Billions (2016) s05e09 Episode Script
Implosion
1
[WENDY.]
Previously on Billions Are you here to tell me that you found me a donor? [WENDY.]
He's gonna die unless he gets a kidney.
- So I thought I - [AXE.]
You should've come to me.
[TAYLOR.]
If you work with me, I need your blood because that is what I give.
You want to own me.
And that's not cool.
[AXE.]
The mythical incorruptible artist, impervious to temptation.
[WENDY.]
When we met, you acted like money is like chains.
It's just that now that I have a little bit of it it's startin' to feel like freedom.
My favorite artist isn't getting paid enough.
What do you got in mind? The freezer section.
Michael Prince is ready to be confirmed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Denmark.
You're in a battle with Bobby Axelrod.
Help me to help you beat him.
You can look as long and hard as you want at my life, past or present.
He's got a secret.
Fucking find it.
It's been brutal, really, to watch the world celebrate this man and know the truth about what he did to my son.
Found some neighborhood folks that got fleeced by a payday lender.
Company's called Plaintif-Full.
[CHUCK.]
I am in the mood to take someone down.
[VICTOR.]
He went for the lure.
- And he got hooked.
- Fuck yeah! Why would Axe care about buying up a marginal shitbag operation? The way they got away with a bunch of their unethical lending is doing it in-house.
They have a bank charter.
We just delivered Axe his bank.
[CHUCK.]
This one? Keep scrolling.
We can do this a month from now.
No, no.
Time is stalking me down.
- It's inexorable.
- No, Dad.
None of that.
You're gonna outlast Now listen, you keep your goddamn emotional lid on during the service.
I'm everything to you, your whole world.
I know this.
And I gotta make this clear to you now, or you'll get the waterworks going like Iguazu Falls.
No, sir.
No, I will comport myself as you have taught me with dry eyes and an ass clenched tighter than Steve Reeves on a busman's holiday.
Oh! [CHUCKLES.]
That's something.
Are you burying me, or parading me through the streets with the Hibernians? You may be demonstrating a failure to show appreciation of what I'm goin' through here.
I have to lie in it.
I think that's appreciation enough.
Pesci? The Irishman? No? I was just looking for a moment of levity in the darkness.
Now, I don't need that or Martin fucking Scorsese to explain the process of aging and physical destruction to me.
Especially not at four hours running time when lack of time is the immediate problem I'm facing.
You have got things in your life worth stayin' around for, Dad.
Roxanne, the baby, my kids.
Me.
Let's quit the optimistic bullshit.
I've got a couple of rock-hard peach pits for kidneys.
We're buyin' a casket here.
[SIGHS.]
I am.
As in I'm paying.
Wouldn't give you the satisfaction.
Well, my credit card's already on file at Frank E.
Campbell.
And I told them I'd be the one around to bother them if they fucked with me on this.
I guess it is what it is, huh? Yeah.
What you have in front of you is a perfect expression of pizza.
[SNIFFS.]
Ingredients locally sourced in Italy, flash frozen there.
When it comes out of the oven, it's as good as anything at the restaurant.
So you say.
I'll be the judge, yeah? [CHEWS.]
[LAUGHS.]
Holy shit.
Kid, you did it.
He did it.
I just wrote the checks.
[CHUCKLES.]
[UNINTELLIGIBLE MUTTERING.]
You had me worried.
We got a 100,000 of these things on a container ship headed for our shores.
Congratulations.
- Is Bobby taking care of you? - Yeah.
Of course I am.
We got private equity circling already.
And once we choose who gets to take these fine gentlemen to the prom, Anthony will be liquid.
Yes, he will.
To Genio Della Pizza.
The next global food brand.
One week to launch.
- Cent'anni.
- Cent'anni.
[SPEAKING IN DANISH.]
[EXHALES.]
They'll never find anyone better, more committed.
But you're not fighting back.
- I'm in the wrong.
- Who cares? It's time to rise up and My hawk-like instincts are telling me to leave it there for now.
Savvy read.
[SLAPS KNEES.]
[EXHALES.]
- [INDISTINCT STREET CHATTER.]
- [TRAFFIC SOUNDS.]
- [WHISPERING.]
It's Jay-Z.
- Hmm.
Distance yourself.
You and I can do more good by letting The Mike fold and then raising something new from the ashes.
We're good at that.
Yeah, Shawn.
You too.
Get me to see Taleb.
Gotta make sure this thing's a real black swan event.
High priest.
There's no profit at the end of this call sheet.
No money to be made.
My one job is to help you do your job.
- And right now - I have three cell numbers for this guy.
Can I talk to you like you talk to me? I'm gonna talk to you like you talk to me.
This is to what? Refocus my lens? That it is.
We got a bank charter 24 hours ago, and instead of setting up a boardroom and printing stationery, I'm searching "hashtag The Mike.
" You've been giving away majority ownership in this pizza company.
What I'm really searching for is a pattern in the madness.
But all I'm seein' is the madness.
Hmm.
The reason I can talk like that Well, there are myriad reasons, none of which you'd understand.
As you don't understand why my moves right now are the very acme of sanity.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Now do my bidding.
And get me Taleb.
Let's go.
[PRINCE.]
No, no, I I understand.
But I still think I'm the best choice to lead "Shake the Quake.
" Of course.
Uh Well, let's find you a new public face.
I'd be happy to make some calls.
Goodbye.
Where are we on The Mike? - Cancellations are piling up.
- [CLOSES LAPTOP.]
Principals are willing to send their juniors, some VPs from the big firms.
A second-tier event might as well not exist.
Cancel it.
It's your legacy.
The Mike is bigger Cancel the darned event.
[TOSSES PHONE.]
The Mike is toast.
Charities are abandoning him.
Let's ratchet up to personal life.
I have to go with this one more time.
I am here for whatever you need.
[SCOFFS.]
And I'm always up for a bloody vanquishing.
But Prince is done.
He's bled out.
And you're calling in favors for what? So you can fuck a dead guy's skull? Michael Douglas only talked about it in The Bible.
He didn't do it.
Besides, skullfuckery is not even fun to watch.
Okay.
That part is a lie.
He's not dead till I say he's dead.
[PAINT SPLATTERING.]
Did you work all night? Yeah.
I'm headed into the office.
What do you think? - It's intense.
- Yeah, but is it - You know[SIGHS.]
- Finished? What do you think? They used to talk to me.
Refuse the paint when I was done.
And now? There's a lot of other noise.
I know.
Penthouse walls "echo with the sound of salesmen.
" That guy was an artist, right? - Neil Peart.
- Yeah.
You are, too.
You have to remind yourself why you're painting it.
You know, there's a piece of land in Vermont that I could buy.
Beautiful spread.
It's got trees, and a lake.
Vermont's nice, but you can't let that be your reason.
Oh, there are worse ones.
You know that collector Lisa? I mean, she buys one painting that's a down payment.
[CELLPHONE VIBRATING.]
Hello? Yeah, hold on one second.
Uh, this is the, uh, collector that I had dinner with the other night.
- I want to take this.
- Okay.
My man, you found me.
Yeah, you got a long reach, player.
I know it.
Yeah.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CHUCK.]
Mr.
Moody, the power we wield as attorneys general is akin to a V-12 engine in an Italian sports car.
You can drive the speed limit most of the time, but once in a while, you gotta take that power out and gun it.
And who would you like me to run down on the Autobahn? Go to court and get an injunction blocking Bobby Axelrod's acquisition of Plaintif-Full and the bank charter inside.
That individual is not fit to own a bank.
It's a Delaware corporation.
So, you're the man to talk to.
[CHUCK.]
The man with his hand on the switch of Ol' Sparky, who can send this deal to Valhalla.
Well, do I have a race car or an electric chair at my disposal? Both.
It would have been real good of you to ask 24 hours ago, before you took a wrecking ball to Plaintif-Full.
All without a call to me, by the way.
In too much of a hurry to hand-deliver Axe a bank, I guess.
You started this thing.
And you did it without seeing the consequences.
Now you want me to fix it? I'm asking you to take down a larger threat.
My mistake doesn't have to snowball into our mistake.
There's no legal basis for this No.
It would be a favor.
Which we tend to repay.
No, not tend to.
Always will, and always have.
Favors are not asked lightly and will not be ignored.
You think this is the state that Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours built, with the cousin marrying and the wrestler murdering and all that French aristocracy nonsense? The glass shards on top of the wall, keep the lesser family out? No.
This is the state that was built on corporations getting what they need, which is freedom from the yoke of tax burden.
I don't believe corporations are people.
They're better than people, because they don't fuck up when they get so obsessed with one thing they can't see reality.
[SIGHING.]
So no, I'm not gonna participate in your agenda, while mine is part of a bigger economy.
- [SLAPS ARMRESTS.]
- [SIGHS.]
But do consider shopping for some tax-free, high-end electronics before you go.
[SCOFFS.]
I was in my Tiara 4300, throttle open, shakin' on the chop so hard, my dick chafed.
[CHUCKLES.]
And suddenly I realized I was the menace.
I wasn't in the world, I was hurting it.
And that was my moment of clarity.
I didn't want to be that guy.
And I called you.
I remember.
