Billions Retrospective Part 2: Does Chuck and Wendy Behavior in the Bedroom Affect How They View Everything on the show?

 

The very first image we see in the Pilot of Billions shows Chuck Rhodes lying bound and gagged on the floor.  We see a woman in black leather walk over him, berate him and Chuck demand permission to speak. The scene ends with the woman urinating on him. The next day we learn that this is the typical bedroom behavior for the Rhodes marriage.

If you were like me as the Pilot and then the first season progressed, you looked at this as a kind of in-joke about so many things about Chuck. That this bastion of moral integrity had a major sexual kink or that this man who commanded so much power was utterly at the mercy of his wife.  We eventually learned that this was a major fetish of Chuck altogether and while it would become a plot point in later seasons, there was no reason to think it meant anything more than an inside joke.

But now as Billions goes into its final season, I’m beginning to think the writers were laying the groundwork for both Chuck and Wendy’s psychology not only toward Chuck’s decision to target Axe Capital but as to how both of them viewed not only their jobs, but also their justifications for every action they have taken in the course of the series.  What’s interesting is that both of their attitudes are essentially in reverse to their behavior in the bedroom in a fashion and that both are equally blind as to how it has destroyed so much of their lives. In this article, I’m going to take a general look at how Chuck and Wendy’s behavior on the show is in a sense a counterreaction to who they are in the bedroom.

In the case of Chuck, I think his attitude towards everything he has done, not merely in his pursuit of Bobby Axelrod but as to how he treats everybody in his orbit, is based out of some kind of counterreaction to his sex life.  As we have watched Chuck throughout the series, he can not achieve any sexual release without some kind of permission from Wendy. It was not until the fourth season that he managed to find a way to break away from that part, though in recent seasons the series has not dealt with nearly as extensively.

Based on the fact that he has no real control in the bedroom, there’s an argument that Chuck’s attitude of the alpha male when it comes to being a prosecutor is a massive overcorrection. Paul Giamatti is always magnificent when he portrayed the often bull-headed self-righteousness of Chuck, constantly tilting after windmills, far too often running into brick walls, destroying almost every relationship he has and very frequently coming away with nothing to show for it. At one point, I actually questioned why Chuck never seems to learn from his constant self-destruction.

Pop psychology is not my forte but there’s an argument Chuck is doing this out of a decision to deny the fact that he has no control of his life in the bedroom.  His desire to have power over the rich and powerful is done because he has no power in the most intimate of acts and as much as he wants to deny it, a part of him is ashamed of it.

From the start of Season 1, it has been crystal clear that Chuck is only happy when he is the complete master of events, that he can not truly delegate, that he always need to be manipulating things behind the scenes. This has been clear from the start when he spent much of the initial investigation into Axe Capital refusing to recuse himself from the investigation even though Connerty (Toby Leonard Moore) told him they were going to have appeal issues very likely down the line. When Chuck did recuse himself, he made it very clear to Connerty that this was something he was doing in name only, making clear he wanted constant reports.  I will devote a separate article to Connerty because he is arguably the only character on the series who spent the lion’s share of his time with an intact moral compass.  For now, I will just say that while Chuck clearly saw some of his own moral code in Connerty and chose to groom him, it became clear that he also believed he could bend him to his will. Their rupture eventually happened because Connerty would maintain his moral clarity and Chuck could not forgive him for it.

There are many reasons for the battle between Chuck and Axe, and I have a suspicion at least part of it may come from the fact that Chuck does feel inferior. As I discussed previously Axe was not Ivy League and has done far more to work for the money he made. Chuck, by contrast, is from a family of privilege, has no doubt managed to achieve much of what he did because of his family legacy, and despite refuse to touch his trust as part of his campaign vows, is still the kind of elitist that he has spent his career railing against.  There’s also the fact that Bobby Axelrod is the kind of person who has not only commanded loyalty but has friends and people who care for him. As the series progresses,  Wendy divorces Chuck, he has few friends and few colleagues that like him, and actively resents everything his father tries to do for him. Perhaps the reason Chuck wants to destroy Bobby is not so much for the crimes he has committed, but because he envies what Bobby has beyond wealth.

And that single-mindedness has led him to do some truly horrible things. At the climax of Season 2, he arranged things so that it was become public knowledge that his attorney and closest friend was about to become CEO of Ice Juice and he was going to try and invest. He did this knowing that given just how ugly things had gotten between him and Bobby Axelrod at the time, Bobby would not be able to resist the inclination to destroy Ice Juice to just get back at him. The immediate consequence of this action was that his best friend went broke and turned on him and his father practically disowned him. Chuck also knew that there was a very good chance that if the investigation went a certain way (and indeed it did) he could end up in prison as long as Axe did.  Yet when Axe went to prison, Chuck walked into the holding cell to gloat. Axe immediately realized what had happened and made it very clear: “You lost millions just to get me.” And Chuck, with no concern for the repercussions said, “Worth it.”

Chuck, Bobby and Wendy all managed to escape going to prison by the skin of their teeth, and it was only after Wendy engaged in an emergency summit between the three that they managed to get out at all.  This still ended with an innocent man going to jail and Chuck permanently destroying his relationship with Connerty. Yet while Chuck admitted eventually how lucky he had been and how horrible he felt, he very soon reverted back to his old self.

This was fundamentally true in the event that essentially destroyed Chuck and Wendy’s marriage. Early in Season 4, when Chuck was running for State Attorney General, a source threatened to reveal the bedroom habits of Chuck and Wendy. The previous season, when this might have been a problem, the two had united and Chuck had decided, for more complicated reasons, to walk away. This time Wendy asked him not to do so for her own sake. Yet instead Chuck chose to do so at a public press conference  - and revealed their dirty laundry to her colleagues at Axe Capital. Wendy never forgave him. At the end of Season 4, Chuck who had been allied with Axe, made it clear that he was resuming his hunt in large part because he blamed Axe for destroying his marriage. He never took responsibility for his own part in it.

