[Axe] Previously on Billions...
I thought I would outlast you.
I was wrong about Axe.
He's backing me.
I'm waving the white flag.
Willing to go back to supplying you.
You cut a fucking deal with Taylor?
I saw the friction
that it already had created between us.
So I let you off the hook.
We are here today to explore serious charges
against Doctor Wendy Rhoades.
If she acted in a medical capacity--
I did.
-[door bangs] -FBI! Let me see your hands!
[baby crying]
Don't you lay a hand on her!
If you answer my questions,
neither you nor your boy need be clapped in iron.
I'm not saying a damn thing to help you hurt my boy.
Have I ever told you
when I knew that you were gonna be my partner at all this.
You remember?
What kind of man would I be if I didn't?
Chuck, when did you know you needed to marry me?
I mean the--the exact moment.
I don't remember.
The kind of destruction you're considering,
the relationships that'll be ruined--
you ready for all that?
What else is on the unredacted tape?
What, exactly, was getting locked in the safe?
Bryan! Stop pushing me.
They were dancing around whatever they were doing--
if there's documentation to be retrieved...
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
[metal clanking, crank clicking]
[groans]
I'm not ready...
Worm is always ready for the hook.
No. Not ready.
Let me down.
[exhales heavily]
[crank clicking]
[groans] No. Seriously.
[clicking continues]
Red.
[clicking stops]
Ah. The safe word.
So you don't think you've earned your punishment yet?
Fine.
Don't come back until you have.
♪ Pete Townshend's "Behind Blue Eyes" ♪
[sighs]
♪ No one knows what it's like ♪
♪ To be the bad man ♪ [glass thuds]
♪ To be the sad man ♪
♪ Behind blue eyes ♪
♪ No one knows what it's like ♪
♪ To be hated ♪
♪ To be fated ♪
When you look at it,
do you see the innocence everyone talks about?
I guess. But I start thinking about the man who painted it.
Not so innocent.
'Cause he was a stockbroker first? Unfair.
Oh, you relate to him?
Well. Let me see:
he was always broke, hounded by his creditors,
had a wicked case of syphilis and liked to marry teenagers.
So, you know, not really.
He could have lived like a king
for a lifetime on what you paid for this.
Not how it works, sadly.
The great ones-- they all have to suffer
to make something like this.
And then usually they only get the recognition
once they're in the dirt.
There's no rule that says the greater you want to be,
the more you have to suffer.
Well. Sure seems like there is.
I mean, look at Wendy...
Mm.
I need a favor.
You know, this whole medical license thing--
she could do with a distraction, a reset.
What are you thinking?
A state changer.
In the Hamptons, a spa?
I have my chopper standing by at the ready.
No fucking spa. Um...
I have an idea.
Oh. Good.
Why not you?
I have the feeling she'll get a lot more out of your insights.
Sure.
♪ Pete Townshend's "Behind Blue Eyes" ♪
♪ No one knows what it's like ♪
♪ To feel these feelings ♪
♪ Like I do ♪
♪ And I blame you ♪
♪ No one bites back as hard ♪
Off to...?
♪ On their anger ♪
Uh. Day trip. With Rebecca.
State changer. Or something.
Good.
Yeah. You let those shoulders drop.
I don't think they'll drop 'til
the exact terms of my suspension have been announced.
And probably not 'til it's all over.
While you're gone, I will be hard at it
trying to get those terms relaxed or done away.
Would have been easier ahead of time.
But, uh, there must be a lever out there.
Too much of that is what got me here.
Sure. But you know that now.
Wouldn't you rather repent with your medical license?
I suppose I would.
Then we've got to get it done now,
before they officially rule.
They all but have.
And in that tiny space
between "all" and "have"
lies our hope.
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
What's on the docket?
Karl, I need you to find out
what makes a certain man light up.
What might move him.
Now, this is a medical man, name of Zhang, a--
[Jock] Rhoades... [door opens]
we have business.
What business could we possibly have, Generalissimo?
The business of men... [door closes]
one nearly vanquished, the other ascendent again.
I was taught never to negotiate with kidnappers.
So, first return my old man, then, maybe we can--
Move your shit train, and maybe your old man
will be back in this shit-town the same day.
Done. And now our colloquy is over.
Eh. Palaver with me or just listen.
I give not a Tinker's-dam.
[sighs]
I am here to offer you the chance to resign
before I crush you, publicly,
and loud as a cow elk trying to squeeze out breached twins.
Oh. You have neither the power nor the authority.
You once offered me the chance to surrender
before being visited by the plagues.
I did not, and so I paid the price.
Now, I have no desire to bring dishonor on our profession--
Spare me your rodomontade.
This is the same bargain you put to me: the chance to walk away.
With just the bedrock certainty you had
when you stood in my kitchen.
You knew that train was already en route.
I know much the same.
You're done.
You know, you once remarked you knew all the fancy words I did.
That you'd gone to the same schools.
Yet you love to deploy the earthy, the homespun,
the language of the dirt road and the barefoot walk to school.
