Billions: The Deal

"It's been a weird couple of days."

Billions season one hits the midseason mark with an episode that puts a bit of a pause on the overarching plot of the season in favor of a thoughtful character piece that ratchets up the tension at every turn.

Which isn't to say that the tension doesn't start off at a pretty impressive level. We open with Wendy, walking through a dark and sinister basement. Behind her in the shadows walks Hall, Axe's ominous wetworks man. Wendy is clearly afraid, as any sane person would be. Where is she going? How did she get there? What is she walking into?

She reaches the end of her journey through the basement only to find at its end not brutal murder, but naked Damian Lewis in a hot tub. Which, I mean, I know which I would prefer. But still. Lots of questions.

And after a brief exchange, we flash to '72 hours earlier' and pick up with Wendy walking out of the Broadway show that she was sneaking into last episode. This is actually a really nice conceit to convey to us that we're now picking up more or less exactly where we left off at the end of 'The Good Life'.

This isn't a groundbreaking structure, but it's a classic for a reason. We open on something strange and disorienting happening to our characters, then flash back in time to a point when things were normal for them. This invites the viewer to make a sort of game of the episode, trying to figure out how we go from the world we understand to the inexplicable scene we opened with.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that there has never been a TV show that hasn't done at least one episode based on this structure. Usually for the sake of pretending a main character has definitely been killed, only to gradually reveal how they didn't, really, it just looks like they were for whatever reasons. Hell, Riverdale spun an entire season around this format.

The driver for what gets us to the opening scene is, of course, the titular 'Deal'. First thing to say about that is that it's admirable how long they tease out what 'deal' they're talking about. The entire first act of the episode is much more focused on comparing Chuck and Axe's comparative tactics in the open war that's broken out between them following Dollar Bill's arrest. 

With every passing moment of the interview between Chuck and Dollar Bill (and Bryan and Bach, but they're kind of ancillary at this point) we see how weak the hand Chuck is trying to play really is. Meanwhile, Axe is giving his people what's basically the St. Crispin's Day speech but for capitalists. It's not for a moment hard to believe that Dollar Bill is loyal enough not only to cold bloodedly torpedo his own marriage, but to have taken the time at some point to pre-write a letter doing that just on the off chance that things ever came to this.

And the 'second family' reveal is a brilliant misdirect, by the way. It might be tempting to say that it's a bit of a plot cul-de-sac, all of the DA spit balling to find a way to get Dollar Bill to crack, having that lead very cleverly to their discovery of his secret second family, and then presenting it as the coup de gras to get Bill to flip, only for him to just reply with a stone cold 'nope' and destroy marriage-prime himself. But what it's really doing is showing Chuck getting weaker and more desperate as each new attempt at pressure fails, while simultaneously demonstrating how loyal Axe's inner circle is.

And speaking of Axe, it's notable how completely he drops the bravado he showed while giving his big speech the moment that he's behind closed doors with Wags. Axe understands that it doesn't matter at all how strong Chuck's case is. The public arrest of Dollar Bill is going to scare away all his investors, and that is something that the company can't survive. Which is why we get the side plot about his attempt to get a public photo taken with the head of the largest bank he can think of, which he believes will reassure the investors and stop the bleeding, metaphorically speaking. This could also be accused of being a plot cul-de-sac, except that it - exactly like the failure of Chuck's plan to out Bill's second family - serves to drive both men to confront the same thing.

The Deal.

More specifically, the possibility of a settlement deal between the DA's office and Axe Capital. Some compromise that will allow both men a way out of the situation and avoid total destruction. The deal that neither of their egos will allow them to even contemplate until they're pushed to the breaking point.

This is what I mean when I say that not a lot of plot really happens in this one. When you boil it right down, the events are 'Chuck wants to arrest Axe, Axe can't bear the thought of losing his company, leave on simmer as we watch both of them try to come up with any possible way to get a win until they both finally are forced to arrive at making a deal'. And a lot of screentime is devoted to various other characters more or less screaming at them to put their dicks away and take the sensible option. Chuck's conflict of interest in this case is off the charts and practically guaranteed to tank things at some stage. Axe is losing investors by the second just due to the aesthetics of the situation. A deal would, indeed, allow Chuck to claim a win and Axe a route to recover.

And here we should talk about how amazing both Wendy and Maggie Siff are, because she ties this entire episode together. She bears the brunt of telling hard truths to both Chuck and Axe in no uncertain terms, and she's also the one who understands both of them well enough to talk them over the finish line to agreeing to a deal. Which is what she's in that hot tub with Axe to do, seeing as neither of them could exactly be wearing a wiretap at that moment. This is kind of a relief to find out, as Hall did say straight up that he could frame Wendy for any number of crimes or make it seem like she was having an affair with Axe, which would definitely bring into question the validity of Chuck's case.

And so, with a massive amount of character work under our belt, all of which has accomplished absolutely nothing except get these two men to this table, we finally arrive at the deal in question. A workable solution that Axe can live with, and which gives Chuck a technical win.

