In our ‘Billions’ recap with the top 10 moments from the latest episode, Chuck’s war against Jock continues, Axe is stuck between the SEC and a hard place and Wendy meets with Taylor…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
There were a lot of chess moves on this week’s episode of ‘Billions’ as Chuck found a new maneuver to go after Jock but it turns out he underestimated his former protégé, Bryan Connerty.
After getting back his powers as New York State Attorney General last week, Chuck has a case fall into his lap after finding out that Jock was traveling internationally and he made an unscheduled stop in the Cayman Islands, a notorious shelter for off shore money being hidden from the American government.
Chuck pounces on the opportunity to go after Jock but in reality he’s trying to drive a wedge between him and Connerty.
Little does he know that Connerty is just as adept at playing this game because he was taught by a master.
Meanwhile, Axe finds out that he’s on the line for a potential SEC violation thanks to his relationship to his old pal Victor Mateo, who previously worked for him at Axe Cap but now runs his own hedge fund and he’s been a naughty boy after getting flagged for insider trading.
And finally, Wendy’s misery at home after Chuck revealed details of their personal life require her to find a friend willing to listen and that means a sit down with Taylor Mason. But it turns out in the end, Wendy isn’t leaving Team Axe but rather putting all her skills as a therapist to work in a master stroke to manipulate Taylor in the most brutal strategy to take them down yet.
With that said, let’s get to our top 10 moments from ‘Billions’ season 4, episode 6 titled’ Maximum Recreational Depth’…
1 ) Vegan Ice Cream
“So you thought you’d bribe me with vegan mango rice ice cream?”
~ Taylor
Admittedly, vegan mango rice ice cream is a new one but it’s just the delicacy that Wendy uses to set up a meeting with Taylor so the two of them can talk. What was once a doctor-patient relationship has dissolved into a war between Taylor’s firm and Wendy’s boss, Bobby Axelrod.
In the aftermath of Chuck revealing details of his bedroom behavior with his wife, Wendy has been feeling isolated but the one person that reached out to her after that happened was Taylor.
Now she’s looking for someone to talk to and Taylor was always the best listener. This tenuous ‘friendship’ gives them both a sounding board but by the end of the episode, we realize that Wendy might be the most cold blooded killer on this show.
2 ) It Warms the Cockles
Judge DeGiulio: “I killed it. As an ordinary matter of law. And I’m telling you as a matter of extraordinary friendship”
Chuck: “Now that’s what warms the cockles. How our bond isn’t merely that of men who trade in favors but…
Judge DeGiulio: “You got a good one for me?”
Chuck: “And like that, the cockles go cold”
Bryan Connerty goes to Judge Adam DeGiulio asking for a wiretap on Chuck Rhoades Sr. and Jr. for bribing a public official to get sanitation permits passed for a building project in the works. Judge DeGiulio refused to grant the wiretap because Connerty didn’t have enough evidence to back up his request.
He then passed along that information to his old pal Chuck Rhoades Jr., who you may remember helped put him into the position he’s in these days as a judge.
Chuck then hands over a high profile healthcare case for DeGiulio to rule on, which will eventually be heard before the Supreme Court and will make him that much more high profile as he attempts to ascend to the highest court in the land one day.
3 ) Spacey-Style
“Love the spirit. But that’s what’s going to get the government guys firing at you like the end of Bonnie and Clyde. And if the SEC get the U.S. attorney involved, they’re like these cabbies — they don’t just want the cheek meat, they’ll take your whole fucking head”
~ Axe
Axe sits down to meet with his old pal Victor Mateo after learning that he’s gotten himself into hot water with the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) over insider trading. Axe owns a big piece of Victor’s firm, which means whatever happens to him could potentially come back to explode on Axe Capital.
So Axe sits down with Victor to tell him what to do going forward, but he can’t predict what happens next.
A deep dive into the contract that Taylor signed with Victor when they were the CEO (back when Axe was in so much legal trouble with Chuck) shows that Axe Capital is essentially half owners of the firm, which means when the government’s scythe comes for Victor’s head, it’s going to lop off Axe’s as well.
Axe: “Taylor fucked us”
Orrin Bach: “Spacey-style. Sneaky and from behind.”
4 ) A Battle for Krakow
“You always say the full title Idi Amin style?”
~ Chuck
After traveling to the Cayman Islands to follow up on Jock’s potential misdeeds, Chuck returns with a banker who will go on the record about Secretary of the Treasury Todd Krakow’s less that reputable accounts. If you remember Todd Krakow, he was a rival of Axe’s early in the run on ‘Billions’ before he was eventually hired as the new Secretary of the Treasuring under the new presidency.
Krakow schemed along with Axe to make some additional money off the books that wouldn’t be quite legal because he was the Secretary of the Treasury and now he’s landed on the radar of the New York State Attorney General.
Well, that’s what Chuck thought anyways.
After returning home with his witness, Chuck finds Connerty there waiting for him along with Kate Sacker and an FBI agent ready to take the banker into custody for a federal case they will be building instead.
5 ) The Smartest Person in the Room
Douglas Mason: “I’m always the smartest person in the room”
Mafee: “Then I can’t help you, especially if you think that when you’re in the same room with Taylor”
Taylor plans on lining up investors in their father’s project but he bristles against the idea because he believes that just means they don’t have faith in him to succeed.