[chuckles]
The language, in short, of your parents and cousins.
Well, I, too, can reach back into familial lexicon
for bracing truths.
And my, uh--My mother's father was from Italy...
[chuckles] ...yes, a Roman, you know.
And he taught me that when someone talks to you
as though you are of no consequence,
you have two choices.
The first is to wilt away.
And the second is get right in their face and tell them...
Sei fuori come un balcone, figlio di buona donna,
ti venisse un colpo, a te e a tutta la palazzina tua
ma guardati che sei, burino, cazzabubbolo, baciapile,
non ti vogliono manco li cani,
sei cosi stronzo che se pesti una merda fai scopa,
li mortacci tua.
Vaffanculo! Eh!
[laughs]
[hand pounds]
Oh! That's good.
That is real good, Chuck. Mm.
[laughing] That was a good trick.
Ah, a good trick.
I don't understand a word you said.
Mnm. But I got the general feeling.
And I like it.
You know why? Hmm?
Because it tells me that you are not gonna pay heed.
So let me give you a final taste
of biscuits and white gravy American.
You know what happens to a lumberjack
who doesn't react when he hears "timber"?
He gets crushed by a tree.
This case against you will be complete,
and it is gonna land on you
like a clear-cut Ponderosa pine.
[door slams]
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
I'm getting back late,
so I will see you at the board meeting tomorrow.
Yeah. You bet.
Have a great day.
And thank you.
[chuckles]
♪ dramatic music ♪
[button clicks]
♪♪♪
[cellphone vibrates]
Hello?
Sandy. Lemme ask you a question:
You a man who likes a good breakfast?
Hell yes, I like a good breakfast.
Then you're gonna love what I got for ya.
♪♪♪
I hate the expression "mistakes were made."
Because it avoids blame.
And you know, in all the time I worked for him,
there were two things I never heard Bobby Axelrod say:
"I was wrong." And "I'm sorry."
I'm here to tell you that that is the last time
you will hear his name come out of my mouth in this office.
Because I was wrong. And I am sorry.
I got baited.
Hooked in the mouth like a trophy marlin.
And narrowly escaped being mounted on the wall.
But escape I did. We did.
And now that's the end of it.
We are going to use this moment to officially, formally,
and in all other ways, move beyond rivalries,
anger, everything that doesn't clearly
and demonstrably help Mase Cap win.
Q is for quantitative, baby!
[laughter] That it is.
We will return to our mathematical model.
And you are now free, all of you, to maximize,
without fear that I will be too distracted to notice,
or that I will squander the resources you are providing.
You are the smartest and best people in the industry.
And I am proud to retake my seat amongst you.
Damaged, but reborn.
Taylor Mason is back! Yeah!
[applause] [Taylor] More importantly:
Taylor Mason Capital is back!
[cheers and applause]
♪ mid-tempo music ♪
♪♪♪
[door handle clicks]
[sighs]
Dad.
How are my--
Your consort and child are fine.
Don't do that.
Her name is Roxanne.
And we call the little girl Willow.
They're fine, anyway. How are you?
[horns honking]
I am spent, to be honest.
When I was young I could've withstood a bracing like that
while standing on my fucking head.
But I felt myself fading.
You made it through.
Yeah.
But, Sonny, they are coming for you strong.
I hope you're ready.
I hope so, too.
♪ dramatic music ♪
You are my boss. So you get to have me stand here.
But you don't get to ask me the same question 17 times.
Or rather, you do, but I don't have to answer it.
Let me ask it differently then,
since I'm not doing it to fuck around
but rather to make a case, which is,
lest we think we are here to do the double dutch,
the entire reason for our existence.
Mm. Feels like double dutch.
Jumping in place. Tripping over ourselves.
No way you trip doing--
Nope. I can go for hours. But I bet you would.
Kate, this has gotten off track. I just need to know,
and not officially-- but for myself, to plan--
if anyone is mentioned
in the privileged part of that recording.
Anyone material to the case.
Eighteen. And I can't answer, won't answer.
How do we know the agents stopped listening
at just the right moment.
Maybe, after-- No, no.
They, and I, heard it all.
Best for everyone you don't listen.
Then I won't get Chuck.
Can you live with that-- Oh. Say you do get him.
Do you think you can ratchet back the Jack Torrance shit?
Like from The Shining?
Yeah. You have that same obsessed look in your eye.
The difference is: I'm not seeing ghosts riding Big Wheels.
I'm seeing a wrongdoer getting away.
Once he's nailed-- and Jock is pacified--
I'll be free of all this...stuff.
And the Southern District will become sovereign again.
In the cause of all that is good and nob--
and don't you want to be a part of that?
I do.
Then just tell me this:
does the recording spell out who the idiot is?
That's the one person who wasn't there.
But is mentioned. We could lean on him.
Nineteen.
And you could. If you knew who he was.
Can you give me a hint?
We are not fucking playing Password, Bryan.
This is for your good.
For my good.
For fucking good, you know?
♪ mid-tempo music ♪
♪♪♪
'Becca, Wendy!
-Hi, Mark. -Cubes!
