Why You Need To Watch ”Billions”
Showtime’s Billions is perhaps one of the best shows on television right now. It is one of the smartest written shows too. In my eyes the show is under appreciated. The show follows the story of a New York district attorney Charles ”Chuck” Rhodes Jr (Paul Giamatti) battling it out with hedge fund manager Bobby ”Axe” Axelrod, for his shady economic deeds.
What makes the show so interesting is a couple of things.
- It’s hard to know who to route for. Is Chuck too ruthless and is Axe that bad of a guy?
- The connection of Wendy Rhodes (Chucks Wife) to Chuck and Axe, whom is a psychiatrist for Axe Capital, the hedge firm fund owned by Axe.
Axe is involved in many illegal dealings but the interesting thing is, he’s not a bad guy. Chuck, on the other hand, is doing his job but is obsessed in taking down Axe. Perhaps why he is so adamant to take down Axe is the fact that his wife Wendy, who earns considerably more than him, help build Axe capital into a major hedge fund. Wendy working close to Axe gets under the skin of Chuck.
Axe does a lot of nice things. He pays for the children of his deceased colleagues to attend university. Donates a lot of money to various charities. He also saves the owners of his favorite pizza shop from bankruptcy.
The show is very power orientated. Both main characters are as ruthless as each other. Both sometimes let their ego get in the way. Axe is a guy who came from nothing while Chuck was born into the higher class life.
For me it’s such a fun show to watch. The show has many twists and turns.
As mentioned above, Axe isn’t particularly a bad guy. He does a lot of things that might be unpopular or might not sit well with people. For instance, bankrupting Sandicot so he wouldn’t lose a lot of his money. It’s not illegal, just not right.
Chuck on the other hand, is willing to lose 8 million dollars of his trust fund in a play to take down Axe. The question is, is it worth it?
Season 2 is drawing to a close. You should start watching it. I promise you’ll enjoy!
