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Since there wasn't a Billions season 3 thread yet I went ahead and made one. Talk about the Showtime show Billions here. For information about the characters and show premise in general I refer you to last season's thread here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3809695&pagenumber=1 One episode has been released so far. It featured an obvious metaphor in its first scene whose every aspect was explained in detail by the person giving it, so we're off to a fine start already. I like this show more than I should because I really dig its cast, but dissenting opinions are always welcome. If anyone wants to put in actual  and summarize what went down last season go for it. And let us all hope that this thread, like its predecessor, ends on a take too hot to touch. With some references in the premiere about how taking on corrupt investment practices is less of a priority under the "new President" it seems quite possible.
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Mar 26, 2018 13:34
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I knew I wasn't getting enough ham in my diet.
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Mar 26, 2018 14:54
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I really like the show but, like NowonSA, I really really like its cast. I don't think I'd give it a pass on a lot of the weak elements if the main characters didn't sell the poo poo out of their roles. Anyway, enjoyed the first ep, I like Single Axe, Taylor running things should be interesting, and Paul Giamatti S&M scenes always make me laugh.
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Mar 26, 2018 16:45
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GobiasIndustries posted:Anyway, enjoyed the first ep, I like Single Axe, Taylor running things should be interesting, and Paul Giamatti S&M scenes always make me laugh. Chuck using his wife cheating on him as a way to get off as an S was not something I was expecting at all, a smart move by the show there and it'll be real fun when that gets out in the open. Single Axe just immediately banging a hot chick after he ranted in those phone messages when she ran off with the kids about how he turns down all kinds of crazy sex was a nice touch to show how petty he can be and how revenge motivated he is, I totally saw it as a revenge move against his wife, something to throw in her face later if he wants to.
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Mar 27, 2018 04:33
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I chortled at Axe already having Discount Lara ready to go. I love the cast and since I work in financial services (compliance, no less) the show is immensely entertaining to me. This episode was fun even if it signaled a pretty slow buildup to whatever's going to go down this season.
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Mar 27, 2018 19:53
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I like the new super-serious and insanely competent shady guys Axe brought in this episode, it'll be fun to watch them mess things up for the prosecutors this season and then probably take the fall when they catch up to them and leave Axe completely out of it as much as they can because they're just so drat professional. Edit: Also it just now occurred to me that instead of the expected "Axe and Chuck take each other down" ending we might instead see one of the two have to make a deal with the other either near the end or at the end, either against a mutual enemy, to protect Chuck's wife, or as a sign that one of the two has clearly won and can force the other to accept terms. There's just so much dealmaking on Chuck's side of things, and Axe has been known to make plenty of deals (typically enhanced by his shady poo poo, but still), so it seems like a proper deal of some sort directly between the two of them is coming up, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen at the end of the season and then the fallout and strain against the deal happens next season. Since we're already seeing Axe constrained by his agreement to give up his trading license, I feel like Chuck's gonna be the one forced into a deal he really doesn't want to make, probably to protect himself and his wife from getting screwed by the juice fiasco after Axe has found a way to keep himself safe while busting both of them. Axe running down Chuck's wife and being perfectly willing to sacrifice her to get him basically completes his turn to the dark side too. NowonSA fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Apr 3, 2018 |
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Apr 3, 2018 04:24
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the ending of episode 3 is awesome icymi
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Apr 13, 2018 03:16
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Everything in this show has been garbage except for the sushi scene with David Costabile. Season 3? Please let it be 10 episodes of Wags going off on people who don't sushi right
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Apr 13, 2018 03:27
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Actually - ya I think you’re in for a treat with all kinds of foods. Wags is so good.
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Apr 13, 2018 14:03
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I really enjoy this show. Seasons 1 and 2 were relying too heavily on the hipster/cutting edge pop culture jargon but it feels like it hit it's stride in this season. The characters feel very realized and I freaking love the Chuck/Wendy relationship; it's easily my favorite tv marriage since Friday Night Lights. Taylor got much better as season 2 went on and is very good now as well. Wags is still a high point and it's always great to see Clancy Brown, his show up; that guy has some amazing range on him. I was a little disappointed when I popped my head into TV IV and nobody had made a thread for this, thought about doing it myself but I actually couldn't remember most of what happened last season. This show is very much in the vein of an Aaron Sorkin show in terms of pop culture laden, fairly left of center, witty, extremely snarky, dialogue that's mostly forgettable but drat if it isn't a loving enjoyable hour of tv every week.