I'm so fired up that you made it up here.
This is gonna be so much fun.
Wait till you get to ride on these things.
The power is incredible.
Anyways, this is my guy Phil.
He's gonna train you up and make sure you have a good time.
Place is all yours.
Thanks. Can't wait.
♪ dramatic music ♪
...Sooooo, my Daddy,
and I know you'd think I called him father,
but he was Daddy and Mommy was--
Mommy? She sure was.
What Daddy said was: elbow grease alone
won't solve what elbow grease and a few silver coins will.
A real philosopher king.
He also told me to find a career that would justify
elbow patches on my sport coats.
"Because that would signify useful work, Pa?" I asked.
Pa, now? Pa. Yes.
And he said: no, Son,
because folks will believe you mean well.
All this to say...
Her trouble won't go away
because we smile nice and ask even nicer.
It's gonna take some institutional lubricant.
How much.
$25 million.
Ouch. Now I think I need the lube.
But fine. Do it.
Hey, Ayles, you actually even know your father?
Does anyone, really?
How was breakfast?
Eh. Went well...
Listen, I want you to stay on this with Ayles.
Make sure it happens. Never let her know we did it.
That might be hard. These places like to advertise.
Try. I don't want her to feel beholden.
You are that rarest of creatures.
An actual gentleman.
Basically, just for her.
But yeah.
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
[Senior] ...You mean about the idiot
[Senior] who stands to lose the most? Can I really--
[static hisses]
[key clacks]
[Senior] ...You mean about the idiot
[Senior] who stands to lose the most? Can I really--
[static hisses] Fuck.
[sighs]
♪♪♪
[keypad clicks]
♪♪♪
Jock, I need some warrants...
No. No, Funt won't grant these.
I need your, uh, friendly judge.
Yeah.
[phone hangs up]
♪♪♪
[key clacks]
♪♪♪
Now, we can talk in here. It's been swept.
The fridge is stocked and I can order--
--Let's not do the whole service thing.
No food. No drink. We'll make it quick.
Sure. Pit stop at Le Mans,
tires, oil, back out of the chute.
Not a long night of necking at the drive in.
Definitely not. Yeah.
No. Here's the thing:
last time we sat here we talked about revenge.
And how we were to help each other achieve it.
And we have and will continue to--
About that.
Look, I got Taylor in the well,
it has applied the lotion from the basket.
All that's left is the skinning.
Which is to say: they will soon be hemorrhaging money,
vulnerable, desperate and ready to make the kind of move
that will make your job very easy.
You're always telling me how simple my gig is.
If it's all so basic, why don't you do the skinning?
I'll tell you: because it's bloody work. Grimy.
Then roll 'em up and sink 'em in up to the shoulders.
Oh, is that an order? It's shorthand.
But if you need me to curtsy and bow, just say the word.
It's one or the other. Not both.
And no. What I need is your expertise to do it right.
I set people up all the time, but to do it
without opening up an entrapment charge is difficult.
The right trap has to come from you.
If Taylor is floundering and desperate,
you know better than me what their next move will be.
What might tempt them to take a chance?
The answer to all their problems.
Yes. And then, we dangle that.
Now, uh, a corrupt associate.
Weak former employee? Someone you've let go.
Offering funds or a service
or an opportunity too good to pass up...
♪ dramatic music ♪
I know just the fella.
Something about the directness of the metaphor here
is going to feel absurd for a minute.
I need you to fight that off.
And own the fact that you are moving the fucking earth.
Because that's what you are and what you do in the actual world.
♪ White Reaper's "Tell Me" ♪
♪♪♪
♪ He likes to roll ♪
♪ In a brand new stretch-type limo ♪
♪♪♪
♪ And soak up the gold ♪
♪ From all the tickets and the tees that he's sold ♪
Yes!
♪♪♪
Ah!
You were fucking right. We moved earth.
We were destruction.
Elemental. No gray area.
Being in the cockpit was like
hitting the stage with The Clash.
You had to be totally present to deal with it.
Got me right out of my head.
I figured it would work better than a day spa.
Thank you for taking the time.
I needed the reset, too.
Though I probably don't have to tell you what I need.
You already know in what-- five minutes with someone?
Truth: Mm-hmm.
I'd love to work with you,
but you don't need much that you don't already give yourself.
That's what sets you apart.
Most people let their childhood bullshit run them.
You use yours to propel you.
And not in a way that you're hiding from it, either,
and it's gonna bite you.
You synthesize it.
Like you do information about companies.
You're doing exactly what you're meant to be doing.
That was amazing.
And you know it.
And you get off on it.
Well, I'm doing what I'm meant to be doing, too.
You ever want to be out on your own?
Have your own practice?
I've thought about it from time to time.
But I'm in the right place. Which is a good thing,
because if I was out on my own, this Med Board thing
would be putting me right out of business.
How are you handling it?
One thing that's come from this year:
I know I can handle fucking anything.
And Axe Cap, it's mine.
They really rallied around me--in their own weird way.
That's the upside of being on a team, I guess.
