I suspected the season finale of Billions was going to piss me off, and in large part, it delivered. I hate seeing Axe beaten down, and he was, until the very end when he was staring at his house before walking inside to face his family. I hated that he lied to Lara about coming home before the Feds picked him up, I hated when she realized he’d lied…again, I hated that he didn’t say “I love you” to his kids, and I really hated that it was Wendy who got Lara’s goodbye hug.
I am an Axe supporter. Always have been. I tell my husband that Axe could pretty much slit someone’s throat on screen, and I’d still take his side because knowing Axe, there would be a legitimate reason for the slashing.
Sick? Maybe. But not as sick as the fact that Rhoades Sr. finally redeemed himself to me after showing Chuck the pictures of Wendy and that dude the morning after. Yeah, that part of the finale actually made me smile.
Now, if you know me, everything you’re read to this point makes sense because I am pretty much driven by emotion, not logic. And nothing I say above is any bit logical. Notice that I’m blatantly ignoring the fact that Axe committed a crime and that’s why he was arrested. LOL.
This episode had a lot of feels in my opinion, which is why I still feel gutted days later. Axe is a criminal. He knows it, everyone around him knows it. He doesn’t try to hide it, he just comes up with some damned creative ways to gloss over it. And most of the time, he succeeds. He marches to the beat of his own drummer, and it’s burned him a few times this season, especially with his wife. But he’s still human under the all the ego. Not perfect, but certainly not the villain.
But Chuck…there is nothing remotely redeemable about him, the US Attorney, driven by some pretty deep-rooted vengeance thinly masked by justice. What about Axe has Chuck’s tighty whiteys in such a bunch after all these years? Is it that he always gets what he wants, no matter what the cost? Is it that he has a blatant disrespect for the law? Or…is it as simple as Axe has risen to the top on his own merit and answers to no one because he has nothing to lose? Chuck always has to answer to someone, he always has Big Brother, or rather, Big Daddy, watching over his shoulder. He can’t ever act without consequence. Axe does because he can. His success is his own. He started with nothing and built an empire, whereas Chuck is always choking on the huge silver spoon shoved down his throat. He’s never had to create a life for himself – it was always ready and waiting.
Chuck wants to be Axe. Not in the literal sense, but in the sense that he wants to be able to spread his wings and leave his own legacy without being overshadowed by privilege. But when your life is not your own, it’s hard to escape the nest. Axe will always rise because it’s the only thing he knows how to do. Chuck will always be at risk to take a nosedive into the ground because he has to operate within the walls of structure. Axe’s fortress has no walls. It knows no bounds. It’s organized chaos.
Okay, I feel a little bit better now. Wow, this writing thing sure is therapeutic. =)