'Billions' Season 6 Episode 7 Review: Prince's buzzer beater, Chuck's mounting frustration
Contains spoilers for 'Billions' Season 6 Episode 7 'Napoleon's Hat'
'Billions' Season 6 was supposed to be the start of the Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) dynasty. It was supposed to be Chicago Bulls vs Utah Jazz in a classic contest with Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti) playing for the Salt Lake but in an MJ-like maneuver, Prince manages to scoop up up the Olympics bid and nail it for a clean swoosh inside the net. His goal of hosting the 2028 Olympics in NYC comes to fruition. Whether it was for personal gain or be the goody philanthropist, he's won that battle, and it's an ignominy of defeat for Chuck.
Part of it his success comes from his role player, or in this case, his Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman — Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon) and Scooter (Daniel Breaker). Moving past the references, 'Billions' manages to reach the midway mark with Prince as the winner. It made him sweat, it made him furious, but he was there to see it through. Would Bobby Axelrod have done better, we'd never know, but this is the dawn of the Prince era — one that he grandly celebrates.
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'Napoleon's Hat' takes its time with Chuck calling the shots and expressing his intent to demolish the billionaire class by any means possible, but the storylines that follow ensure that he's still hunting for that name that could be put him on Mount Rushmore of NY AGs. For Prince, it's that question of going down the dark road to win at any cost as he wrestles competition and setbacks to host the games. Helping him and deflating his ego is Taylor and Mase Carb that develops a new algorithm that helps turn the tide in MPC's favor.
The other storyline was Wendy (Maggie Siff) and Chuck reconnecting, or should we say, coming perilously close to probably finding mutual ground. They're divorced, but supposed dinner plans go for a toss when she tells him that the win was for the city of NY which Chuck sneers at. It's tough and relatable as to why that relationship soured off, and how the defiance could cost parties. It's not just their relationship in focus as Prince's wife Andy (Piper Perabo) is equally a determined athlete and personality like her husband.
Sure, they're on rough waters as well, but the final minutes see Prince look to do the greater good and show an unusual characteristic called compromise. With Prince winning this, the question is what will be Chuck's next move? The chase of Colin Drache for bribery? That may as well be the major move or we may just see him light the fuse in a move that blows up in everyone's faces. Only time will tell if this championship win sparks a dynasty run or just be a flash in the pan.
'Billions' Season 6 airs Sundays at 9 pm ET on Showtime.