In our ‘Billions’ recap with the top 10 moments from the latest episode, Mafee squares off with Dollar Bill in a boxing match while Taylor returns fire on Axe and Wendy…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The back and forth war between Bobby Axelrod and Taylor Mason has dominated much of this season of ‘Billions’ and the exchanges just keep getting better and better.
As fun as it was to watch Axe spar with Chuck Rhoades for the better part of three seasons, there’s a completely different dynamic at work when it comes to Taylor’s battle with their old boss.
The latest episode of ‘Billions’ actually pits Axe against Taylor in a wager for a boxing match between two hedge fund right hand men as “Dollar” Bill Stearn took on Mafee in a winner-takes-all battle after they nearly threw down in last week’s episode.
Of course as much as it appeared Taylor was focused on boxing, they were actually plotting behind the scenes to earn a lot of money in an investment while turning loose the dogs of war on Wendy Rhoades after her role in emotionally manipulating a former patient.
Meanwhile, Chuck is once again sparring with Attorney General ‘Jock’ Jeffcoat but this time it’s over voting privileges in the state of New York. While Chuck is doing everything possible to pass a new mobile voting program, Jock is hell bent to stop it long before it was the New York State Attorney General’s cause.
Why is Jock so interested in shutting down mobile voting? We don’t find that out this week but it’s clear he’s willing to do whatever it takes to stop Chuck from making it happen.
With that said, let’s get to our top 10 moments for the latest episode of ‘Billions’ titled ‘Fight Night’…
1 ) Jazz Cabbage
“I’m in training now so I have to offload all of my jazz cabbage”
~ Mafee
Set to the sounds of ‘In the Evening’ by Led Zeppelin, “Dollar” Bill and Mafee begin their training regimens for the (financial) fight of the century. Bill gets pulled into road work by Jocko Willink while Mafee has to hand over all of his bongs and various weed pens to a friend so he can focus on training.
Based on the fight these two have later in the episode, Mafee should have just stayed on his previous regimen.
2 ) No Larry Bird
“The Celtics were dominant for a long time and then they weren’t. And Bobby Axelrod is no Larry Bird”
~ Taylor
While boxing takes center stage this week, the real fight is over fracking in the state of New York. Taylor goes on a financial show and essentially paints fossil fuel futures as a dead end business and her old boss Axe as a dinosaur just waiting for the asteroid to arrive to put him out of his misery.
Taylor’s move is quite strategic because on the surface it appears she’s trying to tank Axe’s investments in fossil fuel but in reality she’s setting him up to overreact to her challenge and he falls directly into her trap.
3 ) Revenge Minded
“I wasn’t born with a broadsword in my hand but I was forced to learn how to wield one, so I did. And now I’m going full Sir Tristram de Lyones until I pierce Axe’s shield and drive it into his motherfucking heart.”
~ Taylor
Taking a page out of Arthurian legend, Taylor is ready to swing their mighty sword of vengeance at Axe and anybody else who gets in their way.
Considering what Axe and Wendy did to force Taylor to turn on their father, the stakes are higher than ever now with revenge at the top of the list of things to do this week.
4 ) Refuse the Order
As Chuck arrives for his meeting at the state board of elections to deal with a potential mobile voting program, he’s ready to say no until security is better but when he opens the door he finds Bryan Connerty and Kate Sacker already sitting in the seats his team was supposed to occupy.
Jock Jeffcoat wants to shut down mobile voting so Chuck immediately pivots his stance and says he would prefer a pilot program to champion the idea.
Following the tense meeting, Kate questions Connerty’s blind loyalty to Jock rather than doing what his heart tells him is the right thing to do by allowing more people to vote.
She then drops a nice reference to ‘A Few Good Men” by reminding Connerty that his duty could be to refuse the order he’s given just like Dawson and Downey when they were told to go give Willie Santiago a ‘code red’ that ended in his death.
5 ) Training Days
“You start hitting the bag yet?”
~ Stipe Miocic
In preparation for the boxing match, Axe brings in boxing champion Deontay Wilder to get ‘Dollar’ Bill into shape while Taylor hires former UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic to do the same for Mafee.
Back at the office, ‘Dollar’ Bill tries to work on his defense with Bonnie as his sparring partner and it does not go well. He ends up weeping and wondering if disaster is just waiting for him in that ring.
