Comes with All the Feathers

The 8th episode of Billions this season has the usual number of story lines running concurrently across the screen. One thing about the writing in Billions, it is snappy and makes reference to people and events that I know nothing about. At least when they say it. But I watch these shows with a pad of notepaper and a pen, and I take notes when something strikes me as something I'd like to look-up later.

And so it was when a  New York State Indian tribe is introduced as a power base that the governor doesn't want to piss off.

It seems the United States Attorney General, the mellifluous-voice Waylon "Jock" Jeffcoat, doesn't want to allow mobile phone voting in New York State.  This seems to be bending the role of a U.S. A.G. into state election policy, but hey, this is television. Jock of course is Chuck's bète noire and serves as the source of the on-going feud that runs trough the show.

Well, the indigenous people of New York State want mobile phone betting because of the remoteness of their environment. Chuck is a "fixer" so he meets with Council Member Jane Halftown, who is not very receptive to Chuck's entreaty to once again lobby for mobile voting, especially since she feels Chuck's dad has shortchanged them on the casino land deal and literally screwed and fathered a child with a tribal member.

The continued proclivities of Chuck Rhoades Sr. comes as a bit of a surprise to Chuck, but he promises to fix it. The tribe's initial deal with Sr. is sweetened, and a 529 College program for the newborn is started.

Chuck arranges an ambush meeting with the Commissioner of Elections with he and Jane Halftown, who pulls a full headdress out of an enormous hat box and tells the Commissioner she and 30 of "her people" will stage a sit-in at his office in full native regalia to protest being frozen out of mobile voting. The Commissioner capitulates, but not before there is some very colorful language about him sitting on an arrow head and having it go up his ass.

Chuck, ever the fixer, doesn't want the Commissioner to go away empty handed, so he is rewarded with a full-expense paid trip to Aruba for he and the wife to make up for the "lulus" (political gratuities) the Commissioner has seen evaporate ever since Chuck staged the arrests at the church of 30 Senate and Assembly number on corruption charges. Everyone wins.

Except Jeff Jeffcoat, who now has been given the bad news by Bryan Connerty that the Indians have attained the right to take part in mobile voting.

This truly annoys Jeff. He indelicately says that he thought Sam Houston in Texas took care of the Native American problem. He orders Connerty to introduce an "infected blanket" like what "good ol' Lord Amherst did."

Okay, a gap in my knowledge of history. What the hell is an infected blanket, and who was Lord Amherst?

Lord Jefferey Amherst was a British general who was a key figure in the Seven Years War, the French and Indian War that involved British forces against the French and Indians in Canada and the northern portion of what would eventually be New York State.

To help reduce the number of Indians who could fight the British, Amherst came up withe idea of using blankets taken from smallpox patients in a hospital and use then as gifts to the Indians in the hopes that they would be infected with the smallpox virus and die. It was biological warfare. It worked. An epidemic of smallpox broke out amongst the Delaware Indians.

A contemporary review of history has created second thoughts in Canada about the use of the Amherst name in towns honoring Amherst's war achievements. Biological genocide is not meant to be honored.

The Amherst name is also in use in the United States, particularly in Amherst, Massachusetts, home to Amherst College. So far, no name changes there, and the level of discontent with the name Amherst is unknown. You would think it would be substantial.

Connerty does in effect introduce an infected blanket against Rhoades when he manages to waylay the permits for the father's riverside development and gets the police commissioner to close the site. Everyone is on the take for favors, and this time, the Commish has put a boulder in front of the Rhoades family, or risk Jeff pulling Federal funds for the anti-terrorism units the NYPD is so proud of. The influence and power struggle is outsized to real-life, but hey, this is television.

The other main theme of the episode is a boxing match staged for charity between Axe Capital's Dollar Bill and Taylor's Dudley Mafee. After Mafee stormed the castle of Axe Capital and called Wendy all sorts of names, and Dollar Bill had to be restrained from decking Mafee, the idea of a grudge-settling boxing match was hatched.

