The Prestige TV Podcast - 'Billions' | TV Concierge

Episode Date: May 1, 2020

Sean Fennessey and Mallory Rubin get you excited for Season 5 of 'Billions,' the fast-paced and hedonistic show about New York money, politics, and power. Hosts: Sean Fennessey and Mallory Rubin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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It is returning on Sunday, May 3rd for his fifth season. I'm talking, of course, about billions. Mal, how you feeling about billions coming back? Sean, I am not uncertain. I'm overjoyed. I can't wait. I'm delighted. Truly,

I feel like wags staring at a fresh offering of body sushi. Just can't wait to dive in until I get my fill and build up a tolerance. I can assure you that body sushi is not practicing safe social distancing. Billions, not really a social distancing series if there ever was one. Mallory, just to get people interested in this show Billions who haven't seen billions, Let's explain why it's exciting to have it back.

What is it about this show, this story of financial titans going nose to nose in New York that compels you so? So we can save the specific where we left off and where we're heading aspect of this for a few minutes and just focus on the more general appeal of the billions experience, which I consider universal and eternal personally. the level of hype that I experienced when I watched the season five trailer again today to get ready for this was borderline alarming and astonishing. I just cannot wait. I think that part of it is that Billions is always something that delivers a sense of familiarity. Even amid whatever specific plot is unfolding, the new power dynamics, the new characters who are introduced, there are some. something that you know you're going to be able to rely on. And that is Chuck, Axe, Wendy, Wagz, Dollar Bill Stern, all of our old pals, on and on the list goes, a case study in so much of what is interesting about humanity. You know, what is Billions about? Billions is about hubris. It's about power dynamics. It's about greed, sex, money, certainly about the culinary offerings in New York City and how many shuffle travings are appropriate on a plate of pasta. about all of that and more.

I think that it is the perfect show for this moment and time right now, quarantine, because there's something about the idea of returning to that constant that I at least personally find comfort in. And especially knowing that Chuck and Axe, or expecting at least, that Chuck and Axe are going to be positioned as in the role of nemesis rival for each other again, I feel like I'm sinking into a warm bath. Billions is wrapping itself around me in a hug. Again, not actually hugging anybody because of social distancing. But that's what it feels like. That's what it approximates for me. What about you? Why are you excited about billions coming back?

Well, you raise the good point because I think this is an opportunity for us to talk about where the show was at the end of the fourth season and where it's going. What I love about the show, aside from Brian Coppillman and David Levine's hyper-reference-packed, deeply melodramatic portrayal portrayal of power brokers in the city, which is, you know, meaningful to me as a New Yorker and somebody who was interested in people acting like complete assholes, is specifically the Chuck and Axe dynamic. And maybe you can help us remember where we left this show last in season four and how it seems clear that that core conflict, that Chuck Rhodes versus Bobby Axe Axelrod, justice versus money, power versus power, how that's going to come back to the four here. So where

did we last leave off when we saw Chuck and Axe? Okay, I will try to keep this top level and not get too bogged down in the specifics because one of the other things that's worth saying out loud about Billions is that it's very dense in a satisfying way. You're going to watch a true hour for every episode and it's going to feel like a movie in and of itself, even though the through line is then really consistent across the season. But just in terms of the conclusion of season four, Billions fans will recall that season four was different.

because Chuck and Axe were aligned. They were working together for much of the season, which on the one hand was this really energizing, exciting change. And on the other hand, felt like a departure from what we understand Billions to be. And I thought that was a great thing to mess around with, give the characters a chance to do something new and to interact with each other in a different way. Because one of the other things that Billions does so, so, so expertly

is it reminds us that you always, always, always become the thing you hate. And I loved the chance to watch Chuck and Axe turn into each other, Chuck especially degrading into this thing that he claims he's so much better than. So now we are back at a moment in the show where they are opposed. That is because at the end of season four, Axe brought Taylor back into the fold, wants Taylor at Axecap. Taylor's shingle will be a part of Axe cap now. Axe thinks that Chuck is helping him. How long he will continue to think that, I think, remains to be seen. He's obviously sharp enough to suss this out. Chuck wants to take Axe down using Taylor within the company

to help make that happen. Taylor's stance is paraphrasing a line from the finale. I'm just going to duck when the guns come out and let them take out each other. Now, as is always the case with billions, the personal is mixed in with the professional. Wendy, after surviving her medical board review, thanks to the $25 million donation from Bobby Axelrod, has left Chuck, who A, did not help her, and B, lied and pretended he did,

and went to Axe's apartment to spend the night there because she didn't want to be at home with Chuck. And in one of the most astonishing moments in television history, A, Axe changed the sheets for her and made the bed for her with his own hands. And B, they did not then fuck on that bed, which I can't get over. And I am so excited for the inevitable building toward that moment. The will they won't pay attention with Wendy and Axe is so exciting to me. Couple other characters to recap on quickly.

