‘Billions’ episode 5 review: Chuck Rhoades, a conflicted man

Through five episodes of Showtime’s “Billions,” we’ve started to learn a few separate things about Chuck Rhoades, starting with the simple fact that this is a man who is rather brilliant at his job of catching Wall Street kingpins. However, what happens when someone he cares about is tied to one of these said kingpins? That’s what he is trying to figure out right now.

Wendy may be the show’s most fascinating character; she works for Bobby Axelrod and, while she may be loyal to her husband, also isn’t willing to put her own job in jeopardy. However, the dynamic is different for Chuck, given that we don’t quite believe that he is as ruthless or as tough thanks to her being employed there. He doesn’t want to do anything to jeopardize her standing, hence why he didn’t want to make any arrests when she was there. He is still after Axe, and while he may be making moves for the time being on Bill, he hasn’t been able to land his big fish just yet.

As a matter of fact, Axe made certain that he’d remain elusive by orchestrating this whole plan to act as though he was about to leave New York on a lengthy boat trip, only to opt to stay later when he saw the downfall of Mundia-tel. He wanted to ensure that nothing that happened with this company would cause problems in the future for Axe Capital, and for the time being, he’s succeeded in that. He’s sharked his way through some more dangerous waters by being slightly ahead of the FBI and everyone else.

Is the show still flawed? Sure, since we’d like to see a more personal side of Chuck here and there, just as we also want more of Axe’s wife Lara, who has shown herself to be shrewd and interesting in her own right. Grade: B.

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