Here are the top 10 moments from the latest episode of “Billions” as Prince makes a power move to secure a new ally in his bid to bring the Olympics to New York…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Through six seasons of “Billions,” Chuck Rhoades has struggled mightily with handing off responsibilities for problems he feels he should handle on his own.
At first, Chuck considered Bryan Connerty his right hand man but that relationship eventually soured after Connerty saw so much backroom dealing that he decided to take a piece of the pie for himself. He did manage to graduate to the role of U.S. Attorney but that backfired with his arrest and incarceration after trying to topple Chuck but instead he’s the one that ended up with a target on his back.
In the latest episode of “Billions,” Chuck was once again reminded that his pupils will eventually want to grow beyond their teacher except this time he has no one but to blame for himself for how everything unfolded.
For the past two seasons (give or take), Kate Sacker has been ambitiously pursuing a future run at Congress as she sought to stake her own claim in the political landscape. She’s bided her time while learning under Chuck — first when he was the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and then again after he was elected as the New York Attorney General. The only problem is Chuck’s constant schemes and grudges require a lot of effort and that means he’s relied heavily on Kate to help him get the job done.
But as he discovered in just about the harshest way possible this week, Kate wasn’t going to wait forever to pursue her own dreams and if Chuck wasn’t going to support them, somebody else absolutely would. That somebody ended up being Mike Prince.
With that said, let’s get to the top 10 moments from the latest episode of “Billions” titled “Burn Rate.”
1 ) Motivation
If you ever get into the world of high finance or even a serious Fortune 500 company, you’ll see a lot of these celebrity motivational speeches come into an office to provide some advice to the troops on the floor. Sometimes it’s a musician or an actor but perhaps the most famous gigs belong to athletes or coaches who lend themselves to these corporations for a speaking fee.
That’s exactly what Mike Prince does when he hires Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari to come into the office to speak to his employees at Prince Capital. Calipari, who is one of the most highly regarded coaches in college basketball history, not only spoke to the team about ambitions but he also gave them some sound financial advice — the same thing he tells players from his teams who go onto the NBA.
“Put the first million away! Forget you have it. You put yours back in this fund. You know five, six, seven years, you’re a multi-millionaire”
~ John Calipari
Even Ben Kim, perhaps the least knowledgeable person when it comes to sports out of anybody at Prince Capital, was inspired by Calipari’s speech.
“I’ve never played basketball but I’d follow this man through the gates of hell”
~ Ben Kim
2 ) Running a Losing Race
To get the Olympics to New York City in 2028, Mike Prince has to convince a whole lot of people to let him do it — he’s already got the mayor on board but he also needs the Governor of New York to back him up or this entire strategy is going to be dead in the water.
So he invites Governor Bob Sweeney to the office to pitch him on the idea of bringing the Olympics to NYC and then converting most of the buildings into other projects such as low-income housing that will provide for the people of New York.
As impressive as Prince’s virtual tour around Olympic village might be, Governor Sweeney isn’t sold that the people potentially voting for him want anything to do with it.
“Mike, public opinion is 2% positive on this. I believe cancer is polling at 3%”
~ Governor Bob Sweeney
Following that meeting, Governor Sweeney then stops by Chuck Rhoades’ office where he’s greeted with a favorite sandwich that can only be found across the border in New Jersey. Chuck believes he’s got the Governor on his side when it comes to shutting down Prince’s bid for the Olympics but it’s not quite that easy.
Governor Sweeney knows he’s got the power in this situation so he’s going to allow Chuck and Prince to duke it out a little longer before he backs either one of them. As much power as he has as Governor, Sweeney likes the idea of having the State Attorney General and one of the richest men on Earth catering to earn his favor.
3 ) The Down and Dirty
The next phase of Prince’s plan to bring the Olympics to New York will involve a whole lot of navigating around the legal system, which means he’s going to need an astute lawyer that not only knows the law but understands how to work within the system. That means he needs an insider — an attorney who has already worked with the government, which will then allow that person to bob and weave through any potential legal entanglements.
Meanwhile, Prince has also lined up a night out on the town with the leadership from the International Olympic Committee and he needs his own Tango and Cash aka Scooter and Wags to handle them to ensure the people capable of swinging the vote are loyal to him.
