Billions

2016
4.7
389 reviews
TV-MA
Rating
Eligible
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Season 1 episodes (17)

1 Pilot
1/17/16
Chuck Rhoades, the powerful U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is tipped to a case of insider trading with links to Axe Capital and the billionaire hedge fund king Bobby "Axe" Axelrod. This sets Chuck on a collision course with one of the most powerful men on Wall Street. While it could be a career-defining case for Chuck, he must tread carefully, because his wife, Wendy Rhoades, is the in-house performance coach at Axe Capital and Axe's key confidante. But a costly purchase by Axe gives Chuck the opening he needs, setting off a cat and mouse game where the stakes are high and intensely personal.
2 Naming Rights
1/24/16
Axe installs rigorous compliance measures to gird the company against the investigation by Chuck and the US Attorney's office. When Wendy questions Axe's methods, he compels her to prove her loyalty to the firm. Chuck's investigation is temporarily derailed when he has to divert resources to a case against an Axe rival, billionaire Steven Birch. Axe's black bag man and fixer, Hall, develops a mole inside the US Attorney's office, while Axe makes an aggressive move under the guise of a charitable contribution to the symphony in order to settle an old score.
3 YumTime
1/31/16
Chuck discovers that while he pursued Steven Birch, the rival Eastern District has made inroads in the Axe case and that he needs to get it back. Chuck horse-trades to regain control of a key witness, Pete Decker, a hedge fund manager with ties to Axelrod. At the same time, Axe makes an activist play for YumTime, a family owned bakery corporation. This move reverberates back to Chuck by way of a very personal connection between his father and YumTime. Wendy is thrown into a moral dilemma when she discovers via a confidential session that one of the few female Portfolio Managers at Axe Capital is going to have her career sabotaged. And Lara Axelrod tries to protect Axe's reputation from a potentially damaging "tell all" book.
4 Short Squeeze
2/7/16
After getting one of his Portfolio Managers out of trouble with the police, Axe takes a spontaneous trip to see Metallica in concert with his childhood friends. While there, he meets a free spirited young woman who makes him face the limits of his own freedom. He also must fend off a short squeeze--an attack on one of his important holdings--led by Chuck's father. Back in New York, Chuck has an epic day-long proffer session with Pete Decker, learning important facts about the inner workings of Axe Capital. But Chuck must also take action against his own father for his stock manipulation. Axe reckons with a cold betrayal by one of his old friends, and upon his return, Axe makes a momentous decision about the direction of his firm.
5 The Good Life
2/14/16
Axe orders his traders to unload their positions, and he unceremoniously disappears from Axe Capital, plunging the firm into chaos. As Axe questions his life choices and plans a trip on his new yacht, Wags and Wendy struggle to maintain order and morale. In response to Axe's disappearance, Chuck intensifies his investigation, which leads him to a farm in Iowa, where he discovers a key witness to a questionable trade. Armed with the damning evidence, Chuck sends the FBI into Axe Capital to make a surprising arrest.
6 The Deal
2/21/16
The repercussions of the raid on Axe Capital ripple outward. Axe is spoiling for a fight, and plans a scorched-earth defense against this very public attack on his company-threatening his relationship with Wendy in the process. Chuck's interrogation of Dollar Bill does not go as planned and political pressure mounts for Chuck to recuse himself in the face of a protracted legal battle. Wendy, caught in the middle, engages in deft shuttle diplomacy to facilitate a deal in the best interests of both men. But everything hinges on a fraught face-to-face meeting between Chuck and Axe to finalize the agreement.
7 The Punch
3/6/16
The case against Axe Capital gains a powerful weapon when Connerty turns a member of Axe's inner circle into an informant. The pressure from the U.S. Attorney starts to affect Axe, who gets into a physical altercation with an acquaintance over an incident involving his kids. When a damning video of the confrontation surfaces, Axe is forced to defend his reputation. Lara worries that a coddled upbringing has made her sons soft and comes up with a plan to toughen them up. Wendy meets with an attractive headhunter to consider a career change, and more than just job opportunities surface. And at the US Attorney's office, Chuck continues to conceal his involvement with the Axe Capital case while using the past to get the upper hand on Spyros.
8 Boasts and Rails
3/13/16
Axe receives a tip about a mole inside his company, throwing the US Attorneys' case into jeopardy. Connerty faces a moral dilemma in how to respond, leading to a conflict with Chuck. Frustrated with Connerty and beset on all sides, Chuck finds himself reconsidering his position, as both he and Wendy look toward a future without Axe Capital looming between them. The investigation begins to encroach on Lara's private life, causing tension with her husband. Amidst it all, a secret from Axe's past surfaces, threatening everything he has built.
9 Where the Fuck is Donnie?
3/20/16
The repercussions of the revelations come home to roost. Axe is under siege. There are public demonstrations, inside insurrection, and fleeing investors. A sudden and mysterious disappearance sends both Axe and Chuck spinning. Chuck, Connerty and the FBI go into manhunt mode as they try to track down this critical individual. Lara has to contend with her family and with the brotherhood of firefighters who are furious about Axe's behavior. In an effort to circle the wagons, Lara makes a painful sacrifice.
10 Quality of Life
3/27/16
The death of a cherished member of the Axe Capital family forces both Axe and Wendy to do some soul searching, while creating a devastating setback for Chuck in his pursuit of Axe Capital. Much to the dismay of the Southern District, they take another loss when an insider trading case is dismissed by a corrupt judge. In a brilliant counter move, Chuck enlists Lonnie Watley to expose the judge, while greasing the rails for a future move against Axe Capital. Axe gets revenge on some defecting Axe Capital employees.
11 Magical Thinking
4/3/16
Axe loses hundreds of millions of dollars on a bad trading decision and turns to Wendy for help. Chuck sets out on an odyssey to secure powerful allies in the fight against Axe. Lara enlists Lu to become the new chef at Axe Capital but Lu balks at working for the rich and takes her sister back to the old neighborhood to remind her of their roots. Sacker and Connerty close down the Axe Capital investigation and decide to do something risky. Chuck finds evidence - right in his own home - that could salvage the case.
12 The Conversation
4/10/16
Hall informs Axe that Chuck has new evidence against him that could land him in prison. As Lara makes plans for the Axelrod family to flee the country, Axe accuses Wendy of leaking the info to Chuck. A defiant Wendy realizes how far Chuck has gone in his pursuit of Axe and threatens to expose him. With his marriage and career in peril, Chuck is forced to take actions that further his rift with Connerty. Having sacrificed so much to this case - including possibly his marriage - Chuck finds Axe for an explosive confrontation.
101 About
5/16/16
Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis take us inside the new Showtime original series about two titanic figures on a collision course in the high stakes world of New York finance, Billions.
102 Character Profile: Axe
5/16/16
Season-only
Damian Lewis stars as the ambitious hedge fund king, Bobby Axelrod in the new Showtime Original Series about power politics in the world of New York high finance, Billions.
103 Character Profile: Chuck
5/23/16
Season-only
Paul Giamatti is the hard charging US Attorney, Chuck Rhoades, in the new Showtime Original Series about power politics in the world of New York high finance, Billions.
104 Character Profile: Wendy
5/30/16
Season-only
Maggie Siff is Wendy Rhoades; the in house performance coach at Axe Capital, in the new Showtime Original Series about power politics in the world of New York high finance, Billions.
105 Character Profile: Lara
6/6/16
Season-only
Malin Akerman stars as Lara Axelrod; the smart and loyal better half' to the hedge fund king, in the new Showtime Original Series about power politics in the world of New York high finance, Billions.

