Starring: Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Maggie Siff, Asia Kate Dillon, David Costabile, Kelly AuCoin, Nina Arianda, Richard Thomas, Samantha Mathis, Jeffrey DeMunn, Toby Leonard Moore, Condola Rashad, Clancy Brown
The people in the lives of New York Attorney General Chuck Rhoads (Giamatti) and hedge fund billionaire Bobby "Axe" Axelrod (Lewis) fall into two categories: Those who have been screwed over and those who haven't been screwed over yet, but will be. I neglected to review the first three seasons because my blog was strictly focused on movies, but I'm expanding my horizons and including TV shows. Like the first four seasons, Billions is a ball. It is immense fun, bordering on self-parody, and the double and triple crossing keeps you wanting more.
The first three seasons detailed the obsessive quest of Rhoads, the United States Attorney for the Southern District, to bring down Bobby and Axe Capital. At the end of season three, Rhoads is fired after a power play against the U.S. Attorney General (Brown) goes awry, and Axe's prized protégé Taylor Mason (Dillon) leaves Axe Capital to form a rival hedge fund. In the middle is Chuck's wife Wendy (Siff), who is employed at Axe Capital as a performance coach. At the end of season three, an uneasy alliance between Chuck and Axe was teased for season four.
Season Four begins with Chuck in private practice as a pathetic has been who curries favors with more powerful men than he in order to regain his relevance on the law scene. Axe and Taylor dig their heels in to go to war, with each one-upping the other in attempts to destroy the other. Chuck wants to be Attorney General of New York, if only to reassert the power he previously wielded as U.S. Attorney. He does so at the expense of Wendy, including publicly outing he and his wife as into the BDSM world. Axe calls in favors to Chuck to help him use his power to rid him of his enemies. Chuck does so, but with a wary eye. With all that has gone down between them in the previous three seasons, it is not unreasonable to expect Axe and Chuck not to be all warm and fuzzy with each other.
Axe is now divorced and beginning a new relationship with fellow hedge funder Rebecca Cantu (Arianda), who is whip smart, but maybe doesn't quite have Axe's killer instinct. Then again, who does? Except for maybe Chuck? Which is why Axe and Chuck need each other, because everyone else wilts under the pressure of their schemes. Wendy becomes collateral damage to Chuck's ambitions, but Axe continually keeps a soft spot in his heart for her. She has been with Axe since he was a fledgling hedge fund manager whose partners died in 9/11 leaving him the sole operator of the fund. He remains fiercely loyal to Wendy. Is there something romantic brewing under the surface? There are vibes, and have been for years.
Lewis and Giamatti have so much fun as the rival schemers that they can barely conceal their smiles. They are generally loathsome people who nonetheless fascinate us. It's the game that drives them, not the rewards or the spoils of victory. Axe has billions at his disposal but is rarely seen enjoying his possessions. Money and objects are just ways to keep score. Personal relationships (except maybe for Wendy) be damned. The people in Chuck and Axe's life are held in place until they are called upon for a favor. Although Axe has at least some loyalty to wild cards like his right-hand man Michael "Wags" Wagner (Costabile) and Dollar Bill Stearns (AuCoin), who will fly into the wall for their emperor in the name of making money.
With all of this being said, and as a joy as Billions is to behold (even though the dialogue contains several too many obscure pop culture references for my taste). Billions should end following the upcoming Season Five. I fear the show will begin to double back on itself and begin covering the same old ground. Billions zealously creates plots on top of schemes on top of riddles, and the writers are to commended for keeping things fresh up to this point, but the last thing I want to see happen is for me to say : Been there, done that. So far it hasn't.
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