Take the latest episode of Billions. How can you ever be sure of what you read about a U.S. Attorney after watching that episode? The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, the so-called Sovereign District, Chuck Rhoades, torpedoes a case against Bobby Axelrod and Axe Capital being brought by the Eastern District of New York, that has the chance of bringing Chuck down for his involvement in baiting Bobby with a stock he knew Bobby was going to engineer a short position on.
Additionally, there is the involvement of Chuck's wife Wendy who jumped on the short position via insider information and made a tidy sum. Then there's Chuck's dad Charles Rhoades, the scion of the Rhoades family, who might go down for perjury because of his hidden involvement is helping to provide the money for the short position, having taken it from Chuck's trust fund, with of course Chuck's knowledge.
This whole series of transactions are so intertwined that it has Chuck, Wendy and Axe sitting down together trying to figure out who takes the fall. Chuck's got a better idea.
And what an idea. He replants the slide that created the toxic brew that made everyone sick that sent Ice Juice's stick tumbling, making the short players immensely rich back into the possession of the doctor who helped Axe create the foul version of Ice Juice that induced so much vomiting. And of course all that vomiting was captured on cell phone video because all those sick people were in on the scam.
Ultimately by the end of the episode, Dr. Gilbert takes the fall for withholding cancer treatment from an employee of Axe Capital at the insistence of Bobby Axelrod, leading to the employee's more convenient death.
Chuck plays. Bobby plays. And Eastern District's case sinks when the evidence that Bryan Connerty (loaned to Eastern District) was going to present as the basis for getting a trial started suddenly disappears. Axe has had his Supremo fixer get the cell phone records changed that showed Wendy received the call from McFee, the Axe trader, rather than Wendy making the call to the trader. The distinction takes the spotlight off Wendy.
And just to insure that the spotlight stays off Wendy, the trader, McFee, Dudley McFee, sort of re-remembers the sequence of events as being he calls Wendy, not the other way around. McFee turns into Dudley Do-Right and does right by Wendy and Axe Capital.
Wendy has made a visit to Mcfee's apartment to soften him up with a little visual affection. She's dressed to kill, and McFee has a crush on Wendy. A shared beer and her head on his shoulder leaves McDee completely smitten.
What's the windup? Eastern's case falls apart and the indictment against Bobby and Axe Capital is thrown out. Bobby Axelrod is not the Teflon Don, but water does slide off his duck's back. Wendy and Chuck escape scrutiny, and Dad is off the perjury rap.
An SEC fine against Mcfee for $181,00 is covered by Bobby. A flash drive with $1 million in crypto-currency is presented to McFee as a token of appreciation. And perhaps BEST of all is when McFee leaves the office, Wendy slides out of her office and plants an appreciative kiss on McFee's lips while the Ronette's are heard singing the thumping, "Baby, I love You."
Wendy explains it's platonic, but it is good enough for McFee, because he backs into the elevator like a star-struck school boy who is not going to wash his face for at least a week.
And Bobby and Axe? How are they going to enjoy their victory over the Eastern District and those conniving Federal prosecutors? With sex, of course.
The opening parental warnings promised some nudity, and the final scene adds to the little female nudity we already got when the tech from the cell phone company gets a surprise visit from the Bobby Axelrod Supremo fixer while he's in bed with a female, other than his wife.
The last scene produces much more nudity as Axe and Wags, but ultimately Axe, makes his way through a bevy of party girl escort beauties that have been waiting at Axe's penthouse. It is cable television's version of The Charge of the Light Brigade. Girls to the left of Bobby. Girls to the right of Bobby. Girls behind Bobby, and best of all, three compliant-looking party babes naked in the hot tub to the front of Bobby awaiting his immersion.
I'll give the screenwriters this: at this point, crime does seem to pay.
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