I can see that.
It's just not how I work.
[inhales deeply]
I like owning a team.
[both laugh]
Should we hit it?
[country music playing on radio]
You've had a few, you sure you're alright?
We can drive you back to your hotel--
Oh. Don't worry, we're not driving.
[helicopter blades whirring]
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
You're not going for 20 are you?
Nope. I went about this another way.
And you were right, and we are going to get them all.
Sounds like somebody did some old fashioned prosecutor work.
I figure, I'm behind the desk, maybe I should do the job.
So I did the job. And got some warrants and subpoenas.
And you are going to execute same.
On?
The sitting Secretary of the Treasury, Todd Krakow
and the safe of the father of
the sitting Attorney General for the State of New York.
You will go, yourself, to handle it.
Bring good agents with you.
These are the warrants.
♪ dramatic music ♪
And I'm on my way.
♪♪♪
[indistinct conversations]
Hello everybody...
[conversations stop]
Sanford, surprised to see you here.
You passed on a board seat when it was offered.
I did.
But I have a real vested interest
in how this meeting goes.
Uh...
Alright, people.
Big announcement, big acquisition.
Of Kling Appliances.
We have taken ownership of the company
and will go back to rolling out their product.
Now, this strategic partnership--
We are not going to sell Kling products.
We will be using Kling to move toward profitability
in a wholly different way now.
♪ dramatic music ♪
[Bensinger] Thank you.
Even I don't usually have an Iron Chef make my pancakes.
All you have to do is ask...
And send the plane.
[both laugh] Thanks for this, Alex.
♪♪♪
Mm.
When a man puts on a show like this, it's rarely--
That's true. But also,
if we're gonna have to have this conversation, and we are,
we might as well have something this good.
Well, it's in our mouths now.
So--
[silverware clatters]
Saler's is a sinking ship.
But I know how to get the chest of gold
before it hits the ocean floor.
You would do that to Rebecca?
For Rebecca.
It's helping her.
What I didn't realize, but see now,
is that she made the one sin that every
private equity investor knows they can never make.
And it happened because she is
as kind-hearted and good as she is smart.
And that is-- Cares too much.
About this one in particular.
Mm. It's a suicide play at this point.
She's lashed herself to the side of this thing
and refuses to jump off.
We won't just be saving ourselves.
We'll also be saving her.
Yeah. I guess we will be.
You okay with it?
With getting the gold and doing the right thing?
♪♪♪
Yes I am.
Now please pass the syrup.
These fucking things are delightful.
[chuckles]
[Axe] All Saler's locations will be closed,
[Axe] effective immediately.
The real estate will be transferred
to a real estate investment trust,
controlled by Sanford Bensinger--and me--
where it will eventually be sold off at market value.
[Axe] The clothing brands, home goods,
[Axe] Treads For Tots shoe line, Maker Man Tools,
[Axe] and the auto parts brand will all be spun off
for top dollar to private equity buyers who've been lined up.
Further, Saler's debt will be dumped
onto Kling's balance sheet
[Axe] and that company will then be put into
Chapter 11 bankruptcy effective immediately.
Cute pitch, but I wonder
how the fuck do you think
you have the authority to do that when I'm CEO.
[sighs]
Well, young lady, unfortunately,
if you don't ratify the plan, you'll be removed.
I've converted my debt to shares with voting rights.
When?
Yesterday. [Axe] So his shares,
[Axe] along with mine and everyone else in this room,
make up the majority.
You can't stop it.
What about the 50,000 employees?
Well, we'll settle out their pension plans and benefits.
For a fraction of what they're owed.
I know people, and what those people will feel is:
something's better than nothing.
And you--you assholes-- you're gonna go along with this?
♪ dramatic music ♪
Ugh. How could you?
[Axe] Oh. They already did. The board voted.
Or gave me their proxies. Same thing.
It's because every shareholder will get
a massive one time windfall dividend payment.
And then we can all go our separate ways.
Keith, how many shares do you hold?
Thirty-three thousand.
Well, congratulations, Keith.
You just graduated from 300 grand in a bad stock
to thirty-three million in cash.
Rebecca, you could be making
close to a billion on this transaction.
Miss Cantu,
I know how this stings.
I had my paper route stolen from me
after I'd built it up to cover the entire city.
[Bensinger] Damn newspaper took it in-house.
I felt steamed
'til I bought the whole thing and sold it to a chain.
Oracular wisdom feels better
when the oracle hasn't just anally rended you.
Gentlemen, ladies, why don't we go work out the myriad details
in the back office and give them the room.
[door opens]
[indistinct conversations]
[door closes]
You snake motherfucker.
You sent me off and you set me up--
Your way was an arduous five year, capital-intensive crawl.
Now you've just cleared over a billion
in a few months' time.
It isn't about that for me and you know it.
I want to run this business for real.
This one wasn't fit to run.
You can build it back up from the ground, better,
without the negative drag of toxic fucking debt,
if you really want.
When did you land on your plan
to liquidate the company out from under me, hmm--
was it the first time that I told you about it?