Scooter can handle the posh dinners and business end of the deal but the down and dirty will need Wags’ personal touch and nobody does that better than him.
4 ) The Pitch
Prince turns to Wendy for advice on what attorney he should pursue to help him win this legal battle brewing over the Olympics but she’s well aware that he already knows that answer.
Kate Sacker — Chuck Rhoades’ consigliere and the top attorney in his office — is the prime candidate for the job and Wendy figures out rather quickly that Prince wants her to pitch the idea. As much as she doesn’t want to get pulled into a battle between her new boss and her ex-husband, she’s also transactional enough to realize Prince really needs this, which means she can parlay this into a pretty sweet gig for herself.
So Wendy just so happens to run into Kate after they both attend a speaking engagement and she soft sells her on the idea of meeting Mike Prince and seeing what he has in store for the Olympics. Kate shuts her down but Wendy is quick to point out that at some point, she’s going to need to strike out on her own because waiting behind Chuck is never going to get her where she wants to go.
“You know Kate, sometimes staying too long is a bigger risk than leaving too soon. It’s never the right time to make a big change”
~ Wendy Rhoades
5 ) Stunting Her Growth
After reporting back to Chuck with the potential job offer looming from Prince, she also reminds him that the time is coming where she needs to start scoring some big, public wins in the courtroom in order to bolster her candidacy for a run at Congress.
Kate tries to explain to Chuck that the clock is ticking and she can’t stay his No. 2 forever if she intends on eventually becoming No. 1.
Rather than set a timeline for her exit or assuring Kate that her election to Congress will soon become a top priority for him, Chuck can only promise that she’ll get there in time and he’ll use all of his resources to help it happen.
The only problem is Chuck is putting his needs far ahead of hers and Kate is beginning to realize that maybe Wendy wasn’t wrong with her warning about staying too long.
6 ) A Billion Dollar Plan
Taylor wants free WiFi for NYC and a section of Africa but Prince ends up shutting her down and cutting a deal with the telecom companies
With Rian already planning ahead for her eventual exit from working at a hedge fund, Taylor reveals that they’ve got long term plans as well but it will involve a lot of money that will then allow them to actually invest and help people around the world who need it the most.
For now, Taylor will need to work within the system, which means getting Prince to back their plays like the latest being a company that harvests unused broadband signals to help provide free WiFi, which will then also allow them to use that same program to give internet to the neediest communities in Africa.
Prince loves the idea, especially knowing he can use free Wifi as a lure for the Olympics because giving everybody in New York access to internet would certainly help sway those most reluctant to his plans.
Unfortunately after Kate Sacker meets with Prince for the first time, he lets it slip about the free WiFi and she reports it back to Chuck. He then calls a meeting with all the heads of the telecom companies around New York because free WiFi would surely take a massive cut out of their profits.
In the end, Prince does a deal with the telecom companies to give away free WiFi during the Olympics but Taylor’s idea is dead in the water. That doesn’t please Taylor at all but they learn a really harsh lesson in reality when Prince lays out all the reasons why the plan to bring WiFi to Africa was always doomed to fail.
The upkeep alone would rack up an exorbitant cost, which Taylor can actually afford and that’s when Prince realizes that they have a number in mind to strike out on their own to enact these kinds of strategies. The only problem is Prince knows Taylor is aiming far too low to actually accomplish anything of value.
“I’m independently wealthy. You’re not. You’re kind of rich, which is great. But if you want to change the world, nine digits ain’t gonna do it.”
~ Mike Prince
That’s when Taylor realizes that they won’t be free until becoming a billionaire and then they’ll be able to do what Mike Price wouldn’t.
7 ) Inside Man
After Kate gets the pitch to come join Prince as he attempts to bring the Olympics to New York, Chuck instructs her to actually string them along for the next 24 hours while he attempts to secure a real inside man to help him topple this plan once and for all.
Chuck decides that his best friend Ira Schirmer is the best possible candidate to hand to Prince as a potential lawyer and that will also keep Kate by his side at the Attorney General’s office where he needs her most.