About this show

What happens when voracious power players at the top of their fields go head-to-head? Brilliant hedge fund titans and a brash U.S. District Attorney play a dangerous, winner-take-all game of cat and mouse where the stakes run into ten figures. Ultimately forced to answer the question: what is power worth?

Ratings and reviews

4.7
389 reviews
ABCDEF
July 19, 2020
Completely engrossing, and essential viewing for anyone with a keen interest in both politics and Wall St. Unlike most Wall St movies, where all the leading roles are held by white men, Billions has a diverse cast of characters that reflect the reality of our contemporary world. One of the central characters is non-gender-binary, and the use of non-binary pronouns (them/they/their) is done effortlessly and without fanfare. There is good gender balance: several of the central characters are women (a doctor, a self-made billionaire, a prosecutor in the NY Southern District) as are many of the other important characters (the NY attorney general in season 1, a spunky analyst in series 5, etc). These women are smart, capable, engaged with their work and with the world, and have rich and complex characters. There are many people of colour (African, Asian, etc) in key roles (including a black female prosecutor who is outstanding); these people have interesting and important roles (prosecutor, attorney general, analyst, head of marketing, etc) and their colour is incidental to their roles. Sexual-preference diversity is also treated in a very uncomplicated and non-judgemental way. For instance, a number of the characters are gay or bisexual, but their sexuality is completely incidental to their roles in the movie. The "human element" is also hugely important. Indeed, this is more a story about how psychological factors - ego, anger, fear, etc - drive our actions. In short: just brilliant.
14 people found this review helpful
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MadisonT Madison
October 6, 2022
Billions is an entertaining show in my opinion. It also depends on the individual's mindset when watching the show. A person can become depressed due to the environment the show gives. The language is about money, millions, billions not 20 or 30 or 100 dollars Us average folks talk amongst each other. I like the show because of the possibilities I can achieve by staying focus, do right by myself as I do right by people in order to move through life and have a successful business.
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A Google user
April 30, 2018
IT WAS A HORRIBLE THAN ANYTHING I EVER WATCHED DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY JUST GET GAME CALLED GRANNY IF YOU LIKE SCARY THIS IS REAL SCARY AND IF YOU DONT LIKE SCARY STUFF THAN GET THE GAME IMMPOSABLE BOTTLE FLIP
31 people found this review helpful
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