Elmsley Count

I've never seen a show go from so excellent to such a horrific pile of turf nuggets faster, and in a more polarizing way than this show has/did. I mean the first season was so good, the characters were bold, and tightly written, there was a subtlety to the humor that made it tact, and practical/well placed and balanced, and the characters had a genuine feel to them; like how Bobby actually came off as the sociopath he was for a singular season, and the self righteous sociopath Chuck was for that season as well. The show was, for a single season, excellently written and paced, and then.... what the f-?!?!?! Huh??? How am I watching the same show, why and how the writers assasinated all the work the show was and turned these once great characters into terrible, trite, cheesed up characature-esq driveled down versions of themselves. The cringeworthy thing this show became was absolutely mortifying to watch. At one point I thought maybe someone spiked my drink with the strongest lsd or something, because how could any producer even feel a 10th okay about attaching their name to this show, after what it was before what it became, which is total GARBAGE.

This was a pretty impressive and story-full episode that progressed both the plot and some of the characters in a rather fluid yet brutal manner. As I have said before, there is nothing I like more than seeing someone going against the mighty "Axe", knowing there can only be two outcomes: either the enemy (the snake I might call it considering the situation) gets its head cut off or the snake is broken in, put in a nice 'glass house', and trained to work for Axe. Either way, the snake will not crawl freely to wherever it pleases. Leaving that aside, it was delightful seeing the development that Chuck and Axe's character underwent, transcending the level of being mere enemies or allies of need. The 12th episode of the 3rd season of "Billions" is a breath of fresh air from the pollution that consists of mediocre TV series and propaganda they often carry. I like where this is going!

SPOILER: As a HUGE fan of this show, even I was wondering how they could progress the story now that Bobby wasn't in Chuck's crosshairs anymore. I am floored with the direction it's taking. The ending shot of them sitting down together had me literally cheering at the TV.

Looking forward to what is going to happen in season 4. Great ep, loved the final scene.

I was a big fan of Billions in the first two seasons and my expectations were really high for this season. For me it is like The Wire and Game of Thrones have been picked up and set into the world of modern finance and hedge funds. But somewhere in the middle of the third season things got lost. Acting is still great, the locations are wonderful, music is cool - that is all not the problem. I believe the actors are doing brilliantly what the director wants them to do and what the writers tell them to say. But unfortunately they have become caricatures of the type of people they are playing. There is not one normal conversation here anymore. They are all so tied up in their uncountable conspiracies that it is impossible to still execute their jobs: earning money, prosecuting criminals, whatever. E.g. a type like Wags is completely over the top, and the same goes for John Malkovich playing the ruthless Russian billionaire. Again, acting is great, but the series is starting to look like a satire instead of a somewhat realistic show on haute finance. I hope they get it better in the next season.