Billions [Showtime] [ Spoilers ]

Fred Swanson · 05-04-2016 4:42pm

This post has been deleted.

05-04-2016 10:09pm

pickarooney wrote: »

It's completely lost any sense of what it wants to be. They've messed up by not making any interesting characters outside of Bobby, Wendy, Chuck and Costabile and the cat and mouse game is just not exciting enough to sustain it long term. With so many obnoxious people running around doing uninteresting things there needs to be either a real sense of suspense or some modicum of humour but this has neither.

Has it been renewed? Who's enjoying it at this stage?

yes - they put all the emphasis on the Axe / Rhodes thing without fleshing out anything else beyond a sideshow (one-off things that happen in an episode and end there) and it's just not enough to carry the thing.

Clareman · 11-04-2016 10:14am

I actually really enjoyed that last episode, really sets up for the next season and a great scene at the end even if it was overacted.

pickarooney · 11-04-2016 11:39am

Yeah that finale was almost annoyingly good. Might not write it off just yet.

krustydoyle · 11-04-2016 1:04pm

I really enjoyed that.. Roll on season 2

_Kaiser_ · 15-04-2016 8:18am

I'm a bit late to the party but...

Alfred Borden wrote: »

The scene with Bobby and Dollar Bill "arguing" in the office was superb.

Watched this one last night...

NSFW language!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E765zGG4GLQ

fantastic scene though!

pickarooney wrote: »

It's completely lost any sense of what it wants to be. They've messed up by not making any interesting characters outside of Bobby, Wendy, Chuck and Costabile and the cat and mouse game is just not exciting enough to sustain it long term. With so many obnoxious people running around doing uninteresting things there needs to be either a real sense of suspense or some modicum of humour but this has neither.

Has it been renewed? Who's enjoying it at this stage?

I'm still hooked but I agree that it's lost focus, really since the deal went bad I think. I like most of the supporting characters though - we just don't see enough of them, eg: Wags (love him as Daniel Hardman in Suits too). It's very much "Wolf of Wall Street - The TV series" but I don't think that's a bad thing either.

Will watch the last 2 tonight and add some more thoughts then

18-04-2016 3:24pm

Watched the last episode - was a decent episode but really laying it on thick for that last scene.

Overall doesn't change the situation that putting all the focus into one main storyline with the two main characters just doesn't seem to work well enough to make it interesting and the repetition of core themes (loyalty, money, power) is in a loop going nowhere.

The second season would have to do something different I think to be successful.

Boom_Bap · 18-04-2016 3:30pm

I thought the final confrontation scene was powerful, 2 really strong performances there.
You'd know if the 2 of them were on the same team they could get anything done....I think that's where next season will go, the 2 of them having to join forces begrudgingly to find yer wan but still having the same battle.

somesoldiers · 26-04-2016 12:55pm

a bit late to the party and only 4 episodes in but am really liking this. As a fellow hedge fund worker (to put it in perspective, I would be the lad who makes the coffee for the lad who makes the coffee of Bobby A, or somewhere similar way down the pecking order).

The DA is great especially his scene with the dog poo guy. good to have strong characters on the good v bad side, though the lines are often blurred as to which is which.
I usually cant stand Maggie Siff, had enough of her whinging through most of Sons of Anarchy but she hasn't grated on me too much yet.

will be highly recommending when it starts on Sky Atlantic May 12th

ButtersSuki · 13-05-2016 6:02am

Finished it last night.

I'm between two minds on it. Is it good? Yes. Is it great? No. It has some high points, but a lot of flaws and weaker moments.

The acting by the two leads is mostly very good, but it's let down by some terribly cliched lines and some of the supporting cast. Costible (who I liked in Damages*, The Wire and Breaking Bad amongst others) is far too OTT in this. It's like he took Leo's Wolf of Wall Street character and threw in some shouty Pacino to create the Wags character. It comes across as a little silly to me tbh.

The writing and the timelines are also frustrating. Some of the sub plots

(cases etc., like the insider trading case Giamatti's dad potentially got involved in, and the tip Dollar Bill gave to the defectors)

were hastily concluded in a completely unrealistic time frame. That's the real problem I feel with the show - if they were really to tackle the murky world the protagonists inhabit it wouldn't treat things so glibly. Personally, I'd rather see a storyline develop over a number of episodes/seasons and delve really deeply into it than just wrap up certain elements so quickly; but I guess it wouldn't be a show for the masses then?

I also found the incessant product product placement to be a tad annoying.

Maybe it's just me or maybe it's deliberate, but I thought Lewis looked like he was off his t*ts on Coke most of the time. And a guy who's that insanely rich would I suspect have better teeth.

It will be interesting to see how the show evolves. It's by no means awful, overall though I feel it's not as good as it (likely) thinks it is.

