Billions Season 4 Episode 12 Recap: Forbes – June 9, 2019

The Worm is Always Ready For the Hook

by Dana Feldman | Forbes | June 9, 2019

All good things, as they say, must come to an end. The fourth season finale of Showtime’s Billions, “Extreme Sandbox,” definitely left off with an intriguing cliffhanger. The 4.5 million weekly viewers of the show will have to wait until next year to see what happens, but in the meantime, can ponder this question: Is it better to lose and do the right thing, or win by doing the wrong thing? Each of the main players in the show seem to have a different answer to this question.

Chuck Earns His Punishment:

The finale opens with Chuck (Paul Giamatti), clad in BDSM leather barely-there attire, as he hangs from a cage-like contraption. His dominatrix cranks a lever and he’s pulled in painful directions. But, he hasn’t earned his punishment quite yet. He tells her he isn’t ready but she keeps on cranking until he yells his safe word, which is “red.”

She tells him not to come back until he’s ready for her. By the end of the episode, after he’s taken down all of his enemies, he does return and he has definitely earned it. Literally, no one is left standing. Well, Axe (Damian Lewis) is but their reignited desire to destroy one another is for next season.

Chuck’s two main enemies have been successfully squashed. Both Connerty (Toby Leonard Moore) and Jock (Clancy Brown) clearly didn’t anticipate their enemy. We’ll get to this in a moment.

He does, if even for a few moments, make things up to Wendy (Maggie Siff). Let’s just say he has a way with words and medical boards. When Wendy gets a call from the board, she learns that her honesty paid off in spades. Telling the truth when she could’ve lied proved to the powers that be that she truly cares for her patients. The board also received dozens of letters supporting her character and work.

The board has decided to put aside the findings from the proceeding and give her a verbal warning. The matter is concluded and she gets to keep her medical license. Wendy is grateful to Chuck for helping with this matter but catches him in another betrayal and leaves their home. Chuck asks if she’s coming home and she says she doesn’t know. She instead goes to Axe’s place and stays the night. It almost appears as though something might happen between Axe and Wendy. Maybe it will next season…

Axe Is The Bad Man Behind Blue Eyes:

The first time we see Axe in this episode, the classic hit by The Who “Behind Blue Eyes” is playing. As the lyrics go, “No one knows what it’s like to be the bad man, to be the sad man behind blue eyes.” It’s the way he looks at Rebecca (Nina Arianda) that reveals the imminent destruction of this relationship.

He sabotages her business venture and takes down Saler’s. This was a company she wanted to run for real. This one wasn’t about the money but he knew that. If it isn’t bad enough that he annihilated her dream, it’s the cold and calculating way in which he did it.

The moment she cut a deal with Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) their relationship was essentially over. It was just a matter of time and Axe details exactly how things fell apart from his perspective. And, the way in which he humiliates Rebecca at the board meeting she thinks she’s about to head, is painful to watch. 

Fully trusting Axe, Rebecca arrives at the meeting ready to get to work. She quickly realizes something is off when she sees Sanford Bensinger (Richard Thomas) in attendance. She begins to tell the board Saler’s has taken ownership of Kling appliances, the company Taylor at first used to try and gain control of Saler’s.

Axe stands and explains they’re not going to sell Kling products and that instead they’ll be using Kling to move toward profitability in a different way. He’s liquidated the company out from under her and we find out how he did it.

Axe was able to pull this off by getting Rebecca to take Wendy away for a day of female bonding. They meet up with Mark Cuban and after an afternoon spent moving the Earth and bulldozing cars, both briefly feel better about their lives.

However, Axe had a reason for sending the women off for the day. He met with Sanford behind Rebecca’s back and told him he had a way to save them all from the eventual fallout of Saler’s toxic debt. Are you seeing a pattern here? Whenever Axe plans fun day trips for people, he’s usually planning a takedown of their business. Remember when he took John Rice (Seth Gabel) for an afternoon of fishing and within the span of a few hours, Axe had put $741 million of John’s $1 billion into play, taking his business down by 70% to 80% on assets under management?

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Axe moves fast and before Rebecca arrived at the meeting, the board had already voted in favor of Axe’s plan. Axe announces in the meeting that all Saler’s locations will be closed effective immediately and all assets will be sold. Each shareholder will get a massive one-time windfall dividend payment. When one is asked how many shares he holds, he answers 33,000. He goes from having $300,000 in a bad stock to $33 million in cash.

