As Bobby and Wags look to cut down a charismatic new threat, like them Chick also wants to scrambles to save his family.
Chuck (Paul Giamatti) ”The wonderful thing about family,” he said in the ”Billions” Season 5 premiere is that ”it never contracts, only expands.” Someone must have forgotten to tell Wendy. Credit…Jeff Neumann/Showtime.
SEASON 5 EPISODE 1: ”THE NEW DECAS”
Move over, Bobby Axelrod: You’re not the only rowdy redhead in Axe Cap’s hallowed halls anymore.
During the wildly entertaining premiere of ”Billions” season 5, the truculent employees of both Bobby’s company and its quasi-independent subsidiary Taylor mason Capital unite to admire a surprise guest, the flame-haired Irish professional wrestler Becky Lynch, playing herself. (Well, technically it’s Rebecca Quin, playing the same character she plays as a professional wrestler. Following this Wrestling is more complicated.)
WHAT HAPPENED IN ”THE NEW DECAS” ENDING?
At the ending of last season, ”The New Decas,” Taylor Mason’s spread out firm was brought back into the fold as part of an elaborate scheme. Then he swims laps in a small endless pool located in a New York bike shop. Before Chuck Rhodes (scheming prosecutor of Paul Giamatti) interrupts them, hoping to iron out the details of a backstabbing maneuver against hedge-fund billionaire Damien Lewis played by Bobby Axelrod. the machine makes it look like Taylor is simply treading water, over and over performing the same movements in a never-ending quest for perfect form.
LOOSE CHANGE:
- ”The wonderful thing about family,” Chuck says during the toast at his dad’s wedding, is that ”it lives and breathes, it never contracts, only expands.” By the end of the episode, his divorce has been announced. It’s poignant, subtle writing.
- ”I’d like to try this,” Axe says as he tears a perfume ad out of a magazine and points to the model in the photo. That’s a level of entitlement, to say nothing of sexism, I didn’t see coming even from Bobby.
- I may be biased, insofar as I’m wearing her T-shirt as I type this, but Becky Lynch has charisma by the boatload.
- ”How was your trip?” ”Good! I met the creator of souls.” ” … Oh?” If I had to choose one character on this show who might meet the demiurge, my money would be on Wags.
