Original subtitles

[Axe] Previously on Billions...

It needs to be legalized, and federally.

Yeah, right on, hop-head.

My two enemies have linked up.

Whatever he's goin' after, I'm gonna take it.

This is about control over me one last time.

D'you want to be done? Then let's be done.

I sold to Axe.

I have to share some shit that's making me feel seriously awk.

Taylor went behind Axe's back

to lay off the cannabis deal to a third party.

Whoa, fuck. Who?

[Wendy] Lawrence Boyd.

You can't really say you're playing

unless you're willing to put your highest value

pieces on the board.

[Axe] My country house. It is now your house.

Just cross out Prince's name in the deal

and put mine in.

And I will use his due diligence as my own.

Fuck yeah!

He actually closed on that money.

Time to arrest Winslow.

You found the one CEO who also happened to be running

a criminal enterprise.

[Sacker] Just another drug dealer moving major weight.

Douse the fucking smokes. Now!

[Wags] Sometime in the next 24 hours,

they believe they'll have you in custody.

And they don't believe you have a way out this time.

What do you want us to do?

I have no fucking idea.

[dramatic music]

[elevator bell dings]

He here? Up in his office?

Where else is he gonna be?

It is his office, right?

For now.

So I finally got a clean test.

Just in time for this.

Worst-case it for me.

No point in that.

We need to mount a vigorous...

Worst-case it.

You wanna talk worst-case scenarios?

Okay. But it'll be a mood killer.

It's hard to kill what's already dead, Orrin.

[Orrin] Fair.

Okay. Worst case is

the NYAG has you on a pu-pu platter

of violations related to Winslow's arrest.

As the head of a bank,

it is your fiduciary responsibility

to know your customer's business...

the fact that she was selling

and processing, through Axe Bank,

the proceeds of illegal marijuana.

So... I'm the farmer in the fucking dell.

Right in the center of the circle.

Worse, Rhoades can work with the Manhattan DA

and potentially his old cronies at the US Attorney's Office

to use that as a gateway to local, state, and federal

money-laundering violations

and false records and statements.

They will see you are more than negligent,

that you willfully ignored and actually conspired

with the money-laundering.

This will have real teeth criminally.

Fangs, because they go deep

and suck the life out of you.

Fuck!

[Axe] How many years am I facing?

We'll pick off the shakier aspects of the case.

We'll claim there were efforts made to conceal by Winslow.

We'll work the jury pool for maximum weakness

and/or affinity.

Worst-case.

Don't make me say it again.

Now. How many years?

Fifteen, 20, likely,

for you as the chairman.

For the CEO...

But I hardly had a chance to do anything.

I'm a figurehead.

You know it. I know it. They definitely know it.

They don't give a shit, Wags.

[Orrin] No, they don't.

Your name's on the contract as CEO, Wags.

You signed. It was notarized.

So you take the weight right along with Bobby.

Isn't this, I don't know, entrapment?

Only if Chuck induced Winslow to grow the illicit crop.

[Orrin] He likely found out about this after the fact and used it.

But whatever he did wrong, whatever was out of line,

- I will dig into. - [Axe] Damn right.

Because believe me, you will find there's plenty out of line.

This way this guy rolls.

And we need to show the world.

The freezing of your assets, along with Axe Bank's

and Axe Asset Management's funds,

will coincide with the issuance of an arrest warrant on you.

Jesus Christ.

They're gonna arrest and freeze me too, aren't they?

Motherfucker.

This has been defined as a worst-case scenario meeting, so,

yes, of course, they are, Wags.

Fast or slow...

how do you wanna play it?

Let 'em bring it.

Let's get it on.

I'll make it happen as quickly as possible, then.

I can arrange a surrender, but you'll have to honor it.

You can't do a runaround like last time.

Oh, I'll honor it.

More than that, I'm gonna fight it loudly and publicly.

And once and for all, because he's in my way now,

on things that are even more important than business.

So push the timeline on this, Orrin. Fast.

The arrest, the battle, the victory.

I will.

I can't handle your defense myself, Wags.

But I'll put you with a killer.

Talk later in the ante meridiem, Bobby.

Don't you have a meeting to attend to?

Seems that should now become the priority.

Yeah.

Before I go, I need you to understand something.

[Wags] I can't.

There's no scenario where I survive a year in jail,

much less what we're looking at here.

You're not going to jail.

Well, you might.

It's probable, actually.

But you are a lot stronger than you think you are.

I know exactly how strong I am,

and it's one notch less than strong enough for jail.

We'll get with consultants.

I'll have it all organized for ourselves.

It will suck,

but this is something you will live through.

Axe,

I worship at your altar, sir.

