Guilt is a State of Mind
by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | May 7, 2018
Well, we all knew they would get out of this, didn’t we? Yet, Billions has once again kept us at the edge of our seats while finding out HOW. And this is what I love the most about this show. The true thrill is not in what happens but in how it happens and I bow in front of the brilliant writers and actors for giving us yet another thrilling hour of TV where the holy triangle proves there is nothing that can stop them when they are out there to get what they want.
And, in this particular case, they want to make Wendy’s short disappear.
The episode opens to confuse the viewer, Billions style. We find Chuck talking to Dr. Gilbert about his obsession with the paratroopers in WWII and especially the point of no return where they need to make the jump, or where Chuck and Dr. Gilbert are exactly at the moment. I hope you are not implying you are a Dick Winters, Chuck. They are planting the slide, probably under a ketchup bottle, in Axe’s refrigerator at the moment and the FBI will be coming in while Axe is having dinner with his boys tonight. Dr. Gilbert almost feels bad for Axe, yet he sees the situation like an emergency room triage after a mass casualty event.
“You save who you can and force the fate of the rest out of your mind.”
Well, that is exactly how the holy triangle sees it. We find them in Axe’s living room discussing how to make Wendy’s short go away in a way that the case does not go to trial. Axe can have the new Halls to “massage†the phone records to make sure the phone call Wendy made to short the stock was not made from Chuck’s office. It is fascinating how Axe and Chuck use the time Wendy leaves the table to plot their game together: They will find someone to dump this on and then divide the work: Axe will ensure it will look like he has made profits in Ice Juice and Chuck will ensure he will take the plea and go to prison without a trial. While both men know Wendy has got steel in her, they are surprised when she asks them the question.
Wendy is the boss lady.
Their patsy is at home wearing his Johns Hopkins t-shirt, watching TV with his family. As Dr. Gilbert is looking down on Fulbright and praising Marshall, Kate leads the FBI raid to his house. We find out Chuck talking to Gilbert in front of his house is part of the mission while the rest is accomplished by Mr. Adubo who has definitely earned some greens and US visas for his family in Congo. And it is mind-blowing how Chuck has given Gilbert the rope to hang himself:
“Not the ketchup!”
Dr. Gilbert finds himself in an interview room at the SDNY sitting with Chuck, who is now offering him the chance to say he is the one who planned the Ice Juice sabotage all along. He can take the plea and avoid the embarrassment of a public trial. While Dr. Gilbert is not willing to talk before his lawyer appears and he wants a trial where he can talk about whatever he wants to talk about Ice Juice, Chuck tells him the FBI will also be in the room when his lawyer shows up, and they will only be interested in the the slide as well as the profits he made out of Ice Juice. While Dr. Gilbert is confident he has not made any profits, we could only say YIKES!
It turns out Wendy has Chuck well-trained in psychological manipulation as well. Guilt is a state of mind and Chuck wants to put the doctor there. He starts with a question:
“What is the cost — the grinding, wearing, price — of carrying internal culpabilities even while escaping external blame?”
As Dr. Gilbert asserts he is innocent, Chuck kindly disagrees. Facts are only a place to start and they may well find a “great man that has transgressed” as they dig deeper than facts. Dr. Gilbert obviously provided his skills to help Axe in Ice Juice and benefited from doing that Yet, he is now more than ready to torpedo Axe’s life. What does this say about him?
When the new Halls are not able to hack Sky One Wireless to take care of Wendy’s phone call, Axe travels to Nova Scotia to find a certain “bluenoser” who can tell him not only where the closest Tim Ho-Ho’s is and more: Hall’s solution is simple. If you cannot hack a system, you hack a person. Given Hall does not trust the new Halls can pull this off as seamlessly as he could, he takes over. The hack turns out to be an employee at Sky One who sold access to the accounts of sixteen celebrities and politicians. He will either “massage” the phone records or go to prison.
The only reason Dake has got a position for Allerd at the Southern Disctrict is for the latter to feed him information from across the river. But he is mum about Chuck. We understand Allerd is a man “who recognize nuanced shifts in loyalty” when we see him sharing the 14-year old Oban Whisky Dake has given him with Chuck. Given Rhoades airlines traditionally rewards their loyal customers, I wonder what Chuck has promised Allerd.
As the “true day of reckoning” starts at the court house, Bryan’s confidence makes him go overboard presenting his case. And when he and Bach demonstrate neither of them knows the meaning of “respectfully” DeGiulio needs to stop the Animal House Toga Party and do what Wendy did with Bill and Spyros: a couple therapy of sorts in his chambers! It turns out DeGiulio is my kind of guy when pasta is concerned: Slightly undercooked is okay but overcooked is a no-no. Same with cases. But Bryan believes his case is al dente: He does not only have Wendy’s trading records but also evidence that she called to short the stock from Chuck’s office which proves she traded with her husband’s help and guidance. Moreover, they will call the executing trader as a witness. Trial it is!
While it is about pasta at the courthouse, it is about Acai bowls at Axe Capital. As Axe is testing the waters with Mafee to understand if he can take one for him and the company, he figures he does not know his employees as he did in the past. So he goes to Taylor who he believes has a special bond with Mafee. Bingo! Axe now knows Mafee has an old fashioned sense of honor and he would not do anything that would bring him dishonor.
Read the rest of the original article at Fan Fun with Damian Lewis