'Billions' Season 5 Episode 9: Is Mike Prince a good man? 'Implosion' suggests so
Spoilers for 'Billions' Season 5 Episode 9 'Implosion'
If anything, 'Billions' Season 5 Episode 9 shows one side of Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) that makes you root for him. 'Implosion' suggests that he may have been devious, but he does have a good side to him and that is shown distinctly in the episode. One of the scenes sees him talk to a client who thinks of Prince as a no-good conniving son-of-b***h after Axe (Damian Lewis) exposes him on national television.
The approach when it comes to retaining the client would be to look him in the eye and use his flaws against him. It was a move that made Prince sick. "It makes me want to change my shirt," he says. This just goes on to show he is not the man who Axe wants to decimate and burn his business to the ground.
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In the final minutes, he sides with New York AG and Axe's archenemy Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) to bring down Axe, and joining the fight is Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) whose company garnered major flak for a move Axe pulled. This not just jeopardized the image of the company, but also her image and loyalty to her boss that now comes as tarnished. The move against Axe's pizza investment too was more of retaliation against his competition whose sole intention is to just vanquish Prince.
The other instance of his goodness was seen when he confronts Taylor about the move of putting good companies out of business. A perplexed Taylor listens as he goes about the ramifications of the underhanded stunt Axe pulls. By setting Impact Investment back, every company that was sold off would see all the humanitarian work undone.
This pretty much shows Prince cares. He even makes the visit to his dead friend David's mother who accuses him of stealing the pal's idea and become the success he is now. It ends badly, but it proves he has regretted the decision. Making us question how this fight might just end. Will it be Prince playing dirty to get the better of Axe, or will he just give the good fight and move away with mixed feelings after probably winning?
'Billions' airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on Showtime.