He more or less storms out of the room and Mafee attempts to talk some sense into him knowing that whatever Taylor is planning is worthwhile.
In the end, Douglas comes around to Taylor’s way of thinking as they get a huge chunk of capital to begin the work on developing his idea into a real life product that could be worth double or triple the original investment.
Little do they all know that forces are already working against them because Wendy’s new found friendship with Taylor was all a rouse to figure out what would hurt them most. She returns with that information and feeds it to Axe with plans to crush Taylor’s new project with her father but they aren’t just going to tear it down.
Wendy suggests dismantling the project to the point where Taylor has to be the one to kill their father’s dream because that will destroy them more than anything else.
6 ) Things Get Out of Hand
“What I did tonight, I can’t live without and I won’t”
~ Chuck
Chuck gets permission from Wendy to see a dominatrix to help him release whatever pent up frustration he’s been having. The session turns rather rough in a hurry when his new dom punches him square in the face and then immediately steps on his balls.
When Wendy returns home, she finds Chuck with a black eye, scratches and cuts all over his body. Despite his appearance, Chuck says that he plans on seeing his dom again despite Wendy knowing that anybody seeing this bruises on him will just assume she did it as part of their bedroom behavior.
Chuck counters by saying he’ll tell everyone he took up Brazilian jiu-jitsu again but in reality he’s going to keep going back because this is something he needs and he can’t live without it.
7 ) Goodbye, Lara
“It’s nothing to be sad about but for some reason I am”
~ Lara Axelrod
Malin Akerman returns briefly as Axe’s estranged wife Lara as the two of them say goodbye one last time after he gives her permission to move to California and take their sons with her.
Axe apologizes and Lara wonders what life would have been like for them if he never became mega-rich but he knows that he was never built for ‘normalcy’. In the end, Lara leaves with the children and a better understanding with Bobby than they’ve had in years.
This entire conversation was spurred on after Axe was unable to open up to Rebecca about the emotional turmoil he was facing after finding out that Chuck would be unable to keep Victor Mateo off the SEC’s radar by prosecuting him through the New York State Attorney General’s office.
Axe realizes that it’s not easy for him to open up to anybody and the last person who he did confide in was his ex-wife Lara before he pushed her away as well.
Following the meeting with Lara to say goodbye, Axe returns to Rebecca in hopes of building a real relationship together built not only on business but real, actual feelings!
8 ) Earn
With Chuck unable to take Victor’s case, Axe is forced to buy the marketing firm he fleeced for insider trading to ensure they never get to speak to the FBI or anyone else for that matter.
As repayment, Axe shuts down Victor’s firm and puts him back to work at Axe Capital where he will earn his way out of debt over many, many years.
His return is met with a few knowing glances that Victor just got shut down and demoted and when he’s asked what his job is at Axe Capital, he only has one answer.
“Earn”
9 ) Cocksucker
It’s revealed that Chuck always planned on handing over the Krakow case to Connerty so he would try to prosecute the Secretary of the Treasury knowing that Jock Jeffcoat would step into thwart the case. His hope was that the two of them would be at war with each other rather than turning their attention back to him.
Before they can begin the battle, Connerty realizes that was Chuck’s plan all along.
Connerty: “Cocksucker. Chuck, this is what he wanted. A hint of misconduct from protecting a cabinet member and a wedge between us. He knows you well enough to know you’d come down like this.”
Jock: “And you well enough to know that you couldn’t abide”
Connerty turns the tables on his former boss by realizing what was happening and instead of prosecuting the case, he sends it right back to Chuck. Now Chuck is stuck with a case he never actually intended on prosecuting in the first place.
As for Connerty, he finally gets his wiretap after visiting a second judge — one with a real distaste for Chuck Rhoades — and he’s happy to sign the warrant after seeing a video showing Chuck and Judge DeGiulio leaving the same candy shop in New York just seconds after one another.
Connerty wants to bring down Chuck and he may bring down a Federal judge while he’s at it.
10 ) Vengeance
“My vengeance will come like I do — slow, thunderous and in your eye”
~ Wags
All episode long, Wags is beyond excited that he’s been invited to join the Wall Street secret society, Kappa Beta Phi (a real life secret society at that featuring the elite of the elite from Wall Street and the one-percenters you hear so much about these days).
While Axe dreams of crushing his competition and making even more money, Wags has always desired the status that goes along with his position as the No. 2 at Axe Capital. Last season, Wags was determined to get an exclusive burial plot that would see him laid to rest amongst legends — and the cost of landing that piece of land comes back to bite him in this episode.
The initiation at Kappa Beta Phi requires all new members to dress in drag and Wags puts on his best prom dress and some serious heels but when he shows up, his name isn’t on the list. Instead he’s greeted by a photographer from Page Six snapping some pictures of him and a hearty laugh from his old pal Mick Nussfaur — the guy he battled over the plot a season ago.
Nussfaur gets his revenge by embarrassing Wags but even worse he gets the ‘Grand Swipe’ (the president) of the ‘fraternity’ to tell him that there is no chance he will ever get a real invite to this secret society. He’s not worthy and he never will be.
That’s when Wags promises revenge and the seething look on his face tells the whole story. He’s not just looking to hurt these two — he’s ready to burn them both down to the ground.
One last note — the song that closes out the episode is “Dangerous” by Fred Eaglesmith
‘Billions’ returns next Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET on Showtime.
