Standard Problems – Nonstandard Solutions
by Damianista | Fan Fun with Damian Lewis | April 28, 2019
I could not be happier that a game theory term makes it to the title of this week’s episode: Infinite Game.
In finite games, like a tennis match, the players are known and the rules are fixed. The players obey the rules and play to win the game. In finite games, there is a clear endpoint. In infinite games such as politics or business, or life itself, players and rules may change. There is no definite endpoint. The goal for all players involved is to keep the game going.
And this fantastic episode is a deep dive into life, an infinite game, where human beings try to find the balance between their rational and emotional sides and keep it going. Hats off to everyone behind and in front of the camera!
Chuck gets an emergency call from Mr. Brogan, the man he had gone out of his way to get a gun license for. It turns out, after a fight, while Mrs. Brogan leaves for a Baccarat retreat, Mr. Brogan tries to find comfort in a whiskey bottle. And when he hears a bang at the back door, the action man that he is, Brogan shoots for self-defense. The neighbor’s Belgian Malinois is now dead and Brogan expects his “Michael Clayton†to fix it for him with the cops. Chuck suggests Brogan hire a lawyer and takes control of the situation when the cops, who got a call from Brogan’s neighbors who heard the shot, arrive. And when he visits Police Commisioner Sansome, who is feasting on “Uova Picante Purgatorio†at home, Chuck finds out there is no “we†in this matter and he really needs to be Michael Clayton for a day. And I cannot help but add a little Michael Clayton trivia here: Billions show creator Brian Koppelman also has a role in the movie.
Todd Krakow gets an emergency warning from Jeffcoat in the men’s bathroom of all places where he “discovers†Jock has got his nickname not for his athletic abilities but for his “size.†A self-declared tufted titmouse, a song bird most commonly found in central and southern Texas, Jeffcoat shares with Krakow that Chuck has him in his sights.
And is it me, or Jeffcoat does not wash his hands after he targets the flies painted in the basin? Ewwwww.
There is an emergency “war room†meeting at Bruno’s where Axe is kindly asking Rebecca if she would be willing to help him in presence of his right and left arm, Wags and Wendy. Douglas Mason’s aeronautical innovation has been carefully vetted and is solid. But, yeah, the main goal is to explode Taylor’s head like in Scanners! Axe wants Rebecca to make Brian Dana, the venture capitalist (VC) who supports the project at the moment, an offer that he would not be able to refuse. Once Rebecca takes control of it, Axe will buy it from her for a healthy profit.
Rebecca gets the ball rolling the next day and Brian Dana shows up at TMC with the exciting news that a big VC like Rebecca Cantu is in to ramp up the timetable for production. Taylor is cautious. But not because Axe and Rebecca are together. It seems Cook, Taylor’s Hall, does not know about our love birds!
Taylor is cautious because when they ask Dana about Douglas’ continuing involvement in the project, the answer they get is that Dana imagines Cantu will understand how crucial it is to have Douglas involved as soon as she sits with him.
Taylor is right that Turtle’s “Happy Together†may sound like a love song, but “Imagine†is the key word there. The song is about a relationship that actually never happened exactly like Dana’s words about their potential relationship with Rebecca. Taylor will not move forward without any guarantee for Douglas’ constant involvement in the project. And while Sara thinks if they said yes to Cantu, they would clear 38% of their investment in a matter of months, Douglas would walk away with $5M or so, and the market would talk about their returns for years, it is the “walk away†part that Taylor finds problematic. Their priority is their father’s place in the project.
Read the rest of the original article at Fan Fun with Damian Lewis