BILLIONS (S5E3) “Beg, Bribe, Bully”: Bad Parenting, Good Episode

It’s been a pretty rough start for Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) this season. Not only does he lose Chuck (Paul Giamatti) as a valuable ally, but he also gains a new rivalry in Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) at a pissing contest that doesn’t seem to be on his favor so far. From losing the Vanity Fair cover to his Shaman getting stolen last week, everything that Bobby wants always goes to Mike first. And that includes Nico Tanner’s (Frank Grillo) set of exotic paintings which Bobby has had his eyes on for a very long time. But it’s Bobby Axelrod we’re talking about here: a man who always knows how to bounce back from a bad situation. So of course, at the end of the day, he always manages to snatch his victory back from the enemy.

Like Father, Like Son

As suggested by the title of this episode, ‘Beg, Bribe, Bully’ revolves around those three villainous activities, and all told from three different perspectives. First is, of course, from Bobby’s. After Mike buys the paintings that Bobby’s been planning to get for ages, he decides to regroup with Wags (David Costabile). And by regroup, I mean ordering his righthand man to lures the painter into his side with money. “If you can’t buy the art, buy the artist,” Bobby says. And that’s what they do.

Bobby buys Tanner a gorgeous loft, and even assigns a professional pizza maker to make him whatever he requests in trade for an exclusive right to his next eight paintings. Though Tanner refuses at first, telling Bobby that he’s not used to being a commissioned artist, he eventually accepts the offer after knowing how much Bobby knows about art.

Arts and this whole Mike fiasco, however, aren’t the only two things that occupy Bobby’s mind this week. He’s also trying to get the bank idea he proposed to Wags last week rolling. When the representatives from FDIC, Hard Bob (Chelcie Ross) and Todd Krakow (Danny String), show up to inform Bobby that he’s not getting the bank license because of his criminal past, he and Wags manage to sway Krakow into giving them more insight about what they’re supposed to do to get the license. Another win for Bobby, though out of all people, he should’ve known not to trust Krakow, a man who’s always been wishy-washy throughout the show. It remains a question for now whether Krakow is lying to Bobby or not. We just need to wait to see it unfolds.

But Bobby must put a hold on this bank idea for a while when he gets a phone call from the prep school his son Gordie is attending. The school informs Bobby that they’ve decided to expel Gordie after his crypto-mining experiment damages the main power grid in the school. The terms “like father, like son” couldn’t be any fitter at this moment, right? Upon arriving at school, Bobby is ready to give a check to the Headmaster Julien Kessel (J.C. MacKenzie). But Kessel is not like Tanner or Krakow. He rejects Bobby’s offer immediately. And obviously, this sets Bobby on fire.

In an attempt to keep Gordie in the school, Bobby calls his go-to fixer Hall (Terry Kinney) to find dirt on Kessel. Apparently, this headmaster has been funneling the school’s fund to give Syrian refugees scholarships, which sounds completely noble. But here’s where things start to go wrong for Kessel; Hall knows that he’s been using these refugees for free domestic labor. Bobby threatens Kessel that if he still decides to expel Gordie, he will make sure that the school boards know about what he’s been doing. And aside from that, Bobby also asks Kessel to let him speak about the benefit of greed and capitalism in front of all the students. Another win for Team Axe.

Sure, compared to Mike, what Bobby achieves in this episode isn’t exactly as victorious as his rival. But little wins like this are where Bobby starts to get his momentum back, which he clearly needs after losing so many times. If Bobby can beg, bribe, and bully three people in one day into doing anything that benefits him, just imagine what he can do next. And given the fact that everyone has a price in Billions’ universe, Bobby, with his money, can always buy the right person to solve his problems, including Mike.

Chuck, Taylor, and University Funds

While Bobby’s dealing with Gordie, this episode sees Chuck faces a different kind of familial issue. When he goes to a meeting at Yale to ask for a guest-teaching opportunity, Chuck finds out that his dad (Jeffrey DeMunn) hasn’t been giving his annual donation of $100,000 like he promised years ago. So without thinking further, Chuck takes this issue directly to his father. At first, Chuck Sr. tells his son that the reason why he hasn’t been paying the donation is that he thinks that Yale doesn’t need any more money, which is not entirely wrong. But it doesn’t take long until Chuck realizes that it’s actually his reluctance to get to know his dad’s new wife Roxanne (Lily Gladstonne) that makes Chuck Sr. refuses to pay the donation.

In an attempt to get his dad to write a new check for Yale, Chuck goes to Wendy (Maggie Siff) for a favor. He promises that he’ll withdraw the TRO against her if she goes with him to a family dinner with his dad, Roxanne, and their newborn daughter —a proposal that Wendy accepts immediately (See? Even Wendy and Chuck have their own prices). The main takeaway from Chuck’s arc this episode is to show us that it will be nearly impossible for Chuck to keep his promise of becoming a better man with his dad still controlling everything about his life. And knowing that Chuck is not one to cut ties with family, the challenge that he has to face seems a lot heavier each day.

Taylor also has their own problems to deal with this week. They want to approach the head of Lawrenceberg University who wants to divest the institution’s billion-dollar fund from fossil fuels but reluctant to give his woke students the satisfaction of being right. At first, everything goes well as planned. But when the chairman of the board of the university, a Navy admiral, gets involved, Taylor must hand the job to Sara (Samantha Mantis), who’s also a Navy veteran.

Sara eventually gets the job done. She convinces the university to divest and even proposes the idea of filling the fossil-fuel hole in the university using Mase Cap’s investment. For Taylor, however, it’s not the morally right thing to do, and this defeats the entire purpose of getting the university to divest in the first place since. “We’re at work. Not a f***ing climate rally,” Sara growls. Bobby and Axe Capital end up doing what Sara suggests without informing her, and it makes her furious that she quits right away after Taylor lets her know about it. The aftermath of this fallout will no doubt plays a huge part in Taylor’s arc this season. This could lead them to finally embrace their inner monster and be a trader like Bobby, or it will just see them keep falling down the ladder for refusing to embrace it. Either way, Taylor has a lot of personal relationships to fix this season.

Final Thought

Unlike the first two episodes of season five, ‘Beg, Bribe, Bully’ puts the explosive rivalries between Chuck, Bobby, and Mike on the sideline. But by focusing on the individual challenges that the three lead characters have to face this season, the episode offers great insights into Bobby, Chuck, and Taylor’s minds. The war is far from over, plotlines and alliances may still shift unexpectedly going forward. But one thing that we can always expect from Billions is that it will be a war to remember.

What do you think of the episode? Is Taylor making the right move? Let us know in the comments!

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