And then at the very last moment Chuck deliberately blows the whole thing up because Chuck Sr. happens to say over the phone, 'hey, remember when you were a little kid and were a total coward who avoided fights? Anyway, talk to you later.' His ego flares up, he pushes the exact sanctions that he knows Axe will never accept, and the whole deal is off the table, quite literally. Axe drives off angrily into the night and nothing has been resolved.

Nothing except that last twist. Chuck recusing himself officially from the case removes all of the conflict-of-interest accusations which means the prosecution is on sounder ground, but then immediately tells Bryan that he isn't really and is secretly still in charge, which means his marriage is very much not.

An excellent character piece all around.

Bits and Pieces:

-- And look at that, they found a way to let Lara be part of the plotline. She's the perfect counterpoint to Axe's all-consuming need to save AxeCap without settling. The very fact that the situation is hurting their family, and hers is the only voice that could possibly get him to see that. Also, bonus points for her bringing muffins on a bed of cash to Dollar Bill's wife-prime.

-- Speaking of Sandy Stern, one does have to wonder how she was going to use all of that cash to pay for the mortgage and the kids' private school and all, seeing as how she's under all that surveillance and her financial transactions are under a microscope. I know that my mortgage company isn't set up to accept fat wads of cash as payment. To say nothing of wondering about her reaction to the whole 'second family' situation.

-- I loved Dollar Bill's total nonchalance about having two families and the logistics of coaching two little league teams. It does definitely confirm that he couldn't be a volunteer firefighter though. He'd never have the time to make his call percentages. Which is too bad, because he'd make a good one with his general attitude and outlook.

-- Not much from Kate this week, but we did learn that she knows one sentence of Japanese and that Bryan in apparently fluent. It is an odd choice of sentence to learn if you're only going to know one. But then I have no high ground here, the only sentence I know in Russian is 'My uncle does not know where he set down his necktie.' Try working that into conversation.

-- Wendy's kind of a saint for not giving Chuck a lot more blowback about how he timed the raid when he knew she wasn't at the office, making her look complicit as hell to all of her co-workers. I was a little surprised that the episode didn't make a bigger deal out of them now distrusting her, but it was just left as a little seasoning to feed into the idea that Axe might be having her killed in that opening scene.

-- Even Glenn Fleshler's Orrin Bach got lots of juicy stuff to do in this one. He does smarmy exceptionally well. It must be awkward acting out those scenes while standing at a urinal. Probably not the weirdest thing he's ever done as an actor, I suppose.

-- I have questions about Wendy's relationship with Chuck Sr. He's openly a dick right to her face at dinner, but later we find out that he's taking advice on how to advise Chuck Jr. from her. I'd love to know more about their interactions.

-- Man did they lean heavily on the midseason 'Hey, remember when this happened?' dialogue. We get reminded of the Eads family from 'Naming Right', and the short squeeze from 'Short Squeeze', as well as Steven Birch, also from 'Naming Rights'. They didn't go as far as having Hall say to Axe, 'Remember that one time you had me trick an Assistant DA into having cocaine fueled lesbian sex on camera?' but they're not far from it.

-- Also in 'Naming Rights', just for the record.

-- Ben Kim, enthusiastically explaining that you eat Ethiopian food with your hands. Bless. They really have no idea what to do with him at this point.

Wags, on keeping things in perspective: 

Axe: "Another rich dick playing the market with his own money." 

Wags: "But you’ll be the biggest dick. And it’s so much money!"

It's SO much money.

Quotes:

Terri: "Should I go?"
Chuck and Wendy: "YES!!"

Wendy: "It’s my job."
Chuck: "You’re beautiful and talented, and I’m sure you’ll land on your feet."
Wendi: "Fuck you!"

Axe: "This company will not wait for an uncertain future. We will make our own future! We will fight back hard. We will mobilize the war machine. And those who would try to bring down our house will see their own houses fall!"

Chuck: "I want to apologize. I was a big, puckered asshole yesterday."

Wendy: "I am not my husband. And I am not going to be the shuttlecock that you two smack back and forth."

Axe: "Well played."
Wags: "I have my moments."

Hall: "Hello, Wendy."
Wendy: "Hello. Have we met?"
Hall: "No, and we still haven’t."

Wendy: "I’m here for me. Because I built this company just as much as you did.
Axe: "That’s a bold statement."
Wendy: "That’s a true statement."

So, Who Won Today?

Honestly, kind of nobody. Wendy comes close, but the deal blows up due to forces outside of her control. Sandy Stern got a wicker basket full of cash, plus muffins, so I guess the degree to which she wins depends on how much she particularly cares about her husband's secret second family. I choose to believe that she shrugged, packed up the kids, took the cash, and is living her best life in... let's say Andorra. I looked it up and they don't have a formal extradition treaty with the US.


This was a fantastic character piece for pretty much everyone involved.

Nine out of ten muffins.

Mikey Heinrich is, among other things, a freelance writer, retired firefighter, and roughly 78% water. You can find more of his work at the 42nd Vizsla. If you'd like to see his raw notes for this and other reviews, you can find them at What Was Mikey Thinking.

• Billions season 1
• Billions home