Hmm.
And you got me here.
[SCOFFS.]
Made me the man I wanted to be.
Made me money doin' it.
And that's not nothin'.
We shared values.
We still share values.
[SIGHING.]
I don't know.
I know what's in your head, and it's ancient history.
What I did to David showed a lack of morality on my part, and I have to live with it.
It's a heck of a heavy load.
Yeah.
It's yours to carry.
It is.
But who do you want in your corner? Someone who's never put money before humanity? Or do you want someone who knows the cost of putting humanity aside, and how it'll break you? Without my past, how would I have known how to lead you from that gas guzzling, ear shattering, overcompensating Tiara to a sailboat and to the present moment? [SCOFFS, SIGHS.]
Perfect people don't exist.
But flawed people who have taken a walk through their own wounded psyche, reforged themselves and come out stronger? We're the great hope for the species.
I still think I have to pull my money.
Fair enough.
More than fair.
Get up.
Let me walk you out.
Yeah.
It's your money.
You can take it right now, and you could walk out this door.
Leave while I'm down.
Tell yourself and everyone you did it because you're Matt Allen and you don't consort with my kind.
Because you, Matt Allen, will not be associated with someone who could do something like this.
But power is atomic.
And eventually, this moment, this moment where one electron is slightly out of whack, will end, the world will right itself again.
I'll be on top again.
And the curious thing is that I will have forgotten your name.
I don't believe in enemies.
It's not that I don't have them, it's that when you become my enemy, my next move, my only move, is to continue to rise.
While you will eddy.
Sink.
Not by my hand but by your lack of connection to me.
So walk out with your money.
It's yours.
But you won't be done with me.
As the song goes: "On every wall in place "my fearsome name will be heard.
I'm the atomic punk.
" I will remain so.
And you, Matt, will simply evaporate.
[SIGHS.]
You know what? I I think Mike, sure, I'll stay.
For now.
Give it a quarter or two, see how this shakes out.
Good call.
I'm not doing that again.
The save or the beat down? Because it was gorgeous.
Big Cat Ernie Ladd level.
How do you even know who that is? You don't watch wrestling.
I'd have said like, Fafner clubbing Fasol to death in Das Rheingold, but I need you in the gutter, not the heavens.
How do you even come up with it? I just start talking and magic comes out.
Same with what I just saw you do.
That was a Michael Thomas Aquinas Prince who I can help.
That was the M-Tap I've been waiting for.
I feel dirty.
This shirt feels dirty.
I want to change.
This isn't who I am.
What I built.
You did build it.
And now you have to defend it.
That's who we have to be right now.
You got hurt, we hurt back.
You need to make Axe suffer.
How? I figured out what the devil cares about.
Pizza.
First he overspent on a joint in Yonkers.
But now he's invested in a new company that's getting buzzy.
But the deal is way too favorable for his partners.
And? Axe giving favorable terms? That means it matters to him.
So, now we take it away.
Painfully.
I see the appeal.
I really do.
But this isn't the path for me.
So, you exorcise your demons however you want.
I need to face mine.
[EXHALES.]
Okay, I gave you the entire trip back from Delaware and the car ride from Penn Station to get over it.
And now I need to know: what is the plan, or the next move in the plan, or the next step in the move of the plan? Well, there is no plan.
[SLAPS THIGH.]
Despite your enthusiasm, there's no move.
No, Moody is right.
I made this shit soup, and now I have to sip it.
Fine.
You want to act existential, does not mean that I have to.
No act.
No, this right here, is what my alienist would call Anhedonia.
The kind of paralysis that can only come when every move you make hurts.
Wendy's gone.
Her successor, also gone.
Meanwhile, my enemies thrive.
If we can pause with the Freudian analysis Ribot came up with the concept.
Freud got all the glory.
So the least we can do is give ol' Theodule - his credit where it's due.
- Okay, back from Europe to here in NYC.
What if we pull the charter and get someone from the FDIC or OCC to review it for minor infractions? They're not gonna block this over a punctuation error.
And Axe can resubmit a clean charter if they do.
- We could - Stop.
I can't.
And neither should you.
We could threaten the board of the bank with investigations into personal misdeeds.
Send them running.
And give Axe a chance to form a board even more amenable to his goals? - No.
- Okay, so let's figure out what Moody really wants.
I'm done.
You're done.
Go home.
Stock up on canned goods for the coming plague.
It all fucking blows.
This is about your father.
All of this.
The dulled eyes, the defeated attitude, the backstroking through French psychology.
But the fight must go on, Chuck.
You have to go on.
It's what he'd expect.
So you say.
So they say.
So it is said.
And so it is written.
Doesn't mean it's true.
- [CRICKETS CHIRPING.]
- [DOGS BARKING.]
- Thank you for seeing me.
- [GLASSES CLINKS.]
If you're here about the NDA, I know I broke it.
I don't care.
This isn't like before when I had no one on my side.
I've got people helping me now.
So whatever threat or lawsuit or blackmail you think you might have over me, you can forget it.
I don't go looking for fights.
Can't say the same for Bobby Axelrod.
He's bankrolling your legal defense.
He's making sure that I don't go broke for telling the truth.
But you don't know the truth.
Not the whole thing, at least.
You only know what happened after.
And now so does everyone else.
Do you want to know about that night? With David? [SWALLOWS.]
After I showed him the plane ticket and the cashier's check, we went out for pancakes.
I I don't know why pancakes, it's what he wanted.
Uh, maybe it was to sober up.
Or maybe it was all he could think of.
Or maybe it was all he could eat because of all the drugs and the booze.
We talked about the trip we were taking to Rio, the girls we would meet there, about the company we would start next.
David wanted to replace modems and routers with something more secure.
It was brilliant, his idea, but scattered, and I really wish I could remember it.
Because I bet it would change the world.
But I can't.
Because that whole time eating pancakes, the only thing I could think of was how I had to get him on that plane.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY.]
He was so happy in that moment and funny.
You know how he could get a joke going, and keep it going way longer than anybody else.
Well, he was going and going.
And all I had was the cold, hollow excitement of knowing that I was stealing from him.
I told myself that it was because he wouldn't be able to handle the new situation or that he'd blow our deal.
That it'd be too much for him.
But deep down, I knew.
I still know.
I wanted it all for myself.
You shouldn't have come.
Please.
I I understand that I can't get your forgiveness.
Because what I did was unforgivable.
But if there's anything that I can do for you, anything at all, that will heal this thing between us.
Or maybe just make us both feel better.
Because I'm tired of hurting.
Aren't you? Yeah, I am.
But the funny thing is, it's decades later, and sometimes I can't picture David's face without looking at a photograph.
You know, it's been so long.
But the same thing keeps happening.
People want me to tell them how to make them feel better.
You want me to do your work for you, but I'm not going to.
I've worked hard enough to get through this.
So, if you're looking for absolution, you're gonna have to find it on your own.
I want a path back to goodness.
A way to be a force for good again.
Yeah, I know you do, Michael.
[SCOFFS.]
You do? Yeah.
But I can't be the subject of that, or the object, or the road map.
I mean, I can point you in the right direction.
Stop ruining good people because you think you're better than them.
You're not better than anyone.
You blanked me this afternoon.
Oh, you really had me running for those Philadelphias, though.
[CHUCKLES.]
Almost took the second game.
No, you're just being kind.
But there is another kindness you can do me.
What do you need? Write my father's eulogy for me.
Last time I wrote you a speech, you basically tore it up on TV.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'll give it.
I believe I can do that much, get through the thing.
But, uh no, I can't bare the writing.
These are my notes.
Such as they are, the pertinent details.
Whoa, Chuck.
Let me just absorb this for a minute.
No, yeah, sure, of course, natch.
Do what you gotta.
Chew it over with your burnt ends.
I mean, the whole thing is ironic too, because of this persistent fantasy I used to have.
About? Me, as a younger man, standing tall at his funeral.
Strong arm around my grieving mother, all of New York in attendance as I delivered a profound and stirring eulogy.
[CHUCKLES.]
But in my fantasy, see, my father was also somehow alive - Hmm.
- and witnessed the speech with all the pride and approval you can imagine.
Strange as it is, it somehow makes sense.
Yeah.
Stopped having it when I became US attorney.
Well, reaching that height, that achievement, puts you beyond the need for his approval.
Maybe.
Now, though, I've got this persistent sense of guilt, as if my reverie somehow caused his current condition.
You'll feel worse if you don't write it yourself.
[INDISTINCT OFFICE CHATTER.]
So, you spilled your pint of blood.
Great.
Nothing wrong with appeasing the old gods.
I need a list of all the companies whose reputation and balance sheet are being hurt by their association with my name.
All the good people who don't deserve to be collateral damage to my mistakes.
So you can Free them.
Sell them off.
It went that badly with the mother? She butchered me, like one of those buffaloes at the end of Apocalypse Now.
We can't take a billion dollar plus loss so you can assuage your guilt over something you can't go back and change.
Right now, this company is the house built on a Native American burial ground.
It doesn't matter how good the house is.
We have to start from scratch.
Um, shark in the water, shark in the water.
Meaning? There's a selloff happening.
So I was trying to make it sound exciting.
