Throughout Season 7, episode 3 of “Billions,” titled “Winston Dick Energy,” the tension between logic and emotion that drives the characters’ choices is obvious. Chuck Rhoades works hard to find the perfect balance between strategy and feeling, while the Wags go on a journey of toughness and change, and Wendy (Maggie Siff) faces a tough decision between being a performance coach and real healing. Among these mixed-up stories, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar makes an out-of-nowhere appearance that adds unexpected twists.
What Happened in Billions Season 7 Episode 3?
Michael Prince is really happy being able to guess his opponents’ next moves and stop them from sinking to their weakest and causing trouble. So, he decides to see how Chuck Rhoades reacts to this change by faking a filing on super PACs
Chuck Rhoades, surprisingly, doesn’t bite back hard. But that’s what Chuck Rhoades has been thinking as he’s sat in his powerful spot, with a bunch of workers dying to be trained by the “great man,” the man of a mix of huge smarts and wild emotion that has made him, as Ira Schirmer, his newly picked deputy DA, brings up, and undone him, as Kate Sacker, his old protege and now Mike Prince’s lawyer, breaks down Chuck Rhoades.
Amanda Torre, this season’s Kate Sacker, thinks she’s got a killer case on her hands and a sure win for the SDNY, but Chuck Rhoades is iffy about taking it on because it would also hammer home the same point by which he had put himself in the office in the first place (to help the people).
Ira finds this annoying since, according to Chuck’s way of doing things, he really works in an office full of people from whom he must learn to jump, as his dad, Chuck Sr., so colorfully talks about one of his many sexual experiences. Chuck Rhoades is really nervous. Wendy blames her “stage fright” on the fact that her patients and clients have been going to a new shrink for “real” treatment.
She finds comfort in Wags’s trust in her skills, but she’s mad about being called a “performance coach” rather than a “real therapist” and being left out of talks about helping clients reach emotional peace.
After thinking about Wags’s advice, she decides to see the “interloper,” Dr. Meyer. As she tries to “psyche” Meyer out, however, she realizes that Meyer really knows her better than she gives him credit for. Wendy accurately guesses that Dr. Meyer’s patients are stuck in a loop because of her performance-based treatment, and that they are trying to break out of this loop by seeing her.
The main story, which is also the source of the episode’s title, focuses on Wags’ stage fright. The shift from attack dog for a badass to helper for a politician has left him feeling confused and ashamed at the “Liar’s Poker” party. As a result, Wendy invites him out for drinks after he drinks “herbal tea” at work the next day and then, in classic Wendy style, tells Wags to be his best self and not wait for permission.
Although it wasn’t the smartest move, Wags’ tough stand was justified given the risk Mike Prince Capital faces. Will Quant, once part of MCP and the Taylor Mason Cap Winston main team, left MCP and started his own company within eight hours, where he makes risk management software for potential investors.
The software is known as WDE, which is also the name of the episode. The problem is that it was made using Michael Prince Capital’s own tech and billable hours, so Prince is understandably mad and tells Sacker clearly to get back the software no matter what.
Taylor and Philip have asked for a one-on-one with Winston, and they have 48 hours to set up such a meeting, after which Sacker will go full on the attack. Philip and Taylor do finally find Winston, but they can’t convince him how serious his actions are.
But Wags, following Wendy’s advice, storms in like an old-school pit bull and threatens to ruin Winston’s life if he doesn’t do as he’s told. Wags’ real job, on behalf of Axe’s private investigator Hall (Terry Kinney), was to plant a bug. Hall can listen in on Winston’s talks with potential buyers for his secret tech, and also break into his online activity, showing his history of illegal and sketchy behavior.
In the meeting room where the tech sale would happen, Wags showed all this evidence in a PowerPoint presentation alongside Taylor, Philip, and a puzzled Sacker. Wags interrupts Winston’s sales meeting to reveal that he has figured out, with the help of Hall, that every online activist has a unique mark and that he will ruin Winston’s reputation and money unless he hands over the software to MCP with the software being sold to the public as a worse version and the main version safely stored at ASD.
Wags seems to have gotten his mojo back, while Winston is basically becoming a forced worker by signing. When Dr. Meyer leaves her office after seeing her last patient of the day, she finds Wendy Rhoades chilling on the sofa there.
The realization that she’s a “gopher” doing her boss’s jobs to keep the money flowing while stuck in a loop, pretty much giving up her own soul, comes after she’s seen her ex-husband, Chuck, acting totally unlike himself and is confirmed by Meyer. As a result, she joins the ranks of the clinic’s thankful patients.
Chuck, in the meantime, gets what he thinks is an intervention invite from Ira, Chuck Sr., and Hank to visit Grant’s grave. The meeting with ex-Laker Kareem Abdul Jabbar (as himself) at Grant’s grave is a long way from the bigger and more complete logic Chuck attaches to the site of the grave, but that’s typical Chuck for you. we were caught off guard, as was Chuck, and Abdul-Jabbar giving Chuck advice about picking your battles and learning from setbacks is just another example of the weird celeb flexing that Billions loves to try but never pulls off.
Specifically, this one doesn’t belong here. It works, though. The next day, Chuck falls for the trick that Prince’s super PAC is, but not before telling Hank and Ira to stay low. Instead, Chuck goes to Amanda Torre to show he’s up for taking her case—his first big win in his new role as SDNY’s main prosecutor.
Related: Billions Season 7 Episode 4 Preview
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