S03.E05: Flaw in the Death Star

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Chuck trades favors with a co-conspirator. Axe and Chuck fight for the loyalty of the same witness. Connerty gets closer to the truth. Axe sends Taylor to Silicon Valley to explore new business opportunities. Dollar Bill plans a big short position on a pharmaceutical company stock, but not everyone at Axe Cap approves.

[hoodooznoodooz]

Taylor referred to themselves as a fella. 

Do people really wear Porsche jackets? And do they wear them while driving Porsches?

That guy has huge earlobes. 

[hoodooznoodooz]

Did they explain why Axe originally chose not to take the slide from the doctor?

That house and turntable made me swoon.  

Edited April 23, 2018 by hoodooznoodooz

[minamurray78]

Towandaaaaaa!

[scrb]

Guess they wanted to sexualize Taylor a bit.  Really, two rich Star Wars nerds became hot and heavy for each other over Death Star trivia and some nerdy board game?

I thought the Dolla Bill vs. Spiros thing was some little sideline story about over the top things that hedge fund people do but they seem to show Spiros being involved in the case somehow.

 

It took Chuck to ferret out the doctor because Bryan again spends all his time trying to nail Chuck, not Axe.

Does Connerty really believe that catching Chuck while Axe gets away -- for instance, if not for Chuck, Axe would have gotten that slide -- serves justice?

He's too pure while Sacker is willing to play along?  Tampering evidence is a crime but definitely Axe is guilty as well.

I don't think the deal that Chuck made with Boyd is illegal.  Again, he made a legitimate investment and got Boyd to tell Axe.

But Bobby ran with that info and committed crimes.

Now, because of Bryan, Chuck and Sacker tampered those logs.

However, Connerty's "inducement to sabotage" is bullshit.  Even if it were a valid legal defense, it would be Axe's lawyers making that case, not a prosecutor.

If Bryan really believed Chuck was the only one who committed a crime, he should go over Dake's head to the AG or whoever, for internal inquiries.  I don't think the US Attorney or the DOJ would be airing their dirty laundry in court.  They'd make an internal determination and maybe decline to prosecute Axe.

But what Connerty is doing defies logic.  Now in the previews they make it seem that Chuck and Wendy are as legally vulnerable as Axe.  I know the show likes to draw this moral equivalency between Chuck and Axe every time they get a chance but it's getting ridiculous.

Edited April 23, 2018 by scrb

[txhorns79]

Quote

I don't think the deal that Chuck made with Boyd is illegal.  Again, he made a legitimate investment and got Boyd to tell Axe.

But Bobby ran with that info and committed crimes.

Chuck didn't make a legitimate investment.  He had his father breach his trust as part of a scheme to set up Axe.  That's the entire reason Chuck has tried to cover up his involvement in the scheme.  Having said that, it ultimately doesn't matter if Axe acted illegally if the underlying scheme is such that it gets the case tossed, perhaps for due process violations or some other legal reason I haven't thought about. 

Edited April 23, 2018 by txhorns79

[scrb]

4 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

Chuck didn't make a legitimate investment.  He had his father breach his trust as part of a scheme to set up Axe.  That's the entire reason Chuck has tried to cover up his involvement in the scheme.  Having said that, it ultimately doesn't matter if Axe acted illegally if the underlying scheme is such that it gets the case tossed, perhaps for due process violations or some other legal reason I haven't thought about. 

Chuck isn't suppose to know about what is done with his trust or direct investment decisions in the blind trust -- of course Trump is making a travesty of this rule.

Chuck and his father could get in trouble but the main fallout would be his political career would be ruined, because of the breach of fiduciary requirements and not complying with avoiding conflict of interest by politicians.

But once again, regardless of what Chuck did, it does NOT give Axe a get out of jail card because he still committed the crime and is committing more crimes to cover up his deeds.

It's not like cops doing an illegal search or not mirandizing a suspect which leads to cases being thrown out, the fruit of the poison tree.

If the FBI and the US Attorney's office say wiretapped Axe without a court order, that would be the correct analogy.  Or say pulled Chuck or his associates over and without probable cause searched the cars and found incriminating evidence.

But Chuck putting his trust money in an investment does not give Axe free pass to commit crimes.

[txhorns79]

Quote

It's not like cops doing an illegal search or not mirandizing a suspect which leads to cases being thrown out, the fruit of the poison tree.

