Billions Series Finale: How It Ended and Who Wound Up ‘Really Rich. Wealthy Even’

This post contains spoilers from the series finale Billions.

“You learn a lot by facing a man, fighting him. But when you put them together…”

After seven seasons, Showtime’s hit drama Billions made his final appearance Friday on Paramount+ with Showtime. (The series finale will air on Showtime on Sunday night, so if you’re waiting to watch it then, stop reading now!)

At the end of the penultimate episode, Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis), Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti), Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff) and Taylor Mason (Asia Kate Dillon) were left seemingly restless, trying to figure out how to defeat Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) and his campaign for president. But any longtime fan of the show should have assumed there was a plan — this writer didn’t buy Nancy Dunlop (Melina Kanakaredes) declaring her loyalty to Prince even after agreeing to be named his vice president — and Prince was falling.

Indeed, the opening scene saw Axe, Chuck, Wendy, Taylor and Wags (David Costabile) snacking on Chef Ryan’s (yes, Axe’s personal chef from season one) cardamom buns as Kate Sacker (Dola Rashad) walked into a meeting. It turned out that she had joined the fray just after that fateful elevator ride with Wags eight weeks earlier. (You know, the one who tipped her off to Wags, Wendy and Taylor that they were up to something).

Dola Rashad in ‘Billions’.

Christopher T. Saunders/SHOWTIME

Moments later, Philip (Toney Goins) takes last place. Considering he’s the nephew of Prince’s right-hand man, Scooter (Daniel Breaker), that was a bit more of a surprise. His turning point came four weeks earlier, when he left the office and Wendy found him at the Corner Bistro.

The group sat quietly until Ax learned that Prince was only minutes from the gates of Camp David, where he would meet with the current president. It’s also where he and his team would have to leave their phones for 90 minutes to two hours.

“Time to open the side door,” Taylor says as the group disperses to put their mysterious plan into action.

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Ben Shenkman, Paul Giamatti and Allan Havey in the movie ‘Billions’.

Christopher T. Saunders/SHOWTIME

Chuck returns to his office and announces to his team that he will prioritize the matter related to the energy sector, but if any of what he is working on leaks, he will investigate it “secretly and rigorously”. But sure enough, word of his investigation is starting to surface online.

Meanwhile, Taylor has just built an algo they created to help make “whack-a-mole” trading decisions. At Prince Capital, their energy investments begin to decline, but Philip reminds everyone, “We have a baby car seat to protect us.” Still, they bleed money.

Sacker visits Chuck in his office to discuss her future, and she agrees to return to the Southern District office and rebuild her career there on high-profile cases—”crusader-type stuff”—to allow her to run for office one day. Bryan Connerty (Toby Leonard Moore), who once worked for Chuck but lost his law license earlier in the series, joins them and they surprise him with a new license. He will no longer have to pursue a career as a hibachi chef! (Well, a little more: she cooks for Chuck, Wendy, and their kids during the show’s denouement.)

Finally, Prince is out of a meeting with POTUS. He’s grinning from ear to ear and says it was “really great” as they hand him the phone back. It rings almost immediately. It’s Axe: “I’m glad you have your audience, because it’s the closest you’re going to get to that office,” he says. “Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life.” Prince starts to argue, but Scooter shows him what happened to all his stocks. And Prince is not very happy.

David Costabile on ‘Billions’.

Christopher T. Saunders/SHOWTIME

Wendy and Taylor seem to be headed somewhere that’s “going to be freakin’ crazy” when Wendy pauses for a moment for what might be one of the episode’s best goodbye scenes. “It’s strange to say this to a peer, but I’m proud of you,” she tells them. They continue to talk vaguely about the appeal of returning to Axe’s orbit and what they might do when the dust settles on their plan. Taylor concludes with gratitude: “Thank you for existing [my co-pilot], even when I thought I wanted to fly alone.” Wendy replies, “Same, Taylor. Also.”

Prince is back in his office and ready to tie. So capable, in fact, that he throws an entire box of documents into the foggy glass wall of Wendy’s office and demands to know why she’s so sure he’s unfit to be president. “Let’s start with how you behave when you don’t get your way,” she says.

Prince grimaces at her for a long time and finally turns to see Ax standing in the middle of the office. Moments later, Dunlop exits the elevator. She made a deal with Ax at that dinner at Rao’s a few weeks ago. (I knew it!) She won’t be on his list anymore, but she’s still running for president and will bring her supporters and campaign machinery. Moments later, she also takes on Prince’s campaign manager Bradford Luke (Babak Tafti).

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Corey Stoll on ‘Billions’.

