Billions – The Kingmaker

By: Jay Smith

“Light touch. Tight grip.” – Wags (David Costabile)

Foley (David Strathairn) and Sr. (Jeffrey DeMunn) are on the phone and Foley is disappointed in the clerkship not being presented to his granddaughter, especially because of what he did to the Sandicot deal. Sr. says Chuck isn’t involved, but Foley doesn’t like he still didn’t fall in line and because of this he’s no longer backing Chuck. Bill (Kelly AuCoin), Deb (Ilfenesh Hadera) and Mafee (Dan Soder) are admiring the prized Remington piece from Sandicot as it’s being placed on displace in the office. Wags (David Costabile) enters Bobby’s (Damian Lewis) office to inform him of the piece but Bobby doesn’t care and still wants to know why Foley stopped his deal. Wags wants to understand why so much energy towards this and Bobby explains the calculation and Foley not leaving a trail but having the power to do it is why he needs to get to the bottom of it. Sr. and Chuck (Paul Giamatti) are out and Sr. is giving a history lesson on his favorite cigars and breaks the news to Chuck that he wasn’t invited to Foley’s party because of no clerkship and Foley is going with a new candidate, Bob Sweeney. Chuck is taken aback and promises to do something to win back the backing of Foley but it’ll be done his way.

Wags again tries to get Bobby to let it go but Bobby isn’t budging. He suggests they go old school and that’s finding Foley’s ore supplier and buying them. Wags asks Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) to complete this task and before he leaves, he overhears Mafee’s conversation. Mafee makes a comment on not wasting their time because they’re loyal to Spartan Ives and if Wags can handle a night of partying. Wags is offended by Mafee’s negligence of potential money, for treating him like a child and demands Mafee arranges a car for him later. Once Wags leaves, Taylor turns around and Mafee admits to not wanting Wags to relapse in his presence. Kate (Condola Rashad) places a pamphlet for a self help seminar on Bryan’s (Toby Leonard Moore) desk and, of course, he declines. But once she flips it over we see the seminar is run by Gus. Kate tries to get Bryan on board with a private chat with the doctor, but with the new policy he has Bryan isn’t going forward unless Chuck explicitly states so. Bobby and Lara (Malin Akerman) are at their private plane hangar going over their businesses for the day. Lara is headed to Sandicot to see about the new school placement and Bobby is headed into the city.

Chuck arrives as Bob Sweeney (Matt Servitto) is telling an old work story. The men speak privately and Chuck basically wants Bob to take a lesser role in office while he takes the major seat. Bob isn’t backing down, especially with Foley’s current backing. Bryan arrives at the seminar at the same time as Kate. He tries to outrank her, but the mentioning of the move is why she liked and dumped him makes him reconsider. They open the door and immediately close it to wait until the seminar is over. Bobby is at Foley’s supplier and he declines the money. He explains why he doesn’t want to cross Foley and the revelation of someone being less afraid of him in exchange for someone else is new to Bobby. Gus (Marc Kudisch) attempts to be tight lipped about his time at Axe Capital but Bryan appears to his honest side because Bobby is an awful person and Gus deserves vengeance. Gus doesn’t have the information they’re looking for, but he directs them to Stephanie Reed.

Taylor enters Wendy’s (Maggie Siff) office for a session. Like Gus, they give her a rundown on their therapy hours. Taylor is there because they want to understand Mafee and Wendy points out that they feel guilty because they were once his intern and they’re progressing ahead of him. Wendy asks about work relationships and Taylor points out that like and respect trickles from the top. So, Bobby liking them is why everyone else does and he likes them because he sees himself in them and because they’re useful to him. Wendy adds that they could be liked because they have something another person lacks. Taylor brings up Bobby and they admit they didn’t assume they had relations. Wendy tells the story of her and Bobby meeting and being on the same crossroad that Taylor is currently on now. Wendy suggests they tell Mafee he’s doing a good job, to which Taylor says they don’t like to lie to themselves or others. And without saying they care, Wendy suggests buying him something.