If the FBI and the US Attorney's office say wiretapped Axe without a court order, that would be the correct analogy.  Or say pulled Chuck or his associates over and without probable cause searched the cars and found incriminating evidence.

But Chuck putting his trust money in an investment does not give Axe free pass to commit crimes.

You are right.  What Axe would be arguing is something closer to entrapment and various violations of due process.  He'd argue that a state actor set up a secret sting operation, which was not approved or reviewed by anyone within his office, or within main Justice, to entrap him.  He'd note that the US Attorney promised a cooperating witness release from prison to get Axe to go after the company.  He'd note that the US Attorney himself orchestrated a cover up to hide his involvement in the scheme, and present testimony to that effect from Chuck's former friend.  Now a Judge may still let that case proceed to trial, but I'd imagine it would go very badly for the prosecution and would be very embarrassing.   

[scrb]

33 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

You are right.  What Axe would be arguing is something closer to entrapment and various violations of due process.  He'd argue that a state actor set up a secret sting operation, which was not approved or reviewed by anyone within his office, or within main Justice, to entrap him.  He'd note that the US Attorney promised a cooperating witness release from prison to get Axe to go after the company.  He'd note that the US Attorney himself orchestrated a cover up to hide his involvement in the scheme, and present testimony to that effect from Chuck's former friend.  Now a Judge may still let that case proceed to trial, but I'd imagine it would go very badly for the prosecution and would be very embarrassing.   

Except that Dake is such a straight shooter that he would not have agreed to take this case on if he didn't think he had a strong case.

After all, he was like internal affairs, all up on Chuck's business.  But he didn't turn down this nice case that Chuck had all wrapped up with a bow.

The new AG isn't stopping this case.  If Axe was willing to give $30 million to Ira, he could have given a fraction of that to right people in the administration or the political party in power and they would have killed the case.

In any event, we know Axe isn't going to end up in prison because Chuck vs. Taylor isn't the same attraction as Chuck vs. Bobby.  So the writers are coming up with ways to eventually get Bobby to escape prosecution.

 

Really the way the show is set up, Bobby could murder that doctor and he won't go to jail, unless that was one of the final episodes of the series or something.  But the producers want this to be on the air for a few more seasons at least so Axe isn't going away any time soon.  Neither is Chuck for that matter.

[txhorns79]

Quote

Except that Dake is such a straight shooter that he would not have agreed to take this case on if he didn't think he had a strong case.

We've already seen this season that Dake can be corrupted.  He and Chuck made a deal for Dake to hide Chuck's involvement in the IceJuice scheme, and Dake shut down the questioning in front of Connerty that would have revealed Chuck's role.     

[Lemons]

12 hours ago, scrb said:

Guess they wanted to sexualize Taylor a bit.  Really, two rich Star Wars nerds became hot and heavy for each other over Death Star trivia and some nerdy board game?

That was my favorite part.  I loved that they found each other.  Taylor probably hates the people she's surrounded by every day, who wouldn't.  I hope they state a couple. 

14 hours ago, hoodooznoodooz said:

Did they explain why Axe originally chose not to take the slide from the doctor?

 

That was stupid.  And I'm really sick of him trolling the streets of NYC like a mob boss flanked by his two enforcers.  Really stupid. 

[TV Diva Queen]

When Taylor was making out with that guy, and they both took off their belts, I was wondering if Taylor was going to whip out a penis and flip the guy over.  

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Billionaires,

A reminder - PTV has a no politics rule.  Please refrain from aligning anything happening in the show with anything happening in the current political climate.

Thanks,

PPAL 

[txhorns79]

Quote

That was stupid.  And I'm really sick of him trolling the streets of NYC like a mob boss flanked by his two enforcers.  Really stupid. 

On the positive side, I'm not missing Lara at all. 

[Mileman]

10 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

On the positive side, I'm not missing Lara at all. 

I have no problem with Malin Ackerman as an actress, but I really hate Lara as a character, so yes, good thing she's not around that much.

On 4/23/2018 at 7:51 PM, TV Diva Queen said:

When Taylor was making out with that guy, and they both took off their belts, I was wondering if Taylor was going to whip out a penis and flip the guy over.  

I am not alone then, had the exact same thought.

[txhorns79]

Quote

I am not alone then, had the exact same thought.