See? And it's all in the same sector.
It's not a sector.
It's a person.
Mike Prince.
We should be buying this.
All of it.
We'd own big swaths of the green energy market; - more than that.
- How much to buy it all? More than we have on hand.
I mean, I think more than we have.
So how do we get it? Shit.
Right.
You have to ask Axe.
Like an advance on your allowance.
It's outside our guidance.
I mean, it sucks to have to ask.
But it will suck a fuck of a lot less when we own all of Prince's stuff.
Which is exactly how I'm going to sell this to Axe.
Buying Prince's companies feeds into his need to destroy Mike Prince.
Go feed the need.
Thank you.
I think I will.
Hey, I need to ask you something.
Oh, yeah.
Hold on a sec.
[INDISTINCT OFFICE CHATTER.]
Trying to connect with Axe.
I'm on with him now.
You seeing it? Mike Prince spiraling out, hemorrhaging money? It's quaint.
And also very satisfying.
Beyond satisfying, it gives us an advantage.
He's driving down the cost by flooding the market.
He's selling just to sell, which means we can buy it all.
- I just need the leverage.
- That's a splashy move and publicly humiliating for him.
Yeah No.
I am not helping Prince cleanse his conscience.
We'll never get this chance again.
I know.
Which is why I'm thinking I'd rather that you dump everything you have that coincides with him.
Actually, dump everything that you have that shares even the tiniest overlap of Venn diagram with Mike Prince and his ideology.
What? Well, like you said, he's driving the price down.
Now I want you to make those companies worthless.
Unproductive.
This is insane.
What? Kicking Prince when he's down? I'd say nothing could be saner.
- Bobby.
- This isn't profitable.
You're going to ruin industries to prove a point you've already proven.
Plus, the Mase Carbon balance sheet will take a hit, which will drive down the value of the associated companies.
Our P and L will look like a mine shaft.
You know Taylor's right.
I can see it in your eyes.
[SIGHS.]
Okay.
No, you're right.
He's done.
So Mase Carb can buy up Prince's positions? Yes.
I'll give you the leverage outside the guidance.
Thank you.
I'll let you know how much we're able to scoop up.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
So that's how my resident genius is doing.
How's our painter doing? Fine.
Fine, like I'll be seeing paintings for the big empty walls I have waiting for them? What did you like about his work when you saw it? [INHALES.]
Well, the power, the strength.
Not many out there who can make art that feels like it's breathing.
Wait a minute.
Why are you asking? Should I be worried? I don't know.
He's off.
No, no, that that's too strong.
He's He's painting for other people.
He's got collectors and commissions in his head.
And that real estate is only for you? You know, he's actually got real estate there, too.
For what it's worth, Tanner was always supposed to be this.
Successful, sought after.
And he's lucky to have you to keep his head in the game.
I'm glad for you.
Thank you.
But, I could, you know, if you wanted me to, take some pressure off, uh, give him some room to think.
Maybe call Lisa, give her two of mine and then take my other two later.
Oh, it would be fucking with another man's cash flow but, you know, if that's what you think he needs.
But the most important thing is he gets back on track, right? Right.
So I'll make the call? Maybe just leave it.
Sure.
I'm just trying to help.
I know.
- [ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
- [INDISTINCT OFFICE CHATTER.]
We got a problem.
We got a problem.
The pizza freighter broke down in the Atlantic.
We're gonna miss our delivery window.
- Shit.
- Bad luck, you know, something like that.
We need to call the distributor, the product guy, and let them know we're gonna be late.
We show up late, we're gonna miss our launch with goPuff.
They're gonna blow this 'za out.
We won't get that momentum back for a year, maybe ever.
There's no such thing as bad fucking luck, not when money's involved.
Where exactly is this freighter? Okay, this is a satellite snapshot of every ship at sea, updated every 20 minutes.
So where the fuck are our pizzas? Forty-four degrees, 32 minutes, 23.
8 seconds North by 25 degrees, seven minutes, 51.
6 seconds West.
North Atlantic Ocean.
The ship carrying your pizzas broke down two hours ago.
So now what? They rot at sea? Maybe we could find someone to fix the ship.
Why did you say "broke down" like that? Because something is off.
A dead ship, one without power, will drop anchor and put out a distress signal.
Even if the ship drifted onto the anchor line, it would have drifted East along the wave path, and your boat has moved North.
Somebody is fucking around with your boat.
[CELL PHONE VIBRATING.]
Check your IB.
[MOUSE CLICKING.]
Shit, Axe, really? You're an executing trader.
You got a problem executing? No, Axe.
But I have a problem trading these particular names without Taylor.
I hired you.
You quit.
I hired you back.
Let you walk back in here despite your lack of loyalty.
Because I knew, one day there would be a moment of truth, a reckoning.
What I would see if you were still the kid that I pulled out of Aurora, sat in front of a bank of screens and gave the secrets of the world.
And enough money to move your mom out of a trailer into a house.
This is that reckoning.
Fuck.
[SIGHS.]
[THUNDER RUMBLES.]
You proud of putting good companies out of business? - I'm sorry.
I'm not sure - Is this what you wanted? To destroy the progress we both made? To set impact investing back? Every company you sold off today will likely fold, and that market share will go right back to the polluters, the child labor employers, the people we committed to taking down.
Are you proud? Jesus.
You didn't know.
He did it without telling you.
Well, I guess we all know just how much that shingle of yours is worth.
Are you okay? No.
What happened? Axe.
Are you kidding me? So what, you were just following orders and that makes it okay? It does not make it okay.
Explain yourself, Mafee.
Axe.
That's it.
That's the explanation.
What the fuck did we think would happen when we walked back in here? The fallout from this is cataclysmic.
[WINSTON.]
You're damn right.
This completely messes up our bonuses.
[RIAN.]
Not what I meant.
Well, it's what I meant.
Enough.
I will fix this.
Not as long as we're still reporting to Not now, Rian.
I spent my whole life building something additive.
- Not your whole life.
- Um-hmm.
Some would argue that by virtue of just how much money you have, you have by definition done much wrong.
So because I'm so rich, I'm inherently guilty? It's what I built a good chunk of my career on.
Probably what drove me to that career.
But I do believe you just said it better than I did.
Wealth is always going to exist.
Power along with it.
People are so consumed with the idea that money buys freedom that they can't demand better of the powerful or themselves.
As soon as they gain some power of their own, they forget about better and just want to be rich.
So the powerful have to demand it of ourselves.
That's what I was trying to do.
I can't save the world, but I was gonna leave it a lot better than I found it.
And now I'm sucked into chaos by Bobby Axelrod.
I can't arrest him because he's screwing with your savior complex.
Would that I could.
Bobby Axelrod has to be wiped off the face of the Earth.
You're right.
So do you want my help? No.
- Hold on.
- You came to me He came to me and said he needed my help.
Now I'm ready.
I came to you when I needed you.
And the getting was good.
But you thought you were above me.
And, now, Axe got a bank.
Fuck, I gave him a bank.
Me and her.
And now that he's coming for you, [SCOFFS.]
you want me to what? Get hit with more shrapnel so you can campaign for a Nobel? No.
Fuck no.
Every time I move, I make his life better and mine worse.
I even tried my luck with the Delaware AG only to be rolled into the street like a bum.
So I've come to a halt.
No, I can't lose any more of myself to this.
You go figure it out.
I'm offering titanic resources.
Then what do you need us for? "That cupcake makes a mess, we got a case again.
" Well, it worked for Bobby D, I figured it was worth a shot.
[CHUCKLES.]
Okay, we can remake the order in Italy and reship.
But that's two extra weeks.
And then we lose the supermarket chains.
Prince Company's got their mitts on the shipping line anyway.
[SIGHS.]
All right, look, I'm gonna tell Axe to forget the whole deal.
Give my cousin back his company.
Anthony keeps banging out top-quality pies.
At least he has two shops.
That's more than what he was planning.
No, you're not.
Axe believes your cousin should be big-time.
I have been charged with delivering your pizza empire, so to speak, and deliver it I fucking will, on time.
How? Now tell me.
Why Italy? The ovens.
Il Duce.
We have a move we can make.
A warehouse filled with ovens and a small army of workers.
It's gonna cost close to 10 million to do it.
Keep it on schedule.
And keep it quiet.
It's money you won't recoup for a long time.
Ten million to not let Mike Prince win a round? Consider the money spent.
Go get those fuckin' ovens.
We have hundreds of LLCs in Delaware.
And lots of associates with more.
I've been considering Wyoming instead.
I've got a 3,000-acre spread there and it's the original home of the LLC.
The American Bar Association just released a white paper on the Delaware pitfalls.
Seems like a good time to take a billion out of the state.
Is it only a billion? - A few.
- Hmm.
Well, that would be unfortunate.
Taking out a cowboy-sized chunk of the LLCs in Delaware is "unfortunate"? I'd imagined the unemployment filings of registered agents alone would put a nice dent in anyone's reelection hopes.
Or Or? You can do me a favor, and I'll stay in Delaware and protect the LLC farms from litigation.
Especially from a very eager New York State AG.
You told me to figure it out.
That's what I did.
And? Moody was persuaded to get the court to name a special trustee to Axe's bank.