The Rocky-style training buildup is funny, and allows for 'Eye of the Tiger' to get air time. The match is staged at some hall large enough to allow a significant number of spectators, notably names from finance who are playing themselves. Axe of course knows everyone, and greets these people by name. The credits show that they were playing themselves, just like the episode that the three porno stars were playing themselves. The show covers lots of ground.

The match ends just before the fourth round when Mafee and Dollar Bill are so exhausted that they each collapse in the ring and don't get up. The match is considered a 'double loss',  and a draw is declared, sending the bettors into a rage because the fight in betting parlance is now considered a "push." No winner, unless you bet a push, which one nerdy Taylor employee seems to have done.

The other major segment to the episode involves fracking in New York State, with Taylor successfully baiting Axe to take a pro-fracking stance, a complete opposite to Taylor's declared stand against.

It's a sting on Taylor's part. He gets Bobby to lobby for fracking, when fracking is really what Taylor wants as well. The heavy lifting to get state approval falls on Axe, who unwittingly is actually helping Taylor's interest, since Taylor has bought a huge tract of land to attain the water rights. Water is a key component of fracking, and now Taylor has checkmated Axe. This is a fight to be continued.

The episode has it's usual foul-mouthed "fuck" and "mother fucking" dialogue. You distinctly get the impression that the writers are not creating an episode filled with fiction. New York State has famously indicted several Senate and Assembly members. and the governor has been weighing in on allowing fracking, or not, which right now is not allowed.

So the writers stage a dinner that Axe is throwing at his penthouse aerie for the governor to help fund his Super Pac. The $1.2 million raised should help the reluctant governor to decide for fracking statewide.

Bobby, ever one to sidestep all the posturing, arranged for no one to attend the dinner, but instead gives the governor $1.2 million of his own money, Who needs people eating? The governor's entourage is being fed by Chef Ryan in another alcove of the penthouse.

The real sweetener comes when Axe realizes that perhaps the governor could really use something else. With Chuck hovering as Axe's wingman, Governor Sweeney says he wants to be the keynote speaker at the upcoming National Governors conference, a plum speaking engagement and a stepping stone to presidential aspirations.

Bobby can do. Not easy, but Bobby can do. Bobby's talents and influence are wasted. We need him on the international stage to deal with China and tariffs. There are no parking tickets or jury duty notices in Bobby Axelrod's life.

Bonnie is getting a little more exposure. She is the curly-haired trader who looks like she probably likes men, but might eat them after sex. She gets to be Wendy's companion and helpful listener as Wendy tries to shake off the BDSM exposure Chuck revealed. to the world.

Along the way there are nuggets dropped that you really need to pay attention to. Some I get, others not.

A reference to Vince Neil, who is turns out is the lead vocalist for Motley Crüe.

Chuck, in trying to play to a get on Wendy's good side and back in the bedroom and back in her pants, prepares a nice breakfast to greet her after her morning run. He's gotten the She Wolf bread she likes so much.

The what? Turns out She Wolf is an artisanal hipster bakery in Brooklyn, offering $20 loaves of bread. Artisanal and curated are two words I now hate. And $20 bread will never be for me. Pass.

Another expression is "jazz cabbage" when Mafee offloads his drug paraphernalia, glass pipes, tubes, whatever it takes to get high, because he's now in training for his fight with dollar Bill. Jazz cabbage?

Turns out the phrase means marijuana, and uses the word jazz because jazz musicians were always, and probably still are, marijuana users. Makes sense now.

Look for more horse-trading and influence peddling, because that's makes the world go round for the two major protagonists. Look for Bonnie to emerge with an expanded part in an episode.

But tell me, will the governor, or the attorney general, ever be seen in Albany? Will we ever see them pow-wow at a upstate famous eatery? (Are there any?)

Will "Jock" Jeffcoat ever be seen on Acela headed to Washington? And those unpolitically-correct insensitive remarks about Native Americans and Sam Houston...will the New York Times ever find out about them?

As always, stay tuned. It ain't over till it's over.

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