So Ira plays along and calls Prince to set a meeting while promising that his agenda only revolves around his own ambitions and that his friendship with Chuck won’t stop him from doing whatever it takes to help bring the Olympics to NYC.
“I love the guy but it’s important for me professionally to be seen to stand up to him and when I do, I will sit his ass down”
~ Ira Schirmer
Chuck can only smile and smirk while listening to Ira talk to Prince because he believes this is exactly the move that will eventually lead him to victory over the billionaire class.
8 ) Your Turn to Score
Out for a late run, Kate gets interrupted by a visit from Prince, who wants to give her one more chance to think about working for him.
First, he applauds her for showing loyalty to Chuck by revealing his plans for free WiFi across New York City — he’s happy to know even in the face of a potential life changing job, she’s still doing what’s best for her boss. It’s that kind of loyalty and commitment that Prince wants on his side not to mention Kate’s sharp legal mind.
She’s still hesitant to listen to his pitch until Prince offers her one more rebuttal about the relationship she shares with Chuck versus the one he wants if she becomes his lawyer.
“I don’t want to be the one giving advice all the time. I want to take your advice. I need it. I’m not your father. I want to be your peer. Watch you score. Bask in your glow”
~ Mike Prince
He also tells Kate that the empty office staring back at them from across the street will immediately become her campaign headquarters as soon as she announces her run for Congress. Prince will have the entire place staffed and signatures collected to ensure she gets on the ballot — all Kate has to do is step out from Chuck’s shadow and help lead him to the Olympic games.
9 ) The Boss and the Jovi
The night out with the members of the International Olympic Committee is going well with Scooter hiring a top chef to cook them dinner and Wags preparing to get them all nice and cozy after purchasing a bunch of rare quaaludes for their enjoyment.
Everything seems to be going great until one of the members gets a message that Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi are going to be giving them a private show in New Jersey. The IOC members are ecstatic about such an exclusive concert and Wags figures out that this much have been Chuck Rhoades at work in order to sway the voters to perhaps bring the games to New Jersey rather than New York.
Scooter refuses to lose the members of the committee so he tells Wags to get the job done by any means necessary — even if he has to forgo plans to save up his reserves because his girlfriend Chelsea really wants a baby with him.
Wags ends up at the concert with the IOC members but he finally sways them to the dark side after feeding them the ludes and then bringing everybody to a high end brothel. He pays a girl to pretend to have sex with him so he can stay yet still be prepared to bed down with Chelsea once he finally makes it home.
Prince is impressed by both Scooter and Wags and it appears his plans to turn these two total opposites into a team is really beginning to work out.
10 ) The Queen’s Gambit
As Chuck prepares for his next strike against Prince, he takes Ira to Kate’s office to help him get prepared for his meeting except for one problem — she’s nowhere to be found and her desk is already cleared out. A second later, Ira gets a text saying that his meeting with Prince has already been cancelled.
It doesn’t take Chuck long to realize that he allowed that job to get dangled in front of Kate’s eyes for far too long and now she’s actually taken Prince up on his offer.
At the same time Chuck is realizing that he lost his best asset, Kate Sacker is walking into Prince Capital with her head held high while her new boss tells her that she can work anywhere she wants in the office because now she’s got the power to command it.
While Scooter gives her the tour, Wendy finally reveals what she wants in return for helping to put these wheels in motion.
Wendy wants to take over as the performance coach for the 2028 Olympic team from the United States — she wants to transform these finely tuned athletes into medal winning machines. Prince is impressed by her ambitions and he’s more than happy to make that happen for her.
As for Chuck, he returns home that night and finds Kate waiting there for him.
He wishes she had talked to him before making this decision while promising that he would have ultimately helped her get to Congress just like she wanted. The only problem is Kate was done waiting — she’s learned a lot from him but now it’s time for the student to grow beyond her teacher.
“Maybe I’m ready to do some teaching, too. To be a peer, not just an acolyte.”
~ Kate Sacker
Kate then turns to leave as a chauffeur rushes over to open the door for her as she sits down into a car that probably costs more than Chuck’s annual salary. Considering how this all played out, Chuck has no one to blame but himself that Kate Sacker is now Prince’s personal legal eagle as he takes another step closer to the New York Olympics.
“Billions” will return for a brand new episode next Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.
