Previously on Billions.
This doesn't even look fun-adjacent.
No, not fun at all.
A friend was climbing Makalu as a tune-up for Everest,
and there was an accident.
Derek? Can you hear me, Derek?
We have to assume he's alive,
but in Chinese custody.
The kid, Kai Huang Liu, sells sham NFTs.
Why can't you get this guy under the legitimate weight
of your own office?
Because this guy can't be got with normal methods.
He's a king.
But a mad king.
I think there's a mutiny in the works.
My allies lined up against me with my enemy.
The company asked me to give a talk.
Mental telehealth start-up.
I've become aware of Mental.
The CEO is stepping down.
The board will want someone with your credentials
to take over.
Robin, it's Wendy Rhoades.
I am accepting your offer.
How do I convince you
it would be safe for you to work with me?
In what way?
I can't find a path to get him
within what I do.
But with someone on the inside, the path would reveal itself.
Do you have a plan, now that we can all trust each other?
I have a goal: take Mike Prince's billions.
Notify the on-call pilot.
-Destination? -London.
I'm going to Haddon Hall.
Nice!
Nice. Nice place.
Nice!
More, much more,
than your average fugitive from the law
can scrape together.
Not a fugitive here.
Welcomed and appreciated on this entire continent.
And beyond.
I'm just remarking on how far my dollar stretches,
even in these inflationary times.
Your dollar?
Well, my largesse.
My generosity of spirit left you with the coinage to do this.
You think, what, get a rise out of me?
Get me to engage emotionally?
Guy like you, figure you can't wait to spit the bile.
"I couldn't have bought half a Hockney with what you left me,
"but I rolled that shit up
and now I'm twice as rich as I was before."
Nah. Guy Hollywoods a poker hand and loses,
if he's smart, keeps his mouth shut then on.
No, absolutely.
One thing no one doubts about you is that you're smart.
And I always say it's better to have a smart adversary
than a dumb one.
Dumb adversary lets things like revenge run them.
Smart one waits for an opening.
I never show one, he never moves.
You been reading your Stavridis?
Watching Shalikashvili lectures?
You know, there's a comfort in knowing
someone's an avowed foe.
A clarity.
Doesn't take a four-star lecture to figure that one out.
And there'll be an even greater clarity in neutralizing you,
crossing you off my enemies list for good.
Now, I don't know what you were plotting
when you hosted Wendy, Wags and Taylor here,
but I imagine it involved an attack on me from within.
Hmm, channeling your Howard Hughes too, I see.
The paranoia seeps in.
No. He was paralyzed by fear.
I move.
But I do admire his sense of calculated vengeance.
So if you try anything, it won't be you who'll suffer.
It'll be Wendy Rhoades.
I have her tied to the railroad tracks,
and I own the whole damn transcontinental.
You seem so proud.
Why don't you tell me what you did?
The only thing you're about to find out are my ground rules.
Call them rules of disengagement.
Do any digging, I'll know.
Contact her or try to warn her, I'll know.
Parry or attack from any angle, I'll know.
It's time, Robert.
I'm calling in that debt you owe.
Need you to come through, as promised.
Not the best timing.
That is not the enthusiastic response I expected.
I have a problem, and I have cleared the path,
because I need you here in America now.
Yeah, that is a problem, but I need to call you back.
You should know threatening her is a bigger mistake
than threatening me.
I understand the rage you're feeling...
and how it makes you want to do something about it.
You think you do.
Let me talk to you in a language
that you'll immediately understand.
That of the great Marsellus Wallace.
"You might feel a slight sting.
That's pride fucking with you."
Marsellus Wallace nearly lost everything he had
by obsessing over that shit,
until he was rescued by the very man he said those words to.
In that case, enemies became allies.
But don't count on that here.
And since we're doling out counsel to one another,
let me give you a bromide turns out to be true.
In life, focus on your friends, Mike, not your enemies.
Get the best out of them.
They'll handle the attacks for you.
I'll follow the advice of my countrymen,
not exiles.
Fact is, every serious contender for the presidency
has an enemies list.
The ones that go the distance,
they're the ones who square theirs away.
Like I just did.
I shouldn't have to say it, but I have to say it.
-Then fucking say it, Kate. -And that's why I have to.
That sad-itude of yours.
You think it seems angry, but to me, just sad.
Notch it down a notch, counselor.
We are gonna walk out on that floor,
and you are going to comport yourselves
as if all this was your idea.
You are supportive and believe in Prince and the plan.
When the various Prince Cap employees come to see you,
you will treat them as what they are:
5-year-olds on the first day of a new school,
running to the nurse to send them home.
Instead, turn them around, pat them on the butt,
and send them back to class.
I need your assent. That's how this is gonna go.