Christopher T. Saunders/SHOWTIME

On the TV in the office, we see Chuck holding a press conference revealing that the leaked allegations against the energy companies have not been verified and that everything is fine. All of their stock is coming back and then some… but of course Prince Cap has already sold them all.

“It’s midnight at the masquerade, the masks are off,” says Prince, beginning to realize that he has indeed been defeated. (Don’t forget: all his money is gone, too! Well, almost all of it. He still has $100,000,000, but he’s pretty salty about it.)

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And then each set of characters got a moment to pay tribute to each other (with a few final surprises, of course).

The prince assumed that Scooter would stay loyal to him and help him pull himself up by the bootstraps, but that bootstrap gig really only works as a solo mission, and Scooter doesn’t want to be along for the ride. In fact, he called his old friend “arrogance and self-aggrandizement gone wild.” He added: “I failed to help you steer and this is where we landed: broken and broken.”

Scooter later shared a nice goodbye with Filip, where Filip reminded him that family is always family. And he and Wags — one of the more unexpected and fun pairings of recent seasons — said their goodbyes, exchanging words about how they’ve changed each other for the better.

Billions of honor. Marc Hom/SHOWTIME

Chuck goes home to see his father (Jeffrey DeMunn), who was the source of the news. Their complicated relationship was often the catalyst for Chuck’s poor decisions, especially in earlier seasons. “You orchestrated this thing like Phil Specter did ‘River Deep… real toe-tapping,” Chuck Sr. said. “You’ve been great. You’ve deployed all your resources. You’ve teamed up with a man you’ve been in a relationship with for over a decade… That’s something that gives me comfort after I’m gone. The point is, I know now that you’re going to be okay. Learned you’re all the lessons I had to teach you and then some.”

After Chuck replied that he used to have a hard time being younger, he said that now he feels “just right.” They hugged – and Chuck Sr. went back to his nagging, this time about holding his son. “You’re still Rhoades!”

Eventually, Prince leaves the office, and Ax asks to take over the lease on the space. As the failed presidential candidate enters the elevator, his parting words are: “This country was built on second rate. And when you see mine, you’d better duck and fuck yourself for cover.” With Showtime announcing several spinoffs in the works Billionsit’s possible we haven’t seen the last of Prince (so consider ducking and covering it one day).

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After he leaves, Ax is disappointed that all of his old dealers aren’t cheering and singing “Because he’s a good guy,” but everyone is still in shock. Prince wasn’t the only one who lost all his money; and they were… or are they?

Three days before that, Ax launched a plan to have all their money go into a special fund that would buy failing stocks and then watch them come back and then some. “It is not enough to just break [Prince]”, he said. “We have to enrich everyone else in the process. Really rich. Rich, even.” And the Admiral’s Fund, as it was called (and thus the episode itself), will pay all those employees three times what they initially got.

Chuck, arriving at Prince Cap’s former offices, raised an eyebrow at all of this – it couldn’t possibly be legal – but Wendy stopped him from saying much. “Bloodhound can’t help hunting blood, but now he’s barking,” he said.

That was certainly true as Chuck and Ax shared their last moment together. “I’m not the same guy I was when we first met,” Ax says, acknowledging the rivalry that started the series. “You’re not the same guy either. I didn’t like that version. But the guy standing in front of me…” Chuck adds, “Something about going through wars with someone.”

Ultimately, they agree that their partnership is one and done, but the respect remains, as seen when Ax gives Chuck a flash memory full of the dirty secrets he gave Wags as a pledge to trust him earlier in the season. “Thank you for everything,” they say.

Billions Season 7 Cast.

Mark Seliger/SHOWTIME

As Taylor approaches Axe, it’s clear he won’t be staying. But Ax always has a plan and offers Taylor the previously rented offices of Ax Global to run the charity. Later, when they enter the space, the Taylor Mason Foundation sign is already on the wall.

Wendy waited in Axe’s office to tell him her plans: She’s not staying either. Instead, she’ll return to the telehealth company she agreed to run earlier in the season and recommend Dr. Mayer (Holland Taylor) to replace her. “I really didn’t want to say goodbye to you again,” Ax says. But Wendy reminds him that he doesn’t have to, that they’ve stayed connected through everything—from the “shadow of 9/11” to the arrest and beyond—and will always stay connected.

As Wendy leaves the building, Chuck is waiting downstairs and invites her to join him and their children for dinner.

Earlier in the episode, Wags tells Prince, “Hey man, endings are hard. Somebody always ends up unhappy.” This one, however, was not difficult; this viewer is satisfied.

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Source: HIS Education