No.
No, it was much closer to when you climbed into bed
and made a fucking pact with my sworn enemy.
But, hey, as you once told me,
you'll come to see the wisdom in this plan.
You already do--
Oh. Fuck you. We're done.
[Axe] Well, you should think fondly of me
when the Street calls you a genius--for this plan--
as you approach your next venture.
I need to know what you told yourself.
♪ dramatic music ♪
[Axe] I wanted to let it go--
[Axe] what you did
[Axe] by making that deal with Taylor.
[Axe] I wanted to think of it the way you said:
[Axe] not as disloyal.
[Axe] Or an action against me.
[Axe] But as a practical solution to a problem
[Axe] that you-- someone I loved-- was faced with.
[Axe] And so that night, I told you it was fine.
[Axe] And I wanted it to be true.
[Axe] I laid there in bed next to you,
[Axe] and I just tried to breathe out the bad,
[Axe] breathe in the good.
[Axe] But with each breath,
[Axe] instead of peace, love and understanding filling my lungs,
[Axe] the old bile was there.
[Axe] I stared at the ceiling,
[Axe] with you sleeping next to me-- beautiful and serene,
[Axe] and I played out our relationship to its end.
♪♪♪
[Axe] I thought about marriage.
[Axe] Let it land for me that it actually was
[Axe] something I'd already assumed was going to happen.
[Axe] Us having kids together, too.
[Axe] I smiled at the notion.
[Axe] It was hopeful.
[Axe] Romantic.
[Axe] The kind of thought a normal man would be having.
♪♪♪
But then,
I felt something go cold in me.
And I knew the truth was in that cold.
♪♪♪
And that eventually, it would turn hot.
To rage. And when it did,
[Axe] I would blow the whole fucking thing up,
[Axe] kids and all.
'Cause, sure, your choice was rational.
But to me, it was traitorous.
And I wouldn't be able to live with it.
I'd wreck everything we had over it.
[Axe] I would make you suffer tenfold
[Axe] for what I had suffered.
[Axe] Especially if I waited, without crushing Taylor.
[Axe] Because by then, Taylor would be rich and safe.
[Axe] So I decided: fuck it.
[sighs]
[Axe] Might as well get my revenge
and rip the scab off this fucking thing
between us at the same time.
♪♪♪
Then we'd be even, too.
Each fucked over.
Each aware of who the other really is.
♪♪♪
Then...
Then we could find out what was still between us.
♪♪♪
What's between us now is nothing.
♪♪♪
[door closes]
♪♪♪
[Hammon] Bobby Axelrod has control of Saler's.
Rebecca is out.
He's putting Kling into bankruptcy.
Our equity will be wiped out. Our position will go to zero.
Our firm will lose three quarters of a billion,
maybe a little more.
When news of that gets out,
we may not have a firm.
I can have Lauren get to the investors first,
try to gain a vote of-- I wouldn't give me that vote,
they won't either. No.
What if we go Doug Flutie style, toss a literal Hail Mary?
Just make a huge bet, on, like, four names.
Double up or bomb out.
I'd like to work in this business again.
So, yeah. No. Fuck. We need time...
♪ dramatic music ♪
I might have something. A text I got earlier.
♪♪♪
Mafee, we're going to a meeting with a friend of yours.
[door opens]
♪♪♪
Mm. Seems I missed the party.
Taylor's P&L's been crippled.
They're ripe to make that desperate move.
I thought I smelled blood.
Everything's in place on my end.
Good. One more thing though.
I want you to arrest but NOT charge Taylor.
[chuckles] After everything I've done,
all the plans I've laid in, why would I do that?
Because it's what I want.
And 'cause I want Taylor back at Axe Capital, working for me.
Come again?
They're the best player I've seen in this league
in two decades. Real five-tool, you know?
Back at the beginning this was advertised as
me getting a Wall Street scalp.
But now that it's haircut time, you tell me no.
Why don't you just hire the kid back
and stop wasting my fucking time?
'Cause they won't come for money.
But they will come from fear.
And from leverage. So leverage them and scare them.
And if anyone's been wasting fucking time here...
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
[keys clacking]
[cellphone vibrating]
Hello?
[Dr. Zhang] Dr. Rhoades. I am pleased to tell you
that the Medical Board has taken into account
the fact that you willingly came forward.
And that you could have easily lied.
Really.
[Dr. Zhang] Yes. It showed that you are already making changes.
[Dr. Zhang] And that you are, at core, a doctor who cares.
[Dr. Zhang] We have also been provided with
[Dr. Zhang] dozens of letters to your character.
[Dr. Zhang] And that highlight how much you have given
[Dr. Zhang] of your time over the years
[Dr. Zhang] to those less fortunate.
So we've decided to set aside the findings of the proceeding.
And to give you a verbal warning instead.
[Dr. Zhang] Consider that given, and the matter concluded.
♪♪♪
Thank you, Dr. Zhang.
♪♪♪
[exhales sharply]
Yeah. I'm just finishing up a few things,
you can head out for the night.