Nothing left to misunderstanding.
Yes.
Assent.
Power 'em down, hand 'em over.
Every device you've got, toss them on the pile.
This meeting is confidential.
We don't have to tell you Mike is under a microscope.
Everything said here is in cone of silence.
Are we about to do some trust falls?
Quiet!
The time for banter
is before you get off the elevators.
John D. Rockefeller said,
"Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great."
As I look toward the coming presidential,
and as we build on this firm's unparalleled success,
best on the Street,
even as we dropped foreign holdings
to double down on America,
it's time to make some adjustments.
To go from good, even very good,
to full-on excellence.
To that end, Scooter Dunbar will now be sole COO
of Michael Prince Capital.
Could he be bumping Wags up somehow?
Philip Charyn now has sign-off on all major trades,
anything above 500 mill,
in the event Scooter or I are unavailable.
Fuck. Other direction.
Kate Sacker's being elevated to a new and broad counselor role,
overseeing legal, compliance,
also H.R. as Wendy steps into a new role of her own:
CEO of Mental,
a promising telehealth startup.
Where the hell is Taylor?
With a new leadership structure comes new opportunity.
Every rung of the ladder.
For the first time in this firm's history,
I'm opening up the books,
creating three new partnership slots.
Some people are going to get straightened out, upped.
These positions will be awarded, at Philip's recommendation,
based on performance, above all...
but also loyalty.
How is this, uh, loyalty going to be gauged?
Loyally serve your skipper, and we'll know.
Otherwise you're dead weight.
It's gonna be a bloodbath.
Pretty sure I'm the "dead" in dead weight.
And Axe's old loyalists, first ones to go.
We need to find Taylor.
I imagine they're off licking their wounds.
Freeze their accounts.
No trading, no movement, nothing.
If they don't come back in the right spirit,
it'll flow into the main fund, and we'll sort it out in court.
Meantime, we need to keep up
the info scrapes on the employees.
We're engaging with services
that conduct AI scrapes every week.
We've done and are doing a thorough job.
We have NDAs. They are signed. They are enforceable.
Redouble it all.
We need to know what everyone is thinking.
U2 is in.
Great news.
They asked if you have any requests.
You don't tell Bono what songs to play.
But if they do "Until the End of the World,"
I won't be mad.
It'll happen.
Hell of kickoff
for Prince for Independence.
Politico's calling it a coronation.
And with you leading in every national poll--
Only poll that matters is Election Day.
To that end, he wants you in a bow tie, with cummerbund.
Oh, I think that'll be stiff. Let's modernize.
No. No, New York City still connotes something
to the rest of the country we want to counter.
Now, if you could find whatever tux you wore
to your high school prom, that's what I want you in.
This isn't the time to be hip or cool.
Bow tie and cummerbund it is.
They put a belt around your neck
and told you to squeal like a pig for them, didn't they?
I've got a real pretty mouth.
Nice try, but I'm not taking the bait.
'Cause there's no bait to take.
Come on, we know this shit ain't right.
Legatus to the Emperor.
We're not gonna stay in a place
where they put a gladiator like you out to pasture.
We're old Axe Cappers. We gotta stick together.
Helluva bouquet, boys.
But "old Axe Cappers,"
my pustule-covered ass.
May I refer you to the words
of the great yogi and mystic Sadhguru,
when I had the chance to touch his hem.
You will laugh again,
even when you lose someone you love.
The only question is, how soon?
So, you're telling us to move on.
I'm telling you the facts,
and the truth that lies within them.
You stayed when Axe was run the hell out of here.
I didn't.
-You came back. -True. Fuck.
You'll stay when I was almost bought the fuck out of here.
Don't pretend you don't see dollar signs
in what Prince is doing here.
You already know, deep down, that this can work for you.
And at the end of the day,
law of the jungle is all that applies.
And if you didn't like it,
you would have left during your fucking orientation.
How are you okay with this?
How are you not begging for some kind of walkout or overthrow?
Nobody should be worrying about Michael Wagner.
Ever.
They should be out there killing.
End of sentence.
This feels like a big chance for you, Ben Kim.
When my mom was in the stockroom of our store,
my dad would sometimes put on Phil Collins.
He loved him.
What he really loved was the drum fill
in "In the Air Tonight."
You know it, right?
I know it.
I was little, and that song freaked me out.
And I have to say,
"I know the reason why you keep this silence up,
no you don't fool me."
I don't have all the info,
but this feels wrong.
Like someone killed you out in the water late at night.
That's what that song's about?
No one knows, but I always thought so.
There's nothing dark or scandalous going on here.
Doesn't matter. If you're out, I'm out too.
Without you, without the trader you made me, the man...
I'd be helping grandmas draw down on their 401Ks.