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Apr 14, 2018 02:28
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PaybackJack posted:I was a little disappointed when I popped my head into TV IV and nobody had made a thread for this, thought about doing it myself but I actually couldn't remember most of what happened last season. This was exactly the situation I found myself in, and I just decided to make an OP with minimum to at least see some of the discussion I wanted to have about it.
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Apr 14, 2018 03:24
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It's funny how fast Chuck was able to corrupt Oliver Dake. For all of Chuck's moralizing, law and order spiel, making people pick up dog poo poo with their hands he is just as willing to break the law and corrupt institutions as any vulture capitalist.
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Apr 14, 2018 18:01
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On the subject of Oliver, I like that they had Chuck corrupt the cop show equivalent of Internal Affairs into working to advance his agenda and dragged him down in the muck with him, to the point that we see him helping to quash Chuck's involvement in Ice Juice. I don't really see that happen too often, usually the IA guy exposes the corruption or gets killed. I'm sure there's lots of examples of this kind of corruption happening, but I just haven't seen them so it's still a fairly fresh and fun take for me. It's not really deep analysis to say that a big part of the show is watching Wendy and Connerty slide around between team Chuck and team Axelrod (mostly Wendy, but Connerty at least has listened to Axelrod's offers, and he might dislike Chuck enough to work with him). I've been thinking that the season ends with Axe getting out from immediate legal threat by throwing Wendy and Chuck to the wolves because he's found a way to bust them but keep himself basically clean, and Connerty could be the key to that plan working. I also keep thinking about a scene from last season where a guy is saying he doesn't care how much money Axe is offering he's loyal and screw him, and Axe says a billion dollars and the guy's like, are you offering that, and Axe says "Of course not, but you would have taken it." It may not be in this season, although it seems like the right time for it, but I think Axe is going to make someone a literal billionaire in order to betray and properly sink Chuck. We've seen him throw that money around to the guy Chuck screwed over on Ice Juice, but I think it'll be a big payoff for a really big betrayal. And with the divorce looming, my alternate theory if Axe doesn't try to sink Wendy alongside Chuck is that Axe offers Wendy half of everything he's got for the one-two punch of saving his marriage by telling his wife the right things (remember, she sunk it in the first place and her being so close to Axe was the big wedge between them, I can totally believe she's got some Psychological magic bullet she can use to fix it) and making it her mission to completely ruin Chuck's life. And if that happens we could get the surprise of Connerty switching to being on team Chuck and doing something SUPER shady to help the case against Axe. I think Axe knows Wendy well enough to be able to pitch her billions of dollars and get her to buy in despite her immense wealth, and it'd also be a big sign of his desperation that he's going to the biggest cheat/advantage he has and using an obscene amount of it all at once. Anyway, just some stuff that popped into my head, who knows how accurate any of it will be but I look forward to finding out.
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Apr 15, 2018 03:34
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Wendy is turning into Lady MacBeth.
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Apr 16, 2018 03:46
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I really liked Taylor's arc this episode. I don't remember the exact line but Wendy's speech about "you made a profit off the death of your hero" was good stuff. Taylor bailing on the meal at the end was cool too; I really like the dynamic between her and Axe. It's going to be very interesting to see that relationship break down.
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Apr 16, 2018 16:10
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Taylor's arc on this season has been really great, love how they're using them more and more as the series goes on.
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Apr 16, 2018 16:17
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Jeffrey DeMunn loving nailed it that episode. He often gets overshadowed by the other heavy hitters in the cast, but he's such a crucial part of the whole ensemble.
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Apr 16, 2018 18:21
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That was the first really-good episode of this show I can remember
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Apr 17, 2018 04:10
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Sometimes I don't like the way the show is written, but the acting always keeps me interested. This episode I really enjoyed both. This show can be utterly fantastic sometimes.
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Apr 17, 2018 04:28
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The closing scene with Wags felt like a cool season finale shot, which was funny since we're only 4 episodes deep.