An Irving Picard-like son of a gun.
The guy who got back the Madoff money.
[PRINCE.]
One penny at a time.
Clawing every cent from the estate sale, finding every mattress they hid it under.
Unrelenting.
Well, Axe will hate that.
[PRINCE.]
Someone who'll ride herd over the institution from the inside.
Clock its every move.
Report it all back.
Block what he can.
Okay, we're in.
You knew.
When you told me to blow, you knew I'd come back with something.
I've seen Cop Land.
Did I? I thought I meant it at the time.
But we're here now.
Yeah.
Yeah, we'll need someone who's served on a bank board.
Someone who's known for being tough on the institutions they're a board member of, not a yes man.
Someone who won't care if they get booted a few months in due to politics.
Someone who will go down swinging.
Oh, I have just the guy.
[MACHINE BEEPS SOFTLY.]
Dad? [SNORES.]
Hey.
It's the son who can't seem to come through.
Well, it is true.
I can't get you a kidney by any moral or legal means.
But, [SIGHS.]
what if I could give you a reason to live? Huh.
You mean other than my wife and child? Positive reinforcement never has been your raison d'être.
No, you love power via destruction, a motivation you have handed down to me and could bestow on your daughter if you live long enough.
Oh, she's meant for something better.
Oh, I have no doubt.
But the chance to be in the game, to fuck with someone else's power and take it for yourself, you can't deny that would feel good.
Especially if that power was coming from Bobby Axelrod.
I would enjoy seeing him squirm.
Better yet, you would be the reason for said squirming.
He just got himself a bank.
And the bank requires a trustee.
Someone with the power to torture his every decision, to turn the thing he wants so badly into a cilice that he can't take off.
Someone with experience in banking, committed to making Axelrod so uncomfortable he rips at his own skin.
That's a job for a fighter.
Man with something left in the tank.
I could yank his puppet strings.
Oh, yes, you could.
[HORNS HONKING.]
Scooter.
I just happened to be in your neighborhood grocer.
That's hard to believe.
Nothing is hard to believe if you have the will to make it happen.
Wait, that's not one of Yes.
It certainly is.
I'm wondering if we can file the insurance claim on the spoiled merchandise directly with Prince.
You know, since you tools bought into that shipping company.
Oh, you should try one of these.
Fucking delicious.
Freezer case is full of 'em.
Your LLC office in Delaware is a literal post office box.
Our bank is real, though.
I imagine you want it to be.
[INHALES.]
What's the problem that brought you all this way north? Some things have changed.
In my honest assessment of your past, I've come to believe that you require oversight.
A trustee to look after consumer finance protection.
Someone you'll need to run every move by.
Every move? Pretty much.
And if we refuse? I cancel your certificate of formation.
Do we get to see a shortlist? [CLICKS TONGUE, INHALES.]
[SCOFFS.]
That is a short fucking list.
Charles Rhoades Senior has been selected and approved.
We'll appeal this decision.
I'll sue you.
Oh, I imagine you will.
[INHALES.]
Well, I guess I will see you across a courtroom to hash this out in 18 months to two years, when the case finally comes up for trial.
In the meantime, please see that Mr.
Rhoades is welcome.
Gentlemen.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
I need Wendy's research, what she was working on in the employee records when Spyros ratted her out.
You reorienting where you work? Reorienting.
That's a word for it.
Another word for it is shutting it the fuck down.
Try using a word or two that'll make sense to me.
Axe.
Used his black magic to get my commission squashed.
One thing I can't stand is getting fucked with.
Is it all bad though? Give you back your freedom.
You can just paint like you used to.
Yeah, I had that for a long time.
This was something new.
- I kind of liked it.
- You think you did.
But I saw the look in your eye when you were painting that and it lit me up.
Because that was you in it for yourself.
Did you know Axe was gonna do this? Oh, wait a minute.
Was Was this your fuckin' idea? No.
Not my suggestion.
But we did have a conversation about it and he thought it'd be helpful.
Wow.
Shit.
You trying to help me, or are you trying to help me stay broke? You have a personal relationship with every painting.
A fucking love affair.
Or you do with the good ones.
Oh, good ones.
And you know the difference? I know the difference in you.
I saw the way you were looking at me when I was makin' that painting.
It was like a fucking show pony.
Like an artist.
Yeah.
[SCOFFS.]
Your idea of an artist.
Someone that you can control because he has no resources of his own.
That's the last thing I want to do.
Good.
Because after emptying my pockets, Axe has no more control over me.
Because this is the last painting that I owe him.
Well then I helped you get free, didn't I? Nah.
No, you didn't.
You helped me realize that I was never free.
I'm a grown man.
I decide what I need.
I decide when I need it.
- If you say so.
- Yeah, I do.
I also need a girl who says, "Of course you do," when I say, "I don't know if I'm done.
" Not some fuckin' seminar.
Yeah.
Your problem is you need a girl.
[CANVAS RIPS.]
[TANNER GRUNTS.]
In case you're still not sure when something's finished, this fuckin' is.
In the summer that I was baptized My father held me to his side As they put me to the water He said how on that day I cried We were prisoners of love A love in chains He was standin' in the door I was standin' in the rain With the same hot blood Burning in our veins Adam raised a Cain Adam raised a Cain The security guys say he left an hour after Wendy did.
They heard shouting and banging and when they checked it out, this is what they found.
You get the place cleaned up so I can sell it.
We gonna list it as the former art studio of Nico Tanner? [SCOFFS.]
I don't give a shit.
Have that packed, brought to the office and hung.
As what? A cautionary tale? That's a real Tanner original.
Filled with raw emotion.
They fit you with position And the keys to your daddy's Cadillac In the darkness of your room Your mother calls you by your true name You remember the faces The places, the names You know it's never over It's relentless as the rain Adam raised a Cain Adam raised a Cain Adam raised a Cain Adam raised a Cain Hi.
Hello.
This is, um, a laptops closed sort of thing.
Okay.
We keep doing this.
I think this might be the last time if that makes you feel any better.
I get the sense that it won't.
I spent all night doing the math on the amount of money we lost.
It was wildly stupid.
Worse, we damaged entire sectors, companies that were going to spin off into petrochemical disruptors, that were going to create new battery technology.
I told you there'd be sacrifices.
Yeah, but I'm not sure I can keep doing that.
Rian, give me some time.
I know how to fix this.
How? I can't say right now.
Just trust me.
If I see myself in you then you see yourself in me, right? And you know you would be able to solve this.
Yeah, I guess I follow that.
So trust me.
Okay.
For now.
Okay.
[KNOCKS.]
Hmm.
We have successfully gotten my father named the new trustee of Axe's bank.
He will have oversight, full control to hold up anything and everything they want to do with the bank.
Access to every transaction.
A man on the inside.
Right.
We got what we wanted.
Except we didn't.
[CELL PHONE VIBRATING.]
Roxanne? Okay, okay, slow down.
That's great.
You get there as soon as you can get back to the city.
I'm on my way.
Dad.
I just talked to Roxanne.
She says to give you a kiss for luck.
Ooh, give him a wet one.
[CHUCKLES.]
Nothing to worry about though.
Simple procedure.
I'd do it myself if I hadn't lost my privileges here.
Yeah, see? I told you.
Now you get to live and be my man on the inside.
[SENIOR.]
Uh-huh.
That's true, Sonny.
But it may not work out the way you think.
What do you mean, Dad? Nice fucking job getting him up the list.
One month from now, these hospitals, they're gonna be overrun with that damn Chinese bug.
How'd you do it? Me? I was about to ask how you did it.
Dad? Dad.
He's been sedated.
[ORDERLY.]
Excuse me.
Wait a minute.
You're the donor? - But you're Axe's - Yes, I am.
His museum curator.
Heard from a friend your pop was in need.
I signed right up.
Looking to do all my good deeds for a year - right here.
- Sure you are.
[CHUCK.]
Axe stymied us smooth as Bobby Jones, and Senior's not our man anymore.
Axe delivered my father something that at this moment transcends even my familial bond.
He gave him life.
And so he became the son I couldn't be.
[SCOFFS.]
My father is owned by him now.
Axe claims he's not an emotional player, but he's all emotion.
I saw how much he was willing to pour into a pizza business, and that was just for sentimental reasons.
He dumped his positions in impact companies just to hurt me, even though he cost himself maybe more than he cost me.
When he wants something, he's blind to everything else.
And right now Axe wants to gloat over my failures.
And probably make me fail some more.
We need to use that against him.
He has a new toy.
A bank.
And now, thanks to us, no speed limit on it, nothing to stop him from making mistakes.
Fatal ones.
The kind that put a man in prison.
I'm the bait, and the bank is the trap.
[KNOCK AT DOOR.]
How are we taking down Bobby Axelrod? I am a victim of the science age A child of the storm Whoa yes I can't remember when I was your age For me Time's no more No more Nobody rules these streets at night but me The atomic punk! Whoa yeah Wow! I am the ruler of these netherworlds The underground Whoa yes On every wall and place my fearsome name is heard Just look around Whoa yes Nobody rules these streets at night but me The atomic punk! Whoa yeah Wow!