I brought this up the other day. I'm splitting my time.
I am here for you if and when you need me.
I should have protested harder then.
I mean, what if it's now I need you?
And every day after this one?
You are ready.
And have been.
There are lots of changes, no doubt about it.
But that's good for whoever's been through heavy weather
and come out dry, and that is you, Ben.
This is what I'll miss.
Nope.
I'm still in that head of yours, and reachable via phone.
This is your time to kick ass.
So go kick ass,
and let me take care of me.
I don't have to love this though, right?
No one can make you love anything...
or stop you from loving what you want to.
And now we are back to my mother again.
I try to tell her that.
She never listens.
It's so empty.
Doesn't feel like they're taking a personal day.
Or any other kind of day.
I emailed Taylor and it bounced back.
The bounce-back is, well,
I don't see how we pretend
it is anything other than what it is.
I don't like being abandoned...
though I wouldn't mind sitting in there.
Think of the power. And the quiet.
The quiet power.
Maybe the Kim Jong-un visions
are best kept...
You know?
Really surprised me to hear
that you were at the end of the driveway.
And a short 20-minute drive later, here I stand.
Prince know about this?
I didn't fucking tell him.
And I've stopped trying to calculate what he knows.
-I'm here. -You shouldn't be.
I figured you've got to know about the bloodletting.
I have my sources on the Street.
A cleansing set in motion by our last meeting here.
Even more reason to skip this one.
Not if you're finally incentivized to take on Prince,
as I suspect you are.
Or if you need help, as I suspect you do.
Oh, I'm incentivized, all right.
You're disincentivized in a big fucking way.
By walking out on your garden leave,
degrading as it is, you're leaving, what,
six hundred mill locked up with Prince?
Six-fifty and change.
I'll call you a car.
I don't care what it costs me.
I don't care if Prince tries to claw that money back from me,
blocks me from it, sues me or drops a dime on me,
the last two of which are inevitable.
I want to take that fucker down before he rises any higher.
You must've really missed me.
Well, that too.
Here's the problem.
Wendy's in a jackpot.
-He jackpotted her. -He jackpotted her.
Mortal fucking peril. I don't know what brand.
I only know that I can't warn her.
-Neither can you. -He built some kind of a box?
-A trap? -That he did.
So you need to tell me what's been going on.
We need to figure out what kind of trap she's in, free her,
and not tip off Prince while we do.
Well, for starters, Wendy was just installed
as CEO of a company called Mental,
and Prince blessed it.
You may be the only one here
who hasn't tried to bring me coffee
or compliment my shirt today.
If I was into the whole brown-nosing thing,
which I'm not, I'd bring you a decent shirt.
You might well be partnership material.
Oh, is that your way of saying
I may already be amongst the chosen?
You're smart, make good analysis,
do good trades.
You stay out of the inter-office morasses.
I can't say that about everybody here.
But I need to know that you want it.
That you're willing to earn it.
"What is that button on your body armor?"
"A peace symbol, sir."
"What is that you got written on your helmet?"
"'Born to Kill,' sir." "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I guess it's a comment on the duality of man, sir."
You're asking me to jump on the team
and come in for the big win
like the colonel in Full Metal Jacket.
But I'm not sure I'm prepared to do that
if my moving up means someone else is moved out.
Whimsy has a half-life.
And you've reached it.
The moment you hear me say the word "partnership,"
you're supposed to say, "Hell to the yeah, I want it,"
without even blinking.
You can always change your mind later,
pretend to ankle over deal terms.
You mean no one's taught you how to play this game? Really?
No. Really.
Or maybe I don't want to play this game.
Really.
Walking away now. Whimsically.
It's chin-wagging time.
No. I'm late. Gotta go.
You don't want to talk in front of the cameras, I get it.
-But-- -Having spoken candidly
right in front of them,
I'm gonna say I'm through talking at all.
I need to know how you worked me.
Specifically what disinformation you've planted.
Fake wireless activity, mostly,
so you'd have no clue about the Normandy landings.
The repartee is a bit less pleasing to me now.
Oh, but I'm loving talking to you.
What did I ever do to you except treat you nicely?
You plotted against him, and, by extension, me,
from deep inside the circle of trust.
If it's contrition you're after--
It's information.
I've been going over every conversation
we ever had in my head.
Dude, I wasn't planting information, I was getting it.
Trying to, and yeah, I wasn't sharing
what I was really after.
I guess I figured you'd come to me
when you realized who he really was.
Ask me to help you stop him.
Well, you figured wrong.
Do you even care what kind of man Prince really is?
What kind of havoc a Commander-in-Chief Prince
-could wreak? -Not if he has me
as guardrail-in-chief.
Filter, buffer, protector.
Like Baker was for 40.
