Showtimes Billions Carried by Excellent Cast | TV/Streaming

The premiere of “Billions,” directed by Neil Burger (“The Illusionist”) and written by Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Andrew Ross Sorkin, opens with a shot of U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) tied up by a dominatrix. She burns him in the middle of the chest with a cigarette, and then pisses on him to alleviate the burn. (Ah, Showtime. A network that too often screams “Look what we can do that the other networks can’t!” in an era when shock value doesn’t have the dramatic cache it did pre-Netflix and pre-FX.) But it turns out that Rhoades is a pretty likable family guy, and someone who, at least through the first few episodes, seems like he’s honestly interested in the societal good. Sure, he sometimes gets a little overzealous in his prosecutions, and his obsession with justice extends all the way to making a man pick up dog poop with his bare hands, but Rhoades seems like a decent man.

Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damian Lewis) seems less-so. His malevolence is shrouded in a handsome smile and larger-than-life personality, but Lewis allows just enough of it to sneak through that we realize this is a man that should not be trusted. Axelrod was the only survivor of his hedge fund company, now called Axe Capital, on 9/11, and so he pays for the college tuition of the children of his former partners. Even this scene is laced with enough smarm that one wonders about Axelrod’s ulterior motives. By season four, we could learn that he helped plan the attacks just to eliminate his partners. He’s cut from the same cloth as Frank Underwood on “House of Cards”—blindingly charismatic and smart, but also possibly pure evil.

Both of the wives of Axe and Rhoades (which sounds like a ‘70s soul duo) play major roles in “Billions” as well. In fact, Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff of “Sons of Anarchy”) has linked the men in ways that neither particularly likes—she happens to work for Axe. Yes, the wife of the U.S. Attorney works with the hedge fund king of New York City. I’m not sure of her exact job title, but she’s almost the motivation speaker or therapist of Axe Capital. Insecure men come into her office and she pep talks them into making another million. She’s the most fascinating character on the show, not just for those scenes of alpha male inspiration, but because she’s the one who looks both Axe and Rhoades in the eyes and calls them on their bullshit. Axe’s wife Lara (Malin Akerman) is more underdeveloped at first, but I don’t imagine that will last long, and we get hints that she has the same cutthroat intensity as her husband.

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