Billions 4x9

1. Previously on Billions...

2. The fuck is this all about?

3. Site's closed. Security reasons.

4. This is what it's about, Dad.

5. [T.] Head of the Board of Elections is deciding

6. whether to allow blockchain technology—

7. voting from mobile phones.

8. Chuck, welcome.

9. I thought this was to be our meeting—

10. The DOJ has grave concerns about mobile voting—

11. Uh. You mean Jock Jeffcoat does.

12. Sanford Bensinger is on the phone.

13. Sandy.

14. The NFL is turning you down.

15. Sports franchises are how we knight people in this country.

16. And you're not royalty.

17. They were finally fed up with your legal troubles—

18. Thank you for the firefighter prompt.

19. I'm happy it was useful.

20. I need you to track down

21. some old session notes.

22. All my files for Taylor Mason.

23. You're not here to ask me to speak at a conference, are you?

24. There have been accusations of malpractice.

25. Dr. Rhoades, your medical license is under review.

26. You can't allow it to happen.

27. You can't let them strip me of my license.

28. The Medical Board is not under my jurisdiction.

29. What you're asking—

30. Is something you can do.

31. Make them drop the inquest?

32. If I can pull it off, it'll be nearly impossible.

33. And if it goes sideways, I'm—

34. You wanted to know what you could do

35. to make things better between us.

36. This is it.

37. So, I do this thing,

38. and then what, we're all the way back?

39. Is that the promise?

40. I can promise you this:

41. bargaining never won a woman back.

42. But selfless acts have.

43. I don't need Chuck Rhoades the lawyer.

44. Or the husband. Or the power bottom.

45. I need Chuck Rhoades the killer.

46. You've judged me for being that,

47. criticized me, reviled me—

48. but now, when it's on your behalf—

49. you're willing to call upon it.

50. To let it out. Mm-hmm.

51. Well, you have to want the whole package, Wendy.

52. As I do with you.

53. Or what the devil are we?

54. Right now I don't— I don't know what I am.

55. I state that freely and without pride.

56. But you are a killer.

57. You—You kill for yourself all the time.

58. So go kill for me.

59. I'm giving you license to use the part of yourself

60. that makes you feel most alive.

61. Because it serves you.

62. I've done wrong.

63. Turned myself into that which I swore I would never be.

64. I had to. And, uh...

65. It worked.

66. And yes, I—I learned something about myself that is unpleasant.

67. But now I need to turn myself back into

68. who I'm supposed to be— if that's even possible.

69. But I can't do that if I'm not a doctor.

70. So, help me, Chuck, or I'm fucking lost.

71. Don't fuck with the State Medical Board, Chuck.

72. You're still consolidating your power. Extending your reach.

73. If you try to manipulate the board and fail—

74. it'll be the one scandal too many,

75. and too early, that ends your career.

76. So, instead, prepare a defense for Wendy.

77. Let the hearing happen. Win it.

78. That's the smart approach.

79. Well. This isn't about the smart move.

80. It's about what my father would call:

81. "The future of my dynasty."

82. The marriage.

83. I can't keep shuffling along

84. with muttered apologies and half measures.

85. I need to change the paradigm.

86. A big move.

87. Get back to zero.

88. If I know my man, you have a big move at the ready.

89. I know a former State Board member

90. who's acquainted with every crevice

91. and loophole of their disciplinary procedures.

92. Why didn't you start there?

93. Because I put him in prison.

94. You'd think after so much time in this place,

95. I'd be happy to see anyone.

96. Oh. I don't fool myself that I bring any measure of joy

97. to most with whom I daily interact.

98. That's the prosecutor's curse.

99. Like a dentist without the laughing gas.

100. Do know what we called dentists in medical school?

101. "Little brains." Like in Defending Your Life.

102. The lawyers, we called "little hearts."

103. Which I now know gave them too much credit.

104. Your compatriots in here

105. must love the Albert Brooks references.

106. Oh. You'd be surprised. I'm useful to them,

107. tend to them when they get ill,

108. tell them how to get into the infirmary and off work detail,

109. teach 'em what to say to get the drugs they want there.

110. So they pretty much follow along,

111. or try to, no matter what I'm talking about.

112. Perhaps I can be useful to you.

113. That's why I came here today.

114. No. You came because there must be

115. some way you believe I can be of use to you.

116. And there's something you think that I need in trade.

117. But that didn't work out so well for me last time.

118. That's one way to see it.

119. The other is that the eleven million dollars did,

120. as promised, stay in your bank account.