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Apr 17, 2018 15:20
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Wamsutta posted:The closing scene with Wags felt like a cool season finale shot, which was funny since we're only 4 episodes deep. Yeah kind of an end of Breaking Bad vibe with the slow panout on someone lying on their back. A very good episode that I only just got around to catching, even if it was predictable every step of the way since nothing major surprised me in the immediate scene. It fleshed out a ton of how messed up the relationship between Chuck and his father is, show that Taylor is still conflicted since they're willing to do the deal even knowing how shady it is (a major step towards being shady themselves compared to where the character started) but wasn't willing to sit at the table (the classic Billions heavy-handed metaphor at it's FINEST), and got the affair out in the open though that's a landmine that's going to go off eventually and no way Chuck stays civil about it forever. Definitely the episode that had the most stuff happen so far this season, and I'll go out on a limb and say that it's gonna be the best episode of the season to send to the Emmy's for their consideration and probably the best episode of the season overall barring a really good final few episodes, and even then I expect those to be good based on crazy poo poo happening more than that the writing is necessarily good. The highlight for me was that Chuck Sr. had our Chuck lose his virginity to a prostitute he'd already had sex with, I think that whole story is the moment that Billions' metaphor factory overloaded and gave us one that's never going to be topped on this show with how well it summarized the relationship of the characters, and it was the minor reveal that actually did surprise me but made perfect sense when I heard it. I liked seeing Mike Birbiglia land a solid acting gig out of nowhere too, and oddly enough his little smirks as he caught what Axe was doing just really worked as an acting performance to me because it seemed like exactly the amount of like, smirking and grinning that I'd expect a venture guy to have in that situation. I kind of have a new respect for the ability of someone without much acting experience to really capture how a character would react if you present them in the right situation. I don't know, I can't really articulate it well, and I thought he did a good job so I'm not trying to say he lucked out or anything. I guess the message is play to your strengths and don't try to do too much? Bah I can't quite put it into words. It's probably all downhill from here, but I'm glad we got an episode that stepped up and proved how good this show can be, but also wasn't afraid to show it's weaknesses either by showing us a Rocket launch we 100% knew was doomed to end in tragedy and generally being content to be predictable.
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Apr 18, 2018 05:47
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Why is everyone so in love with the Taylor character? Up to this point they are doing all the right things except for one error in judgement (giving Axe money to invest) with barely any character development since the start of the season - it almost has a case of the week at Axe Capital feel to it. I fully expect them to turn on Axe at the end of the season, when the Juice case falls apart and Axe's trading without license becomes the actual reason for his downfall.
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Apr 18, 2018 07:12
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Because Taylor is a cool character (and not a remorseless and unsympathetic monster like Axel).
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Apr 18, 2018 07:16
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I'm not in love with Taylor as a character, they (and everyone else) are at best the #5 most interesting to me behind Connerty, Chuck, Wendy, and Axe. I do dig that they've continued to evolve as a character going from "What's with this duffel of money, don't be shady to me" to "I saw what you were going for and did it, but ew don't show me the actual shadiness." It's fun to see a character who is part of a corrupt organization and has grown to be comfortable with more and more illegal conduct over time, but still is disgusted by a lot of what's going on and even by their own behavior. And yet you do get a real sense of their ego whenever they run down the latest stock thing or how they saw what Axe was doing and are just so  about it.If anything is going to properly bring Axe down it's going to be an alliance of Wendy, Taylor and Chuck. Wendy understands his emotions, Taylor understands his financial moves and battle strategy (and knows where the bodies are buried), and Chuck gets how far he's willing to go to get revenge and is willing to get in the dirt for that with him. I'm probably looking too deep into the abyss here, but I also see a loose correlation of basic Freudian principles in how they relate to Axe. Chuck causes him to release his id and act in passion when he should be rational. See him tearing up the settlement check in front of him in season 1 and how far he was willing to go to screw him on Ice Juice. Taylor's calculating approach and focus on math and the numbers is his tie to ego, using logical thought to solve problems, and leaving excessive emotion out of it. Wendy mostly serves in a superego role trying to steer him toward moral behavior and self-improvement. It's not a perfect analog, but it holds up better than I expected when I started thinking of it, at least to me. You can do a similar thing with Chuck where Axe unleashes his id, Wendy acts as ego, and Connerty is the superego trying to stay moral and righteous and wanting Chuck on the right side of the law. Your mileage may vary on this depending on how much you think Freud is a hack too. Sorry for the long posts here too, I know some people dislike them. A good episode got my motor running on this stuff.
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Apr 18, 2018 11:12
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Taylor is interesting to me because they are in the similar role to where Connerty was with Chuck in Season Two. The hand picked successor to the throne; who is slowing growing into the role and disliking how their predecessor plays the game. The major differences so have been that thus far Taylor has been given more freedom but I think they are going to realize soon how far they can go, beyond what Axe wants them to do. I'm interested to see if Wags eventually sides with Taylor against Axe. They've really been reinforcing the Wags is loyal to Axe plot recently; makes me think that's a long term build that will happen.