If there’s one thing rather clear from these ‘Rocky’ style training montages it’s that ‘Dollar’ Bill and Mafee are much more dangerous behind a computer screen than they are with a pair of boxing gloves on their hands.
6 ) Under Review
Sara, the Taylor Mason Capital COO, takes it upon herself to seek out some revenge of her own by siccing the medical board on Wendy Rhoades for unethical practices after she used her confidential psychiatric counseling sessions with Taylor to build a profile to find out the way to hurt them the most.
The investigation into malpractice will end with Wendy going before the medical board where they will determine whether or not to strip her license away to practice medicine.
The biggest problem Wendy is facing is her own conscience because she’s feeling as guilty as anybody about what she did to Taylor.
“I drew up the play, called my own number and ran it myself. I violated a patient’s trust”
~ Wendy
7 ) Where It Hurts the Most
“You mean besides the Firefighter’s Fund? The jewel in your crown and they came to me. They were finally fed up with your legal troubles not to mention the killing you made on 9/11, profiting from tragedy”
~ Taylor
When Axe goes on the financial show to respond to Taylor, he ends up taking two more torpedoes to his side. Axe saves face until Taylor calls into the show and ends up in a one-on-one verbal battle with their former boss.
Taylor has no problem reminding Axe about how he lost the Firefighter’s Fund and now they are a massive part of Taylor Mason Capital instead.
Each and every salvo lands, which only sends Axe into a greater rage to get the fracking laws passed in New York so he can stay ahead with his investments in fossil fuels.
8 ) Pilot Program
“Fuck”
~ Hap
Chuck calls in support from the Native American tribe who partnered with his father on a casino in upstate New York to get the New York Board of Elections to come around on his pilot program for mobile voting.
Of course along the way Chuck finds out that he has a little sister — who is probably six months old — thanks to his father’s overactive sex drive.
In exchange for a bigger piece of the casino profits as well as a college fund for Chuck Rhoades Sr.’s illegitimate child, Chuck gets the support from the Native American tribe and he forces the hand of the Board of Elections to go for that pilot program.
9 ) Fracking
Axe: ‘I taught you well”
Taylor: “I see that taking credit for my success in the midst of defeat is a kind of balm so you go on ahead”
In an effort to protect his fossil fuel investments, Axe makes a power play with Chuck to convince Governor Bob Sweeney to approve fracking in the state of New York. It costs Axe a $1.2 million donation to his re-election fund as well as a lot more money to secure Sweeney the keynote address at the next governor’s convention, which is a fast track to running for President.
Axe gets the job done and Sweeney approves fracking but when he confronts Taylor, they aren’t upset but in fact celebrating the decision.
It turns out Taylor bought up all the water rights to upstate New York where the fracking will take place. The key component to fracking is water, which means Taylor just secured a huge windfall of money for a relatively small investment to purchase the rights.
They goaded Axe into doing exactly what they wanted and he took the bait.
10 ) Double Loss
“When you talk about the shitbag, titty fuck of the night — that’s another fucking draw”
~ Bob Menery
The boxing match between ‘Dollar’ Bill and Mafee is anything but glorious victory for either hedge fund as the two non-athletes gas out after about five minutes.
The end result is a double loss when neither fighter can continue between rounds.
The only person happy is Taylor’s computer genius, who bet on a push and that means thanks to a draw, he actually cashes in the biggest wager of the night.
As far as some other fights brewing this week, Wendy decides not to sell the Rhoades home after seeing a couple about ready to make an offer on the house.
Meanwhile, Axe ends his crappy day by doing something nice for Rebecca by buying up the remaining shares she needed to take over Saler’s Department stores.
And finally, Jock makes his move on Chuck by calling in the big guns — he threatens to pull Federal funding from Police Commissioner Richie Sansome’s force, which then makes him do the Attorney General’s bidding by shutting down Chuck Rhoades Sr’s new construction site over safety concerns.
This move lets Chuck Jr. know that this mobile voting issue must be really important for Jock to go this far to stop him and now he’s really out for blood.
The episode closes with a little ‘TNT’ by AC/DC as these battles are just beginning.
‘Billions’ returns this Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET with a brand new episode on Showtime.