*though a different kind of legal drama, I feel Seasons 1-3 of Damages for example were far superior to this. Shame no-one saw it!

jezzer · 22-06-2016 2:29pm

just finished watching billions, really loved it, on the downside, far too many coincidents, too many to mention plus the whole axe casual wear was a bit over done but overall excellent show, rhodes likes to think he is whiter than white but in actual fact the money that got him to where he is, his fathers money was most lightly dirty plus he is into all sorts of kinky sh1t, hardly has any time for his kids and stole info from his wifes computer and he is supposed to be the good guy? all the while the bad guy axe, has boundless time for his wife and kids, doesnt cheat or anything like that and gives loads of money to good causes and pretty much looks after his employees, at times its kind of hard not to side with axe, as he mentions at the end, where do all the fines go? to the government, who sets the rules? the government, when it suits them, i love how the show opened up the whole reality of the situation, the very blurred lines between so called good and bad and right and wrong, just because something is the law doesnt make it right...

Mitch Connor · 08-07-2016 10:54am

Bunged this over the last week - really enjoyed it. But I fear for the quality and story of the second season. If it continues with Bobby fighting fires vs Chuck... it'll just get stale and exhausting. I feel this show may have been better as a mini-series with no second season - let them play for the full story out over the 13 episodes and be done with it. I just can't see where the story can move to, beyond basically what we have already seen.

jezzer · 08-07-2016 11:24am

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Bunged this over the last week - really enjoyed it. But I fear for the quality and story of the second season. If it continues with Bobby fighting fires vs Chuck... it'll just get stale and exhausting. I feel this show may have been better as a mini-series with no second season - let them play for the full story out over the 13 episodes and be done with it. I just can't see where the story can move to, beyond basically what we have already seen.

they need to spread it out a bit and take in new crooks

Mitch Connor · 08-07-2016 12:25pm

jezzer wrote: »

they need to spread it out a bit and take in new crooks

I suppose in the next season you could have the political issues more prevalent with Chuck trying to position favourable people into positions around him, via his Dads connections. Not sure where Bobby fits in with the directly, if they can do anything to change his story enough to keep it fresh. Obviously if CHuck has more people in power on his side he can go after Bobby harder - but that just leads to basically the same story. Clearly they want to bring in some angle with the Connerty and the job offer - but I can't see him jumping ship. I reckon that will be an important piece of the plot though.

If Wendy comes back there has to be a furthering of aggression from Lara towards her.

jezzer · 08-07-2016 3:03pm

Mitch Connor wrote: »

I suppose in the next season you could have the political issues more prevalent with Chuck trying to position favourable people into positions around him, via his Dads connections. Not sure where Bobby fits in with the directly, if they can do anything to change his story enough to keep it fresh. Obviously if CHuck has more people in power on his side he can go after Bobby harder - but that just leads to basically the same story. Clearly they want to bring in some angle with the Connerty and the job offer - but I can't see him jumping ship. I reckon that will be an important piece of the plot though.

If Wendy comes back there has to be a furthering of aggression from Lara towards her.

i dont like chuck, a bit righteous for my liking, hardly whiter than white himself, his auld lad is a crook as bad as axe, his and his families life is funded by axe, he stole info from his wifes laptop and he is into weird kinky sh1t

his wife is some fox though and that bird of axes has a nice rack, pity wendy wouldnt get hers out

it will be interesting to see what connerty does, he didnt say no as axe alluded to

Poochie05 · 16-07-2016 4:39pm

Just finished this myself. Agree with most comments above, is very good but not great. Not really a Damien Lewis fan which is why I didn't watch it straight away, but I thought he did OK in this. Definitely turned to disliking the Rhodes character more.

I wonder will there be some sort of repercussions for Connerty in terms of him being in the company of Axe over pizza and also the torn up cheque picture that he got made for Rhodes now being in Axe's possession. It's a bit like the password discussion between the Rhodes over dinner with friends. Seemed insignificant but turned out to be important. Or maybe I'm reading too much in to it and should consider becoming the scriptwriter

jezzer · 18-07-2016 11:10am

Poochie05 wrote: »

Just finished this myself. Agree with most comments above, is very good but not great. Not really a Damien Lewis fan which is why I didn't watch it straight away, but I thought he did OK in this. Definitely turned to disliking the Rhodes character more.