But I'm telling you right now,

I'm never walking into a jail cell with my name on it.

Whatever I have to do,

I'll do it.

I believe you.

Thanks for telling me.

But we are a long way from walking into a cell.

[crickets chirping]

[door opens]

[sighs]

Not really the kickoff I envisioned for us.

I wanted a conscious...

a beginning.

I pictured thatched huts over blue water.

Not courtrooms. Board shorts.

Not suits and ties.

Yeah, well, that's the thing about something real.

It doesn't have to look like a fantasy.

[sighs] You're still in?

Where am I standing?

Where I always have.

Back-to-back with you,

wading into the fight together...

[sighs]

which means getting back to the office

before all this really breaks.

Deal with the troops while you...

Yeah.

Start breaking things... as discussed.

Warrants are imminent.

And I have to say, the idea of him being surprised like this...

[chuckles]

Oh, there's something glorious in it.

His plane?

Uh, being watched.

Poised to seize both of them.

Tail numbers have no-fly orders.

- Smart. - [Chuck] Oh, no circus this time.

The assets are ready to go into the deep freeze.

So now it's down to the perp walk.

What do you have planned?

The lefty guns scoop up while he's about to do a job,

or the shake-and-wake while he's in bed?

I considered all of it.

But I want it to be at the office.

I walk him out rear-cuffed in front of his loyal troops.

Let them see him broken.

Let that break them.

You seem tired. Late night?

Nah. Just couldn't sleep on account of all the excitement.

What about Winslow? What are you gonna...

Oh, that's wired. She's in custody

but has been provided access to a cell phone

in case he calls, so as not to raise suspicion.

Nice. Seems like you covered all the...

We're aware you plan on arresting my client

Robert Axelrod shortly.

It is the policy of this office

not to comment on ongoing investigations

if there is one.

[Orrin] Mr. Attorney General,

Chuck, come on.

Let's spare everyone the raree-show

and set a surrender date.

I'm thinking 24 hours from now,

with the place to be mutually agreed upon.

If I agree, if you say Axelrod will surrender,

it's your word, your law license,

and your ass on the line, Mr. Bach.

Assurances have been made,

so I can make them to you.

But hey,

see for yourself.

What amounts to a campaign against me,

resulting in what I understand is to be yet another arrest.

So I say to the Attorney General,

come on, Chuck.

Come on down here and arrest me now.

I can prove my innocence.

Fuck me. He's downstairs.

Right across the street.

And so you know, as I do,

that whatever kind of supposed crime I committed

is really just the crime of living and breathing

in Chuck Rhoades's general vicinity.

This is fucked.

Yeah. But our man's fucking 'em right back,

and in their backyard, no less.

This seems like going up to a murder hornet's nest,

shaking it, and almost asking it to sting you.

If Bobby Axelrod shook a hornet's nest,

the goddamn hornet ought to have

the goddamn sense to stay inside.

I don't know, Dollar Bill. A hornet's kind of like me.

Once we're in attack mode, we don't fucking retreat.

You're freaking me out.

[Axe] But look, now is the time to stand

to get this thing done once and for all.

So come on, Chuck.

Charge me with something and see if you can make it stick.

[indistinct chatter]

Oh.

So, then, you heard me. Where are the cuffs?

Oh... you don't get to decide the when and where

on my timetable.

[chuckles] It appears that your timetable

is as many years as you like.

But it seems like just yesterday you were striding in my office

to tell me that you had nothing to lose.

Or was it the day before yesterday,

and yesterday was when you were telling me

that it was worth it for you to go down with me.

This is personal.

It's not judicial.

And this is when I finally get my chance to prove it.

Oh, yes.

He will get the day in court he so richly deserves.

Once I have everything in order, and I will, quite soon,

it'll happen.

Mr. Axelrod will surrender to me.

That's a legal term, to be clear, Chuck.

[chuckles]

So I will. Technically.

But know this...

I will be fighting you to my dying breath.

[reporter 1] Another word before you go?

[reporter 2] Mr. Rhoades before you leave.

[camera shutters clicking]

[suspenseful music]

So then, any more questions?

I will answer whatever my mouthpiece will allow.

[clamoring]

[applause]

Well, I wanna cheer too,

but these circumstances feel trepidatious.

Yeah, I'm feeling discomfited about my future.

Oh, look, the fucking vocab twins.

[Victor] You guys aren't getting it.

You don't drag an alley fighter into an alley.

'Cause that's what Axe is, an alley fighter,

a real Carboni.

And that's where Chuck Rhoades just dragged him.

While they're alley fighting, where does that leave us?

It leaves you head down, eyes forward,

doing good work earning returns for the firm...

or the bank, as the case may be.

