Blog
Helen McCrory Legacy Site

Billions MVPs: Season 7 Episode 9, “Game Theory Optimal”

—

by

Gingersnap
in , ,

The Unbeatable, Unstoppable, Unparalleled MVPs 

by Staff | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | October 11, 2023

Billions is back and so is our MVP series! We continue to award our Most Valuable Players for Billions season seven in our series compilation, the ‘Billions MVP Fanbook,’ which commemorates all those in honor of achievement for the utmost brazen, uber shameless, ultra scheming, unmatched bad asses from the episode – from sports references, music and tasty food to pop culture remarks, shocking twists and ultimate paybacks. In case you missed it, catch up with the MVPs of the season seven premiere Tower of London, episode two Original Sin, episode three Winston Dick Energy, episode four Hurricane Rosie, episode five The Gulag Archipelago, episode six The Man in the Olive Drab T-Shirt, episode seven DMV and episode eight The Owl.

Now let’s dive in. Here are the Billions MVP awards for Season 7, Episode 9, “Game Theory Optimal.”

Gingersnap

Time Travel to 1881 O.K. Corral – Wags crossing over enemy lines by going to Chuck’s SDNY office felt gunsling-y without the pistols. I could even imagine the smell of Michter’s whiskey on Wags’ breath that he downed for courage before storming out of Wendy’s apartment. His purposeful walk into SDNY with glaring stare as he marched through the assembly line of employees and past Chuck’s two henchmen Ira and Karl had all the feels of watching the Earps vs. the McLaury brothers in Tombstone. Fun fact, I used to work for a descendant of those McLaury brothers. Anyhoo, Wags informs Chuck that he will come for him if he does anything to hurt Wendy.

Footnote: I think the last time Wags was in those very SDNY offices was season one episode six ‘The Deal‘ when Bobby ripped up the $1.9 billion dollar check and threw it in Chuck’s face in the conference room.

Game of Thrones Vibe – Chuck referring to Prince as the “Mad King.” King Aerys II Targaryen, aka “the Mad King,” was the last member of House Targaryen to rule from the Iron Throne and Chuck wants to take down Prince before he ascents to the Presidency to rule from the Oval Office of the White House. Chuck just needs assistance from inside the King’s Court to depose him while keeping all their heads intact.

The Avengers – Chuck, Wendy, Wags, Taylor and member at large Axe. This superhero team is amassing at HQ, this time Chuck’s brownstone as the primary base of their operations. Their mission? To subjugate Prince. I’m just waiting for Iron Man (Axe) to get Chuck’s call. I guess that makes Chuck Captain America, Wags is Hulk, Taylor is Thor and Wendy is Black Widow. And while Billions would have you believe The Avengers are up against Prince, Scooter, Kate, Bradford and Philip (aka Thanos, Loki, Ultron, Abomination and Kang the Conqueror), I am more hopeful that some of those villains will end up assisting The Avengers in the Endgame. That will be the real mutiny.

Knight of the Templar – Wags. He has sole custody of the Holy Grail, an impossible-to-copy USB drive that holds copious digital evidence of Chuck’s illegal activities during his career, custom made by Chuck himself.

Supreme Seniorisms – My gawd, where do I start? LOL 😉

Ira thinks Chuck has gone batshit crazy for admitting all his illegal activity on taped video confessions and calls in Senior as reinforcement. Senior promptly admits to his boy “I hear you’re going full section 8.” This is an old mental health disparaging term.

Then referring to Ira, “I figured he was just allowing his anxiety to get the better of him, as his people have a wont to do.” Senior goes on to reprimand Chuck that destroying himself is like “Confessing when no salvation is actually available. At least his people [Ira] put their sins on the head of a goat and killed the damn goat.” Ira finally tells Senior to go easy on the “my people” stuff to which Senior retorts, “You’re right. I’m tense because I’m watching our boy fall apart. So I’m letting fly like I’m at the Club, not out in the world.” This my friends, is what we call a microagression.

The cherry on top is when Senior discusses debauchery island with his son. “You’re wallowing in your guilt. Do you think I’ve never felt guilt, Junior? I’ve felt it rise up to the bottom of my throat, do a reach-around and tickle by epiglottis. But did I self-immolate? No. I discharged it with a weekend on Isla Santana in the West Indies.” So apparently this escape charges one huge fee that covers an open bar and unlimited meet-ups with international professional secret lovers, what Ira refers to as a romp in the sun with nubiles LOL! Senior confirms this by admitting, “Oh, I have emptied my pockets and my glands (ewww) in that blessed place. It is real. So real that I had to play some golf to get a break from all the discharging of guilt. Came back a new man.” And by “discharge” he means…you get the idea. This whole story gave me the Jeffrey Epstein island creeps!

Finally, Senior delivers one of the best lines of the episode. Chuck tells his father a trip like that will not exorcise the guilt to which a dead pan Senior states, “You should get tested for low T.” LOL

Best Cinematography – The opening sequence showing a montage of New York restaurants of Billions past and present was a beautiful love letter and sendoff for the final season. While the characters of Billions are unforgettable, both the city of New York and the food were secondary characters in the series from the get-go. The montage included The Dead Rabbit, Russian Tea Room, Peter Luger’s Steakhouse, Keens Chophouse, Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream, Economy Candy and Una Pizza Napoletana, just to name a few. Brian Koppelman always endorsed Una Pizza Napoletana to his Twitter followers when asked for pizza recommendations. Personally, I’ve been to only two: Economy Candy and Russian Tea Room. I’ve been to a couple more restaurants that were featured in Billions, but they were not a part of this montage (Momofuku and Kellogg’s Cereal Cafe).

Damianista

Wonderful Wizard of Billions – Chuck Rhoades

Chuck may not have a wand but he has his brain cells. He plays his game theory optimal and with his probably very long confession video – I mean he started violating the law as a line prosecutor –  Chuck turns bubonic plague ratshit into gold and joins the alliance!

And what inspired me to think of Chuck as The Wizard of Oz is the “Billies  of Oz” tweet by Damian from the set! PRICELESS.

Read the rest of the original article at Fan Fun With Damian Lewis here.