‘Billions’ Season 5 Episode 1: Who is billionaire Michael Prince and how will he be a threat to Bobby Axelrod?
‘Billions’ is back with a bang. Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) is surrounded by old foes and friends as a new threat looms. The first episode, ‘The New Decas’, sees the introduction of a bald, brazen business titan Michael Prince (Corey Stoll).
Bobby is hellbent to complete the road trip when his right-hand man Mike Wagner (David Costabile) slips in a cover shoot invitation from Vanity Fair for their 'The New Decas' issue. While he initially turns it down, he gets back when Wags discloses that the magazine could go with Mike Prince. It doesn't really give him an edge. In fact, Bobby gets a taste of the ripe, fierce rivalry soon.
As the two try to outflank each other, through muted hatred and disguised smiles, Prince flaunts his humility. "I have no doubt you'd find a way to be proud with just a dash of humility on top," Bobby teases him, to which he retorts back, "A man with no humility, is a man with no pride at all." In another scene, he says, "I'm still rich enough for 20 lifetimes."
While Bobby goes to the shoot, a problem upstate at the mining town forces him to reschedule the portrait and the interview. The result: Prince takes up the entire space on the magazine cover and ends up removing the ‘s’ from ‘The New Decas’. Seems like Prince is the rival Bobby never expected to face at this point.
Creators Brian Koppelman and David Levien were hoping to add the actor to the cast for a long time now. "We were able to write a character for him that is super intelligent, aggressive, charismatic, all of the things that he’s really built to play," they said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Koppelman added, "He’s aware of the consequences of modern life, meaning he’s aware of environmental impact, he’s aware of the sort of corrosive impact of the world of high finance. But, at the same time, he’s all the way in that world, too. And he and Bobby Axelrod do not see the world the same way, but they’re both titanic figures in the world of finance, and so sparks fly when the two of them are in the same room."
So, what exactly is Mike Prince's background? In the same interview, Stoll says, "He comes from about as far from Axe’s background as possible. He’s a suburban kid from Indiana, this very two-and-a-half kids backyard, very wholesome Midwestern community. He has within him that same incredible competitive streak that Axe does, but it’s tempered with this incredible drive to do good and to be a good person and to see himself as a good person. So there’s a lot of conflict between Prince and other characters this season, but probably stronger than that is the fight within himself to reconcile being the capitalist that he very much is and being a good person."
Talking about the dynamic with Bobby, he said, "It’s an interesting challenge coming onto a show that’s in its fifth season now and everybody knows their characters so well and the writers know the actors well enough to write towards them, so there’s this comfortability that everyone has. One of the things that I’ve keyed into on this show is how everybody is very competitive and every scene is a power struggle — but the characters are happy warriors, there is this joy that almost all of the characters take in the fight."
Fans are excited to see where Mike's character will be headed. In a Reddit thread, one fan said, "Probably the only good part of the episode. The show shines when it focuses on Axe and his rivals with the mind games," and another posted, "Looking forward to seeing what will go down with him in the series. Chuck was powerful, Taylor was smart and almost rich, Prince will be powerful, smart, AND rich. He is looking to be formidable."
"I wonder how much Mike 'Thomas Aquinas' Price paid to remove the 's' from 'The New Decas.' His namesake is rolling in his grave. #Billions," one fan posted and another said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the two titans of the finance world. Bobby Axelrod X Mike Prince! #Billions."
As more episodes drop every week on Showtime at 9 pm ET on Sundays and the Showtime app at 12 am ET, only time will tell whether Mike Prince turns out a bigger rival to Bobby than Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti).