Even with this refresh, all the familiar “Billions” trappings are still here. ... Having a deep bench of actors who understand the show’s cadences and interests, in whatever season the show happens to be in, always helps.
This show is as goofy as it sounds and twice as contrived. ... But if you’ve been missing Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Lost”) and Tunney (“The Mentalist”), it’s also a fairly standard, paint-by-numbers ABC drama.
One of the genuine pleasures of the small screen returns, better than ever.
Once again, Billions distinguishes itself as an extremely smart, high-stakes chess match, where the principals play Monopoly with real buildings, and the combatants are so ruthlessly determined to win that they're blinded to, or simply ignore, the collateral damage.
Billions still boasts the same wonderfully meaty dialogue which helped it stand out during its debut year, while the anecdotes told by the characters prove to be every bit as captivating (this time, it’s a fascinating tale of a chess game in the park). It’s ultimately the characters who remain the main draw here, though. Their complexity is a treat to behold.
Billions is full of itself in a good way, with Giamatti and Lewis dynamically leading the way while a solid supporting cast hangs in with them. The perplexities of stratospheric finance are not easily digested at times. But you’ll never be too far from another scene in which one or the other protagonist hits the spot and makes this latest Showtime series worth both your time and your money.
This is a wildly over-the-top but thoroughly entertaining soap opera, and it works because it follows the same philosophy Bobby does: If you want to succeed, you don’t have to be the smartest one in the room. You just have to be shameless.
Like “Ray Donovan,” Billions is addictive, bold, amusing, well-crafted, and rather facile, too.
Billions is shamelessly entertaining. Don’t come to it looking for an in-depth commentary on the stratification of American society or the pitfalls of late-stage capitalism. This is a generally well-crafted soap opera about rich people, one that crackles with energy and insider knowledge of its well-heeled territory and the narcissistic insiders who live there.
I've never reviewed a movie or series on any of these sites but I've done a bit critique on social media. Billions was a hit in its first 4 seasons even though there were lots of obvious flaws and monotonous storyline of personal vendetta the likes of which were thought impossible within the US government institutions well until the arrival of the current democratic maladministration of lunacy. Now we watch a real life US government and District attorneys misusing and abusing their powers to prosecute political opponents and ideological rivals. I give the writers for staying through to their woke nonsense theme all through the series. Started well, ended shamefully from season 5 upwards with season 6 just about destroying the fun and goodwill. If America ever got to a point where a Chuck Rhoades wannabe can incriminate, abuse office powers and go on personal vendetta missions just to seemingly increase their clout or stat pad their career, I hope everything disintegrates. Oh wait! It's happen already, Dems appointees grossly abusing their office powers to prosecute their government's political rivals and just about anyone that's against woke madness disguised as DEI which is vaporizing the remnant of faith and traditional values that can be found in America.
This show and its writing are ridiculous, once you get past that its a pretty good watch. Lots of drama, intrigue, and backstabbing to go around. It seems to be gettin more and more silly as the seasons go on, but Paul Giamatti makes this a cant miss.
Woke kills all. Killed another good show. Please get eaten by sharks instead of jumping them.
Season 1-5 gets my highest rate. But season 6 RUINED EVRRYTHING! EVERY THING. Haven't seen any tv show turns that blank that quick.
I don't understand how this is the only show this season to put a mid season break in it without announcing dates for the future episodes. I mean surely the episodes were shot before they started airing it. I'm getting tested to get into work every day, would it really be that hard to test the editors before they came into the studio to edit the show? What an unsatisfying end to a mid season finale.
Billions is a show that delivers day in and day out. Just when you think there's nothing left on the palette another truck pulls up and delivery some more. The settings is complex but not hard to follow. The characters are visceral, eclectic, deep, almost relate-able but just out of reach for the common viewer. The writing is superb. Billions, at least for myself, is an addictive commodity that day-trades the hell out of my interests, playing every angle and waging every bet strategically so that when I think one plot development is going to tie everything up to my satisfaction things turn and up comes another important cog to a significant wheel. But, unlike many shows that will add in plot swings to attempt to keep the viewer at arms-length of what they've been waiting for all-along, Billions organically hedges my expectations because this isn't about a straight forward cat and mouse game of law vs. lawless, it's what I fully expect in the real world when self-interest gets in the way of what should be and it's effing amazing. Billions almost never leaves me feeling like I've wasted some time with an episode. Even in the slower, seemingly-insignificant moments the show is making viable efforts to keep me aware of who these people are and why I should care about them. I'm very invested in the show and I love how things have developed over the show's first few seasons. Granted, it can't go on forever but I fully expect Showtime to make a calculated effort to keep the drama and mental suspense going as long as it possibly can before recognizing this show's proper end. Whether that's with a 5th, a 6th, or 7th season is inconsequential - it's going to end and I fully expect to be fulfilled by whatever finality this show offers because I care about it entirely, but I don't feel like I dwell on it for days and that's an experience to have in a show with this much draw. I don't want to wear Billions on my sleeve I just want to appreciate it and laugh as I think about how there are people like this that are real and have gone through or are going through similar experiences.
Season 4 was very good but not great like prior seasons. There were some noticeable plausibility issues that hadn't surfaced before. Some plot elements were rushed, like Chuck regaining power/influence as NY AG in the span of one or two eps. And the Musketeer-esque dialogue that characterized "Wags" has now spread to Ari Spyros who utilizes Shakespearan lingo more to comedic than dramatic effect. Sometimes the dialogue seems like it's from 1700's euro-military. And our crew continues their banter peppered with pop culture references, mainly from film. One element that I do still like in this show is that bad things still happen to our primary characters, they're not immune from problems, both petty and large, so that helps to "keep it real". The season finale made for a good launching point into next season which has been confirmed, just have to wait another freakin year, ugh.
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