121. So that your wife and kids are well taken care of.

122. Well, that brought me more peace before she divorced me.

123. And when she was still letting the kids visit me.

124. Sorry to hear that.

125. But I know that you don't want my sympathy.

126. Thankfully, I may be able to offer you more than that—

127. if you can offer some cooperation.

128. A close acquaintance— a medical doctor—

129. like you were and perhaps might be again—

130. is facing disciplinary proceedings.

131. She needs help shutting them down before she has to appear.

132. You want me to be your Hannibal Lecter.

133. I need pressure points on committee members.

134. So I can press 'em.

135. Well. Like Dr. Lecter, I can put practicality above vengeance.

136. So, sure, Chuck, we can negotiate.

137. Get me out of here. Get me free.

138. So I can remind my children of who I really am.

139. And then I'll help.

140. That I cannot do.

141. I am no longer US Attorney.

142. But I do sit a powerful throne, attended by powerful friends.

143. So I will work, tirelessly, to make it so, over time.

144. Yeah. I don't see how I can trust you on that.

145. Again, I did let you keep the eleven million.

146. It was never mine.

147. And I would gladly give it back to be freed of all of this.

148. So...

149. No.

150. If I'm your best bet, it seems all you can do

151. is go home and make your wife miserable.

152. As I have mine.

153. Yeah. Don't be surprised.

154. There's at least one old colleague on the outside

155. I still correspond with.

156. Positively Lecter-like.

157. If I hear you call anyone on the Board,

158. try to make this harder for her,

159. your wife—ex— whatever—

160. will be prosecuted for ill gotten gains

161. on that eleven million

162. and your kids will end up living in a fucking housing project.

163. Do we understand each other, Clarice?

164. Seen better days.

165. It will again, once I do my magic.

166. First thing: "fire every one of these cocksuckers."

167. Hoffa.

168. "You're gonna can a lot of people,

169. make sure you do it on the first day.

170. That way, the ones that are left don't feel insecure, you see.

171. What they feel is grateful."

172. That's a sad view of how people tick.

173. But true. So when we walk into that boardroom—

174. I can't fire them.

175. I have to show stability in the Street.

176. Especially since I'm making so many changes to the business.

177. I'll run you through all the numbers

178. before tomorrow's board meeting.

179. Tomorrow is Rebecca Cantu's first day

180. as CEO of Saler's.

181. I want it to be a bad one for her—

182. Which will ruin Bobby Axelrod's fucking day too.

183. I want her to think the board is hers,

184. then find out it's really mine.

185. We've met with three of the largest individual stakeholders

186. and accumulated a position, but not enough to be a threat.

187. After all the shares Axe and Cantu bought up,

188. there's not much left out there we can get

189. without causing the price to skyrocket.

190. But there is a white whale out there—

191. Saler's biggest debtholder—

192. and you haven't put his blubber within reach.

193. You're talking about Sanford Bensinger,

194. Mr. Giving Oath, the "American Champion."

195. I am.

196. Good. Grab your harpoon.

197. You got the meeting with Bensinger?

198. I'm taking his son, Landry, to breakfast.

199. He'll get us the meeting.

200. Tomorrow morning?

201. Tonight. And you're coming with, Taylor.

202. No work allowed on site.

203. Does it look like I'm here to rivet the girders?

204. Family business.

205. I'm getting starved out.

206. If we don't resume work here soon,

207. the—the—the loans are gonna crush me

208. like a steel worker in a hydraulic press.

209. What would you have me do?

210. Prostrate myself before Jock and Connerty?

211. Hell no! Find a way to hurt them back.

212. Get them into the same kind of vise that they have us in.

213. And then crank the handle so hard they beg you to relent.

214. And they relent in return.

215. I need men and trucks in here.

216. Hoh man, did the wind just change?

217. What in God's name is that smell? It's brutal...

218. It's the fucking porta potties!

219. I need them carted out of here.

220. Whatever it is construction workers consume,

221. their night soil is not fit for breathing.

222. I've taken to putting Vicks under my nose

223. to mask the stench.

224. Ah.

225. Dad...

226. where does it normally go?

227. The shit?

228. Yeah.

229. Fuck if I know. It gets trucked out of here.

230. I don't know where it ends up.

231. Where are you going?

232. To crank.

233. So they beg.

234. Hoses.

235. Long, industrial hoses, called cakasuckas on job sites,

236. extract the waste from the portajohns

237. into specially treated sanitation trucks.