Previously on Billions Are you here to tell me that you found me a donor? [WENDY.]
He's gonna die unless he gets a kidney.
- So I thought I - [AXE.]
You should've come to me.
[TAYLOR.]
If you work with me, I need your blood because that is what I give.
You want to own me.
And that's not cool.
[AXE.]
The mythical incorruptible artist, impervious to temptation.
[WENDY.]
When we met, you acted like money is like chains.
It's just that now that I have a little bit of it it's startin' to feel like freedom.
My favorite artist isn't getting paid enough.
What do you got in mind? The freezer section.
Michael Prince is ready to be confirmed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Denmark.
You're in a battle with Bobby Axelrod.
Help me to help you beat him.
You can look as long and hard as you want at my life, past or present.
He's got a secret.
Fucking find it.
It's been brutal, really, to watch the world celebrate this man and know the truth about what he did to my son.
Found some neighborhood folks that got fleeced by a payday lender.
Company's called Plaintif-Full.
[CHUCK.]
I am in the mood to take someone down.
[VICTOR.]
He went for the lure.
- And he got hooked.
- Fuck yeah! Why would Axe care about buying up a marginal shitbag operation? The way they got away with a bunch of their unethical lending is doing it in-house.
They have a bank charter.
We just delivered Axe his bank.
[CHUCK.]
This one? Keep scrolling.
We can do this a month from now.
No, no.
Time is stalking me down.
- It's inexorable.
- No, Dad.
None of that.
You're gonna outlast Now listen, you keep your goddamn emotional lid on during the service.
I'm everything to you, your whole world.
I know this.
And I gotta make this clear to you now, or you'll get the waterworks going like Iguazu Falls.
No, sir.
No, I will comport myself as you have taught me with dry eyes and an ass clenched tighter than Steve Reeves on a busman's holiday.
Oh! [CHUCKLES.]
That's something.
Are you burying me, or parading me through the streets with the Hibernians? You may be demonstrating a failure to show appreciation of what I'm goin' through here.
I have to lie in it.
I think that's appreciation enough.
Pesci? The Irishman? No? I was just looking for a moment of levity in the darkness.
Now, I don't need that or Martin fucking Scorsese to explain the process of aging and physical destruction to me.
Especially not at four hours running time when lack of time is the immediate problem I'm facing.
You have got things in your life worth stayin' around for, Dad.
Roxanne, the baby, my kids.
Me.
Let's quit the optimistic bullshit.
I've got a couple of rock-hard peach pits for kidneys.
We're buyin' a casket here.
[SIGHS.]
I am.
As in I'm paying.
Wouldn't give you the satisfaction.
Well, my credit card's already on file at Frank E.
Campbell.
And I told them I'd be the one around to bother them if they fucked with me on this.
I guess it is what it is, huh? Yeah.
What you have in front of you is a perfect expression of pizza.
[SNIFFS.]
Ingredients locally sourced in Italy, flash frozen there.
When it comes out of the oven, it's as good as anything at the restaurant.
So you say.
I'll be the judge, yeah? [CHEWS.]
[LAUGHS.]
Holy shit.
Kid, you did it.
He did it.
I just wrote the checks.
[CHUCKLES.]
[UNINTELLIGIBLE MUTTERING.]
You had me worried.
We got a 100,000 of these things on a container ship headed for our shores.
Congratulations.
- Is Bobby taking care of you? - Yeah.
Of course I am.
We got private equity circling already.
And once we choose who gets to take these fine gentlemen to the prom, Anthony will be liquid.
Yes, he will.
To Genio Della Pizza.
The next global food brand.
One week to launch.
- Cent'anni.
- Cent'anni.
[SPEAKING IN DANISH.]
[EXHALES.]
They'll never find anyone better, more committed.
But you're not fighting back.
- I'm in the wrong.
- Who cares? It's time to rise up and My hawk-like instincts are telling me to leave it there for now.
Savvy read.
[SLAPS KNEES.]
[EXHALES.]
- [INDISTINCT STREET CHATTER.]
- [TRAFFIC SOUNDS.]
- [WHISPERING.]
It's Jay-Z.
- Hmm.
Distance yourself.
You and I can do more good by letting The Mike fold and then raising something new from the ashes.
We're good at that.
Yeah, Shawn.
You too.
Get me to see Taleb.
Gotta make sure this thing's a real black swan event.
High priest.
There's no profit at the end of this call sheet.
No money to be made.
My one job is to help you do your job.
- And right now - I have three cell numbers for this guy.
Can I talk to you like you talk to me? I'm gonna talk to you like you talk to me.
This is to what? Refocus my lens? That it is.
We got a bank charter 24 hours ago, and instead of setting up a boardroom and printing stationery, I'm searching "hashtag The Mike.
" You've been giving away majority ownership in this pizza company.
What I'm really searching for is a pattern in the madness.
But all I'm seein' is the madness.
Hmm.
The reason I can talk like that Well, there are myriad reasons, none of which you'd understand.
As you don't understand why my moves right now are the very acme of sanity.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers.
Now do my bidding.
And get me Taleb.
Let's go.
[PRINCE.]
No, no, I I understand.
But I still think I'm the best choice to lead "Shake the Quake.
" Of course.
Uh Well, let's find you a new public face.
I'd be happy to make some calls.
Goodbye.
Where are we on The Mike? - Cancellations are piling up.
- [CLOSES LAPTOP.]
Principals are willing to send their juniors, some VPs from the big firms.
A second-tier event might as well not exist.
Cancel it.
It's your legacy.
The Mike is bigger Cancel the darned event.
[TOSSES PHONE.]
The Mike is toast.
Charities are abandoning him.
Let's ratchet up to personal life.
I have to go with this one more time.
I am here for whatever you need.
[SCOFFS.]
And I'm always up for a bloody vanquishing.
But Prince is done.
He's bled out.
And you're calling in favors for what? So you can fuck a dead guy's skull? Michael Douglas only talked about it in The Bible.
He didn't do it.
Besides, skullfuckery is not even fun to watch.
Okay.
That part is a lie.
He's not dead till I say he's dead.
[PAINT SPLATTERING.]
Did you work all night? Yeah.
I'm headed into the office.
What do you think? - It's intense.
- Yeah, but is it - You know[SIGHS.]
- Finished? What do you think? They used to talk to me.
Refuse the paint when I was done.
And now? There's a lot of other noise.
I know.
Penthouse walls "echo with the sound of salesmen.
" That guy was an artist, right? - Neil Peart.
- Yeah.
You are, too.
You have to remind yourself why you're painting it.
You know, there's a piece of land in Vermont that I could buy.
Beautiful spread.
It's got trees, and a lake.
Vermont's nice, but you can't let that be your reason.
Oh, there are worse ones.
You know that collector Lisa? I mean, she buys one painting that's a down payment.
[CELLPHONE VIBRATING.]
Hello? Yeah, hold on one second.
Uh, this is the, uh, collector that I had dinner with the other night.
- I want to take this.
- Okay.
My man, you found me.
Yeah, you got a long reach, player.
I know it.
Yeah.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CHUCK.]
Mr.
Moody, the power we wield as attorneys general is akin to a V-12 engine in an Italian sports car.
You can drive the speed limit most of the time, but once in a while, you gotta take that power out and gun it.
And who would you like me to run down on the Autobahn? Go to court and get an injunction blocking Bobby Axelrod's acquisition of Plaintif-Full and the bank charter inside.
That individual is not fit to own a bank.
It's a Delaware corporation.
So, you're the man to talk to.
[CHUCK.]
The man with his hand on the switch of Ol' Sparky, who can send this deal to Valhalla.
Well, do I have a race car or an electric chair at my disposal? Both.
It would have been real good of you to ask 24 hours ago, before you took a wrecking ball to Plaintif-Full.
All without a call to me, by the way.
In too much of a hurry to hand-deliver Axe a bank, I guess.
You started this thing.
And you did it without seeing the consequences.
Now you want me to fix it? I'm asking you to take down a larger threat.
My mistake doesn't have to snowball into our mistake.
There's no legal basis for this No.
It would be a favor.
Which we tend to repay.
No, not tend to.
Always will, and always have.
Favors are not asked lightly and will not be ignored.
You think this is the state that Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours built, with the cousin marrying and the wrestler murdering and all that French aristocracy nonsense? The glass shards on top of the wall, keep the lesser family out? No.
This is the state that was built on corporations getting what they need, which is freedom from the yoke of tax burden.
I don't believe corporations are people.
They're better than people, because they don't fuck up when they get so obsessed with one thing they can't see reality.
[SIGHING.]
So no, I'm not gonna participate in your agenda, while mine is part of a bigger economy.
- [SLAPS ARMRESTS.]
- [SIGHS.]
But do consider shopping for some tax-free, high-end electronics before you go.
[SCOFFS.]
I was in my Tiara 4300, throttle open, shakin' on the chop so hard, my dick chafed.
[CHUCKLES.]
And suddenly I realized I was the menace.
I wasn't in the world, I was hurting it.
And that was my moment of clarity.
I didn't want to be that guy.
And I called you.
I remember.
Hmm.
And you got me here.
[SCOFFS.]
Made me the man I wanted to be.
Made me money doin' it.
