HomeTVBillions 2x12 Ball in Hand season finale recap

Billions 2×12 Ball in Hand season finale recap

On the season two finale of Billions, Axe (Damien Lewis) was arrested.

The episode began with Axe waking up in bed and looking relieved to see Lara (Malin Akerman) beside him. There was a knock at the door and he found Lawrence Boyd (Eric Bogosian) there to see him. Axe was surprised to see he was released and shocked when Boyd explained that Axe was going to be arrested later in the day.

Axe told Lara about Boyd and that he must have made a deal. He explained that they were coming to arrest him today so he had some things to put into action. Lara said they knew it might happen and that they were prepared. She also said that she had decided not to run with him and would stay with the kids. Axe replied that he wasn’t going anywhere and that they would stay and fight.

Meanwhile, Chuck (Paul Giamatti) met with Dake (Christopher Denham) in a church. Dake wanted to keep Chuck out of the prosecution much to Chuck’s annoyance. Chuck requested that the Ice Juice IPO never tracked back to his father. Dake refused and said that Axe would be arrested at the end of the day. Chuck cautioned that without him, Dake would need a good supply of body bags.

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Wendy (Maggie Siff) called Chuck to talk about the Ice Juice IPO. Chuck said he was past it and that all would become clear later in the day. She said she would see him at therapy but he said he was done with it. He told her that he would be home after work and hoped that she would too.

Ms. Minchak (Mary-Louise Parker) paid Chuck a visit after hearing he was going after Axe. He assured her that he would get what she needed to protect himself from his father, Chuck Sr. (Jeffrey DeMunn), in writing.

Axe spoke to Bach (Glen Fleshler) but he could find out nothing about an imminent arrest. Axe asked him to find out what he could and to negotiate if there was to be an arrest. Bach later spoke to Dake to try and get the immunity deal back on but it was refused. Dake also refused to negotiate the terms of the arrest.

Axe raced to Axe Capital and had Deb (Ilfenesh Hadera) grab a Burn-up Bin. He had her torch a load of his personal items. Wags (David Constabile) got started on the shredding and having hard drives destroyed.

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Wags spoke with Axe about next steps, pointing out that the next decisions could cost the firm hundreds of millions of dollars. Axe called in Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) to find ways to liquidate their investments. Before he left, Axe gave a burner phone to Wags so they could communicate during the day.

At Chuck’s office his staff became suspicious of what was going on. They confronted Chuck but he was out and not reachable. Without answers, Sacher (Condola Rashad) decided to take a job elsewhere. Chuck asked her to be patient for one day until things settled down before deciding.

Taylor worked out what to do to save Axe Capital and spoke to Wags. He gave them the burner phone to contact Axe. At the meet Taylor explained what to do and Axe agreed. He told Taylor to get everything in place and wait for his word to proceed.

Axe went to see his kids at school to tell them he would be arrested. He struggled to find the words to explain things to them. They were both worried and upset, he told them he made mistakes and messed up. He said he would try to win but whatever happened he was still their dad. Before he left he gave them a big hug each and asked them to be good for their mother.

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To keep Dake off his trail, Axe gave his credit cards to a bunch of random guys. He told them to use them to buy whatever they wanted. He also made a phone call to Lara to tell her that he was coming home. This was the signal for Dake to make the arrest as they were monitoring his calls.

A huge FBI team followed Axe’s car to his home. There they found one of his employee’s driving with no Axe inside. They then served the arrest warrant to Lara and ripped the house apart to try and find Axe. They even cut their way into the vault and found it empty apart from a clown statue.

Dake was furious and sent his standby teams to Axe’s other properties and Axe Capital but he was nowhere to be found. Dake finally caved and went to ask for Chuck’s help. Chuck agreed to help in return for what he asked earlier and added that he also wanted Brian (Toby Leonard Moore) to be in charge of prosecution. After Dake agreed, Chuck told him to monitor Wendy’s phone.

Chuck met with Brian to tell him the news which delighted him. He also asked that Brian tell Sacher that she would be promoted to Chief of Crim. It looks like she’ll be staying after all.

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Chuck went to watch Axe meet with Wendy at the World Trade Center memorial site. Axe apologised to her and she forgave him. She agreed to help him find his way back. They embraced as Dake arrived to arrest him. At Axe Capital, Taylor was promoted to CIO and put their plan into action. Dollar Bill (Kelly AuCoin) arrived to help and agreed with the promotion for Taylor.

Elsewhere in the episode, Chuck met with Ira (Ben Shenkman) and his father to explain what had happened with the Ice Juice IPO and his involvement in it. They realised that Chuck had used them and their money to go after Axe. They were both really upset at him for losing their money.

Chuck forced his father to sign an affidavit. It said Chuck had no knowledge his trust was used to protect his run for governor. His father did as he asked but then told Chuck that he was done with him.

Before Chuck left, his father gave him an envelope that he requested he open in front of him. Inside were photographs of Wendy and the tech billionaire she spent the night with. It clearly hurt Chuck which is exactly what his father wanted.

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At the end of the episode, Axe was taken into custody. Chuck arrived and went to talk with Axe who said he knew that Chuck would be behind things.

Axe poked fun at Chuck losing all his money but he replied that it was worth it. Axe promised that once out on bail he wouldn’t ever be coming back. Chuck promised to take him down and Axe promised to find the one thing that would bring Chuck down.

Axe was released on bail and he headed home. Chuck also went home, like he told Wendy he would, and she met him there. He didn’t mention what his father showed him about her and they went inside holding hands after a big hug.

Billions will return for a third season in 2018.

Greg Ellwood
Greg Ellwoodhttps://8ce250469d.nxcli.io
Greg is the Deputy Editor of Entertainment Focus. He writes about Games, Tech and TV. You can find him on Xbox/PSN/Steam as Tahllian.

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