Billions - Currency - Review

The fifth episode of the season was jammed packed. A lot of tack was laid, but viewers will have to wait to see the fallout.

Lara:
In this episode, Lara decides her company is ready to Go through their first seed round. During a meeting with Spartan Ives, that Bobby sets up with her, she is reminded that her this is a favor to her husband. She desperately wants to do it on her own and is not happy to hear that she is perceived as nothing more than the wife of a wealthy man. When she confronts Axe about her experience, he tells her that she was not ready, that there is nothing original about her business, and that she should have listened to him. This interaction is a shift from any that we have seen between the two before. Lara is in new territory and is not her same, confident self. Axe talks to her in a heartless way, something that should not necessarily have come from him, but what he says will surely light the fire that causes her to keep going and improving her business.

Axe:
In this episode, Axe is dealing with several different business ventures and taking a great deal of risk. Takes his son to the stables, but since it's Axe we're talking about, it wasn't just for quality bonding time, he went to ask the stable owner if he'd heard about the casino that Axe was told about in the previous episode. Axe gets a call from Boyd. When he returns to the office, it is learned that Axe Capital is in danger of having their first down quarter. The team is fighting the urge to play illegally. Axe then learns that Nigeria is devaluing currency. It is the break he needs to make a profit. If he can control when the currency devalues, he can make a huge profit. Axe starts working a play to make big money. While looking for Wags, Axe tells off the horrible Wendy replacement and reminds the audience, yet again, that he is not ready to let her go. Axe tries to get all the main players to take a position against Nigeria. They all agree, but Axe's plan was leaked by Steven Birch as revenge who Axe screwed over at the beginning of season one. Nigeria finds out. Axe refuses to back down on his position. Axe let Stephanie, his chief of staff, go, bringing Wags back to him normal position. Bobby is falling back to his instincts, less timid. Right before going on a talk show with Lawrence Boyd, Axe learns a judge signed an arrest warrant for Boyd, and he does not warn him. Instead he keeps quiet until Boyd speaks in favor of Axe going against Nigeria. Boyd is arrested and the last two left are Bobby and Chuck. Again.

Wendy: Wendy is back in therapy with Chuck. They argue about him wearing a suit to get together with their friends at their home. He talks about wearing it because has has always been insecure in their relationship, knowing that everyone must think that she could do better than him, just as he does. This is the most vulnerable Chuck has been and Wendy is clearly affected by it. Later in the day, Wendy has a deep session with Wags and gets him back on track.

Rhoades:
He is still in karate, where he meets a new woman who is clearly a potential love interest. She is a sculpture, potentially bringing the New York art world into the Billions universe. Rhoades and his team use Tom, the employee whose wife Boyd slept with, to get Boyd to confess. He is successful.

This week's episode moved swiftly. Several things happened, and Bobby, Chuck and Wendy all sank into old habits. It was interesting to see, but what will be more interesting, is to see what happens next. Overall, this was a solid episode with little resolve.