What I’m Watching: Billions

Billions: Season 3, Episode 2 “The Wrong Maria Gonzalez” (B+)

I know that it’s sort of the crux of this show, but it seemed clearer than ever what an insane position Wendy is in actively helping two men in her life who want to make each other miserable achieve their aims. Chuck got woken up when Wendy got a phone call from Axe in the middle of the night about something that Chuck was celebrating but didn’t know was being discussed, and both men turn to Wendy when they most need advice. We haven’t seen Chuck trusting Wendy in that way in a while, but she obviously gave him the motivation he needed, while Wendy was literally in the room handing out pages in an Axe Capital meeting in a role that seemed considerably below her paygrade. Taylor is doing an impeccable job of staying focused and hedging the rights bets, but their confidence is being shattered by Axe, who didn’t waste a moment before hiring some very hi-tech security guys to make sure that he could illegally continue trading as frequently as possible just because he can’t resist the temptation. They also managed to hastily get a woman deported just because she got approached by Bryan and his FBI friend, a development that might seem a bit over-the-top but does politicize all this as Axe also got yelled at by his wife – rightfully so – for having his sons helicoptered in to a little league game when he should have had plenty of time to spend with them. Lara chewed out a fellow rich wife for complaining too much, but the helicopter arrival moments later sort of killed her argument.