r/Billions

Mine's a tie between Dr Swerdlow and Judge DeGullio [sic]

I recently got done rewatching the show for the first time in it's entirety, these are my thoughts on each season

Season one: the first half of this season is a little wobbly, it takes some time before Billions finds it’s footing. The characters early on don't feel fleshed out and instead like they're conduits for lines that sound cool in a trailer.  “The Deal” is the episode where everything comes together, there’s an incredible scene where Chuck and Axe are basically baiting each other into tearing up the check as per Axe’s surrender.  After that point, the rest of the season is electric and the characters come alive. There's a unique feel to season one, it doesn't yet feel confident in what it is but the writing is still strong. I think this is the weakest of Billions' golden seasons but still a promising start.

Season two: I think this is the most flawless season of the entire show.  This is before the dialogue and references started to become too obnoxious, but also where the characters have become fleshed out and the story has progressed enough to where you’re hooked.  Every storyline, from Axe's pursuits in Sandicot to Chuck taking down the CEO of Spartan Ives, builds upon one another in a beautiful way until we reach the season's endgame: Ice Juice, a story that works so well because Axe in season two has been taking loss after loss, so right at the moment when the audience is expecting the tables to turn--they don’t and Axe suffers his biggest loss yet. "Golden Frog Time", chronicling the Ice Juice IPO, is one of the most thrilling episodes of anything I've ever seen. Phenomenal season that fired on all cylinders.

Season three: this season works so well because it puts some of the show’s all-time best episodes midseason, rather than saving them for the end. It's rare that all the main characters are on the brink of jailtime in just episode six.  Ice Juice, however preposterous it may be, was my favorite storyline of the whole show and the resolution to it was just as thrilling as the way it was introduced. The second half of the season takes a different approach, spinning two completely separate stories (Chuck and Jeffcoat, Axe and Taylor) before they culminate in the season finale. The ending, where Axe and Chuck finally team up, was probably the most perfect full circle end to any Billions season.  The only downside to season three is that this is where the show started to feel like a parody of itself, where the characters started to feel like caricatures and the dialogue started to become obnoxious; the stories this season were just so strong that I was willing to overlook this.

Season four: this is where things started to go awry.  It’s odd because this season starts off so well, “Chickentown” and “Overton Window” were both classics, but after Chuck gets elected NYAG, things go downhill.  Axe and Chuck’s partnership is barely utilized beyond the first few episodes, Taylor being Axe's nemesis feels forced, and Chuck’s plan for Connerty (his land deal with Senior) is super boring and goes on for way longer than it needed to. The season finale was a total disappointment, hitting the reset button on nearly every front, to the point where it feels like nothing really happened this season. This was the season where I realized the show had no real end in sight and will just keep spinning it's wheels until they decide to stop. As for positives, this is probably Maggie Siff’s best season as Wendy, she is put through the ringer even beyond her normal Axe/Chuck trappings.

Season five: when I first watched the show, this was my least favorite season.  Upon rewatch, this was so much more enjoyable than the fourth season.  Things are a lot more upbeat, the show feels more comfortable leaning more into the schlock, and Mike Prince brings something new to the dynamic at play.  Even beyond the writing, this season is interesting for what went down behind the scenes: first, Damien Lewis wanted out of the show so this was written to be Axe's last season as a regular. Then, eight episodes into filming, COVID hit and disrupted production by an entire year. Then, right when production resumed, Damien Lewis' wife passed and he had to film his scenes from the UK. I completely forgot that Axe and Wendy got romantic at the end of this season and I was surprised by how well it worked for me, and the season finale where Axe leaves is one of my favorite episodes of the whole show. It’s not a great season, in fact the first half of the season has some duds, but it’s overall much better than I remembered.

Season six: BORRRRIINNNGGG.  I can see on paper what the writers wanted to accomplish, that over the course of this season, Mike Prince's dangerous and egomaniacal side would slowly peek it's head out.  That would be forgivable if the stories in the meantime were entertaining, which they weren’t.  There were no real stakes to the Olympics storyline which took up more than half the season--why should I care whether the Olympics come to New York? Mike Prince isn't hate-able enough for me to root against him and Chuck is the most sanctimonious he's ever been.  Prince needed to be a more loathesome character (the kind of villain he becomes in season seven).  But instead he spends most of the season as this philanthropist masquerading as a boy scout and it’s not interesting.  I want to shoutout Corey Stoll because I think he’s very good in the role, it’s just unfortunate that he didn’t have a lot of great stuff to work with this season.  “Hindenburg” is the only episode of the season that I really enjoyed, and that was pretty much entirely because of Paul Giamatti’s amazing performance on the floor of the NY State Senate.

Season seven: Chuck returning to his former position at SDNY is probably emblematic of the season as a whole--it's not the early seasons, but it's the closest it's come to replicating those heights. The biggest problem with this season is that they do a poor job of explaining why a Mike Prince presidency would be so unthinkable (yeah he thinks a lot of himself, so what?)--but even then they make him a very good foil for the main characters, especially in the final episodes. I really liked the season's take on Bohemian Grove ("The Owl"), I wish it did more like that and explored the darker underbelly of "elites". The final episodes this season are very satisfying, maybe a little too satisfying for a bunch of characters that are pretty terrible people, but I'll let it slide since the drama is the most thrilling Billions has been in seasons.

Season ranking: 2 > 3 > 1 > 7 > 5 > 4 > 6