Season 6, Episode 6: ‘Hostis Humani Generis’
There are few things on television that I enjoy more than a good “Billions” fake-out. The sine qua non comes from the great episode “Golden Frog Time” from Season 2, in which a Chuck Rhoades who initially appears to be sobbing, actually laughs hysterically because his plan to undermine his enemy Bobby Axelrod worked like clockwork. (at the expense of his best friend and his father, but still!)
The sleight of hand featured in this week’s episode isn’t nearly as weighty, but it gives it that thrilling shiver nonetheless. For a moment, it seems that Chuck has terrified Mike Prince’s alma mater, Indiana A&M, to prevent him from investing in his company. How? By blackmailing the university chair, Stuart Legere (Whit Stillman alum Chris Eigeman), who has been embezzling.
But the opposite turns out to be true. Chuck blackmails Legere and the donation go inside invest with Prince by threatening to expose the eclipse. Having previously turned down his father for the role as too obvious a choice, Chuck wants an insider to report on Prince’s every move, and now he’s found one. The needle drop from the police’s “Every Breath You Take” accompanying the maneuver isn’t just any music cue. It’s a mission statement: whatever Mike Prince does, the watchful eyes of Charles Rhoades Jr. will be on him whether he knows it or not.
Why? Because Chuck really and truly seems to have gotten religion where the billionaire class is concerned. He calls Prince ‘a robber baron’. He denigrates Prince’s seemingly charitable donation of a new fleet of high-tech subways (the funding of which was to reopen the exclusive Prince List to new investors, such as his alma mater) as a new form of noblesse oblige. He characterizes Prince’s apparent benevolence as attempting “to further his own ends, whatever they may be, while enjoying ten thousand, one hundred thousand times” the resources of anyone who apparently profits from his generosity. He considers all billionaires ‘hostis humani generis’, an old name for pirates: enemies of all mankind.
And how will Chuck beat Prince’s final move? In large part by relying on the insight of his new lieutenant, Dave Mahar. In a brief meeting with her predecessor, Kate Sacker, Dave finds that speed is of the essence when it comes to Prince Cap’s plan to purchase those new subways. So she threatens to put all the red tape related to the Chinese car maker – a terminal around the Transport Workers Union, which has been bought off with half a billion dollars in re-education and training for members who lose their jobs to newer, more automated subways. . Kate actually offers Mike her resignation because of the gaffe, although he doesn’t accept it.
Then there is the matter of Leon Sherald (Okieriete Onaodowan) to consider. Sherald is a soccer star who has started a successful home fitness franchise, and he wants to be on Prince List’s reopened exclusive investor list. It’s Taylor Mason’s former underling-slash-friend-with-benefits, Lauren (a returning Jade Eshete), who brings Sherald’s offer to the company, despite the awkward interpersonal dynamics.
But when Sherald learns that the public pension fund to which the Transport Workers’ Union belongs also includes the New York police union, he demands that Prince drop it, or he will destroy the list’s reputation in the all-important court. opinion.
This is where Taylor comes in. Taylor is tipped off about an app suppressing problematic social media posts by Rian, and re-develops the proceedings, unearthing damning information about Sherald, neutralizing his ability to fuel the Prince List in the process. Rian is again stunned, but the company wins the day.
Ultimately, Prince agrees to fund public transportation even without its futuristic Chinese subways. But what’s the endgame here? Well, remember Chuck talking about Prince’s “own goals, whatever they may be”? At several points in the episode, there are tantalizing hints that there is a game behind the game, a maneuver by Prince for which the Olympics are just a pretext.
Scooter warns Prince that his playing art is getting expensive, but it may be allowed if “there’s no other way to get everything you want”. Later, Prince tells Scooter, “You know where we’re going — you’re the only one — but when we leave to do the thing, we need to install someone who will run the place well.” The dialogue seems to rule out the simple matter of getting his estranged wife a plum coaching gig; it points to something bigger, more mysterious.
The short-term ramifications are clear enough: Scooter’s cousin, Philip, is being groomed for leadership. The long game, though? What Prince is pursuing after and outside the Olympics? Anyone can guess that. I don’t know about you, but I enjoy a drama that keeps me guessing.
Ransom
Until I heard them open and close this episode, I’d never really made the thematic connection between the Police songs “Synchronicity I” and “Every Breath You Take,” despite them both being on the “Synchronicity” album. The first track is a kind of mystical paranoid fantasy that everything is connected; the latter is a stalker’s message that it’s okay to be paranoid.
In this week’s review of “appearing as herself” we see Warby Parker’s director Neil Blumenthal; the founder of Greenlight Capital, David Einhorn; Wharton professor and TED talker Adam Grant; the dotcom pioneer Seth Godin; and the philanthropist Jacqueline Novogratz as members of the Prince Cap board.
Your pro wrestling reference of the week: Dave threatens to punch a Bobo Brazil “Coco Butt,” one of the most feared headbutts in the history of the art form, against Tony Plimpton (Kevin Chapman), the boss of the Transit Workers’ Union.
Your latest sign that “Billions” has evolved beyond Bobby Axelrod: Comptroller Leah Calder (Wendie Malick) congratulates Chuck on taking down Axe, and Chuck replies that his one-time nemesis is “firm in my rearview mirror.” Adios, Axe.