I understand that Taylor goes by "they" or "them," but Taylor still has biological female parts, no?  Didn't someone at the sauna a few episodes ago make a nasty comment to Taylor about their breasts that pissed Wags off?  It was nice to see Taylor appearing happy and showing some real emotion with another person.  Though part of me always thought some kind of Mafee/Taylor pairing was in the works.  Those two just a nice chemistry together, and appear to really like one another.    

[TV Diva Queen]

32 minutes ago, txhorns79 said:

I understand that Taylor goes by "they" or "them," but Taylor still has biological female parts, no?  Didn't someone at the sauna a few episodes ago make a nasty comment to Taylor about their breasts that pissed Wags off?  It was nice to see Taylor appearing happy and showing some real emotion with another person.  Though part of me always thought some kind of Mafee/Taylor pairing was in the works.  Those two just a nice chemistry together, and appear to really like one another.    

I thought we didnt' know what kind of parts they had.  Which is the reason for the "they" 

I have to tell you I hate using that pronoun.  It doesn't make sense.  To me, the word "they" when referring to a people is mean.  /end of rant that has no business being here.  :)

[PrincessPurrsALot]

Taylor uses they because they are gender non-binary; that is, they do not consider themselves male or female.  This is not based on their physical form.  We don't know anything about their genitals, nor do we need to.  Taylor being attracted to someone into Sci Fi and gaming and working in Tech is funny.  I work in tech.  They would have quite the dating pool of that is their criteria for attraction.  

[Lemons]

9 hours ago, PrincessPurrsALot said:

Taylor uses they because they are gender non-binary; that is, they do not consider themselves male or female.  This is not based on their physical form.  We don't know anything about their genitals, nor do we need to.  Taylor being attracted to someone into Sci Fi and gaming and working in Tech is funny.  I work in tech.  They would have quite the dating pool of that is their criteria for attraction.  

I understand the reason but there needs to be a new word.  It’s awkward to say “they is in the other room”.    Or when the person’s name is switched to “they” you think that the person is now speaking about several people.  

I loved seeing Taylor act less like a machine and actually happy.  

[PrincessPurrsALot]

21 hours ago, Lemons said:

I understand the reason but there needs to be a new word.  It’s awkward to say “they is in the other room”.    Or when the person’s name is switched to “they” you think that the person is now speaking about several people.  

I loved seeing Taylor act less like a machine and actually happy.  

I am taking the discussion of pronouns for  non-binary persons to the Small Talk thread.

[Lemons]

Speaking of what to call Taylor, I don’t think using “they” rolls offthe tongue to easily.  When they were speaking about Taylor in the office and then Axe and the other one were saying “they would speak to you later” I thought they were talking about a group of people.  Way too confusing.  Who came up with this and why didn’t someone think of a new word?  People are always coming up with New things.

[PBSLover]

Really stupid observation: What’s with all the bright blue clothes i.e. suits, sweaters, sports jackets, etc. the men are dressed in? What man that you know wears that color?  I assume it has a meaning. The meaning escapes me.

[Chas411]

Brian's obsession with Chuck is getting a bit exhausting. We get it, Chuck is evil.

[MaryWebGirl]

On 4/26/2018 at 8:46 PM, PBSLover said:

Really stupid observation: What’s with all the bright blue clothes i.e. suits, sweaters, sports jackets, etc. the men are dressed in? What man that you know wears that color?  I assume it has a meaning. The meaning escapes me.

Thank you! I could maybe see it on Wags, but it looked completely odd on Connerty. 

[AAEBoiler]

I'm behind on this show so please don't spoil anything but I really hope that Axe's metrosexual fixer duo really get a beatdown. Their smugness really rubs me the wrong way whenever they're on screen. Also, the way their whole role is written makes it seem like there are a hundred of them who know exactly what every single person associated with Axe is doing at every millisecond. The amount of surveillance at Axe's hands really defies belief.

[The Solution]

On 4/23/2018 at 2:51 PM, TV Diva Queen said:

When Taylor was making out with that guy, and they both took off their belts, I was wondering if Taylor was going to whip out a penis and flip the guy over.  

I was wondering which one of them had bigger breastesses.

[Dianaofthehunt]

Bill manspreading all over Wendy’s sofa made me wish she had a Taser for his crotchal real estate.

Edited July 23, 2023 by Dianaofthehunt