‘Billions’ Recap Reality Index: Season 4, Episode 5 (“A Proper Sendoff”)

The recap is back! Welcome back to the Billions Recap Reality Index, where every week we tally a list of events from each episode that we found to be either too real to fail or as fake as a toxic asset’s triple A rating, scored on our completely subjective point system.

This week we provide you with due diligence on the fifth episode of Season 4, “A Proper Sendoff.”

When we last saw Axe (in “Overton Window”), he had just finished getting Chuck elected New York State Attorney General (man their relationship really has come a long way, huh?) Meanwhile, Chuck decided to help New York Post headline writers get material for their cover for weeks by coming clean about his S&M habit during a press conference. This week, we see Chuck at war in Albany, learning that the first step to being an effective statewide politician in New York is to learn how to blackmail and ruin your fellow elected officials while Axe spends a day mentoring a young fund manager. Will Chuck finally become the battle hardened politician his father always wanted him to be? Will Wendy learn you should never visit the comments section of websites? Will Taylor be able to succeed without Grigor’s dirty money? Let’s go over the numbers and find out.

REALER THAN A NEW YORK POLITICIAN REALIZING THE ONLY WAY TO SURVIVE IN ALBANY IS TO BLACKMAIL EVERYONE TO PASS LEGISLATION

• This episode opens with Axe, Chuck, Wendy and Rebecca dining at Una Pizza Napoletana, and they got a cameo from chef Anthony Mangieri. Great pick.
  PLUS 1
• At dinner when Axe asks Chuck to stick it to Taylor, Chuck asks, “Do you know if Taylor has even done anything illegal?” to which Axe replies, “It’s never stopped you before.” Perfect call out of NY AGs going on hedge fund witch hunts.
  PLUS 1
• Taylor’s COO realizes that to bring in some capital, maybe they need an investor relations department. Finally one of these funds on the show recognize they exist. (Also shoutout Mafee for calling out them typically being super young early 20s too hip for this business).
  PLUS 1
• Their new IR hire also quickly points out there aren’t a lot of institutional investors out there allocating the kind of size Grigor brought to Taylor Mason Capital.
  PLUS 1
• Within minutes John Rice, the cocky young fund manager returning Axe’s assets, repeatedly says he’s crushing it, sounding exactly like a cocky young fund manager.
  PLUS 1
• He also offers the excuse that he wants to stay agile and keep AUM at a manageable level, which is a believable excuse.
  PLUS 1
• When their father asks Taylor if this is about making more money than Axelrod, Taylor responds, “That’s right. More than anyone else on the street, too, in absolute returns. And to do it again next year, and the year after.” That’s basically the hedge fund manager mantra right there.
  PLUS 1
• The interior of John Rice Capital looks exactly like the interior of a standard hedge fund. Exactly.
  PLUS 1
• Rice says his father would take him fly fishing in Sun Valley, Idaho. A favorite vacation spot for asset managers.
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• “Aim higher, don’t just get your juice back, sonny, send a message!” Chuck Sr.’s advice to Chuck about making others fear your wrath is a perfect explanation of how Albany, cesspool of corruption, really works.
  PLUS 1
• Along those lines, Chuck has his employees go digging into New York assembly and state senate politicians. Wouldn’t be tough to find wrongdoing, the list of them who have been indicted in real life over the past ten years is staggering.
  PLUS 1
• Bobby would name his ship “Vanquisher.”
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• Chuck’s play to the governor, offering to make him a legend by giving him credit in accomplishing the impossible, to clean up Albany, and the resulting Sunday morning show limelight, would be an offer no New York governor elect could refuse.
  PLUS 1
• Axe dragging John Rice’s father, saying he was a two bit piker who couldn’t hang when the stakes were high was so brutal, and the icing on the cake was telling John he’s a chip off the old block. Absolutely flawless.
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• One of the claims Axe Capital employees push about John Rice to get his investors to bail is that he’s headed into a messy divorce. Numbers don’t lie. Few hedge fund managers ever recover to put up returns like they did pre divorce.
  PLUS 1

TOTAL POINTS FOR REAL: PLUS 15

FAKER THAN PICKLE JUICE BEING A HANGOVER CURE

The fund manager brings Axe’s redemption in the form of a check instead of a wire transfer?
MINUS 2

Okay the scene at Blackjack Foley’s funeral with Chuck unleashing the hounds of the attorney general’s office upon the crooked politicians of Albany was incredible, and I live for Chuck Sr’s smirk watching his son wield power and wrath as he had always taught him to, but come on. Not even in Albany would you get this. The AG would perp walk the politicians one by one, early morning, probably spread out over a few days to get maximum press exposure. They wouldn’t raid a funeral.
MINUS 3

TOTAL POINTS FOR FAKE: MINUS 5

OVERALL SCORE FOR “A PROPER SENDOFF”: PLUS 10

OVERALL SCORE FOR BILLIONS SEASON 4: PLUS 34

Holy moly PLUS 10! That definitely has to be one of the highest scores for any episode of Billions, but I guess that’s what happens when the writers focus on how corrupt Albany is, a very fertile topic to add believability to a show. Beyond just how realistic it is, this episode really crackled with great writing, and Chuck Sr continues to be an absolute delight every time he gets screen time, adding even more value to what is probably the best season of Billions so far.

With that in mind, we are enthusiastically initiating a BUY rating on this season. So now that he’s cleaned house, will Chuck be able to focus on paying Axe back for helping get him elected? Will Axe continue to mentor young fund managers by spitting on their father’s grave and stealing their investors? Will Wendy cross enemy lines and rekindle a friendship with Taylor? Stick with us when we recap Episode 6 next week.

Comfortably Smug is a government relations professional with a focus on the financial services industry. He can be found on Twitter with his musings on all things finance and politics at @ComfortablySmug

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