Billions (TV Series) The Deal (2016) User Reviews

Axe's going berserk, then he doesn't, then Chuck makes him to go berserk again

[wolfwalter-40876 · 10/10 · 22 February 2016]

Just before the Oscar hiatus, the show went into midpoint crisis mode. At first, we had to fear for Wendy, but - spoiler - she will be fine, just a bit taken hard at the end from the most unlikely guy. And, at this very end, we know that the fight will continue.

Then Axe is waging a war and lives up to Decker's qualification as him being a nation state. So, most of the episode are going back and forth in the war between U.S. and Axe.

Although Chuck doesn't come through with his approach with Dollar Bill, he corners Axe enough to make him accept a deal. The scene in which the two of them met for final negotiation is as unpredictable in its outcome as it is funny in the communicating through their side- kicks.

The whole episode feeds us with so much ambiguity that the forum is already exploding with statements of belief on what relation Axe and Wendy had, have had or might have had, whether sadism is a defining characteristic of Wendy, and, again, who's to hate the most. (My theory is still that we would have been spared the hate debate in this show if J.J. Abrams had brought back Jar Jar Binks).

But whatever you think of this episode, it has effectively set the stage for the second half of the season which I am looking forward to.

Verbal

[slak96u · 8/10 · 25 March 2022]

The most significant episode thus far, lots of confrontation between all the lead characters. The Bobby/Wendy dynamic is probably the most provocative and interesting.

The best episode to date ... the tension and climatic end... *Spoiler Alert*

[bpastor-1 · 10/10 · 29 February 2016]

Paul G. deserves an Emmy and more for his amazing portrayal here of U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades. In this sixth episode called the Deal, **SPOILER ALERT**, both Paul G and Axe (Damian Lewis) are repeatedly pressured by their respective wives, confidants, and in Paul G's case, his dad and the U.S. Attorney General -- into making a plea deal (money fine and prohibiting Axe from trading his clients' money but allowing him to trade his own family money thus ("Family Shop") and ending the war between the enigmatic brilliant Axe and the principled, ambitious and jealous of his wife's relationship with Axe, Paul G. What makes this so great is that both characters' driving motivations are multi-leveled. Axe wants the freedom from interference, maintaining he is not doing anything different than any other hedge fund manager, he's just doing it better. His ego is huge, but so is Paul G.s. Both, in this episode show the fearlessness of a high stakes game of chicken that will determine the course of the rest of their lives. Axe wins, Paul G/Chuck loses his perfect record, his political ambitions, and likely his wife. Paul G. wins, and Axe loses billions, but more significantly, his reputation, his prominent role as the smartest hedge fund manager, his passion for high stakes wall street gaming, likely his wife, Paul G.s's wife (with whom he is in deep) and frankly, his reason for living. Add the fearlessness that both are gambling their futures with, and the fight is on. They both appear to play both the underdog (Rocky) and the champ (Apollo Creed) role at the same time because their opponent in the other is portrayed as having the power to devastate the other at any given time. The blurred morality in each character makes you wishing each will win at the cost of the other. It is rare when the audience is pulling for two drivers racing 100 mph at each other in a game of chicken where both may kill each other because of their impassioned desire and will to make the other yield, yet both may also kill each other in the impact, or in this episode six, do they both give up their nerve and swerve (settling) away from the impact? *SPOILER ALERT*. The final climatic scene where Axe walks in with a 1.9 billion dollar settlement check, and then starts to taunt Paul G into breaking the deal and Paul G taunts Axe, is the best tension in the room builder until it explodes - is an award winning performance by both, and a gift to the audience.

[8.3] The planner got so stung

[cjonesas · 8/10 · 12 April 2022]

Episode 6: A more interesting one with the usual horrible bad editing, short/long jump lengths, good acting full of tension at times and a final bizarre confrontation that I gotta hand it to Paul Giamatti for his devilish taunting of a guy who thinks of himself as a planner.