Like Mattis and Kelly were for 45.
Oh, yeah, those guys crushed it.
Like Haldeman and Ehrlichman did for 37,
the last guy who toted around a fucking enemies list.
Read your history.
They stopped him from killing journalists,
from planting fake evidence that McGovern shot Wallace.
And that pesky Cambodia bombing, and the break-in and cover-up?
I guess you got to take the good with the bad.
-No go. -Again?
How fucking hard can this be?
To buy a controlling stake
in highly-regulated private company
through a smokescreen of shells and cutouts,
in the private market, after hours,
without alerting the shareholders
we're trying to do a secret takeover?
You're right, why would that be hard?
We don't need every share. Just enough to free shit up,
figure out and manage the threat against Wendy,
once we find out what the fuck it is.
Let's up our bids.
No one's even asking the valuation we're willing to pay.
Price is immaterial. They're just saying "no sale."
Did you remember to say please?
Shit, I knew I forgot something.
See, this is why you were always such a good mentor.
I got a billion and a half in cash sitting here, ready to go,
and we can't get these fucking shares.
He's ahead of us.
Next idea.
Uh, it seems ill-advised to start
when it's just the two of us.
Is Taylor usually late?
That is not someone who strikes me as a slacker.
No. They went full Markinson.
Unwilling to take part in all of this.
That's what it seems like to me.
Smart as they are, they just bailed?
It's the smart move.
I put together some hors d'oeuvres
when I realized Chuck hadn't gotten any together.
That's a host, right there.
He made me send home the domestics.
For privacy.
Only a man entirely without courtesy
would neglect to offer his guests some canapés.
Oh, Dad, I know you're just trying to hear what's going on.
And that is bologna and American cheese
that I believe you stole from the doorman's lunch bag.
Didn't steal anything.
Bought it off him.
Well, frilly toothpicks do not a canapé make.
Tasty. Reminds me of home.
Now...
where are we at, boys?
Happy to moderate.
Uh, it's supposed to be Wendy's job.
Should've been here 20 minutes ago.
He has somehow fucked with this, Prince.
Made her late even though she's more punctual
than Mr. Diamond in the Trevanian thing.
I loved that book when I was 14.
Especially the Tanaka Sisters.
Oh, how I imagined it was me in their bed
at the dawn of the war and--
Oh, I bet you did.
Look, Taylor, Wendy, Axe,
all unaccounted for.
We are getting an object lesson
about the man we are trying to take down,
the danger it entails.
People are gonna get blocked, sacrificed,
cut off at the knees.
The only object lesson that I see
is that this D-team,
this poor man's McEnroe/Fleming...
couldn't take down a Christmas ornament.
Just leave us to it, Dad. Please.
I'm McEnroe, at least, right?
I was being charitable.
It's Fleming/Fleming.
Now I see where you get it from.
Hmm.
But he is right.
Come in, Wend!
Delivery for you, Mr. Rhoades. From Sable's.
I didn't order all that.
Put that down. Thank you.
I did.
Oh, I can't have guests
and not offer them something to nibble on.
You think you've one-upped me, but I smile like Jim Nabors
because it's the only proof I need
that I did one thing right in regards to your rearing.
Enough patter. Enough bullshit.
Dad, leave us.
We need Axe. Now.
Would love an arrival time, Bob.
Happy to meet you at the gate, if it helps.
I appreciate the offer,
but I'm still entangled here,
and you know I don't fly commercial.
I didn't think I'd have to start charging interest
on the considerable debt you owe me.
Or is this the one time you actually do come up short?
No interest,
and no interest in welching on you either.
Of course I'll get there.
Just got some stuff I need to clear off my plate first.
How about clearing for takeoff with your Gulfstream.
What the fuck is going on?
Things got complicated.
No, meeting in the middle of the night
in freezing cold Vestmannaeyjar was complicated, but I did it.
Complicated's what we do. Now, what the fuck?
You owe me.
Son of a bitch!
The debt that I have just been reminded I owe.
We all owe someone.
Yes, we go to the banks,
other lenders, assume Mental's debt.
Yep. Suck the ground right out from under him.
We'll have virtual control of the company.
Hutton Enterprises.
The name just came across my screen, thank you.
And yes, I see the play. Let's dive in.
Yes, yes, I'd thought you'd fucking love it.
-That's why I-- -No, man.
Not you.
Heard Tuk doing research on this. Ran with it.
Knew a trader with some dark blocks of it.
-Got in. -Nice job, Victor.
Turbo-charged our positions in the sector.
Partnership-level shit.
I have some other ideas in the same space,
with major catalysts, if you're--
Maxed out now. Thanks.
Fucking Antarctica, this place.
Jesus fuck, this is already such a fucked day.