The rest will sort itself out.

Much like the recent unpleasantness.

We need to stay calm and unified.

That'll be a first for this place.

Yeah. And won't the assets be frozen and seized?

He'll come up with a workaround. Like he has in the past.

Like he always does.

Yes, I'm... I'm sure some kind of arrangement will be struck.

Near-term, the negative press will suck.

But in the long run,

we will win, as we always have.

So was his getting out ahead of it

with a press conference part of the plan?

These things are fluid.

I can't spare the time or the focus to take the two of you apart today.

But if I did, believe me, you'd be lying on the floor in pieces.

Taylor, I can understand why you think

anything you do to him is justified.

You've basically become him, on his worst day.

But, Rian,

you still have the spark of a soul about you.

The way you used me for...

Not even your own ends, but Taylor's?

If you don't about-face now, this minute,

you won't even recognize who you were

by the time you turn 26.

I thought you had your arms around this.

I did. I do.

Believe me, I'm taking fucking measures.

[Taylor] I hope so.

Because a wounded and cornered Bobby Axelrod

is not something many survive.

I'm not for firing squads.

- Good to know. - Yeah.

I saw the Kubrick film as a tyke,

turned me off 'em. But if I were,

it would be for those who leak secrets to enemy forces,

leave us unprotected against...

Yes. True.

- I could tell you stories. - Yeah.

I'm sure you could, Karl.

But right now, the story we need to tell

is that of the arrest and conviction of Robert Axelrod.

Later, we will find and punish the leaker.

Not against the wall, though.

We'll stop just short of that.

Yes.

For now, I want surveillance on Axelrod to prevent any bullshit.

I want Michael Wagner scooped up.

We'll sweat him.

Work on him to flip.

Probably useless, but I want my time in the ring.

- You'll have it. - [Chuck] We need

to put Axe in a spot where he takes a plea.

No trial. No popularity contest

or chance to manipulate.

Hmm. We move to sequester the jury so that he can't try to buy them.

But, Chuck, we do have a strong enough case to...

As we have in the past.

No.

We make him admit his guilt.

Take his punishment.

We win with a plea even before a trial

because that win, that justice,

is the important thing.

As Patrick Ewing knows well,

don't settle for a finger roll,

dunk the fucking ball.

I don't even understand what Wendy was saying,

but it made me feel icky.

No, she is right.

You won't recognize yourself by the end of our time together.

Because that person you were lied to herself

about who she was and what she wanted.

That was a person who became artsy and quirky

and analytical when she was picked on as a kid

instead of using what she really felt,

which was hatred.

I did not. I don't hate.

You do.

You've turned it into something else.

Like I used to.

But it was impressed upon me that instead,

and listen to me here,

instead, it's best turned into fuel

because it's effective.

And nothing burns as clean.

[Axe] This is not a usual investment meeting.

For this next little stretch,

I'll be relaying my instructions to you remotely.

As will I.

We won't be in the office as much as usual.

So it's goodbye for now

while we take cover to fight.

But we will be back at it again soon enough.

We'll hold it down for you, boss.

I know you will, Bill.

That's why there'll always be a place for an operator like you

in the money business.

[Axe] And your place is here, Axe Cap.

Now, keep your eyes open for opportunity, even now.

You got it.

- It feels like we're at the end. - [Axe] Nah.

The end of the beginning is all, Ben Kim.

Come on.

All right?

Sean, how much is in the Foundation right now?

The princely sum of 570 million.

We're gonna need a war chest for this battle.

I need to have it transferred to a new entity for the time being.

I'll send you the information.

I have always had a plan at the ready for this contingency.

Able man you are.

We'll be back at those good works soon enough.

As always, I serve at your pleasure.

[exhales]

[footsteps approaching]

Catch up with you later.

[exhales]

I didn't think I needed to hear what the rest of them did.

And I didn't think you'd show.

- I'm not scared. - [Axe] I know what you did.

That Boyd move with the cannabis company

wasn't self-interest or a greed play.

You fucking baited me.

[Axe scoffs]

You once said to me you didn't think you learned enough from me yet.

Seems like now you have.

I thought we'd come together here.

You forced me back into working for you practically at gunpoint.

So along the way, you thought you'd team up with Chuck

to fuck me?

I decided it right from the start, as you know.

I just forgot for a little while.

Uh-huh.

Even though it was me that took you in?

Just another fucking math nerd?

One with potential to be sure,

but one of many.

If you had more than one of me,

you'd have gotten rid of the actual me long ago.

But you didn't because I am a special fucking case,

as you might put it.

Not so special you didn't need me to platform you.

I propped you up, brought you along,

gave you the keys to a fucking space shuttle.