And that's not nothin'.
We shared values.
We still share values.
[SIGHING.]
I don't know.
I know what's in your head, and it's ancient history.
What I did to David showed a lack of morality on my part, and I have to live with it.
It's a heck of a heavy load.
Yeah.
It's yours to carry.
It is.
But who do you want in your corner? Someone who's never put money before humanity? Or do you want someone who knows the cost of putting humanity aside, and how it'll break you? Without my past, how would I have known how to lead you from that gas guzzling, ear shattering, overcompensating Tiara to a sailboat and to the present moment? [SCOFFS, SIGHS.]
Perfect people don't exist.
But flawed people who have taken a walk through their own wounded psyche, reforged themselves and come out stronger? We're the great hope for the species.
I still think I have to pull my money.
Fair enough.
More than fair.
Get up.
Let me walk you out.
Yeah.
It's your money.
You can take it right now, and you could walk out this door.
Leave while I'm down.
Tell yourself and everyone you did it because you're Matt Allen and you don't consort with my kind.
Because you, Matt Allen, will not be associated with someone who could do something like this.
But power is atomic.
And eventually, this moment, this moment where one electron is slightly out of whack, will end, the world will right itself again.
I'll be on top again.
And the curious thing is that I will have forgotten your name.
I don't believe in enemies.
It's not that I don't have them, it's that when you become my enemy, my next move, my only move, is to continue to rise.
While you will eddy.
Sink.
Not by my hand but by your lack of connection to me.
So walk out with your money.
It's yours.
But you won't be done with me.
As the song goes: "On every wall in place "my fearsome name will be heard.
I'm the atomic punk.
" I will remain so.
And you, Matt, will simply evaporate.
[SIGHS.]
You know what? I I think Mike, sure, I'll stay.
For now.
Give it a quarter or two, see how this shakes out.
Good call.
I'm not doing that again.
The save or the beat down? Because it was gorgeous.
Big Cat Ernie Ladd level.
How do you even know who that is? You don't watch wrestling.
I'd have said like, Fafner clubbing Fasol to death in Das Rheingold, but I need you in the gutter, not the heavens.
How do you even come up with it? I just start talking and magic comes out.
Same with what I just saw you do.
That was a Michael Thomas Aquinas Prince who I can help.
That was the M-Tap I've been waiting for.
I feel dirty.
This shirt feels dirty.
I want to change.
This isn't who I am.
What I built.
You did build it.
And now you have to defend it.
That's who we have to be right now.
You got hurt, we hurt back.
You need to make Axe suffer.
How? I figured out what the devil cares about.
Pizza.
First he overspent on a joint in Yonkers.
But now he's invested in a new company that's getting buzzy.
But the deal is way too favorable for his partners.
And? Axe giving favorable terms? That means it matters to him.
So, now we take it away.
Painfully.
I see the appeal.
I really do.
But this isn't the path for me.
So, you exorcise your demons however you want.
I need to face mine.
[EXHALES.]
Okay, I gave you the entire trip back from Delaware and the car ride from Penn Station to get over it.
And now I need to know: what is the plan, or the next move in the plan, or the next step in the move of the plan? Well, there is no plan.
[SLAPS THIGH.]
Despite your enthusiasm, there's no move.
No, Moody is right.
I made this shit soup, and now I have to sip it.
Fine.
You want to act existential, does not mean that I have to.
No act.
No, this right here, is what my alienist would call Anhedonia.
The kind of paralysis that can only come when every move you make hurts.
Wendy's gone.
Her successor, also gone.
Meanwhile, my enemies thrive.
If we can pause with the Freudian analysis Ribot came up with the concept.
Freud got all the glory.
So the least we can do is give ol' Theodule - his credit where it's due.
- Okay, back from Europe to here in NYC.
What if we pull the charter and get someone from the FDIC or OCC to review it for minor infractions? They're not gonna block this over a punctuation error.
And Axe can resubmit a clean charter if they do.
- We could - Stop.
I can't.
And neither should you.
We could threaten the board of the bank with investigations into personal misdeeds.
Send them running.
And give Axe a chance to form a board even more amenable to his goals? - No.
- Okay, so let's figure out what Moody really wants.
I'm done.
You're done.
Go home.
Stock up on canned goods for the coming plague.
It all fucking blows.
This is about your father.
All of this.
The dulled eyes, the defeated attitude, the backstroking through French psychology.
But the fight must go on, Chuck.
You have to go on.
It's what he'd expect.
So you say.
So they say.
So it is said.
And so it is written.
Doesn't mean it's true.
- [CRICKETS CHIRPING.]
- [DOGS BARKING.]
- Thank you for seeing me.
- [GLASSES CLINKS.]
If you're here about the NDA, I know I broke it.
I don't care.
This isn't like before when I had no one on my side.
I've got people helping me now.
So whatever threat or lawsuit or blackmail you think you might have over me, you can forget it.
I don't go looking for fights.
Can't say the same for Bobby Axelrod.
He's bankrolling your legal defense.
He's making sure that I don't go broke for telling the truth.
But you don't know the truth.
Not the whole thing, at least.
You only know what happened after.
And now so does everyone else.
Do you want to know about that night? With David? [SWALLOWS.]
After I showed him the plane ticket and the cashier's check, we went out for pancakes.
I I don't know why pancakes, it's what he wanted.
Uh, maybe it was to sober up.
Or maybe it was all he could think of.
Or maybe it was all he could eat because of all the drugs and the booze.
We talked about the trip we were taking to Rio, the girls we would meet there, about the company we would start next.
David wanted to replace modems and routers with something more secure.
It was brilliant, his idea, but scattered, and I really wish I could remember it.
Because I bet it would change the world.
But I can't.
Because that whole time eating pancakes, the only thing I could think of was how I had to get him on that plane.
[CHUCKLES SOFTLY.]
He was so happy in that moment and funny.
You know how he could get a joke going, and keep it going way longer than anybody else.
Well, he was going and going.
And all I had was the cold, hollow excitement of knowing that I was stealing from him.
I told myself that it was because he wouldn't be able to handle the new situation or that he'd blow our deal.
That it'd be too much for him.
But deep down, I knew.
I still know.
I wanted it all for myself.
You shouldn't have come.
Please.
I I understand that I can't get your forgiveness.
Because what I did was unforgivable.
But if there's anything that I can do for you, anything at all, that will heal this thing between us.
Or maybe just make us both feel better.
Because I'm tired of hurting.
Aren't you? Yeah, I am.
But the funny thing is, it's decades later, and sometimes I can't picture David's face without looking at a photograph.
You know, it's been so long.
But the same thing keeps happening.
People want me to tell them how to make them feel better.
You want me to do your work for you, but I'm not going to.
I've worked hard enough to get through this.
So, if you're looking for absolution, you're gonna have to find it on your own.
I want a path back to goodness.
A way to be a force for good again.
Yeah, I know you do, Michael.
[SCOFFS.]
You do? Yeah.
But I can't be the subject of that, or the object, or the road map.
I mean, I can point you in the right direction.
Stop ruining good people because you think you're better than them.
You're not better than anyone.
You blanked me this afternoon.
Oh, you really had me running for those Philadelphias, though.
[CHUCKLES.]
Almost took the second game.
No, you're just being kind.
But there is another kindness you can do me.
What do you need? Write my father's eulogy for me.
Last time I wrote you a speech, you basically tore it up on TV.
[CHUCKLES.]
I'll give it.
I believe I can do that much, get through the thing.
But, uh no, I can't bare the writing.
These are my notes.
Such as they are, the pertinent details.
Whoa, Chuck.
Let me just absorb this for a minute.
No, yeah, sure, of course, natch.
Do what you gotta.
Chew it over with your burnt ends.
I mean, the whole thing is ironic too, because of this persistent fantasy I used to have.
About? Me, as a younger man, standing tall at his funeral.
Strong arm around my grieving mother, all of New York in attendance as I delivered a profound and stirring eulogy.
[CHUCKLES.]
But in my fantasy, see, my father was also somehow alive - Hmm.
- and witnessed the speech with all the pride and approval you can imagine.
Strange as it is, it somehow makes sense.
Yeah.
Stopped having it when I became US attorney.
Well, reaching that height, that achievement, puts you beyond the need for his approval.
Maybe.
Now, though, I've got this persistent sense of guilt, as if my reverie somehow caused his current condition.
You'll feel worse if you don't write it yourself.
[INDISTINCT OFFICE CHATTER.]
So, you spilled your pint of blood.
Great.
Nothing wrong with appeasing the old gods.
I need a list of all the companies whose reputation and balance sheet are being hurt by their association with my name.
All the good people who don't deserve to be collateral damage to my mistakes.
So you can Free them.
Sell them off.
It went that badly with the mother? She butchered me, like one of those buffaloes at the end of Apocalypse Now.
We can't take a billion dollar plus loss so you can assuage your guilt over something you can't go back and change.
Right now, this company is the house built on a Native American burial ground.
It doesn't matter how good the house is.
We have to start from scratch.
Um, shark in the water, shark in the water.
Meaning? There's a selloff happening.
So I was trying to make it sound exciting.
See? And it's all in the same sector.
It's not a sector.