I wonder will there be some sort of repercussions for Connerty in terms of him being in the company of Axe over pizza and also the torn up cheque picture that he got made for Rhodes now being in Axe's possession. It's a bit like the password discussion between the Rhodes over dinner with friends. Seemed insignificant but turned out to be important. Or maybe I'm reading too much in to it and should consider becoming the scriptwriter

i think connerty will jump ship, rhodes is a real righteous a hole

Aimeee · 24-07-2016 6:09pm

Finally caught up with this yesterday. I enjoyed it though I'm not mad about damien lewis either. Can't see where it's going to go next though. I think Axes wife is starting to rethink her and childrens situation and will plan accordingly. Chucks wife came out best of all, loads of money, nice car and better job prospect in the other company. Hopefully Axe will destroy all the web info he has on her.
Is there definitely a second series?

Also do we know why Chuck is so determined to catch Axe? Is there a personal thing between them, did I miss it ( was it the wife working for him)?
How do Axe & Chucks wife know each other so well, whats their history?

jezzer · 25-07-2016 9:45am

Aimeee wrote: »

Finally caught up with this yesterday. I enjoyed it though I'm not mad about damien lewis either. Can't see where it's going to go next though. I think Axes wife is starting to rethink her and childrens situation and will plan accordingly. Chucks wife came out best of all, loads of money, nice car and better job prospect in the other company. Hopefully Axe will destroy all the web info he has on her.
Is there definitely a second series?

Also do we know why Chuck is so determined to catch Axe? Is there a personal thing between them, did I miss it ( was it the wife working for him)?
How do Axe & Chucks wife know each other so well, whats their history?

no history other than through axe capital, chuck felt compelled to go after axe because he didnt want peop,e thinking he gave him an easy ride because his wife worked there, the sec guy goaded him into it and this conflicts with chucks normal way of doing things as he only picks cases he knows he can win so after going after axe he now has to win. Defo a second series

MrJones1973 · 25-07-2016 9:26pm

I haven't watched finale but I doubt it will change my mind on this series which over all is negative. It has great actors. Paul Giamatti and Maggie Siff in particular but its just your typical Dallas rehash. Guys and gals playing sides-switching sides. Not much nuance or depth. Paul is effectively Cliff Barnes and Damien Lewis is JR without the womanizing. The only saving grace is that there is no secret organisation trying to control the world.

lukin · 31-07-2016 8:01pm

Just finished watching this and it left me feeling a bit underwhelmed. Paul Giamatti is one the best actors around so I enjoyed his facial expressions and the way he talks is quite funny too. I couldn't get used to Damian Lewis as a Wall street type as I am so used to seeing him in military type roles from Homeland and Band of Brothers. He just didn't convince me.
Maggie Siff's character wasn't really believable either, swanning around in her designer outfits and she never really seemed to do any real work, she was usually sitting on a couch in her office tapping away on her laptop whenever anyone came in.
There were a couple of good scenes in the season though; the time that Rhodes made that guy pick up the dogs*** was good and the scene between Rhodes and the wife in the last ep also. I though the meeting between Rhodes and Axelrod in the same ep was a little unnecessary and didn't really work.It was almost as if the writers said "Oh it's the last episode we have to have a showdown between the two main protagonists".
I'll probably tune in for season two however.

The Black Oil · 31-07-2016 9:54pm

lukin wrote: »

It was almost as if the writers said "Oh it's the last episode we have to have a showdown between the two main protagonists"

That was my sense of it too. "We've two top actors, let them go at it."

The Black Oil · 02-08-2016 5:57am

Actaully, if Chuck wanted to deliver a '**** you' to Bobby, he should have just driven to Axe HQ and left that framed cheque outside the front door.

I should have been a TV writer. :pac:

TSMGUY · 02-08-2016 6:09am

It was a great first season, hit its stride early and got the exposition out of the way. The whole Maggie Siff Paul Giamatti bondage thing was a bit heavy-handed with the symbolism, but other than that, no complaints. The guy who plays Hardman in suits is a master at playing weasels! Finale was a bit weak but I like where things are headed. Can't wait for S2.

Also, someone tell Bobby's wife to get rid of that eyesore of a tattoo. We get it, you're blue-collar!

The Black Oil · 18-12-2016 11:14am

S2 teaser's up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS0VKs2pDfM

jezzer · 19-12-2016 11:46am

TSMGUY wrote: »

It was a great first season, hit its stride early and got the exposition out of the way. The whole Maggie Siff Paul Giamatti bondage thing was a bit heavy-handed with the symbolism, but other than that, no complaints. The guy who plays Hardman in suits is a master at playing weasels! Finale was a bit weak but I like where things are headed. Can't wait for S2.

Also, someone tell Bobby's wife to get rid of that eyesore of a tattoo. We get it, you're blue-collar!

with ya on all points there..... the bondage thing was a bit uncalled for in my opinion and i think the whole Axe blue collar thing is a bit over done too, the wife with the tattoo and axe with his rock and roll t-shirts, he looks ridiculous, all that apart, its a cracking show and cant wait for it to return,

Anyone know when its back?