I thought you wanted to get rich together,

and I let that fool me.

But your problem, as an investor,

is that your idealism is at war with your profit drive.

And one day that will ruin you.

While your problem, as a boss, as a mentor, as a person,

is you see my work product, my company, me,

as yours to do with as you see fit.

And so now you've killed your mentor.

Congratulations.

Must mean... what?

Now you're strong?

You can lead?

Maybe.

I did think I'd feel better about it, though,

have some sense of victory or accomplishment.

You never did react well to competition.

[Taylor] No.

But I have come to realize I'll do anything

for my own autonomy.

So you figured you'd let the government freeze

everything that's mine,

and then go to your pal Chuck Rhoades

and break off your piece and go off on your own?

[Taylor] Something along those lines.

But now, all I really feel is...

sadness.

That I want to thank you, as ridiculous as that is.

And I think I'm...

no, I am sorry.

Sorry that it came to this.

You're sorry?

Shit.

You'll get over it.

The amount of time you spend

feeling bad over slitting your enemies' throats

will get shorter and shorter in the future

until it's barely a fucking blip.

And if you don't get over it,

well, you can bring me some cookies

to Wallkill Correctional on visiting day.

But I don't think it's gonna go that way.

And I think you know that.

[Chuck] Well, Mr. Wagner, we find ourselves

across the table once again.

Only this time, you don't have your master to hide behind.

I have Neal, here, though.

[Chuck scoffs] 'Fraid that's not going to be much help.

Oh, you're facing up to 25 years, friend-o.

Two bits.

[speaks Spanish] Vente-cinco.

That's what a bank CEO like you who's driven clear over

the lane markers of Know Your Customer,

smack into the guardrails of Anti-Money Laundering laws,

is staring down.

Long time. You'll be a senior citizen looking for

your Social Security check by the time you get out.

If Social Security even exists by then.

But there is a golden ladder reaching down to you,

and I am the one extending it.

All you have to do is place the blame where it belongs

and grab on.

You're talking about me

cooperating against Axe?

[Chuck] I am.

Spare us the time and effort of feigning loyalty.

Just shed that dry, flaking skin

like the reptile you are and slither away shiny and new.

[Sacker] Tell us how he steered you.

How he forced you.

How he knew about the bad ton of unregulated marijuana

and yet made the bank take the cash on board.

Shit.

You know what?

Life's too fucking short. Let's do this.

Mr. Wagner, please, let me represent your interests here.

- It's my job... - Thank you,

and, respectfully, you're the best lawyer in the world,

but zip it, Neal. You'll get paid either way.

Get the papers drawn up while I clear my throat.

You should probably also relocate me while you're at it.

I hear Idaho's a nice place

for people with certain beliefs.

Can you be my case officer?

You should put me someplace where spaghetti marinara

is egg noodles with ketchup.

Will I get to wear a wire?

I hear the batteries make your balls warm and tingly...

Okay, smart guy. You can stop fuckin' around.

Why don't you stop fuckin' around?

This is a closed meeting. Your presence is improper.

No. What you're doing here is improper.

You interested in what he's selling, or should I take it from here?

I leave it in your capable hands.

Better learn to slice the garlic nice and thin for the joint.

Only it's gonna be on top of Spam for you two, not steak.

Okay. Come on, Neal.

Shut off your meter. He doesn't need your help.

I don't use a meter.

Bach really owes me one for this.

I ought to arrest your ass right now.

If you could, you would have already.

Besides, I didn't see any of your cops out there.

You gonna chase me down the hallway?

'Cause you can't catch me.

She could, maybe. Not you.

Oh, you will be taken soon enough.

As stipulated by your lawyer,

a straight-up bad bankin' charge.

The dirty money got dangled in front of you,

and you hit it like a rising fuckin' tarpon.

And now you're got dead to rights.

How's it feel?

It feels like maybe I'm gonna start pulling

your boat backwards.

'Cause I'm no tarpon.

I'm a fucking Great White.

Don't you know that yet?

[chuckles] Well. No matter.

Even the biggest get landed.

Yeah, they end up strung up over the dock

with their bellies sliced open

and people standing around them smiling for pictures.

That's what I've always been to you.

A trophy.

The trophy.

You can't make anything, build anything,

earn anything on your own.

So you try to boost yourself up by tearing me down.

No, you said it once a while back,

about what happens to a lawman once he puts the star on.

Well, seems you were right. I am a lawman.

And that star sunk in deep and reminded me.

It's more than that, though, isn't it?

There are fights a man measures himself by,

fights that take more out of him

than even winning gives him back.

Fights that make him. Ali had Frazier.