238. Goes into the city sewage system

239. where it is dehydrated into a solid and compressed...

240. Yeah, yeah, and eventually it all winds up in a landfill.

241. Far, far away from New York.

242. Via the way of John Henry's hammer.

243. A long cross-country train ride.

244. To here.

245. Karl, we're about to redraw the route

246. for this foul piece of transport.

247. Thank you.

248. You can go.

249. No.

250. I get to watch.

251. How was it?

252. Go.

253. You're right.

254. Sometimes words can't speak what we both know.

255. There's this site, Beautiful Agony,

256. that is all about the O face,

257. and looking at you right now I can sense—

258. You are like an over-caffeinated serial killer.

259. Go!

260. We should talk about what happened in the meditation room.

261. I hit you in the face.

262. You held me.

263. We bonded.

264. We should bond some more.

265. Drinks, after work tonight, just the two of us.

266. I usually only go out with people who have one wife.

267. There was vibe. I don't mistake vibe.

268. You got a stiffie because your head was between my tits.

269. That's not vibe.

270. It is where I come from.

271. Where's that, 1954?

272. It's happening again.

273. The droogs are starting to fall all over themselves,

274. fall over me.

275. I have noticed a certain

276. increased level of interest on the floor.

277. Since I mentioned getting "railed" at my birthday.

278. I see it—the way Spyros brings you that cortado

279. every day at 11, lingers by your desk...

280. At least chatty Lurch makes good fucking coffee.

281. But today it was Dollar Bill.

282. And that's different.

283. You want to know the best way to blow him off

284. without fucking up the workplace?

285. More like: the best way to do the thing

286. without fucking up the workplace.

287. Are you thinking of him as a love partner or a sex partner?

288. When you put it that way, I'm thinking about yakking—

289. I'm feeling a bit fucked... over.

290. And a little afraid of what I might do.

291. I like the way you're owning that, Ben Kim.

292. But I am in session.

293. Bonnie should hear this. It concerns her, too.

294. I've just learned Axe Cap maintains a fund for employees.

295. Yeah, that's why we fucking work here.

296. To get our money invested here

297. and beat everyone else's returns.

298. No, a separate, elite fund called Flagship.

299. Where returns are, apparently,

300. three times greater than the main fund.

301. But only "key employees" are in it.

302. I'm a PM... and I'm not.

303. Wendy, are you in it?

304. I haven't heard anyone mention Flagship in years.

305. I think Axe liquidated funds like that

306. when he ran into his legal troubles.

307. So I should let go of this anger?

308. Or hold onto it for the day and see where it takes you.

309. I'll let it go.

310. Thanks, Wendy.

311. You didn't answer his question.

312. I think I did.

313. Not fully.

314. Not the part about whether you were invested in Flagship.

315. Didn't I? Huh.

316. How 'bout yours? Did I answer those?

317. Yeah. I know just what I need to do with Dollar Bill now.

318. We're on, buddy.

319. Vibe.

320. I fuckin' knew it.

321. Name the place.

322. How about, "I Thought You Were a Real Man,

323. So You Fuckin' Name It."

324. You got room for improvement.

325. Not much.

326. I am kicking ass and taking names.

327. Only I ran out of names,

328. so now it's just ass-kicking all the time.

329. Join the club.

330. Is it an exclusive one?

331. You know it.

332. Because I like entrée.

333. There's another exclusive club I'd like to be in—

334. the Flagship Fund.

335. How the fuck do you know about Flagship?

336. First rule of Flagship is you don't talk about Flagship.

337. You should know it was talked about to me.

338. Someone influential was whispering

339. that it might be on my horizon.

340. Huh.

341. Yeah, I could see that for you.

342. If you keep it up—

343. What are the odds of me not?

344. Just saying— it is a big deal though.

345. You gotta be like Eric Roberts and Chris Penn—

346. Best of the Best.

347. So you're in?

348. Fuck yeah, ever since I... uh...

349. showed Axe how I always manage to come through.

350. Alongside Axe and Wags...

351. And Wendy, yeah.

352. And the rewards are substantial?

353. Big enough to afford two families,

354. with two sets of kids, all with straight teeth.

355. How, with your vast knowledge of NYC nightlife,

356. did you settle on this place?