♪♪♪
[door opens]
[sighs]
[door closes]
[sniffs]
[cellphone whooshes]
♪♪♪
[cellphone whooshes]
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
[drawer closes]
♪♪♪
[door closes]
♪♪♪
[keys jangle]
♪♪♪
[lock disengages]
♪♪♪
[audio fast-forwarding]
[Senior] ...You mean about the idiot
[Senior] who stands to lose the most? Can I really--
[Ira] Yes. I can't listen to future plans.
[Ira] But the things you've already done.
[Ira] And the people with whom you've done 'em,
[Ira] that I need to know.
[Chuck] Go ahead. Press on. Privilege was clearly in place.
[Senior] Once I tell you who he is, Ira, we can't go back.
[Senior] It's a real mindblower.
[Chuck] We should all brace ourselves for what's coming.
[Chuck] Yes.
[Chuck] Well. Do it, Dad. Say the name.
Well, I mean, at this point it's gotta be clear, right?
♪♪♪
The idiot in question is Bryan Connerty.
[Chuck] Yes. Well. The rub of it is.
[Chuck] If Connerty is listening right now,
[Chuck] it means he's crossed all legal and ethical bounds
[Chuck] and our little plan is about to bear fruit...
[Chuck] But, uh [chuckles] you're not listening,
are you, Bryan?
'Cause you don't break the law.
[Chuck] But, if he is "headphones on" right now,
[Chuck] it means he's gone completely over the line
[Chuck] and committed all manner of crimes that led to this,
and his arrest is, uh, moments away.
Which is why we dubbed the man 'the idiot'.
Should've called him the fucking idiot--
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
Ah, fuck.
You should probably say it again. Louder.
Cuz yeah. You are fucked.
Let's go.
♪♪♪
Kate--
Bryan, I had them hold you in here, as a courtesy--
but what the fuck? I--
[Sacker] You kept asking if you would understand everything
[Sacker] if you listened to the tape.
[Sacker] I told you
[Sacker] unfortunately the answer was yes.
It was my hope you never found out what came next.
Whatever bullshit they were running on that recording,
tell me you recovered stuff from the safes
that will prove this thing for what it is.
Oh, I got proof from the safes, Bryan,
[Sacker] but not the kind you were looking for.
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
This isn't a contract laying out
your participation in some real estate scam.
No, but it is my participation in
a New York State sting operation targeting certain
corrupt members of the Department of Justice.
♪♪♪
An overzealous prosecutor--
especially a US Attorney--
is a very dangerous thing...
♪♪♪
And Rhoades Senior?
♪♪♪
[drill whirs] Don't ruin my box.
♪♪♪
[keypad beeping]
♪♪♪
It's not what you wanted, but it is what was there.
♪♪♪
[sighs]
♪♪♪
Sonofabitch...
♪♪♪
[sighs]
May I?
♪♪♪
Keep it brief, we still have processing to do.
[inhales deeply]
[door closes]
Oh. Bryan, it pains me to be here like this--
Does it? But you lined up against me,
and that just wasn't right.
We could've worked together.
But you broke ranks and tried to take me out.
So I had to make a contingency plan.
[sighs]
How far back?
Well, you know,
pretty far...
This development is my legacy.
Hell, it's your legacy too.
Well, I'm glad to see you've got your legs under you again, Dad.
♪ dramatic music ♪
[sea gulls cry]
♪♪♪
Dad,
I know how we can spin this like a top.
We're gonna have to put on a hell of a show...
But, yeah, this will be our legacy.
♪♪♪
[Chuck] I knew you'd be coming after me
[Chuck] and that you'd be up on me sooner than later...
[Senior] There's no heat.
[Senior] Sonny, my permits came back without a hitch...
[Chuck] And of course I knew that you knew
[Chuck] that Judge DeGiulio would deny
[Chuck] your wiretap request...
FBI observed father and son
on the building site in question.
You got a family portrait.
[Chuck] And come to me with that information.
Connerty came for a wire on you.
Did you grant it?
I killed it.
[Chuck] And that you'd be watching.
[Chuck] So we gave you what you needed
[Chuck] to secure those wiretaps...
You have your wire.
[Chuck] And I knew you'd do as I trained you to do,
[Chuck] programmed you almost, so you'd get on our phones.
I have run into a financing snag with my development.
What's the problem?
Now, I know you have some banking contacts these days.
[Chuck] I'll try to help.
[Chuck] So I needed to squeeze certain players for help.
You're probably wondering how you're gonna get out of this.
[chuckles] Indeed. It crossed my mind.
Well, you'll join me in a greater plan
for the greater good.
♪♪♪
Listening and loving it...
[Chuck] I needed your boss fully engaged,
[Chuck] pushing you, breathing fire down your back.
So once I knew it was the thing that mattered to him,
I hit the election angle hard.
By the time I parked the shit train in his backyard,
both you and Jock were leaning in so hard,
it was just a question of playing out an ending for you.
I've taken the liberty.
For our comfort...
[rustling on recorded audio] What's that rustling?
Did they paper this fucking deal?