- I have you. - No, no, no.

I have you.

I'm Ali in this parallel.

Another thing we can disagree on.

Why, Chuck?

What is it about me that won't let you break off?

Is it Wendy?

'Cause you know I never tried to take her from you.

And if I have her now,

you lost her on your own.

I don't need the fucking reminder.

And I don't know. Not really.

It's something to do with her, but it's more.

Guys like you...

No, you.

You've accumulated so much

you think laws don't apply to you.

And I'm not talking about the laws of man,

the ones written down on paper.

I'm talking about the immutable laws of the universe.

About fairness and right.

Who says we have to live by those?

Maybe we can create our own if we have the audacity.

And who appointed you the keeper of these cosmic rules

in the first place? The fucking arrogance.

On my part? You're the one who just said you created

your own system of right and wrong,

like some fucking deity.

I didn't presume to that.

I arrived at it.

A Titan steals fire

and gets his liver eaten every day for punishment.

Another one picks the wrong side in a war

and has to hold the world on his shoulders

for all time.

A king tells a secret

and has to push a rock up a hill for his trouble.

Believe it if you will, or look for the metaphor in it,

one thing's for sure.

We are not very good at being fucking happy, are we?

Happy.

What's that?

Family dinners every night?

Playing 18 on the weekend

and going to Nevi's at Christmas time?

Some version of it.

That the kind of "happy" you're aiming at?

No, you know it ain't.

So you gotta aim at me.

Right or wrong.

And when it's wrong, you gin up some shit to make it work.

Un-fucking-believable!

You actually believe you're innocent.

Well, I might not have known until right now

just how badly you need to go down.

Oh, you're gonna learn just how innocent I am

when that jury foreman reads it out in open court

for the whole fucking world to hear!

Well, we'll see about that, soon enough.

Yes.

We will.

[Chuck] Tell me one thing.

Who leaked the arrest to you?

[scoffs] Who are you?

Kojak with a riding crop up his ass instead of a lollipop?

Figure it out for yourself.

[rock music]

[keyboard clacking]

♪ Are you lonely tonight? ♪

♪ Are you out on the road? ♪

♪ I'm headed home ♪

♪ To go it alone again... ♪

What I told you before about using the hate...

it may work for you.

But I should never have said it.

No?

No.

The advice I should have given you about working here...

or anywhere in this business really,

if remaining resemblant to the person you are now

matters to you at all...

is what Agatha the precog tells Anderton.

Run.

Run.

If I see you here again, it'll be to my benefit.

But I hope I don't.

♪ I'm realizing what I've lost ♪

♪ And what I've left ♪

♪ And taking it home ♪

♪ To go it alone again ♪

After 20 years in the music game

and another few in the pot game,

you'd think I'd already been screwed more ways

than in the Kama Sutra.

But you guys went full Trudy and Sting on me.

[Winslow] Okay. Here's how I did what I did...

♪ I'll do what I'm told ♪

♪ And buy what I'm sold again ♪

♪ She was enough... ♪

[knocks on door]

Get us in front of the grand jury.

♪ The wound that won't heal ♪

♪ Is pain I can't feel again ♪

[cell phone buzzes]

[Orrin] There's no way to say this

without it coming off as a bit dramatic.

[scoffs]

If ever a situation called for it.

[Orrin] It's time to surrender, Bobby.

At the heliport.

Chuck got what he needed to make it official.

[clicks tongue] I'm on my way.

[suspenseful music]

Sir.

[thrilling music]

[whirring]

What are we fighting about this afternoon, Sonny Boy?

Uh... No, Dad.

I just, uh...

Well, shit, old man.

I came over to make the peace with you.

I didn't raise you to make gestures like that.

I found myself, uh...

Well, I... [clears throat]

was on my way to arrest Bobby Axelrod,

and I found myself contemplative.

There was one person I wanted to see.

And it was you.

Good. Ill.

Motherfucker. Sweetheart.

In whatever role...

you're my father.

And all I do

is in reaction to that in some way.

What about the fact that I tried to fuck

your entire life's work the other day?

- [scoffs] - You're willing to just forget about that?

And the fact that you knew I would, and used it.

You have been through a terrible ordeal.

I watched you almost accept your own death.

Anybody would come out of that questioning everything.

Even their loyalties.

If I were you, I wouldn't go in

for the sentimental reveries just yet.

You've had Axelrod in cuffs before, Sonny.

Doesn't mean you'll keep him there.

I guess it's possible, Pops.

But I like our odds.

That was supposed to get a very different reaction out of you.

You were supposed to snap at me.

Call me out for not believing in you,

but you didn't.

Oh, shit.

You actually have him this time.

That's why you're here.

