don’t oversell the “Chuck screwed over his friend and father to get Axe” story or undersell the “Axe committed some serious crimes in order to screw Chuck” story. 

I can see why what Chuck did is wrong, but only in the sense that he messed with other people close to him to get his white whale. I can even see why his behavior would cost him his job. But...let’s not get too carried away. Axe fucked himself big time, and tanked an IPO just to get Chuck. One news story about how he did that and it’s a wrap for Axe. That Chuck lured him into doing it is just icing on the cake. As far as the morality play goes, I can’t see too many people feeling sorry for a Billionaire in any context— but especially not something like this. Axe isn’t a victim at all; he’s just a sucker who got licked. 

Edited March 26, 2018 by 27bored

[missyb]

4 hours ago, 27bored said:

Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis deserve a lot of credit for the acting on this show. 

I hope they don’t oversell the “Chuck screwed over his friend and father to get Axe” story or undersell the “Axe committed some serious crimes in order to screw Chuck” story. 

I can see why what Chuck did is wrong, but only in the sense that he messed with other people close to him to get his white whale. I can even see why his behavior would cost him his job. But...let’s not get too carried away. Axe fucked himself big time, and tanked an IPO just to get Chuck. One news story about how he did that and it’s a wrap for Axe. That Chuck lured him into doing it is just icing on the cake. As far as the morality play goes, I can’t see too many people feeling sorry for a Billionaire in any context— but especially not something like this. Axe isn’t a victim at all; he’s just a sucker who got licked. 

 

Clarification needed. The big backer "black jack" had a piece of paper saying Charles used /stole other peoples money for the IPO. Wasn't it junior who did that and that is what he is trying to cover up ? Plus Wendy's shorting big?

Also, I enjoyed Wendys larger role and seemingly more upbeat demeanor in this season premier . I liked episode one.

Edited March 26, 2018 by missyb

[wilnil]

1 hour ago, missyb said:

Clarification needed. The big backer "black jack" had a piece of paper saying Charles used /stole other peoples money for the IPO. Wasn't it junior who did that and that is what he is trying to cover up ? Plus Wendy's shorting big?

Charles Sr. used the money in Chuck's blind trust, which he oversaw. Chuck is not supposed to have any say over how that money is invested, but of course he did in this case. IIRC, Senior signed an affidavit asserting that it was his idea alone to  invest everything in Ice Juice, so he can't turn around now and say he did it with Chuck's knowledge or collusion, which would be illegal for Chuck. But Ira also knows Chuck was an active participant, and the only thing stopping him from ratting Chuck out is that he promised he wouldn't.

Wendy participating in the short sell is also illegal if anyone can prove she knew what Axe was doing; her being an employee of Axe Capital is at least enough to make her a suspect. Thus Chuck cutting the favor-for-a-favor deal with Dake to keep her from being investigated.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Are there no big-league female hedge fund managers? I guess Taylor is now slotted in but they're basically Axe's stalking horse, or teaser if you apply the AG's tortured metaphor as he explained it to Chuck.

Ditto comments upthread, I could do without the BDSM stuff now. How is that going to work if Chuck is running for governor? Isn't there still a threat of it getting out and wrecking his campaign?

[missyb]

13 minutes ago, wilnil said:

Charles Sr. used the money in Chuck's blind trust, which he oversaw. Chuck is not supposed to have any say over how that money is invested, but of course he did in this case. IIRC, Senior signed an affidavit asserting that it was his idea alone to  invest everything in Ice Juice, so he can't turn around now and say he did it with Chuck's knowledge or collusion, which would be illegal for Chuck. But Ira also knows Chuck was an active participant, and the only thing stopping him from ratting Chuck out is that he promised he wouldn't.

Wendy participating in the short sell is also illegal if anyone can prove she knew what Axe was doing; her being an employee of Axe Capital is at least enough to make her a suspect. Thus Chuck cutting the favor-for-a-favor deal with Dake to keep her from being investigated.

Thank you thank you ! I forgot about that the blind trust was used.

 

3 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Are there no big-league female hedge fund managers? I guess Taylor is now slotted in but they're basically Axe's stalking horse, or teaser if you apply the AG's tortured metaphor as he explained it to Chuck.

Ditto comments upthread, I could do without the BDSM stuff now. How is that going to work if Chuck is running for governor? Isn't there still a threat of it getting out and wrecking his campaign?

Wasn't there a female  run fund that Wendy interviewed with ? Eames from Criminal Intent was the head honcho.

