Billions

Previously on BILLIONS...

Mike Prince

is Axe's real enemy.

I want to officially welcome each of you to...

Taylor Mason Carbon!

-Whoo! Nice. All right!

You know my new artist, Tanner? He's not workin'.

You know what, let me talk to him.

This happened to be a Nico Tanner original?

The doctors are running some tests,

but they think he'll need a kidney transplant.

My father wasn't healthy enough to pass

the workup to get on the donor list.

I have a guy.

They need you to rip a letter on my behalf

out of the SEC and grease the skids

-to a charter. -Sure.

Welcome to the NYAG.

Today, you're gonna go after a cabinet member.

Secretary of the Treasury, Todd Krakow.

We have a problem with the assignment.

I'm not part of a criminal enterprise...

He's out. Fired by the White House.

Back to square fuckin' one!

Is this a reward or to teach me a lesson?

Both.

We need a rockstar in our corner, too.

Mike Prince.

Go to him. Enlist him. Team up.

Get me anyone who can help us find out

what is near and dear to Michael Thomas Aquinas Prince.

Because when I find out what matters to him,

I am going to fuckin' destroy it.

And him right along with it.

Ah.

You're putting on this little show here

instead of at home and instead of managing

our underperforming employees.

That means you got somethin' to tell me.

You read me like the Sunday papers, honcho.

I was re-toxing last night at the Aviary

and learned one Michael Prince is ready

to be confirmed Ambassador Extraordinary

and Plenipotentiary to Denmark.

You don't fuckin' say.

I do.

And while I saw the upside in him posting up in Copenhagen,

I also envisioned him parachuting back

into our fair city, the anointed one.

So I decided to give him a smorgasbord of shit.

I spent the last 18 hours in a whirlwind

of Mike Prince research-wining, dining,

drugging, grooming,

levering, horse-trading...

And the dividend?

Prince keeps himself locked down

Fort Knox-style. But one Roger Dunbar,

known to you as Scooter, is our way in.

The man likes to play the angles at football

and basketball and horse racing.

Scooter's a sports bettor?

On a staggering scale through numerous fronts.

He's trying to disguise it,

but no way he can afford the inevitable swings.

He's leaking like a raft at a kid's pool party.

And his leaks are Prince's leaks.

The sort of vulnerability that stops you

from getting government security clearance.

And for good reason.

Nail him to the pyre, douse him with oil,

and light his ass up.

Yes. Joan of Arc style.

But first, a quick nap.

Watch yourself with them when you go in there later.

You make it sound like I'm going into

the lion enclosure at the zoo.

Axe Cap's been called worse.

Yeah.

Or are you just afraid I'm gonna say something

to make you look bad?

Fuck no. The opposite.

Just... if you're not used to it,

the money talk from my colleagues

can be relentless, shameless, suffocating.

Ah. You know,

only rich people get embarrassed by money talk.

The rest of us get embarrassed because we don't have any money.

My job is to train them to tune every fiber of

their being to get as much as they can.

But I've seen the negative effect it can have.

It can restrict growth in other ways.

Well, you can say that, 'cause you're one of 'em.

You're rich.

How much you make?

-Really? -Yeah.

It'll clarify things.

My bonus was $9 million last year.

Jesus.

Look, I get that some of this is new to you.

And...

you can be who you want to be.

But y-you just seem...

I don't know, overly interested in what those buyers

like Lisa had to say the other night.

But when we met, you acted like money is like chains.

So I guess I'm just saying, beware.

Yeah, I hear you.

It's just that now that I have a little bit of it,

that money, I...

it's startin' to feel like freedom.

Karl!

You rang?

You look ready to toss your cap into the air at West Point.

Don't make a whole thing out of it.

Pull the record of every prisoner I've put away.

-Here and at SDNY. -Criminal records?

Uh, no, medical records.

I'm lookin' for a kidney.

- Pristine quality. - Primo.

Ah, Chuck. Shoppin' for the old man.

I get it.

I used to walk six miles to the army PX

to get my dad a pack of Lucky's.

-How's he doin'? -Hm.

Like Clint Eastwood. Straight-backed but uh--

But sometimes, he just gets that lost look in the eyes

and starts talking to the furniture?

In a sense.

Rough for him. Rougher for you.

Hmm.

Gets the old compassion flowing.

I'll grab what I can.

Gotta tell ya, it works. You look great.

-Don't make a whole-- -Copy!

I heard you fell back to the country place.

Yeah, trying to figure out how much to sell it for.

Lara always liked it. Me?

I can't stand the quiet. You interested?

Nah, too rich for my blood.

But you're still interested in a bank charter, right?

-You know I am. -Well...

There may be a way around our obstacle.

When we heard that Rhoades was teaching up at the law school,

I tapped some Yale connects I know from boating.

And it turns out he was using a bunch of the law school kids

as a think tank to take out Krakow.

Motherfucker.

So I ran my own think tank.

Feels like time for a recount.

Do it.

Find a true believer amongst those acolytes

and let's get Rhoades caught in a crossfire hurricane.

And find me another charter. Get Victor on it.

Designing for the space?

Making sure it's lit properly.

Right. Like Von Sydow, not Dusty.

"I don't sell my work by the yard."

I get it. I studied art history.

And yet you work here.

Well, in a way, so do you.

Who fuck are you?

The name's Mafee.

I don't think I'll remember that.

Do you own any art?

I have a hand-painted production cell

from the movie Tron with the young Bridges.

-Not-- -Obviously.

I meant as an investment.

Oh, not yet. But I'll start acquiring

in the next 12 to 18 months.

-What do you like? -No fuckin' idea.

I don't know anything about the underlying commodity.

Don't need to.

Just that it can go up in value.

It's speculation, with an option for manipulation.

What'll you give me for that?

You were worried about me, and I beat 'em.

That group of overpaid philistines

just gave me $3,200. for a signed doodle.

-Seriously? -Yeah.

Hm.

It's great that you guys are doing this.

So many so-called impact investors,

they don't really care.

We're money where your mouth is type of people.

And now, please welcome our host

for the evening, Mike Novogratz.

I want to thank all of you

for supporting us tonight.

The mission of the Bail Project

is to combat racial and economic disparities

within our broken criminal justice system...

- Mock tuna wrap? - No, thanks.

Maybe. Whoa.

Take the pretend tuna. And a napkin.

-So you... -Yes.

I... have to go grind some daiquiris.

Wait, it's not daiquiri season. And you don't grind them.

I don't know why I said that. I gotta go.

...if you want to dig deeper,