A two-fuck walk-in sentence from you
is not something to take lightly.
Sure as fuck isn't.
Got any news that's gonna get me to vibe shift?
No.
Deepen the vibe you're already working, I'm afraid.
Axelrod is slow to join the fight.
And I don't think it's because he doesn't want to.
Feels more like he can't.
-Details. -He's being evasive.
Sounds torn.
I never heard him like this.
Even when he was actually caged, he wasn't caged.
Not where it mattered. Not in his head or heart.
- He acknowledges he owes you? - Yes.
And if there's one thing I know about that guy,
it's that once he's committed to something,
once his personal sense of honor is on the line,
his own moral code, he is unrelenting.
He'd never bail out of fear of personal harm.
Plus, he hates Prince.
Deep down, he wants to do this.
Needs to.
What's got you shut down like Allentown?
You're both right.
Something's keeping him anchored in place.
Invisible chains.
Well, you two know him better than anyone else.
What could have that effect upon the man?
Prince got to him somehow.
Put him in jeopardy.
No. Not him in jeopardy.
The only thing that would stop Axe
is if he were putting someone he loved in jeopardy.
Why the 911?
And, uh, is this your ex-husband's...
Am I in some kind--
Just here to avoid detection.
I have a problem. A personal one.
I need your help before the trading day starts.
Mental, round two.
You did the thumbnail for me, now I need a deeper dive.
Start here, with revenue.
Looked funny to me.
Coffee?
I take mine with milk, and what the fuck?
These... these aren't the numbers I was shown
when you two were still speed-dating.
Yeah, well, now that I'm CEO,
I have full access to company financial data,
and I discovered this.
I'm sorry if I should've recognized--
You couldn't have.
None of this is on you. I just...
need you to tell me what you see right now.
Well, the revenue numbers,
they don't come close to adding up.
It's, like, Enron math.
If they billed to generate this kind of cash flow,
on-staff shrinks would be working with patients
30, 40 hours a day.
Unless the staff roster's missing a zero at the end?
It isn't.
I need you to find out where all the money's coming from.
Let's talk broad strategy.
-Hi, guys. -Ira, no.
You can't be on the hook for any of this.
I've hardly slept since The Owl.
No, this is existential.
This is about our grandkids,
the fact there'll never be any.
You better fucking believe I'm in.
All right, then.
Let's get back to it.
There's always the Red Sparrow.
Bingo!
The longest-running gambit in the book,
and for good reason.
Rare is the man who can withstand
the temptations of the--
Are you proposing a honeytrap?
Um, yeah.
Damn right we are.
No, this is the most calculating,
careful opponent we've encountered.
And you really think we have time for someone--
Some mythical, beautiful, sophisticated
and highly trained operative,
whom we don't even have to build a relationship,
earn his trust?
Okay, I can see the counterargument.
Oh, call me when you people get serious.
We've already settled on a strategy.
Prince needs to be impoverished.
That's the only way to break him
and the hold he has over the populace.
Only way to take away his rationale for existing
and running the goddamn country.
Wags, we need you to set the table.
The fuck am I supposed to do that?
Tell us how Prince Cap does what it does.
The shit you never told us,
the shit we could never figure out on our own.
Prince has the best portfolio on the Street,
best risk management approach too.
We need to know everything about it,
including how it stays on the right side of the law,
so we can identify the weaknesses.
I've made it my vocation not to tell prosecutors shit.
Oh, come on.
I thought we were past that crap.
But, if you will let me finish, since we are indeed past that,
I am still not sure I can.
He installed dual COOs
so no one person has all the info.
And I willfully blinded myself to certain things
so I would never be compelled to testify.
Look, I want to terminate that bald bull,
drain him of every dollar he's got.
But the shit you're asking for, if I give it to you,
you will level the whole portfolio
and everyone on that trading floor.
Their holdings, their reputations.
Oh, how quaint. It like the young Vito,
trying to save a sweet old lady and her dog
from getting tossed out onto the street.
These are my people.
And we're in a war.
You think the Southern District isn't littered
with the corpses of my people?
Chuck's right. There's no other way.
There will be casualties. We may also be casualties.
A necessary risk.
So you geniuses don't even know the difference
between asset allocation and asset location.
Asset allocation's what we're buying.
The real black magic is where we're locating it.
Plan "B" is fucked.
Prince went full Magnus Carlsen,
moves ahead of us.
Settled with lenders just days ago.
He assumed all the outstanding debt.
Yep. Plan "B" is fucked.
I said it just to see
if you would come over the top with something,
but now you're just parroting my line?
Come on. The stuff we tried here?
Icahn could've done it. Buffett could've done it.
Ackman could've done it, for God's sake.
Where's Bobby Axelrod hiding?