Conardy, disgraced, you'll recall. In chains. Caught looking through the Chuck Senior safe, the idiot, entrapped successfully. Jack Jeffcoat, Chuck also managed to take him down. And one of the things that was very fun about the end of season four of billions, and this can allow us to segue into the setup for season five, is that you had this moment where Chuck was. so obsessed with Jock and Connerty.

Axe was so obsessed with Taylor. But none of those people are ever really going to rise to the thing that they are for each other. The true mark, the true level of respect. And yet, obviously, new characters will be introduced in season five. And in Axe's case, at least, a new rival will be introduced. Corey Stoll. So let's talk a little bit about those new characters. So you mentioned Corey Stoll plays Michael Prince, who is described as, quote, unquote,

a business titan. Also joining the cast this season, The Good Wife, Julianna Margulies, who plays Catherine Brandt an Ivy League sociology professor and bestselling author.

Intriguing. Roma Mafia is on as Marianne Graham, the district attorney of Manhattan. And then one very notable name in the Mal Rubin universe. Oh, God. Your boy Frank Grillo,

best known as the star of the Purge series, appears as Nico Tanner a quote modern artist. How are you feeling about Grillo joining up? I feel like he's been a modern artist painting in my heart since I was old enough to turn on the TV and watch Heart Jess up on Guiding Light. That's how I feel about it, Sean.

I went, you know, freeze frame, frame by frame in all of the trailers that came out. A couple really exciting Frank Grillo-centric shots. There's one where he takes Wendy by the hand in his studio. There appears to be another where they're kissing. I think we can safely say that he's going to be a love interest. And we can also safely say because this is Billions that that does not preclude him from being a pawn in somebody's game. I'm delighted. One thing we should note about this season that is

important is that due to the pandemic, the production of the series was halted midway through. So even though the show is returning officially on Sunday, we're not going to get the entire run of the series. We're only going to get a few episodes to start. I believe we're going to get, is it seven episodes of the 12 that are planned? And then we'll pick back up when production is able to be completely. here. So, you know, in many ways, I actually think due to that density that you were talking about, Mallet, this is kind of a great thing for billions. I love the idea of a half season. Yeah, I'm with you just in general because of how rich and layered every episode is. But also, if you think about the prior four seasons of billions and what, what blueprint the seasons

tend to follow, that seventh episode, that Midway-ish point in the season, really does function as a reset pretty regularly. You feel like the thing that's the thing that's, you feel like the thing that you thought, the plot point, the structure that you thought was going to define the season, we tend to pivot away from that or in a new direction, whether it's about relationships, power dynamics, who's succeeding, who's failing, what the focus is, you know, if a case is unfolding, and of course, this is billions, we've seen many shots in the trailers where people appear to be in courtrooms, whatever the main focus is, whoever the main nemesis is, that's probably going to shift midway through the season anyway. And so I think it will function as a very natural breaking point that

might just end up making this feel like a season finale. And then we'll when we end up getting what is technically the back half of season five, it'll probably just feel like a shorter season six. Last question for you. What bizarre food item would you like to see consumed on this season of billions? Oh, my goodness. This is a great question. I think that there's a little bit of a Top Chef comp here where,

as I watch Top Chef, All Stars, L.A. right now, there's a part of me that feels so despondent because I'm observing something that I cannot currently participate in, you know, really exploring the city in which I live, really literally ingesting and soaking up all of these things that remind you of the vibrancy of life and the place where you are. But there's also something that I find really cathartic about it, getting to remember what you love about a place. And so I'm expecting something similar, watching the characters on Billions actually out in New York and in the restaurants in New York that so many of us have such fond memories of and such fond feelings for and obviously

hope will, you know, be okay after all of this. That said, I always hold out hope for something interesting happening on the food front in Axe's apartment. You know, which celebrity chef will come in and make Axe pancakes as he's trying to close a deal to crush Rebecca's spirit. What's that going to be? Now, those were, you know, pancakes, breakfast food. Will we get any songbirds that you eat whole with a nap, and covering your face this time. It's a great question, Sean. I guess I'm expecting

Wags to consume a cocktail of some sort that leads to him vanishing from the story for, let's say, two and a half episodes. And then Wendy and or Mathy

finding him with the remnants of whatever he had last consumed on multiple orifices. That's my prediction. Multiple orifices. You heard it here first, folks. The only show on television where you can be invaded every which way but loose. For Mallory Rubin, I'm Sean Fennessy. This has been TV concierge.

See you on the other side. It's a triple cross!