[PBSLover]

2 minutes ago, missyb said:

Wasn't there a female  run fund that Wendy interviewed with ? Eames from Criminal Intent was the head honcho.

You are correct!

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Wasn't there a female  run fund that Wendy interviewed with ? Eames from Criminal Intent was the head honcho.

Yes, now I remember. Wonder why someone from that firm wasn't invited to Axe's hedge fund prom? I was struck by how there were only men at the table until Taylor arrived.

[scrb]

36 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Are there no big-league female hedge fund managers? I guess Taylor is now slotted in but they're basically Axe's stalking horse, or teaser if you apply the AG's tortured metaphor as he explained it to Chuck.

Ditto comments upthread, I could do without the BDSM stuff now. How is that going to work if Chuck is running for governor? Isn't there still a threat of it getting out and wrecking his campaign?

I'd forgotten about that colorful story told by the new AG, Clancy Brown.

Yeah Chuck is suppose to be the teaser, who gets the mare excited and then gets pulled out of the pen for the stallion to come in and finish the job.

Bet the writers are proud of that monologue.  But to me it's too obvious, the way they tell the viewers what Chuck is, rather than showing what his role will be, as far as the Axe prosecution goes.

 

Of course Bryan will find out about Chuck's role.

[khyber]

The Treasury Secretary actor looks a bit like Mnuchin.

[Mileman]

On 3/26/2018 at 12:49 AM, scrb said:

Season 3 begins with Axe seemingly at his lowest point, but not necessarily for the reasons one would think based on the way season 2 ended.

 

His assets have been frozen by Oliver Dake so Axe and his firm are isolated from the action.  Bobby is brooding in his new penthouse bachelor pad in Manhattan while the traders at Axe Capital are antsy because they don’t have assets to trade.

 

Meanwhile the Ice Juice case doesn’t seem such a slam dunk and Chuck’s role in luring Axe into sabotage could be the loose thread that unravels his world — which Axe promised he’d find.  

 

OK, why would this case be weak?  The FBI has video of the fakers in the act of committing fraud and every one of those fakers can easily be linked directly to Bobby, who actually arranged the fraud, instead of having any kind of plausible deniability.  You can’t ask for the better smoking gun than that.

 

And I would think this is a criminal case as well as securities fraud, as Connerty laid it out to Axe’s lawyer.  If they didn’t have a very strong case, the new Attorney General wouldn’t be backing it nor would Dake have been able to freeze Bobby’s money.  So they really don’t have to negotiate for Bobby to give up his trading license at all.  They should be able to revoke it, though in real life Steve Cohen had to give up trading clients money for several years — but I don’t think Cohen was involved in a scheme to sabotage a drink in order to make money off it.

 

Now Chuck doesn’t want it to be known that he lured Axe by risking his money, his father’s money and Ira’s money.  But Axe knows that’s what Chuck did so he could easily tell everyone, which wouldn’t look good for Chuck to be embroiled in any way with this case, as he looks to make his political run.  The previews show Axe trying to talk Ira into revealing Chuck’s role.  But Chuck has plausible deniability.  His father promised to say that he took Chuck’s money, without Chuck’s knowledge.  Even if Ira or pops rats him out, there’s really no evidence other than his word against theirs.  They would both have to testify against Chuck to have credibility.

 

Seems they’re going to spend at least a big part of this season to see if the case unravels or not.  Even if Chuck did lure him, as he said there’s a difference between baiting Axe into what he did and entrapment.  Chuck had no way to know exactly how Bobby would try to sabotage the Ice Juice IPO.  Again, Axe committed criminal acts as well as securities fraud.

 

I guess they can’t exactly have Axe neutered for any length of time or the show won’t have this big rivalry to drive the narrative.  They’re going to say Taylor is in charge but Bobby is kind of involved behind the scenes, even though he isn’t suppose to be.  That would pretty much be the same thing as letting him get away with the crimes.  Steve Cohen’s firm couldn’t trade client’s assets for several years and they’ve just started again, with a re-branding.

 

As for Taylor’s supposed slam-dunk idea with IoT silicon, I’m skeptical.  While  products like the Alexa-enabled home automation products may sound cool, the most common things people do with Alexa or Google or Siri is to play certain music, check weather and set timers.  People are buying things like Hue speakers and Nest thermostats but it isn’t yet a huge market.  It is still a sliver compared to phones.  And on the other end, IoT devices are already somewhat commoditized, especially things like cheap security cams which the Chinese have flooded the market with.  And these things have more impact by being taken over and used in botnets.