I need to go back to D.C.
I have work to do.
Gentlemen.
[mouths words]
♪♪♪
[Chuck] I've got to admit that I was a little surprised
by how eager you were for the dirty tricks
and even crime.
It's the power, of the office, that gets you leaning forward.
It's dangerous and hard to ride,
like an unbroken horse.
[Chuck] That's something you never really heard me on.
It is not easy, not easy at all.
But I guess you'll have a long time to think about it.
They call this getting what you deserve, don't they?
It's coming for all of us.
[sighs]
What about Jock--
is he left standing?
I just caught up with the man...
You are a real troublemaker, Rhoades.
Runs in my blood.
[door closes] Runs in your kind.
You take that to mean ethnic, fine.
Or New Yorkers. Or guys with hair all over their faces.
[laughs] That's just like you--
focused on a man's beard with so much intensity
you miss his foot coming up to kick you in the gonads.
Good luck there, pard.
Ah. Don't need luck.
No.
You know, the last time we were in here,
in what was my office,
it didn't turn out well for me.
And I told myself I wouldn't step foot back in this place
until it was you who'd be sent packing.
[Chuck] And that is today.
That is right now.
How're those low hangers feeling?
Heavy, full, and ready to shoot.
You think just 'cause I had an overzealous underling,
that I'm gonna take a fall?
I am not.
Connerty acted on his own, of his own volition.
He screwed up.
So now he's screwed. Not me.
You came to me on biblical grounds a short time ago.
And when you left, it occurred to me
that faith can be a beautiful thing,
except when it's misplaced.
♪ dramatic music ♪
[Connerty] I'm not legally allowed to listen to this--
[Jock] If I order it, it's fucking legal.
[Jock] Now, you get your hands on that fucking tape--
♪♪♪
So, the ballsack has to feel at least a twinge by now.
How the fuck...?
♪♪♪
[Chuck] I had an instinct that
[Chuck] at least some of what Connerty did
[Chuck] would be at your direction...
♪ dramatic music ♪
[Connerty] We are running down some promising leads and--
[cellphone vibrates]
This could be the call.
Connerty...
♪♪♪
[Connerty] No, I'll be right there.
[Connerty] Good work.
Good luck finishing off the Rhoadeses.
♪♪♪
[groans]
You really did it...
got me right in the onions...
[shoe slams]
[Chuck] So, no, Bryan, no.
[breathes deeply]
When it comes to me, the thing you've got to learn is:
no one's left standing.
[Rudy] ♪ Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me ♪
♪ Il nome mio nessun saprà ♪
♪ No, no, sulla tua bocca ♪
♪ Lo diro ♪
♪ Quando la luce ♪
♪ Splenderà ♪
My dude, that was... I have like tears in my eyes,
and I don't even own that Three Tenors album.
My father was a--
look, I'll sing for you another time.
For now, let's talk Nigerian Oil Warrants.
You talk. I'll listen.
They are highly illiquid instruments.
There's no real market for them.
So the few brokers who deal in them
can set almost any price.
You invest a few million dollars,
we wait a week, and I have them revalued.
How high?
Units that cost you, say, ten grand each
could suddenly be valued at a hundred grand.
Or two. Or five hundred.
For a few million dollars we can balloon these things up
and basically state that the firm is even on the year.
♪♪♪
So, what do you think...?
♪ dramatic music ♪
[cork pops]
[door opens]
[door closes]
Hello there.
You said I was foolish for wishing for a miracle.
But I guess they do happen--
when you make them happen.
I'm grateful you got my suspension lifted.
Well, I'm glad that it all worked out.
[chuckles]
♪ dramatic music ♪
[sighs]
♪♪♪
[exhales sharply]
♪♪♪
Grab me a glass.
I'll come join you.
♪♪♪
[shoes scraping]
♪♪♪
[tablet dings, vibrates]
♪♪♪
[sighs]
♪♪♪
Did you even fucking try?
♪♪♪
No. I didn't.
I could explain.
But no.
[Chuck] [sighs] Yeah. I thought not.
Watch the kids.
Where are you going--
Out.
When are you coming home? I don't know.
But you are coming home?
I don't know.
[sighs]
♪♪♪
[door opens and slams]
♪♪♪
[scoffs]
♪♪♪
[car door opens]
Hold up.
[car door closes]
You're not under arrest.
But it would be good if you act like you are...
[exhales heavily]
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
Let's talk Nigerian Oil Warrants.
You talk. I'll listen.
That right there is
the very picture of criminal conduct.
And the part where I refuse and walk out?
Thank you, Rudy.
But you were singing "Nessun Dorma" before,
which is about somebody hiding something.
Which makes me wonder why that particular aria
was in your mouth. So it's a no for now.
I'll learn to live without the Nigerian Warrants. And you.
♪♪♪
You're a charming tenor.
Do more of that. Less of this.
♪♪♪
It seems there was a camera malfunction...
I see.
Well, in that case, I'd like to speak to--
Or at least that was to be the case
when you balked at the illicit deal.
But, uh [chuckles] I've lost my taste
for this particular set-up right now.
