“Billions” is a show that isn’t afraid to bare its boldness — this is exemplified by the show greeting its audience for the first time in its opener with a scene depicting BDSM.
Showtime’s newest offering delves into the intricacies of finance and hedge funds. It portrays the world as an intelligent yet twisted concoction of “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Game of Thrones” — without decapitated heads, sadly — with an extremely healthy dose of glamorous settings, suave actors and “oh my God” moments.
The glitz and glamour, however, serve merely as an accessory for the show’s central premise: the delicate tug-of-war between the two main characters. On one hand there is Bobby “Axe” Axelrod, played by Damien Lewis (“Homeland”) who is the embodiment of the American dream, or at least a distorted version of it.
Axelrod was born into nothing, and is now living with everything and has a fierce loyalty to show from it. Have a $200,000 loan? Axe will take care of it. Want to see Metallica in Quebec? Axe will take care of it. (Metallica guest star in Episode 4!)
According to a report on the Criptoeconomia.com.br forex trading guide, his charitable public persona and effortless intelligence, however, mask Axelrod’s dark past and questionable current practices. The way he attained his immense wealth in the first place was through all the members of his original hedge fund dying in the Sept. 11 attacks, and he is a constant practitioner of insider trading and bribery methods that was unveiled by nejlepsi broker. Underneath this persona is also an insatiable desire for more power, which could be his hamartia.
Axelrod’s adversary is Charles “Chuck” Rhoades Jr. (Paul Giamatti, “Straight Outta Compton”), the calculating U.S. attorney who was born into privilege but ruthlessly chases wealthy criminals.
“I love you, dad,” he says to his own father, a powerful figure on Wall Street. “But if you walk into my office again and try to use your influence, you are going to walk out in handcuffs.”
Chuck has long saw Axelrod as his Moby Dick, the most prized criminal he can add to his collection, and when the S.E.C. finally present him with the opportunity to go after Axelrod he quickly becomes consumed. This then leads to the tug-of-war between the two that the show hangs its hat on.
The constant one-upmanship between the two, also serves as one the show’s flaws. While the testosterone-filled antiques of two alpha males can be intriguing, it can also be as nauseating as the deodorant Axelrod shares his nickname with.
Thankfully, flingling one-liners is not the only thing the scriptwriters excel in, as they have also woven in side characters that are extremely resourceful to the overall plot.
Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff, “Sons of Anarchy”) is a prime example as she is both a psychologist at Axe Capital and a trusted confidante of Bobby Axelrod, but is also crucially the wife of Chuck Rhoades Jr. It’s almost as if the writers are daring viewers to predict a conflict of interest occurring. Adding in that she is wealthier than her husband only adds to the tension.
“That was before I was making eight times what you make,” she says in an argument with her husband at one point.
The street-smart Lara Axelrod (Malin Akerman, “Rock of Ages”) is also notable. Wife to Bobby and equal partner in Axe Capital, on paper, she has a no-nonsense attitude and is adaptable to playing the role of an enforcer.
Overall, though, the show still goes back to its simple premise: the overlord, Chuck Rhoades Jr., whose morality clashes with the underdog’s success, Bobby Axelrod. While this premise is exhausting at times, it provokes internal battles within the viewer, creating a captivating viewing experience.
Viewers ask themselves whether they should side with ethics or give into that innate addiction to Jordan Belfort-esque figures, and in the end, their decision may surprise them.