It's a person.
Mike Prince.
We should be buying this.
All of it.
We'd own big swaths of the green energy market; - more than that.
- How much to buy it all? More than we have on hand.
I mean, I think more than we have.
So how do we get it? Shit.
Right.
You have to ask Axe.
Like an advance on your allowance.
It's outside our guidance.
I mean, it sucks to have to ask.
But it will suck a fuck of a lot less when we own all of Prince's stuff.
Which is exactly how I'm going to sell this to Axe.
Buying Prince's companies feeds into his need to destroy Mike Prince.
Go feed the need.
Thank you.
I think I will.
Hey, I need to ask you something.
Oh, yeah.
Hold on a sec.
[INDISTINCT OFFICE CHATTER.]
Trying to connect with Axe.
I'm on with him now.
You seeing it? Mike Prince spiraling out, hemorrhaging money? It's quaint.
And also very satisfying.
Beyond satisfying, it gives us an advantage.
He's driving down the cost by flooding the market.
He's selling just to sell, which means we can buy it all.
- I just need the leverage.
- That's a splashy move and publicly humiliating for him.
Yeah No.
I am not helping Prince cleanse his conscience.
We'll never get this chance again.
I know.
Which is why I'm thinking I'd rather that you dump everything you have that coincides with him.
Actually, dump everything that you have that shares even the tiniest overlap of Venn diagram with Mike Prince and his ideology.
What? Well, like you said, he's driving the price down.
Now I want you to make those companies worthless.
Unproductive.
This is insane.
What? Kicking Prince when he's down? I'd say nothing could be saner.
- Bobby.
- This isn't profitable.
You're going to ruin industries to prove a point you've already proven.
Plus, the Mase Carbon balance sheet will take a hit, which will drive down the value of the associated companies.
Our P and L will look like a mine shaft.
You know Taylor's right.
I can see it in your eyes.
[SIGHS.]
Okay.
No, you're right.
He's done.
So Mase Carb can buy up Prince's positions? Yes.
I'll give you the leverage outside the guidance.
Thank you.
I'll let you know how much we're able to scoop up.
[DOOR CLOSES.]
So that's how my resident genius is doing.
How's our painter doing? Fine.
Fine, like I'll be seeing paintings for the big empty walls I have waiting for them? What did you like about his work when you saw it? [INHALES.]
Well, the power, the strength.
Not many out there who can make art that feels like it's breathing.
Wait a minute.
Why are you asking? Should I be worried? I don't know.
He's off.
No, no, that that's too strong.
He's He's painting for other people.
He's got collectors and commissions in his head.
And that real estate is only for you? You know, he's actually got real estate there, too.
For what it's worth, Tanner was always supposed to be this.
Successful, sought after.
And he's lucky to have you to keep his head in the game.
I'm glad for you.
Thank you.
But, I could, you know, if you wanted me to, take some pressure off, uh, give him some room to think.
Maybe call Lisa, give her two of mine and then take my other two later.
Oh, it would be fucking with another man's cash flow but, you know, if that's what you think he needs.
But the most important thing is he gets back on track, right? Right.
So I'll make the call? Maybe just leave it.
Sure.
I'm just trying to help.
I know.
- [ELEVATOR BELL DINGS.]
- [INDISTINCT OFFICE CHATTER.]
We got a problem.
We got a problem.
The pizza freighter broke down in the Atlantic.
We're gonna miss our delivery window.
- Shit.
- Bad luck, you know, something like that.
We need to call the distributor, the product guy, and let them know we're gonna be late.
We show up late, we're gonna miss our launch with goPuff.
They're gonna blow this 'za out.
We won't get that momentum back for a year, maybe ever.
There's no such thing as bad fucking luck, not when money's involved.
Where exactly is this freighter? Okay, this is a satellite snapshot of every ship at sea, updated every 20 minutes.
So where the fuck are our pizzas? Forty-four degrees, 32 minutes, 23.
8 seconds North by 25 degrees, seven minutes, 51.
6 seconds West.
North Atlantic Ocean.
The ship carrying your pizzas broke down two hours ago.
So now what? They rot at sea? Maybe we could find someone to fix the ship.
Why did you say "broke down" like that? Because something is off.
A dead ship, one without power, will drop anchor and put out a distress signal.
Even if the ship drifted onto the anchor line, it would have drifted East along the wave path, and your boat has moved North.
Somebody is fucking around with your boat.
[CELL PHONE VIBRATING.]
Check your IB.
[MOUSE CLICKING.]
Shit, Axe, really? You're an executing trader.
You got a problem executing? No, Axe.
But I have a problem trading these particular names without Taylor.
I hired you.
You quit.
I hired you back.
Let you walk back in here despite your lack of loyalty.
Because I knew, one day there would be a moment of truth, a reckoning.
What I would see if you were still the kid that I pulled out of Aurora, sat in front of a bank of screens and gave the secrets of the world.
And enough money to move your mom out of a trailer into a house.
This is that reckoning.
Fuck.
[SIGHS.]
[THUNDER RUMBLES.]
You proud of putting good companies out of business? - I'm sorry.
I'm not sure - Is this what you wanted? To destroy the progress we both made? To set impact investing back? Every company you sold off today will likely fold, and that market share will go right back to the polluters, the child labor employers, the people we committed to taking down.
Are you proud? Jesus.
You didn't know.
He did it without telling you.
Well, I guess we all know just how much that shingle of yours is worth.
Are you okay? No.
What happened? Axe.
Are you kidding me? So what, you were just following orders and that makes it okay? It does not make it okay.
Explain yourself, Mafee.
Axe.
That's it.
That's the explanation.
What the fuck did we think would happen when we walked back in here? The fallout from this is cataclysmic.
[WINSTON.]
You're damn right.
This completely messes up our bonuses.
[RIAN.]
Not what I meant.
Well, it's what I meant.
Enough.
I will fix this.
Not as long as we're still reporting to Not now, Rian.
I spent my whole life building something additive.
- Not your whole life.
- Um-hmm.
Some would argue that by virtue of just how much money you have, you have by definition done much wrong.
So because I'm so rich, I'm inherently guilty? It's what I built a good chunk of my career on.
Probably what drove me to that career.
But I do believe you just said it better than I did.
Wealth is always going to exist.
Power along with it.
People are so consumed with the idea that money buys freedom that they can't demand better of the powerful or themselves.
As soon as they gain some power of their own, they forget about better and just want to be rich.
So the powerful have to demand it of ourselves.
That's what I was trying to do.
I can't save the world, but I was gonna leave it a lot better than I found it.
And now I'm sucked into chaos by Bobby Axelrod.
I can't arrest him because he's screwing with your savior complex.
Would that I could.
Bobby Axelrod has to be wiped off the face of the Earth.
You're right.
So do you want my help? No.
- Hold on.
- You came to me He came to me and said he needed my help.
Now I'm ready.
I came to you when I needed you.
And the getting was good.
But you thought you were above me.
And, now, Axe got a bank.
Fuck, I gave him a bank.
Me and her.
And now that he's coming for you, [SCOFFS.]
you want me to what? Get hit with more shrapnel so you can campaign for a Nobel? No.
Fuck no.
Every time I move, I make his life better and mine worse.
I even tried my luck with the Delaware AG only to be rolled into the street like a bum.
So I've come to a halt.
No, I can't lose any more of myself to this.
You go figure it out.
I'm offering titanic resources.
Then what do you need us for? "That cupcake makes a mess, we got a case again.
" Well, it worked for Bobby D, I figured it was worth a shot.
[CHUCKLES.]
Okay, we can remake the order in Italy and reship.
But that's two extra weeks.
And then we lose the supermarket chains.
Prince Company's got their mitts on the shipping line anyway.
[SIGHS.]
All right, look, I'm gonna tell Axe to forget the whole deal.
Give my cousin back his company.
Anthony keeps banging out top-quality pies.
At least he has two shops.
That's more than what he was planning.
No, you're not.
Axe believes your cousin should be big-time.
I have been charged with delivering your pizza empire, so to speak, and deliver it I fucking will, on time.
How? Now tell me.
Why Italy? The ovens.
Il Duce.
We have a move we can make.
A warehouse filled with ovens and a small army of workers.
It's gonna cost close to 10 million to do it.
Keep it on schedule.
And keep it quiet.
It's money you won't recoup for a long time.
Ten million to not let Mike Prince win a round? Consider the money spent.
Go get those fuckin' ovens.
We have hundreds of LLCs in Delaware.
And lots of associates with more.
I've been considering Wyoming instead.
I've got a 3,000-acre spread there and it's the original home of the LLC.
The American Bar Association just released a white paper on the Delaware pitfalls.
Seems like a good time to take a billion out of the state.
Is it only a billion? - A few.
- Hmm.
Well, that would be unfortunate.
Taking out a cowboy-sized chunk of the LLCs in Delaware is "unfortunate"? I'd imagined the unemployment filings of registered agents alone would put a nice dent in anyone's reelection hopes.
Or Or? You can do me a favor, and I'll stay in Delaware and protect the LLC farms from litigation.
Especially from a very eager New York State AG.
You told me to figure it out.
That's what I did.
And? Moody was persuaded to get the court to name a special trustee to Axe's bank.