Where's the stuff that only he could cook up,
the stratagems only he could pull off?
A bad motherfucker once told me
hate is nature's most perfect energy source.
Endlessly renewable.
Lean into that feeling.
Because what this is going to take
is one hate-fueled, bad motherfucker.
You've been very helpful.
Do me a favor.
Go talk to Gordie for a half hour before you leave.
He's been depressed about the latest crypto winter.
Tell him some war stories, kick the tires on his algo.
And you?
I'm gonna sit here a while...
and listen to the hate.
Here's the thing about our male counterparts.
And I'm talking crust on the brûlée here.
Harvard Law Review, federal clerkships,
so-called cream of the profession.
They are more likely to become criminal defendants
than criminal lawyers.
So...
there's opportunity for us.
'Cause someone has gotta mop the fucking floor with them.
Kate.
As someone who recently set aside her mop,
I can see you disagree.
I do, D.A. Gramm.
Opportunity's not when we take what's left over.
Opportunity's when we take what we want.
Hmm, fair.
And it isn't the worst slogan for a campaign.
And I get it.
Some think I left the Southern District
through a revolving door.
But what I can do at Prince Capital,
what I have done,
besides protect the company from outside legal attacks,
is create a Mop & Glo culture inside
instead of wiping up stains from off the floor,
so that superstar prosecutors like Amanda here
can't haul us into court.
Is that right, Miss Torre?
Are you hoping to do some hedge fund battle
with Miss Sacker?
I wouldn't be a federal prosecutor without Kate.
Her example.
Her counsel when I was approached about the job.
Hiring you as a paralegal in the very office one summer.
Yeah, that too.
Introduced me around.
She blazed a path that I am happy to follow.
Doing the public good.
Making meaningful cases
at the best perch from which to do that.
But as far as squeaky-clean hedge fund culture?
Can't comment on ongoing investigations.
There's a second set of books.
And the real one wouldn't have passed the smell test
from three rooms away.
Explain the outsized revenue,
despite the skeletal staff of doctors.
Mental's been billing insurers for its A.I. check-ins
as if they're actual human sessions.
So our big strength, automated therapy,
it's actually a big scam?
It's Medicare fraud.
And, like, a federal crime, for reals.
I had nothing to do with it.
It predates me. Went on behind my back.
But as CEO, you're personally liable.
You signed this when you took the reins,
personally certifying to the company's financials.
And the real books,
they've somehow been on your tablet this whole time,
in documents linked to your software.
It looks like you were aware.
Who even knows about this?
Prince.
He saw beyond what I could see.
You saw what you were supposed to see.
Same as me. But this is why he urged me to sign on.
He used me to hurt you.
To neutralize me with the threat of hurting me.
I had other offers.
Half a dozen on this scale.
Maybe Prince forced a card.
Maybe the whole deck was tainted.
It's hard to know.
This would probably have happened anyway.
I want out.
Take my marbles to another playground.
I understand your feeling that way,
but give it a moment.
After you've left
the best-performing fund on the Street?
With where Prince is headed, how's that gonna look?
Like it wasn't the right fit, I hope.
Which it isn't.
Given what you know about him?
You think he's just gonna write you a letter of recommendation?
He'll straitjacket you with NDAs and non-competes.
Don't do that to yourself on my behalf.
Prince won this one.
I lost.
He'll probably always win.
And this is the winning business.
Don't throw yourself on my sword.
I've had a career. You haven't.
I loved mine.
In some ways, I lived for it.
So I know it's too much to throw away.
You should get to the office for the open.
It was true what I said up there,
about you being a superstar.
I still talk to folks at SDNY.
I hear the stats you're putting up.
I meant what I said too, about following your example.
Good, 'cause that's the real reason I'm here,
besides supporting the cause.
When I run, it's gonna leave a hole in the organization.
Yeah, Prince'll be gone too, won't he?
To the White House, if things keep up this way.
But the firm will continue on.
As a blind trust.
It's gonna take a strong general counsel to keep it clean.
That should be you.
Big salary.
Lots of resources. Even more perks.
I wasn't just paneling when I mentioned meaningful cases.
I've always wanted to do this work.
I'm in the strongest office outside of DC to do it.
Maybe including DC.
Hmm.
What?
Nothing.
If you're happy, I'm happy.
You've got something to say.
-Slap leather. -All right.
Look, you're still in the good part.
I don't want to ruin your honeymoon.
We're already home, and it's going fine.
Chuck's got his eye on the prize.
Square G. True blue.
He looks that way in a certain light.
But, uh, maybe it was just my experience,
but I thought we were making cases
for the good of the Southern District and beyond.
And then it became too clear to ignore.
I was working for the good of Chuck Rhoades,
prosecuting his agenda.