Perhaps the real reason that Chuck has pursued Bobby without let-up for five season is that he has never gotten over the fact that Wendy has decided to choose her job over her marriage. This brings me to Wendy, played by the true powerhouse of the series Maggie Siff.

From what we know of Wendy, outside of her marriage with Chuck, her bedroom habits are completely ‘vanilla’. What she has never seemed to realize is in a sense she is exactly like Chuck; in that she too likes having power over powerful men. But where Chuck might be doing so out of some mutated sense of the public good, Wendy’s are entirely financial. This is particularly telling because Wendy is a truly brilliant psychotherapist and has devoted her life to either fundamentally helping or at the very least, turning a blind eye,  to Bobby Axelrod do truly horrible things. 

Wendy to this point in Billions has never acknowledged, even to herself, that she has this job because she likes to be able to manipulate people. She has seen Bobby do some truly horrid things – she learned in Season 1 that he basically helped accelerate a man’s death just so he could protect himself – and she basically absolved him of it. That this man had been a friend to her did not change the fact that she just allowed to roll of her back.

There is a very real argument that Chuck is so fixated on getting Bobby because he believes that just being in his sphere of influence erodes a person’s moral compass. When it comes to Wendy, he’s absolutely right.  In the middle of Season 4 when Taylor had gone out on his own, Wendy revealed details from their personal sessions to try and manipulate him. She did so out of anger and a sense of betrayal, mainly because Taylor had told her something she didn’t want to hear.

When Taylor was on the verge of leaving Axe Capital, they invited Wendy to come with them. Wendy tried to convince them that this was a violation, that what Axe Capital was really a family. Taylor looked at her  and said: “It’s about money. You and Axe taught me that.” Wendy has no doubt spent her career denying that’s why she did her job.

When Taylor learned of this, they filed a complaint with the medical board to strip Wendy of her license.  Everybody rallied behind her, even Chuck. The problem was that Wendy, much like Bobby refused to accept anything but total victory. At one point Chuck had managed to arrange things that she would only face a suspension of her license for a short time. Wendy bluntly refused to accept it. Chuck told her: “I’m offering you a solution. What you’re asking for is a miracle.” Chuck was sticking to his ethical guidelines by doing so and Wendy wanted him to bend the law for her. The fact that Wendy was acting for one immoral act to cancel out another is a blindness that you would think would occur to a trained professional. It did not occur to her.

At the end of Season 4, Chuck had seemed to secure the charges being dropped by going against his morals. Wendy then learned that it had been done by a gesture by Bobby. This was the final straw to the Rhodes’ marriage; the two would be divorced by the middle of Season 5.

It’s a cliché that doctors make the worst patients, but in the case of Wendy Rhodes its true; she can see the flaws in everybody but herself.  At a certain point, there’s a part of her that knows she’s doing more harm than good not only to Axe Capital but to the world at large. But she only recently has begun to realize the problems and even then, her motivation is purely financial.

Throughout Season 6, I puzzled over Wendy’s continued presence as it seemed that Billions had run out of use for her.  I’m beginning to think that too was a misdirection. Wendy was staying at the company because it was her last link to Bobby, who had fled the country rather than face justice. Wendy had in fact known this but had done nothing to warn either the authorities or even her colleagues. Bobby had asked her to run away with him. She refused to, saying that they couldn’t start something they wouldn’t finish.  In a sense, Wendy wanted it both ways. She wanted to stay at the company and she didn’t want the man she cared for to be punished.

Wendy spent Season 6 trying to take the same role with Mike Prince (Corey Stoll) that she had with Bobby. She claims, when she has a conversation with Wags about how dangerous Mike Prince is, that she needs to get in touch with Bobby because he’s the only person who can stop him.

This is, as we all know, not true.  Wendy could just as easily go to the DA’s office and help make a case against Prince to a group of more than willing ears. She could tell her husband her suspicions and he could make sure they got to the right people. Her decision to go to Bobby over the law shows two things, one of which she makes very clear at the end of the Season 7 premiere.

The first is that at the end of the day, she views the company she built being destroyed in the same breath as the possibility of a dictator taking over America. She may be saying as much to Bobby just to offer a carrot, but by now we know Wendy well enough that she isn’t lying about it.

The second part is similar. She knows that Bobby will be lured back because he wants to destroy Mike Prince. So does she. Not just because he destroyed Bobby but because he won’t do what everybody else at Axe Capital did and listen to her.  By this point we know very well that Wendy does not like it when her authority is questioned by anyone. She wants to take down Mike Prince because she can’t control him. The fact that his rise to power might end up destroying the world, well, that’s incidental.

It remains to be seen just how Billions will end. Most TV series do come to a conclusion not only with the climax of the plot but an awakening among the leads as to what they truly are. Unlikely as it seemed, we actually got that in the series finale of Succession earlier this year. The psychology of the characters on Billions – not just Chuck and Wendy, but all the leads – has been among the most fascinating parts of the series for seven years.  Wendy and Chuck are certainly smart enough to know the flaws in their characters. Will Billions end with them finally acknowledging them? To me, that would actually be more rewarding than seeing if anyone goes to prison at the end.

In the next article in this series I will deal with the only two characters on Billions whose moral compass always has a true north and who both end up being destroyed by the show as a result. (Though that doesn’t mean they don’t triumph at least once.)