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Apr 18, 2018 15:56
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PaybackJack posted:Taylor is interesting to me because they are in the similar role to where Connerty was with Chuck in Season Two. The hand picked successor to the throne; who is slowing growing into the role and disliking how their predecessor plays the game. The major differences so have been that thus far Taylor has been given more freedom but I think they are going to realize soon how far they can go, beyond what Axe wants them to do. Hmm it's hard to imagine Wags betraying him, I think it's more likely that him talking about how great Axe is and how he bailed him out a long time ago just reinforces that underlying loyalty and builds out the character more. I do think that Axe letting his tech goons help Wags out is what gets the authorities on their tail, they're pro operators but they got called into that situation on short notice with no prep time, and while finding out mistresses isn't likely to leave a trail making a big ol' wire transfer fail due to insufficient funds when the guy is rich as hell is another story, and that guy's gonna be motivated to go after Wags now and since he's, somewhat ironically, not in legal trouble as far as we know despite being a scummy guy he should have no reason not to go right to the authorities about it. For some reason I just don't see Taylor knocking off Axe to be the new king of the fund, and turning in stuff to make sure he gets tossed in jail, but I guess I should be more open to the possibility. There's no way we don't get at least part of a season with Axe literally in jail and still working all kinds of angles and so on, it'd kind of make sense to get to that sooner or later. I probably shouldn't say no way, but that just seems like so much fun to see that I really want to get there. I guess even if we do it'd be after a trial, so maybe that's a season 5 thing?
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Apr 19, 2018 10:54
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NowonSA posted:Hmm it's hard to imagine Wags betraying him, I think it's more likely that him talking about how great Axe is and how he bailed him out a long time ago just reinforces that underlying loyalty and builds out the character more. I do think that Axe letting his tech goons help Wags out is what gets the authorities on their tail, they're pro operators but they got called into that situation on short notice with no prep time, and while finding out mistresses isn't likely to leave a trail making a big ol' wire transfer fail due to insufficient funds when the guy is rich as hell is another story, and that guy's gonna be motivated to go after Wags now and since he's, somewhat ironically, not in legal trouble as far as we know despite being a scummy guy he should have no reason not to go right to the authorities about it. Did he illegally interrupt the wire transfer? My takeaway was that he leaked it to the papers and the guy's wife then cancelled the transfer. If he just wanted to interrupt the transfer, there wouldn't be much need to tell the guy's wife too.
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Apr 19, 2018 16:18
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PaybackJack posted:Did he illegally interrupt the wire transfer? My takeaway was that he leaked it to the papers and the guy's wife then cancelled the transfer. If he just wanted to interrupt the transfer, there wouldn't be much need to tell the guy's wife too. It's possible, but my takeaway was that he was just going full bore. Telling about the affair to the wife/papers, and getting the new black ops team to mess with the transfer. The guy was putting on a front about not caring if his wife found out, but even if he doesn't care that much the affair getting out should reasonably be a much bigger deal for him than a burial plot, and it did get him to rush out of the room and not hang out and try to set up another transfer, call the bank to see what's up, etc. Also keep in mind Wags walks in and is immediately like "You know this guy's money is no good right, I doubt he has it in there." which is a bit of a leap for him to take if he didn't orchestrate that directly.
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Apr 20, 2018 01:48
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Well Dollar Bill remains an rear end in a top hat, and seeing him burn at some point will be almost as satisfying for me as Axe or Chuck's downfall. The handshake was a nice touch. I didn't like Axe's cover-up guys being able to know the doctor had a secret meeting but not being able to get eyes on it, he went to a wide open space with tons of cover nearby, get your poo poo together evil spies! That place that the Doc and Chuck met gave me serious John Wick vibes, am I crazy or is that the spot where the assassin who breaks the Continental's rules gets dealt with in 1, and where Wick meets with the Continental's manager at the end of 2? I kind of wish more shows would use super familiar scenery like that, the last time I can recall seeing it was when a recognizable spot from Breaking Bad was used in Preacher. Overall some sensible steps forward but not an amazing episode, and I'm glad that they didn't try to top themselves right away after last week. I mean ideally you want a show to always be delivering killer episodes, but after they really punched above their level last week it's a relief that they didn't take another big swing and just whiff completely. That's my take on things, discuss at your leisure everybody!
