Billions on Showtime, Season 7 Episode 10: Enemies List

Axe is Back and All the World is Right Again

by Damianista | Fan Fun With Damian Lewis | October 14, 2023

Well, the world is upside down, ladies and gentlemen! Who would have guessed we would see Chuck Rhoades saying the following words to Bobby Axelrod?

“Thank God, you’re here.”

YES! Axe is back and all the world is right again!

Bookended with two showdowns between the King and the Prince in London and New York, Episode 10 Enemies List gives us a tale of two cities that sees Axe and Chuck work together to free Wendy from Prince’s trap and ultimately get their alliance together with the goal of stopping Mike Prince from being the next POTUS.

Prince gets sarcastic with his host at Haddon Hall. According to him, Axe is doing much better than an average fugitive because Prince was very generous with him as he bought Axe Capital from him. But Prince is here today to let Axe know that he knows he is cooking something up with Wags, Wendy and Taylor against him. Since this is not true, Axe responds that Prince is channeling his inner Howard Hughes, referring to the billionaire-aviator’s germ phobia. Prince does not like the comparison. Hughes was paralyzed by fear. Prince, on the other hand, is moving with his “sense of calculated vengeance.” And if Axe tries to go further, the person who will suffer will not be him. It will be Wendy.

“I have tied her to the railroad tracks and I own the whole damn transcontinental.”

Prince sets the ground rules: He will know if Axe does any digging, tries to warn Wendy, or plans an attack on Prince. This ties Axe’s hands for now that he ends up telling Chuck, who calls to say that he cleared the path for him and needed him in New York, it is time for him to pay his debt, that he needs a bit of time before returning to the US. But then I am not sure if quoting Marsellus Wallace from Pulp Fiction helps Prince.

“You might feel a slight sting. That’s pride fucking with you.”

As Axe rightly points out Wallace nearly loses everything in the movie by obsessing over pride until he is rescued by the very man he says the words Prince quotes to: Butch, portrayed by the one and only Bruce Willis.

Back in New York, Prince is getting ready to make an announcement about the recent significant structural changes at MPC. Knowing that several  employees (read “former Axe Cappers”) will come to Wendy and Wags crying after the announcement, Kate tells Wendy and Wags that, for their own sake, they should comply and act like they fully support Prince’s decisions.

The employees have to give away their smart gadgets before the  confidential meeting. The boss quotes John D. Rockefeller about not being afraid to give up the good to go for the great and announces that Scooter will now be the sole COO, Philip will have all sign-off authority for trades over $500K and Kate will not only be the head of legal, but she will now take over compliance and, yes, HR, too! Wendy is taking a new CEO position at the online therapy company Mental. Prince also offers a carrot to incentivize his employees to work in the new company structure: He is giving away three partnership slots for those who excel in performance and loyalty! And Taylor and Wags? Prince does not mention them. Besides, Taylor is MIA.

Prince is obsessed with finding out about what every employee is thinking. I mean, I am positive he would try to get chips into their brains if he could. But the closest they could get into the employees’ brains is via an AI company conducting AI scrapes every week.

Even the good news Bradford arrives with is not able to calm Prince down. He may be leading in every national poll, but the only poll that matters is the one on election day. That said, he is excited about the upcoming U2 concert in his honor  at Lincoln Center, the very place Scooter was supposed to conduct the orchestra. And as Bradford says that Politico calls the concert “a coronation for Prince for Independence” I want to puke.

There is some visitor traffic at Haddon Hall today. Taylor is visiting to convince Axe about working together to take down Prince. Yes, they have $6.5B and change that Prince has confiscated in the fund, but they are as determined as ever to make sure he does not become the POTUS. And while Axe offers to call a car for them, they do not stand down.

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