Wags and Mafee are at their business dinner and Wags isn’t pleased with the boring wine and dine approach. They leave the restaurant and the men get into a night of debauchery. Mafee asks Wags for a “say when” signal and Wags shoots him a look. While being entertained Mafee admits to an exclusivity pledge to Deb, but not vice versa and they see a Spartan Ives rep across the room. Ira (Ben Shenkman) and Chuck are having drinks and after a truffle history lesson in so many words Chuck asks for Ira to dig into Bob’s life because he can’t do it himself. We can see Ira is hurt that this wasn’t a casual outing. Wags runs into the Spartan Ives rep in the bathroom and he understood the play. Bobby is home playing pool when Wags shows up and informs him Spartan Ives is cutting their fee by 20% for the next two years. Bobby celebrates the news, but pries more for Wags to open up about the house call. Wags is still concerned about Bobby’s energy being on Foley so much. Bobby finally admits this fear of Foley isn’t normal because the attack on him wasn’t political, but personal. Kate and Bryan are having a meeting with Stephanie (Shaunetta Renée Wilson) and since she signed a nondisclosure agreement she can’t share with them what they want. Stephanie suggests they bring her a subpoena so she can talk freely without breaching her contract. Bryan is giving Chuck an update and where they are so far and Chuck wants to act, but can’t right now because of his current political focus.

Bobby finds Wags tells him to accept and donate to an animal organization, but the catch is the organization has to name Foley “Man of the Year” and he presents the award to him. Chuck gets back into his office where his assistant tells him he has a package. Chuck opens the package and it’s a truffle with information on Bob. Chuck has a meeting with Bob and he drops the news on him knowing he sent his son to a camp to “pray the gay away.” Chuck gives Bob the choice to either be exposed or to step aside and give his blessing to him. Bob doesn’t back down and Chuck leaves. Mafee walks to his desk and sees a signed wrestling poster and turns into a happy child. He asks Ben (Daniel K. Isaacs) if he gave it to him since he knows Bill wouldn’t do such a thing. Taylor admits to the nice gesture, surprising everyone around, and Mafee thanks them. Wags and Bobby are admiring the piece and Wags makes a Brokeback Mountain joke. Bobby gets a phone call to an undisclosed location and its from Foley for a meeting. Chuck presents his invitation to Sr. and he gives two reasons for the invite; either Foley is furious because Chuck made Bob quit or he likes the aggression. Bobby arrives and he sees Danny Margolis (Daniel Cosgrove). They catch up and Danny asks for a job but Bobby declines because of what he did. Bobby and Foley finally meet and Foley declines the award. Because he got his meeting Bobby realizes Foley stopped his deal as a favor to someone else. Bobby leaves Foley and finds Danny. He asks Danny to do a favor for him and if he comes through he’ll pay off his house.

Chuck opens the house doors for Wendy and thanks her for switching nights. Wendy apologizes for what she said when they last fought and Chuck admits he twisted the words to bring her there because he was feeling guilty. He went out with the female opponent from his class, but didn’t go further because it felt like cheating. Wendy says it’s okay and instead of admitting to her one night stand she tells Chuck that he looks hot and not foolish in his tails for the party. Wendy is having a glass of wine when she calls Taylor. Wendy is basically projecting when she tells them to hang on to their core values because the company and environment has a way of changing you. She asks them to always find her when they start to feel themselves not feeling.

The Rhoades men enter the party, feel it out and then Foley asks for Chuck’s presence privately. Chuck tries to play it cool but finally asks for Foley’s backing. He agrees and tells Chuck to not worry about the clerkship, but Chuck still wants to deliver on it. Sr. is excited for this opportunity for Chuck, but he can see the hesitation in his face is over Bobby. Sr. tells him he has to choose between bringing down Bobby or the Governor’s seat. Bobby gets pictures from Danny and he sees the one of The Rhoades and Foley. Bobby bombards the country club looking for Chuck. He finds him and starts informing him about the Sandicot deal and owning up to destroying the town for his money back. Chuck is genuinely confused and Bobby can see it was Sr. behind it. In a very snarky and somewhat jealous tone, he tells Chuck he can’t wait for him to grow up without his father’s help just like he did at the age of twelve. Chuck and Sr. talk privately on the roof after Bobby leaves and Chuck sees that Bobby is spiraling. Bobby is destroying the town. Chuck polled the weakest and he’ll be using it to his advantage. He sends Bryan a text to start back up on taking down Bobby and the two men finally enjoy one of Sr.’s cigars to commemorate their victorious evening.