An Irving Picard-like son of a gun.
The guy who got back the Madoff money.
[PRINCE.]
One penny at a time.
Clawing every cent from the estate sale, finding every mattress they hid it under.
Unrelenting.
Well, Axe will hate that.
[PRINCE.]
Someone who'll ride herd over the institution from the inside.
Clock its every move.
Report it all back.
Block what he can.
Okay, we're in.
You knew.
When you told me to blow, you knew I'd come back with something.
I've seen Cop Land.
Did I? I thought I meant it at the time.
But we're here now.
Yeah.
Yeah, we'll need someone who's served on a bank board.
Someone who's known for being tough on the institutions they're a board member of, not a yes man.
Someone who won't care if they get booted a few months in due to politics.
Someone who will go down swinging.
Oh, I have just the guy.
[MACHINE BEEPS SOFTLY.]
Dad? [SNORES.]
Hey.
It's the son who can't seem to come through.
Well, it is true.
I can't get you a kidney by any moral or legal means.
But, [SIGHS.]
what if I could give you a reason to live? Huh.
You mean other than my wife and child? Positive reinforcement never has been your raison d'être.
No, you love power via destruction, a motivation you have handed down to me and could bestow on your daughter if you live long enough.
Oh, she's meant for something better.
Oh, I have no doubt.
But the chance to be in the game, to fuck with someone else's power and take it for yourself, you can't deny that would feel good.
Especially if that power was coming from Bobby Axelrod.
I would enjoy seeing him squirm.
Better yet, you would be the reason for said squirming.
He just got himself a bank.
And the bank requires a trustee.
Someone with the power to torture his every decision, to turn the thing he wants so badly into a cilice that he can't take off.
Someone with experience in banking, committed to making Axelrod so uncomfortable he rips at his own skin.
That's a job for a fighter.
Man with something left in the tank.
I could yank his puppet strings.
Oh, yes, you could.
[HORNS HONKING.]
Scooter.
I just happened to be in your neighborhood grocer.
That's hard to believe.
Nothing is hard to believe if you have the will to make it happen.
Wait, that's not one of Yes.
It certainly is.
I'm wondering if we can file the insurance claim on the spoiled merchandise directly with Prince.
You know, since you tools bought into that shipping company.
Oh, you should try one of these.
Fucking delicious.
Freezer case is full of 'em.
Your LLC office in Delaware is a literal post office box.
Our bank is real, though.
I imagine you want it to be.
[INHALES.]
What's the problem that brought you all this way north? Some things have changed.
In my honest assessment of your past, I've come to believe that you require oversight.
A trustee to look after consumer finance protection.
Someone you'll need to run every move by.
Every move? Pretty much.
And if we refuse? I cancel your certificate of formation.
Do we get to see a shortlist? [CLICKS TONGUE, INHALES.]
[SCOFFS.]
That is a short fucking list.
Charles Rhoades Senior has been selected and approved.
We'll appeal this decision.
I'll sue you.
Oh, I imagine you will.
[INHALES.]
Well, I guess I will see you across a courtroom to hash this out in 18 months to two years, when the case finally comes up for trial.
In the meantime, please see that Mr.
Rhoades is welcome.
Gentlemen.
[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES.]
I need Wendy's research, what she was working on in the employee records when Spyros ratted her out.
You reorienting where you work? Reorienting.
That's a word for it.
Another word for it is shutting it the fuck down.
Try using a word or two that'll make sense to me.
Axe.
Used his black magic to get my commission squashed.
One thing I can't stand is getting fucked with.
Is it all bad though? Give you back your freedom.
You can just paint like you used to.
Yeah, I had that for a long time.
This was something new.
- I kind of liked it.
- You think you did.
But I saw the look in your eye when you were painting that and it lit me up.
Because that was you in it for yourself.
Did you know Axe was gonna do this? Oh, wait a minute.
Was Was this your fuckin' idea? No.
Not my suggestion.
But we did have a conversation about it and he thought it'd be helpful.
Wow.
Shit.
You trying to help me, or are you trying to help me stay broke? You have a personal relationship with every painting.
A fucking love affair.
Or you do with the good ones.
Oh, good ones.
And you know the difference? I know the difference in you.
I saw the way you were looking at me when I was makin' that painting.
It was like a fucking show pony.
Like an artist.
Yeah.
[SCOFFS.]
Your idea of an artist.
Someone that you can control because he has no resources of his own.
That's the last thing I want to do.
Good.
Because after emptying my pockets, Axe has no more control over me.
Because this is the last painting that I owe him.
Well then I helped you get free, didn't I? Nah.
No, you didn't.
You helped me realize that I was never free.
I'm a grown man.
I decide what I need.
I decide when I need it.
- If you say so.
- Yeah, I do.
I also need a girl who says, "Of course you do," when I say, "I don't know if I'm done.
" Not some fuckin' seminar.
Yeah.
Your problem is you need a girl.
[CANVAS RIPS.]
[TANNER GRUNTS.]
In case you're still not sure when something's finished, this fuckin' is.
In the summer that I was baptized My father held me to his side As they put me to the water He said how on that day I cried We were prisoners of love A love in chains He was standin' in the door I was standin' in the rain With the same hot blood Burning in our veins Adam raised a Cain Adam raised a Cain The security guys say he left an hour after Wendy did.
They heard shouting and banging and when they checked it out, this is what they found.
You get the place cleaned up so I can sell it.
We gonna list it as the former art studio of Nico Tanner? [SCOFFS.]
I don't give a shit.
Have that packed, brought to the office and hung.
As what? A cautionary tale? That's a real Tanner original.
Filled with raw emotion.
They fit you with position And the keys to your daddy's Cadillac In the darkness of your room Your mother calls you by your true name You remember the faces The places, the names You know it's never over It's relentless as the rain Adam raised a Cain Adam raised a Cain Adam raised a Cain Adam raised a Cain Hi.
Hello.
This is, um, a laptops closed sort of thing.
Okay.
We keep doing this.
I think this might be the last time if that makes you feel any better.
I get the sense that it won't.
I spent all night doing the math on the amount of money we lost.
It was wildly stupid.
Worse, we damaged entire sectors, companies that were going to spin off into petrochemical disruptors, that were going to create new battery technology.
I told you there'd be sacrifices.
Yeah, but I'm not sure I can keep doing that.
Rian, give me some time.
I know how to fix this.
How? I can't say right now.
Just trust me.
If I see myself in you then you see yourself in me, right? And you know you would be able to solve this.
Yeah, I guess I follow that.
So trust me.
Okay.
For now.
Okay.
[KNOCKS.]
Hmm.
We have successfully gotten my father named the new trustee of Axe's bank.
He will have oversight, full control to hold up anything and everything they want to do with the bank.
Access to every transaction.
A man on the inside.
Right.
We got what we wanted.
Except we didn't.
[CELL PHONE VIBRATING.]
Roxanne? Okay, okay, slow down.
That's great.
You get there as soon as you can get back to the city.
I'm on my way.
Dad.
I just talked to Roxanne.
She says to give you a kiss for luck.
Ooh, give him a wet one.
[CHUCKLES.]
Nothing to worry about though.
Simple procedure.
I'd do it myself if I hadn't lost my privileges here.
Yeah, see? I told you.
Now you get to live and be my man on the inside.
[SENIOR.]
Uh-huh.
That's true, Sonny.
But it may not work out the way you think.
What do you mean, Dad? Nice fucking job getting him up the list.
One month from now, these hospitals, they're gonna be overrun with that damn Chinese bug.
How'd you do it? Me? I was about to ask how you did it.
Dad? Dad.
He's been sedated.
[ORDERLY.]
Excuse me.
Wait a minute.
You're the donor? - But you're Axe's - Yes, I am.
His museum curator.
Heard from a friend your pop was in need.
I signed right up.
Looking to do all my good deeds for a year - right here.
- Sure you are.
[CHUCK.]
Axe stymied us smooth as Bobby Jones, and Senior's not our man anymore.
Axe delivered my father something that at this moment transcends even my familial bond.
He gave him life.
And so he became the son I couldn't be.
[SCOFFS.]
My father is owned by him now.
Axe claims he's not an emotional player, but he's all emotion.
I saw how much he was willing to pour into a pizza business, and that was just for sentimental reasons.
He dumped his positions in impact companies just to hurt me, even though he cost himself maybe more than he cost me.
When he wants something, he's blind to everything else.
And right now Axe wants to gloat over my failures.
And probably make me fail some more.
We need to use that against him.
He has a new toy.
A bank.
And now, thanks to us, no speed limit on it, nothing to stop him from making mistakes.
Fatal ones.
The kind that put a man in prison.
I'm the bait, and the bank is the trap.
[KNOCK AT DOOR.]
How are we taking down Bobby Axelrod? I am a victim of the science age A child of the storm Whoa yes I can't remember when I was your age For me Time's no more No more Nobody rules these streets at night but me The atomic punk! Whoa yeah Wow! I am the ruler of these netherworlds The underground Whoa yes On every wall and place my fearsome name is heard Just look around Whoa yes Nobody rules these streets at night but me The atomic punk! Whoa yeah Wow!