This is beyond crowing.

You've actually won, haven't you?

That also means...

that I backed the wrong gladiator.

I looked at the situation from all the angles,

and put my money down on Axe.

And you whupped him.

I guess it's finally happened.

[sighs] I went and got old.

Bye, Dad.

Bring me my daughter.

Leave her with me.

I need to tell her a few things.

[Senior] Firstly, your brother

may not always be a good man.

But he is indeed...

a very great man.

[sighs]

["Wishlist" by Pearl Jam playing]

♪ I wish I was a neutron bomb ♪

♪ For once I could go off ♪

♪ I wish I was a sacrifice ♪

♪ But somehow still lived on ♪

♪ I wish I was a sentimental ♪

♪ Ornament you hung on... ♪

I guess we all got the call.

Yes, we did.

[car door opens]

Even you.

Yes.

♪ For 50 million hands upraised ♪

♪ And open toward the sky... ♪

[siren wails]

♪ I wish I was a sailor ♪

♪ With someone who waited for me... ♪

We're finally working together, Chuck.

You're a man of your word.

Appears that I am.

♪ I wish I was a messenger... ♪

Well, here we are at the appointed time and place.

Don't gloat, Chuck.

I'll do my level best not to.

No easy task, though.

- Mr. Wagner? - Yeah.

What's this?

[engine revving]

[helicopter blades whirring]

[suspenseful music]

Even when you know it's coming,

that last moment of freedom,

it's hard to leave it behind.

Pull him out of there!

[ominous music]

[radio beeps]

We got nothing.

[police] Where's he at?

[suspenseful music]

I came to the meet because you texted.

Because I wanted to look into your eyes,

not make any kind of deal.

My guy wants to talk to your guy.

[Wags] Hasn't he done enough?

Why should he?

[Scooter] If you can't see it,

then you really gotta make the meet happen.

Because Axe has laser vision,

and he will see exactly what the win is.

[exhales]

Believe I know who our leak is.

[door opens]

You use your night vision goggles

to help you make your way along the water?

That's the way the law really knows someone's in it

for the thrill, you know? When they get the goggles going.

Yeah, the law didn't see me because they're watching the front door.

And not how I get my kicks.

I assure you, I take no pleasure...

No, no, of course not. That would be indecorous.

No, it's fine to set a guy up, lead him to slaughter,

but to laugh... that's the line, huh?

Yes, that's the line.

I take no joy.

You don't have to believe me, but it would serve you to do so,

to expand your set of beliefs.

So what would you have me put my faith in, Mikey boy?

Let's start with some facts.

Then we can segue into faith.

I find it easier to convert the skeptical that way.

[Prince] The moment you're actually indicted,

eight billion of your money is frozen solid.

You probably have five, 600 in your charitable foundation.

Another three-quarters of a billion offshore.

A few hundred here or there the government hasn't found yet,

but they will.

And you're facing 25 years

in state and federal banking charges.

You'll wanna go to trial, and you probably will.

But billionaires aren't that popular right now.

This country's strangled with inequality,

and you're about to become the new poster boy.

Your best bet is a plea.

Ten years in state custody with the possibility of time off

for good behavior.

Lop off another year

for a drug-alcohol intervention program,

and you're still looking at six.

Can you do six?

Could I?

I don't know.

The pandemic felt like solitary,

and I had cars and planes

and five properties to choose from.

But every man has to answer that question for himself.

And then there's running.

Roman soldiers on campaign carried three days' rations

and foraged.

Going to ground with under a billion liquid

is your equivalent of that.

Okay. So that's the windup.

When do you deliver the fucking pitch?

The fucking pitch is coming, and it's nasty, Axe,

a cutter down and breaking inside the last second.

A real Louisiana Lightning special.

See, you enjoyed that.

You bring it out of me, what can tell you.

Look, I won here.

I cut you down. Put you away.

But behind bars?

While that may be part of Chuck's

Cheryl Tiegs fishnet fantasy, it's not part of mine.

I don't care. I just want you gone.

And now you are.

But you see something more, don't you?

I do.

I'll give you two billion walk-away money for Axe Holding,

the bank, and the asset management arm,

including Taylor Mason Carbon.

We make the deal now,

get it papered before you're arrested

and barred from selling.

That's a steep discount you want.

Pennies on the fuckin' dollar.

Guys with sucking chest wounds should save their breath

and not try to negotiate.

Your billions, they're gone.

No good to you.

Me? I might be able to reorganize the bank,

keep your investors on board and restart that business.

And then one day your buddy the Attorney General

unfreezes my money for you?

I have a white paper that says this transaction is legal

because right now you're not indicted.

You've not been told you will be.