Have you?
Mm.
When I look at the shambles my life has become--
from my firing, to my public disgrace,
to my election with strings attached,
to the destruction of my marriage,
to my family falling into disrepair--
ah, did I make mistakes to cause it?
Perhaps.
♪♪♪
But a truer reckoning is:
it all tracks back to one source.
One man.
A man so corrosive, so virulently infective
as to strip me of every good quality I ever had:
my kindness, my empathy, my sense of justice.
Maybe even my ability to love.
[chuckles]
And that very man
charged me with arresting you
in order to force you back into his employ.
He wants me to come back to work for him?
At Axe Capital. He wants that?
Yes,
which gives us an opening.
[Chuck] I don't want to force you.
[Chuck] I want you to go back willingly, but as if I had,
and I want you to help me take him down,
[Chuck] once and for all.
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
[Taylor] I should have known what would happen.
I once confessed to you that
competition brought on vertigo-like symptoms in me.
Well. I certainly feel faint right now.
Tighten your stomach.
It'll push the blood back up into your brain.
You'll feel better. Won't help my firm.
Or my balance sheet. Which you destroyed.
I didn't make you cook the books though.
That was all you.
I figured an extra quarter or two without redemptions
and disruptions and I could make a comeback.
Well. We always think we can.
But then you had your friend waiting to arrest me.
So I can't.
[chuckles]
He's no friend of mine, believe me.
[Axe] Just a useful tool.
[Axe] And I wasn't gonna let him take you to jail.
As long as...
Yes. As long as I come under heel.
Well. Don't think of it like that.
Or do. Whichever.
But, yes, you are coming back to me.
You were such a worthy fucking adversary
that even with a much smaller bankroll
you cost me my relationship and pushed me to a stalemate.
Right until the very end...
So, yeah, I want you on my side.
It won't be forever.
I'll walk away soon enough and your firm will have survived.
Will it have?
That's gonna be up to you.
But it can. It should.
You're still you.
So how would it work-- I keep my own shingle?
Yes. Under my banner.
And you and I are going to, what,
bullshit about ideas all day long?
We don't have to be best friends.
Or friends of any kind.
I just want your brain.
[Axe] And it won't all be bad for you.
We'll pre-set a bonus structure.
And you will know exactly where you will end up.
That will be a signed document.
[Axe] It will. And we will also have a separate,
special document, signed by Rhoades too,
that says at a date certain
whatever he has on you disappears forever.
♪♪♪
Where we at?
I'm going back to work at Axe Capital.
Will you come with me?
[sighs]
In.
Chuck Rhoades wants to use me to help him nail Axe.
Crazy.
Are you going to do it?
I told him I would.
And I made Axe believe I was done trying to destroy him.
But I learned something:
they're both lined up to destroy each other.
At the right moment when both have their guns raised,
I'll step out of the way and let it happen.
I'll help it happen.
They'll put each other in the ground
and I'll go about my fucking business.
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
[sighs]
♪♪♪
[door opens, footsteps approach]
Hey.
Some day.
[chuckling] Yeah.
Look, um, that thing with Rebecca,
I didn't mean to put you in a--
Nope. I'm not here for that.
I want to thank you.
I don't know how--
You don't even have to.
And I don't want to stay at home tonight.
Oh.
Or at some hotel.
Oh... [stammers]
Oh. Shit.
Six maids and they leave it like this...
You can't sleep in Dean and Gordie's room,
'cause they have small beds.
And art is piled all over the other rooms.
You know what?
We can do this.
[sheet fluttering]
Welp.
♪ dramatic music ♪
Text me what you want for breakfast in the morning,
I'll let Chef Ryan know.
♪♪♪
And, you know, if you want to talk,
I'm right down the hall.
♪♪♪
Have a good night.
♪♪♪
[door closes]
♪♪♪
[sighs]
♪♪♪
[exhales heavily]
♪ dramatic music ♪
♪♪♪
[elevator dings]
[indistinct conversations]
♪♪♪
Hi, Taylor! Hi, Mafee!
Shut the fuck up, Ben.
Hi, Ben.
[footsteps approaching]
♪ Elvis Costello & The Attractions' ♪
♪ "(What's So Funny 'Bout) ♪
♪ Peace, Love, and Understanding" ♪
Welcome home.
Happy to be here.
♪ As I walk through ♪
♪ This wicked world ♪
♪ Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity ♪
Now, I'm ready.
♪ I ask myself ♪ I've earned it.
♪ Is all hope lost? ♪ String me up.
♪ Is there only pain and hatred ♪
♪ And misery? ♪ [crank clicking]
♪ And each time I feel like this inside ♪
♪ There's one thing I wanna know ♪
[thud] [gasping]
♪ What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding? ♪
♪ Ohh ♪
♪ What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding? ♪
♪♪♪
♪ And as I walked on ♪
♪ Through troubled times ♪
♪ My spirit gets so downhearted ♪
♪ Sometimes ♪
♪ So, where are the strong ♪
♪ And who are the trusted? ♪