Literally.
So I went to work for a guy who didn't hide who he was.
And who paid a hell of a lot better.
Anyway, I didn't mean to bum your roll.
It was good to see you.
Yeah.
Take care.
So even with the extent of knowledge you have
about the workings of Prince Cap,
a plan of action doesn't occur?
A way to flip it on him?
I've given you algorithms,
I've given you securities selection,
I've given you methodology.
But there is a level beyond that,
and even I can't pierce that veil.
And now I've been de-fucking-looped.
To find it all,
we need the instincts of a truffle hound
mixed with a Daniel Negreanu-like ability
to think nine moves ahead,
mixed with the cold and steady hand of a sniper
à la Barry Pepper in Ryan.
The full package.
In other words, we need Axelrod.
If he were here,
he'd already be sharpening his knives
like Bill the Butcher.
Yeah?
I need to meet with you. Ira too. At your office.
It can't wait.
If I was in trouble,
real legal trouble at the federal level,
what kind of help could you provide?
You might want to give us some inkling
of the trouble you're referring to.
If is relates to your work at Prince Capital,
and we could register you as a confidential--
It isn't.
You can't.
At your new company? Your exit strategy?
Exit might be sealed shut.
Could the two of you save me?
Find another door?
Axe knows about this, doesn't he?
Whatever trouble you're in,
he's not coming until he solves it.
And he can't solve it.
Of course I'd always help you if I could.
Ira too.
The problem is, we can't.
We'll have to recuse due to conflict of interest.
Besides, it won't be in our venue.
And the offenses we're talking about, Wendy,
are criminal violations
of the False Claims Act and Medicare fraud
along with false statements.
You'll have a DOJ and SEC investigation on your hands.
How bad?
False Claims gets you up to five years.
Healthcare fraud gets you up to ten.
Wire fraud? Twenty.
Even encrypted, we shouldn't be talking.
There's a lot we shouldn't be doing.
Prince is using me to stop you from coming after him.
Like I said, shouldn't be talking.
Just figure out how to take him the fuck down.
I knew the risks when I started all of this.
And I know 'em now.
Not gonna be the one to destroy your future.
You're Paden and I'm Stella at the Midnight Star Saloon.
Just 'cause Cobb's threatening to kill me
doesn't mean you can't kill him first.
This isn't Silverado,
and Prince isn't Brian Dennehy with a badge and a beard.
This is really happening.
I don't have a future anymore.
The country still might.
I can still free you.
I know I can. Just don't know how.
Just can't see it yet.
And I love you for trying,
but you don't understand Prince.
Not really.
This is a man who will do anything
to clear his path.
Hand over the son of a business partner for expedience.
Use his own daughters as bait in a business deal.
Plant cameras in a doctor's office to get intel.
Let a climber he's trying to rescue for his wife
get taken by the fucking Chinese,
out of self-preservation.
That's who he is.
I'm collateral damage. I can live with that.
But you still need to get over here and stop him.
I think I've gotten the picture
as to why you've been stiffing me.
Well, then you'll know I haven't been by choice.
Yeah.
I think it's time we made a gesture of appeasement.
Because that worked so well for Neville Chamberlain.
Our only move now.
Only way to extricate Wendy.
And I believe you have an extremely valuable prisoner
in your custody.
Well, color me highly skeptical, but okay, Bobby,
tell me what you're thinking.
You want to talk guilt and absolution
because you feel bad for Tuk, maybe some of the others.
You're okay that it wasn't your idea?
Was it Tuk's idea?
Did his fourth fucking cousin tell him at a cocktail party?
I have no clue who came up with it.
I have it.
How do you live with yourself?
I've lived for awhile.
I know the truth in the Springsteen line
about winners and losers.
And I know I don't want to get caught on the wrong side
of that line.
He also says,
"Wherever somebody's fighting
for a place to stand or a decent job."
Yeah, he said a lot of things.
But when he was trying to get to the top of that mountain,
no one was stopping him.
And no one's stopping me.
Or you, truth be told.
Rian, the laws of this jungle were reset.
The weaker animals will no longer be fed by the rangers,
so it's not a question of living with myself.
It's a question of living.
There is good news, though.
What's that?
You're not one of the weaker animals.
Never have been.
You just walk like you are when you pass by a mirror,
so you don't have to see how strong you really are.
Do I need to get Sacker in here with us?
No, no, no. I'm here bearing gifts.
A box of sneezing powder? Exploding pen?
Gave a few of those in my day.
Just a little documentation.
About Kai Huang Liu the younger,
son of your close Taiwanese business associate.
He's been languishing in federal custody
ever since he sold those sham NFTs,
tried to flee on your plane.
-And now you're releasing him. -Already have.