Your lawyer's not been told.

And even if he freezes it,

I'll find a way to get it unfrozen.

Long time since I was on the other side of one of these.

In a real way. [scoffs]

It feels, um...

[clicks tongue] Wow.

So this is what it is to lose.

Okay.

Fine.

We do the deal.

With one exception.

Taylor Mason Carbon. Let them go.

Break 'em off of Axe Cap.

No can do.

I worked with Wendy and Taylor briefly.

I want them, need them.

That's a deal-breaker.

So you get it all?

My money. My companies. My people.

Win, win, win.

And me nowhere to be found.

Yes.

That I consider a win.

Goddamnit.

[inhales]

I'm sorry.

You know he never would have if there was any other way.

[Chuck] Mr. Wagner,

this leaves you holding the bag, now doesn't it?

[Gramm] As the CEO of the bank,

you'll be fucking prosecuted.

[chuckling] No.

You see, I'm just a guy who was offered a CEO job.

I never did take it, though.

See right here? Never signed.

We have carte fucking blanche on company records.

We'll find the real one.

Oh, shit. No, we won't.

Yeah, Bobby Axelrod was the cosigner,

so you can get him to testify.

But I don't see that happening. So good luck.

[Sacker] We can't waste our time with them.

We need to get the FAA, recheck the no-fly list Axe was on.

- Look at air traffic. - No point.

Ms. Sacker, Ms. Gramm,

when someone leaves a burning sack of excrement

on your doorstep and rings your doorbell,

it's best not to stomp it out, lest you get covered in shit.

[Axe] I used to think it was a total waste of $60 million.

The third plane?

Of course, it's a waste,

just like everything in the top right corner

of the risk and control matrix.

Right up until you need it.

So how does this work?

I'm a little too tall to fit into a cello case.

Outfitted as a private cargo jet.

Special container that houses a regular seat.

You'll be quite comfortable, I assure you.

Medical instruments on the manifest, no passengers.

You'll board the chopper to satisfy the tail,

and then pass through out into a waiting vehicle.

I'll have things taken care of on the other end

long before you land.

It's good to be the king.

Hall,

you are a true professional.

In other circumstances,

those words coming from you

would actually, uh, make me smile.

Fuck!

Well...

this turned into a tough day, Rhoades.

I need a drink.

[man] Let's go.

All right.

[suspenseful music]

[scoffs]

Whoever was on the tail, they got beat.

It's not their fault but never use them again.

This is...

It's done! Fall back!

But start thinking of the next move,

and the move after because done does not mean finished.

Not in this case.

Mr. Bach, you made assurances.

You will be hearing from us.

Oh, I'll be looking forward to it.

Didn't figure he'd leave you behind, huh?

After all that effort, all that history,

to just ghost you like that?

Guess you bet on a bad pony, Wend.

Chuck!

Sorry for your loss.

You knew.

I knew? What did I know?

[Taylor] That he wasn't gonna show.

You're acting busted up, but you were in on it.

You fucking knew it all.

[Axe] You got here just in time for the sunrise.

[Wendy] Yeah. It's nice here, like this.

We can base out of here while we fight the case.

Do, like, four nights a week, Thursday to Sunday?

Yeah. Different options I'm exploring at this time

for defending my liberty.

How different?

Oh, you know, there have been certain developments.

Could turn out very nicely for us.

Very strong move I'm thinking of.

You're talking in generalities, like a...

like a politician or something.

Talk to me like Axe would.

I realized this.

I can't spend my life being some caged animal.

Just can't.

- Right. We're gonna... - No.

I stay, the truth is, after the fight, I lose.

They got me. I'm going to jail.

I don't accept that.

You don't have to.

I'm not staying and fighting.

I'm getting outta here.

Where?

To a place on the Continent.

Where there's no extradition for certain financial crimes.

Where I'll be able to monitor the arguments

my lawyers are making from there.

We will.

Together.

Come with me.

[scoffs]

So much of me...

nearly all of me wants to say yes.

Which part of you is saying no?

[scoffs] Look, being on the run with you...

that part, us... together, like that. I...

can't think of anything more exciting,

more enticing, but...

I mean, come on, Bobby. Leaving my life. My kids.

Think of what that would do to me,

who it would turn me into.

It would ruin whatever was between us, eventually.

Because the kind of woman who'd do that...

The truth is, you wouldn't want the version of me that would go.

Believe me, I'd take it.

If you stay, I'm in.

Whatever that means. In all the ways.

Including jailhouse visits, if it comes to that.

I'm sorry, I can't let it come to that.

And I can't come with you.

I just can't.

[exhales]

If we can't finish it, we can't start it.

Not now.