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Apr 23, 2018 10:58
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I like Taylor and Oscar hooking up, it is nice that Taylor being treated like a normal person and that there is nothing odd about being interested in them.
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Apr 23, 2018 13:14
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Someone on the writing team is a Netrunner nerd and that's awesome. I haven't played in a couple years so I didn't know all the cards off hand, but they were playing in correct order and using terms that you'd use playing. "Rezzing" an Adonis campaign isn't particularly worth a reaction on Taylor's part but it was still very cool to see.
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Apr 23, 2018 16:21
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That was another really good episode. Cool that they're starting to show Wendy's situation as untenable. Axe is definitely gonna figure out that her notes are what led Chuck to the doctor. Also, Eric Bogosian rules.
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Apr 23, 2018 16:49
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PaybackJack posted:Someone on the writing team is a Netrunner nerd and that's awesome. I haven't played in a couple years so I didn't know all the cards off hand, but they were playing in correct order and using terms that you'd use playing. "Rezzing" an Adonis campaign isn't particularly worth a reaction on Taylor's part but it was still very cool to see. Yeah I had never heard of it, but because I know the show I knew it was a real thing and that they were surely using real game terms and cards. On the Wendy front I think she does try to get them in the same room to reach some sort of peace, and I bet Chuck is willing to do it but Axe says he's willing to and then does his big kill move to get Wendy and Chuck busted for Ice Juice while keeping himself mostly out of it, and then we finally will see Wendy willing to use all her inside knowledge of Axe and Axe Cap to burn him to the ground. Still a lot of ways things could go though, and I"m looking forward to seeing what the new status quo is going in to next season. Here's hoping we're 3 for 3 with the season ending with Chuck and Axe bickering with each other somewhere. Edit: Also I think this episode totally laid the groundwork for a Suits-style flashback episode of Chuck in private practice being on good terms with Axe and seeing what some other characters were up to (Wags doing ALL the cocaine). NowonSA fucked around with this message at 22:24 on Apr 24, 2018 |
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Apr 23, 2018 21:50
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But I don’t want Taylor to be hurt
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Apr 24, 2018 05:35
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Liked the episode, but I have a problem with Dollar Bill becoming a full fledged stupid person. Sure he's an ego maniac and arrogant as hell, but to have been in the industry and in his role as long as he has and not know that trade surveillance programs exist (both in house and the regulators) is wild. I dunno how he thought his bamboozle trade of going long and buying CDS would get past the Compliance guy, unless he was playing chicken with him and daring him to do something. I don't have a problem with the Porsche being wrecked though because 100% wear a Porsche race jacket 0 times ever. What a tool.
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Apr 25, 2018 14:05
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Wamsutta posted:Liked the episode, but I have a problem with Dollar Bill becoming a full fledged stupid person. Sure he's an ego maniac and arrogant as hell, but to have been in the industry and in his role as long as he has and not know that trade surveillance programs exist (both in house and the regulators) is wild. I dunno how he thought his bamboozle trade of going long and buying CDS would get past the Compliance guy, unless he was playing chicken with him and daring him to do something. I don't have a problem with the Porsche being wrecked though because 100% wear a Porsche race jacket 0 times ever. What a tool. It's not that the program would always automatically catch that trade it was the fact that the guy set specific alerts for that specific trade. Dollar Bill probably assumed he hadn't done so.
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Apr 25, 2018 14:55
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D-Pad posted:It's not that the program would always automatically catch that trade it was the fact that the guy set specific alerts for that specific trade. Dollar Bill probably assumed he hadn't done so. That dude has no idea how a Watch List works then! Compliance Nerd time: it was likely as simple as putting the issuer's securities on Watch. Any firm or disclosed personal account activity in that issuer would flag for review. If that activity was Bill or his desk, Spyros would look at it. And I guess DB wouldn't assume any of that, but he might think Compliance would be on high enough alert about the idea to lay low. Guess not!
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Apr 25, 2018 17:27
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Setting the SDNY up for a fall, looks like. I hope Sacker manages to rise from the ashes. She's the balance of conniving and righteous that aligns with the show's moral compass.
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Apr 30, 2018 13:04
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Sarcastr0 posted:Setting the SDNY up for a fall, looks like. It’s Eastern that will take the fall if Chuck and Axe work together.
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Apr 30, 2018 14:08
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Two slides, maybe? Though I personally hope not. Would be great to see them work together, and boring to see the show end up with them just taking eachother out.
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Apr 30, 2018 16:16
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