'Billions' Season 5 Episode 1: Will Taylor Mason betray Chuck and Bobby to win the cat-and-mouse game?
'Billions' is back with a bodacious all-new season as old foes and friends get back to the power battle and rivalry game. Titled ‘The New Decas’, the first episode brings Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon) to Axe Capital, but not without conflicts.
As Wendy Rhoades tries to sort out the toxic work environment by bringing the brilliant WWE superstar Becky Lynch, Taylor's true intentions are still a suspense. Who will she back? Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) and Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) or neither? While she was sent by Chuck, her loyalties may shift as she interacts closely with Bobby. Fans can't stop wondering what will happen this season.
"Chuck putting Taylor in direct view of Axe is genius but I don’t know how this plays out. Especially with Chuck and Axe still communicating the way they are #Billions," one viewer posted and another said, "Chucks are both going down at some point and I'm wondering if Taylor is going to be the one to do it!" Another said, "Season 5! Let’s see what you have in store for us! Will Taylor finally defeat Axe? She almost got him to spend R5 billion on Rebecca Cantu. Rebecca saved him and then he punished her for it!"
One Reddit viewer went on to say, "I think Bobby and Taylor are intelligent enough to think past that and think so far ahead of everyone else's moves, that either of them 2 will win in the end (although Chuck could have been a Chess grandmaster, apparently). So who knows!!!" Another posted, "I love that Chuck instantly saw that Taylor switched back to Bobby's side. Thought that arc was going to take a season to complete, but Chuck is smarter than that."
Talking about how the conflicts could be resolved, one fan said, "I could see the Taylor/Bobby conflict resolving this season. I would imagine they would save the conclusion of the Chuck/Bobby rivalry for the series finale... which at this rate better come in Season 6."
One wrote, "It will be interesting to watch this cat and mouse between Taylor, Axe and Chuck. Axe knows Taylor's a plant, Chuck knows that Axe knows this now. Taylor is playing both of them and both are pretending to be friends with each other. Do I have that straight now?"
Referring to the last conversation between Bobby and Taylor at the end of the episode, one fan said, "Taylor telling Axe and him knowing was a great bait and switch. I thought it was going to be like 10 episodes of it." Another wrote, "I’m actually here for Axe and Taylor uniting. They make a good team #Billions." One went on to say, "Did both. Axelrod is sooo hot (love redheads) and Taylor is so awesome and ballsy."
Meanwhile, some fans are awestruck at how perfectly the pronouns are used for binary characters on the show. "You know what I love the most about #Billions? No matter how much f***ed up s**t Taylor does, the characters still respect their pronouns. Always," one wrote and another said, "Interesting that all the characters are vile backstabbing reprobates but they all somehow know and use politically correct pronouns for Taylor. #Billions."
As more episodes of ‘Billions’ drop every week on Showtime at 9 pm ET, it will be interesting to see where this conflict goes and who gets the last piece of cake.