As a gesture of good faith.
As a gift. For you.
I said I wanted him to face justice.
I said so publicly.
And face justice he will, back home in Taiwan.
He's on the plane as we speak.
Given his father's considerable juice,
that might not even mean a slap on the wrist.
I was fine with the accord we came to on this one.
We both looked like we cared about the law.
Because we do.
Sure, but I'll take all the heat here,
you'll get all the credit there.
Oh.
I get it.
You've accepted that I'm likely to win.
You've seen the data pointing me towards 1600 Penn,
and you don't want me to fire your ass...
which would be my right.
My prerogative.
My pleasure, too.
No one wants to be fired.
But also, I am good at what I do.
And I follow the chain of command.
Even before it is the official chain of command.
So, look forward to a grateful call from the kid's father,
and I will be out of your hair
and doing the people's bidding as always and until.
Well, I won't jinx my position
by promising you anything as though I am there.
But I will say,
this is a productive start.
Big night for you tonight.
They're all big nights from here on out.
I'm the best analyst in this place,
and I'll be the best trader and PM too in about five minutes,
and I won't have to do it by lying and cheating.
So, put me on the partnership flume,
or merry-go-round, or whatever you want to call it.
Track. It's called a track.
You're declaring yourself for it now?
Everyone out there, they're looking for permission.
A little gold star.
Fighting for approval, for recognition.
I see that now, and I'm beyond it.
Above it.
I want to be.
And as a partner, I can be.
Someone's finally accepted that whimsy has a half life.
Yes.
But making money doesn't.
No, it does not.
Go ahead then. Take it.
Any idea where I can scalp a pair of tickets to this thing?
Can't be sold out.
You're actually here and sending your favorite person to jail.
Yeah, I don't think so.
You know Derek.
You know of him, anyway, don't you? He's my plus-one.
You know, he got here so last-minute,
he hasn't had a chance to catch up with Andy.
Yet.
You think I'm sorry
an American has been released from captivity?
Family friend I sent Tiger Team to rescue?
I'm glad you're back on American soil, Derek.
How'd you do it?
Straight-up swap.
Plane went for refueling in Macau.
See, they have extradition with China.
Your country welcomes you back, young man.
We'll be making a quick pit stop in the Big Apple
on the way back to Colorado.
But you'll be home in a jiffy.
You traded Kai Huang Liu for him.
Well, seems he sold some of those bogus NFTs
to the Chinese as well.
They were real happy to barter for him.
And you had Chuck come tell me he was out,
so if I heard anything, I wouldn't get suspicious.
Doesn't stop me from pulling the lever on Wendy.
Oh, I think we both know that it does.
A few weeks in a Chinese prison camp,
been running my nights with Andy through my mind.
What I just whispered to you, that's just a taste
of what I'll be happy to say to Anderson,
Christiane, Rachel, all of them.
Everything.
From the freckle on her glute...
to the way she exhales when she's really excited.
No one will believe it.
Story will come and go. Zero traction.
You want to make that bet?
Easy to arrange.
I just walk Derek onto the step-and-repeat over there,
announce who he is.
It'll be the end for you.
Forget about Andy's embarrassment.
The entire country will think of you as a man
who couldn't satisfy his own wife.
They won't care about arrangements
or you getting yours.
They'll just know that she was bivouacking
with the mountain man
instead of shacking up with you.
And you have to know,
there is nobody in this country
who's gonna vote for President Cuck.
So here's how it's gonna go.
You're gonna stand down,
and you're gonna let Wendy clean up the practices
at that company.
You're gonna get rid of any documentation
that ties her to it.
She will run that company for real,
and you are never gonna fuck with her again.
And in return?
Derek here will go back to living his life.
And should any accident befall him,
I have his full testimony on video, ready to go.
Remember that.
So it's an old-time
Reservoir Dogs- style standoff.
If Wendy goes down, so does Andy.
Don't try to speak my language again, Mike.
It didn't work the last time.
But, yes.
You see, this is the problem with squaring away
your enemies list.
You wake up all your enemies in the process.
Smelling salts in all our fucking faces.
You did me that favor, Mike,
after a couple years' slumber.
But I'm back now,
and I'm wide fucking awake.
Well, I'm sorry I can't stay up all night with you
and watch the sunrise.
But since I can't pull my trigger,
you can't pull yours.
So I'm going inside to be feted
on my way to being elected president.
Hell of a concert they're putting on for me.
We're going to cash.
-Cash? -You mean, the entire...
Clear every position in the portfolio.
Our enemies are on the loose and massing.
We're taking away their target.
Welcome home, Bobby.
Never thought I'd say it,
never thought I'd think it,
but thank God you're here.
Ain't that the motherfucking truth.
Now let's get to work.