What I’m Watching: Billions

Billions: Season 6, Episode 2 “Lying Eyes” (B)

I almost didn’t recognize Piper Perabo in the opening scene as Andie Salter, the rock climber who turned out to be Prince’s ex-wife, ultimately explaining that the do-gooder might actually have ulterior motivations that aren’t entirely pure, despite his purging of problematic clientele as an effort to make himself seem even more virtuous. Targeting a company that uses concentration camp labor felt like another instance of that, but Axe’s people aren’t used to something that doesn’t have another play, and Wags had to make a major sacrifice in order to right the situation when he tried to make his own plan for a buyout that hadn’t been authorized by his new boss. It’s interesting to see Taylor’s response to Rian defying orders and how Wendy is helping them to consider Rian’s value based on the strength of her position even if it was disobedient. Chuck has been fully diving into new causes lately with the utmost commitment, and he really inserted himself into something that wasn’t his to own with the doormen and custodial union, somehow imagining that he wasn’t part of if not very close to the “billionaire class” he railed against in his big speech. It was strange to see many of the doormen masked when all our characters aren’t, indicating that the pandemic is still going on in this show’s world but none of the well-paid elites we see are bothering to take precautions after Axe’s early vaccination trick. Chuck is playing a dangerous game opting to still talk to the press even after he got what he wanted, but he’s never been concerned about playing by the rules even if he insists that everyone else does.