 

In any event, it’s highly doubtful that a $20-30 Wifi-connected power outlet have the same silicon as what’s used in a Nest or smart door locks or the example they gave of a smart washing or drying machine.  

 

They bring back the dominatrix because Chuck can’t sleep.  I thought he wasn’t going to go because it would be risky when he runs for office.  The dominatrix had her laptop stolen last season as well.  Well it turns out Chuck has cuckhold fantasies of other men fucking Wendy?  Come on, they should have dropped this bit of weirdness about Chuck’s personality.  By now, the powerful men like to get dominated and humiliated has become a tired trope.

Chuck was the one behind the laptop being stolen on the process of being vetted by BJ Foley for the governor race.

I have to say the line about Bruce Lee movies and Birch knowing Karate was one of my favorite lines of any show ever.

[TV Diva Queen]

On 3/26/2018 at 1:06 AM, PBSLover said:

I have such a stupid question: Why is Axe Capital now in Manhattan?

Good episode. I need to watch again as the actors speak quickly and the dialogue is heavy with pithy quotes and euphemisms. I agree with @scrb that the dominatrix storyline is wearing a bit thin. 

Didn't' Axe destroy the one in CT while looking for electronic bugs?

[Dminches]

4 hours ago, TV Diva Queen said:

Didn't' Axe destroy the one in CT while looking for electronic bugs?

That was at the end of season 1.

[janeta]

I thought Chuck's thing with the dom was trying to get something out of Wendy about her one night stand with... that guy. I don’t remember—did she tell him about that? I sort of assume she doesn’t know that he knows about it.

I did enjoy Taylor in the office smashing up all the equipment, and they and Wags acting like it’s a perfectly normal thing to be doing.

Edited March 28, 2018 by janeta

[TV Diva Queen]

15 hours ago, Dminches said:

That was at the end of season 1.

LOL, nevermind.....carry on....

[txhorns79]

Quote

I thought Chuck's thing with the dom was trying to get something out of Wendy about her one night stand with... that guy. I don’t remember—did she tell him about that? I sort of assume she doesn’t know that he knows about it.

Wendy did not tell Chuck.  Chuck only found out because his father told him about it. 

I guess with Chuck being estranged from his father and losing his friend, they are going to test Chuck's claim that his plan to take Axe down was "worth it."  I could certainly see a scenario where Chuck "wins" over Axe, but is left with essentially no one. 

[dmc]

OMG Billions is back!!!

So this show obviously had some sort of time jump...I hate when shows do this.

I cannot wait for Wendy and Axe to start boning

Because Chuck and Lara are buttheads

Lara decides based on one lie to completely derail her marriage.  I mean either there is more to this or this barely makes sense...also if you want to look at your husband's books...hire a real accountant...

Chuck suffers from nice guy syndrome where he is the only person that think he's nice but every one else thinks he is a complete jerkwad.  I mean you screwed over your friend and your dad...you are not decent...and you are still lying to your wife

Axe: Even though he completely brought at least the criminal stuff on himself I still feel bad for him...I wonder what will happen...I feel like he will do at least some jail time

Wendy:  Why are you back with Chuck and/or Axe...she needs to get in her sports car and just keep driving.

[scrb]

Wendy knows as soon as they do it, Axe would lose all respect for her.  The mystique would be gone.

She gets Axe to pay her a big compensation package and have him listen to her -- so she could shit on his bachelor pad, like she did last week.

Lara similarly doesn't have to put up with any of Axe's BS.  There's no prenup.  Even though Axe said shitty things to her and Axe erased all those voice mails, she knows Axe will keep looking to get away with BS.  So she can bleed him for every last cent of what's hers.

Girl power!

Chuck isn't nice either.  He didn't go for the most money by going into private practice but he's not a pure public servant either.

[Marley]

It might be wrong but I really hate Chick and I’m rooting for Bobby to beat him. Chuck is such a smug prick.

[scrb]

Bobby isn't exactly a wallflower himself.

[Anela]

Axe is incredibly smug, and only admits that he was wrong at all, when he has to, and is manipulating someone. 
it was a mistake trying to binge this. The scheming is tedious, all bunged together.  

Edited May 18, 2023 by Anela

[Ottis]

Late to the show… is this all there is? Chuck and Bobby being increasingly reckless in attempts to ruin each other? It is tedious at this point. Can one or both of them evolve? Or maybe team up to fight a new, outside threat? Ny favorite parts of the show have become are all the little nods to how ridiculous Wall Street life is.