After everyone leaves the room, Axe explains his reasoning to her and it comes from pure spite. Axe doesn’t exactly leave Rebecca in a bad spot. She stands to make close to $1 billion in the deal, but again, this leaves her with little solace and as far as she’s concerned, they are done.

Two Birds, One Stone: 

In destroying Rebecca, he also causes a lot of financial problems for Taylor. To top things off, Saler’s debt will be dumped onto Kling’s balance sheet. This is where he gets Taylor. Kling will immediately be put into bankruptcy.

When Taylor finds out, they realize their equity will be wiped out and their position will go to zero. Sara (Samantha Mathis) calculates the firm will lose three-quarters of a billion. This could destroy Mason Capital.  

Axe already has another plan in play. You see, he simply can’t outsmart Taylor and he needs them to come back and work for him. But how can he possibly get Taylor to come back after all that’s happened? He has an idea. He gets Rudy (Chris Carfizzi) to text Taylor and set up a meeting.

At first, Taylor thinks this could be the answer to all their problems but it’s really the setup that leads to their return to Axe Cap. Rudy makes an enticing, but not legal, offer involving Nigerian oil warrants. Though their potential profitability makes them an interesting idea, Taylor doesn’t bite.

Axe’s plan is to frame Taylor for illegal activity and he has Chuck record the meeting, cutting off the tape just before Taylor refuses the illegal offer and Taylor and Mafee (Dan Soder) leave. Axe demands that Chuck arrest but not charge Taylor. He knows they will not come back for money but they will return out of fear. Chuck has another idea.

Chuck also wants Taylor to return to Axe Cap but for a very different reason. Chuck wants Taylor to go back to work with Axe so they can help him take Axe down once and for all. Taylor is wise enough to see that Axe and Chuck are equally hellbent on destroying one another. All they need to do is step out of the way and let them have at it. It looks like season five will be very entertaining.

Connerty Discovers He’s The Mysterious Idiot:

You’ve heard the expression about curiosity killing the cat? Well, in this case, Connerty is the cat and he just can’t help himself. He is determined to find out who the idiot is and he tries to get Sacker (Condola Rashad) to tell him what she knows, but she firmly stands her ground. She even warns him that she’s withholding the information for his own good. She’s trying to save him from himself but her efforts fail.

He has a short window of alone time in the office and he makes the fatal-to-his-career decision to go into sealed evidence and listen to the version of the wiretap recordings that isn’t redacted. The entire thing has been a setup by Chuck and Chuck Sr. (Jeffrey DeMunn). Within seconds Connerty hears his name come out of Senior’s mouth as the idiot in question. Then, Chuck asks if Connerty is listening and if he is, then he has crossed all legal and ethical lines and their plan is about to pay off. Connerty has officially broken the law and committed all manner of crimes. Chuck even says his arrest is moments away as FBI agents swarm the room and arrest him.

As for the warrants he gave Sacker earlier in the day, evidence was collected but not what he expected. A signed document to the participation of a New York state sting operation targeting certain corrupt members of the department of justice, as well as a photograph of Connerty’s face as he broke into Senior’s safe. Both are now in the FBI’s possession.

It’s not clear how he can ever get himself out of this one. The only thing he has going for him is that Chuck has a recording of Jock ordering Connerty to get his hands on the tape. Sacker helped with this part when she put a bugged pin of the American flag on Connerty’s jacket before he and Jock had a meeting. Will Connerty find a way to save his career? Will Taylor help Chuck destroy Axe? Until next season!

In Other News:

Showtime just signed Billions executive producers and writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien to an overall deal. The duo will continue to serve as showrunners on Billions while also developing new projects exclusively for the network.

As writing partners, some of their most noteworthy credits include Rounders, Ocean’s Thirteen, Solitary Man, The Illusionist, Runaway Jury, Tilt, ESPN’s 30 for 30 (This Is What They Want), I Smile Back, The Girlfriend Experience and I Am Not Your Guru. Levien is also the author of six novels, including four in the celebrated Frank Behr series, while Koppelman is the host and creator of the hit podcast The Moment with Brian Koppelman.

The fifth season of ‘Billions’ will premiere in 2020.

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