[dramatic music]

["Like a Rolling Stone" by Bob Dylan playing]

♪ Once upon a time ♪

♪ You dressed so fine ♪

♪ Threw the bums a dime in your prime ♪

♪ Didn't you? ♪

♪ People call say "beware doll you're bound to fall" ♪

♪ You thought they were all ♪

♪ Kidding you ♪

♪ You used to ♪

♪ Laugh about ♪

♪ Everybody that was ♪

♪ Hanging out ♪

♪ Now you don't talk so loud ♪

♪ Now you don't ♪

♪ Seem so proud ♪

♪ About having to be scrounging ♪

♪ Your next meal... ♪

Robert Axelrod?

Your new passport, sir.

Thank you.

[sighs]

[speaks German] Wilkomme to Switzerland, Herr Axelrod.

Everything is in order.

♪ How does it feel ♪

♪ To be without a home? ♪

♪ Like a complete unknown ♪

♪ Like a rolling stone ♪

♪ Ah, you've gone to the finest school, all right ♪

♪ Miss Lonely, but you know you only used to get ♪

♪ Juiced in it ♪

Stark.

- We'll warm it up. - [Scooter] Yes.

We will.

"Write it on your heart

that every day

is the best day of the year."

Emerson said that.

And if every day is such,

then even this, yes,

this is such a day, too.

This company, formerly known as Axe Holding Company,

Axe Asset Management, and Axe Bank,

and before that, Axe Capital,

belongs to me now.

You'll find I don't much speak about things that way,

about who gets what,

who shined by closing such and such deal,

but I think it is important, crucial even,

to begin by stating in the most plain terms what this is.

And what this is...

is mine.

Oh, hey, this is Scooter.

You may come to think of him as my Wags.

Better dressed, better mannered.

Perhaps not quite as much fun

at an all-you-can-eat Vegas buffet

or a mud wrestling establishment,

which are things of the past, anyway,

but still pretty fun.

You may know I come from private equity

and the venture capital world.

That I've been a founder and an operator.

But after the roller coaster ride the markets have been on,

I suddenly see opportunity in equities.

Unparalleled

fucking opportunity.

Anyone who wants to get wealthy...

rich, in your language, can stay,

and we can discuss your place in the new organization.

Otherwise, now is a good time to leave.

[Dollar Bill] Last couple of years,

I think I lost my hunger.

My drive, my reason to get up

and do what the fuck I do.

You just gave it back to me, Prince.

I'll see you on the goddamn field of battle.

Not so fast, you two.

I guess we're Tessio and Clemenza now.

Well, that one I've seen.

Well, only one of them turned out to be loyal and useful.

We'll see how that goes with you, Wagner.

Right.

[elevator bell dings]

He here? Up in his office?

Where else is he gonna be?

It is his office, right?

For now.

You can't do it, huh?

I worked for a legend.

I'm out.

- Yeah. This place... - [elevator bell dings]

I'm outta here too.

- Team up? - [sighs]

Done.

[elevator bell dings]

[loud pounding]

I hope when this all calms down

and you really look at it, and me,

that you won't even want to leave.

But the thing of it is, we can't even if we want to, right?

You could.

You couldn't work anywhere else,

and I'd own all you left behind.

Because you are now the majority owner

of Taylor Mason Carbon.

When I said, "It's all mine,"

that is what I meant, all.

Including Axe's piece of your shop,

which is the majority piece.

But this will work out for both of you.

I can feel it already.

[door opens]

When, Mikey boy?

Hmm. When did you decide to break ranks and betray me?

Because, and let's make sure to let all the Axe enthusiasts

among us know, going forward,

you were in lockstep with me on nailing him.

Right up until you weren't.

Well, Chuck, I was never really in your ranks.

Never in lockstep.

We just had a similar problem for a while.

Uh-huh.

Now, you're my problem.

And you know what I do to problems.

Let 'em fester?

No.

I do what I did to the last guy

who sat in that chair.

I get rid of them.

No. I got rid of the guy in the chair.

Know how we know this to be true?

[slight groan]

'Cause I'm the one sitting in it.

Not for long, pal.

Not for fucking long.

♪ You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat ♪

♪ Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat ♪

♪ Ain't it hard when you discovered that ♪

♪ He really wasn't where it's at ♪

♪ After he took from you everything ♪

♪ He could steal ♪

♪ How does it feel? ♪

♪ How does it feel?

♪ To have on your own ♪

♪ With no direction home ♪

♪ Like a complete unknown ♪

♪ Like a rolling stone ♪

♪ Ah, princess on a steeple ♪

♪ And all the pretty people ♪

♪ They're all drinkin' thinkin' that they... ♪