357. It'll make more sense to you soon.

358. Never mention his dad.

359. Never mention business.

360. Unless you get him to.

361. Then how am I gonna—

362. By being yourself.

363. Wow.

364. This place.

365. The colors.

366. Throwback.

367. I've never been here before.

368. Taylor picked it.

369. You did, huh?

370. Yeah. I dig the ironic camp of the place.

371. Nope. I saw your face when you walked in.

372. You weren't smiling ironically.

373. You were taken with it. As I am.

374. It makes me get back in touch

375. with the child-like part of myself.

376. Not childish. Child-like.

377. I embrace that part of me.

378. It's the most creative, most engaged part,

379. the part that continues to push the rest of me to grow.

380. Yeah. Yes. That's right.

381. What's more evocative than the smell

382. of your favorite cereal from when you were a kid.

383. I don't know why I said that ironic thing.

384. Because you are human,

385. and we are here in this city, at this time.

386. You were worried you gave yourself away.

387. Don't worry. You did. And it was great to see.

388. What was your flavor?

389. Honey Smacks.

390. When I was a kid, I only got to eat cereal once a week.

391. My father wanted me to have better habits than he did.

392. I still feel a little guilty when I eat it.

393. But I love it.

394. And this place.

395. You nailed me, Taylor. That was impressive.

396. Get to know each other.

397. Taylor, I'll circle back.

398. Frosted Flakes for me.

399. Grrreeeeat!

400. Lauren, you were right.

401. I'll set up the meeting.

402. No guarantees beyond that.

403. My father sees things I don't, which is why he is who he is.

404. But I feel comfortable getting you in the room.

405. That was a big fucking risk you took,

406. going off book like that without telling me.

407. Nah. I knew you'd crush it.

408. It was fun as hell watching you think on the fly like that.

409. You just come alive to the challenge.

410. And then seeing him have that feeling of

411. someone recognizing who he really was.

412. You picked up on all that, huh?

413. Think I like knowing you're watching that closely.

414. So, nah, that wasn't a risk at all.

415. But this—this is.

416. We broke some rules here.

417. Must be why it was so much fun.

418. For the record I kissed you first.

419. But maybe we don't mention this to Sara either way—

420. Don't mention what to me?

421. Lauren's got some moves

422. that don't include shots and nightclubs.

423. She landed us the Bensinger meeting

424. in a very child-friendly way.

425. Nice. Good to know.

426. Yeah, but keep it low, I don't want to ruin my rep.

427. State Attorney General Rhoades,

428. what causes you to darken my doorstep?

429. Like Moses giving Pharaoh a chance

430. before the plagues were visited upon Egypt, I come to—

431. When heathens quoth from the book of the Good, I recoil.

432. Still. Heed my word.

433. Don't make Pharaoh's mistake.

434. You want me to remove the blockade.

435. And if I don't, what?

436. Pestilence? Locusts?

437. You will be visited by horrors of that scope.

438. Yes. As will your family.

439. Since you have encumbered mine.

440. So. Simply free my father from the bonds—

441. Well, first: if the Almighty is speaking through one of us,

442. I can assure you, it's me.

443. Because I kneel before him.

444. On the daily. Hmm.

445. He's the only one I get on my knees for.

446. Or ever will.

447. I don't ask for your bended knee.

448. Only that you take it off my father's neck.

449. You put your pappy in this position, Chuck,

450. when you stood against me.

451. And now he pays the price.

452. How dare you fucking come down here

453. from that cesspool of a city to threaten me.

454. I can even smell it on ya a little—

455. Oh, you think you can smell all that on me now?

456. 'S right. Putrefying my pristine air.

457. As do your perversions of scripture.

458. That is the 12:02.

459. That is your cue to vamoose.

460. Now, you best get on out of here.

461. You're right.

462. Scent of Southern magnolias surrounds you here.

463. Mmm!

464. Positively redolent of 'em.

465. Alright everybody, let's do this.

466. I'm going to need to withdraw from the board.

467. Me, too.

468. The fuck? How come?

469. We sold our shares. Deal just came through.

470. Nice premium, couldn't pass it up.

471. You bailed on me without even hearing my plan.

472. Who'd you sell to?

473. I'd prefer not to say—

474. Oh, I'm gonna find out anyway.

475. And when I do, I'm gonna turn my focus

476. from this business, onto each of your personal holdings.

477. And think about just how I can take them to zero.

478. I'm gonna run you down into the dirt.

479. And I'm gonna smile like the Joker while I do it.

480. Taylor Mason.

481. Mason's meeting with Sanford Bensinger,

482. they're going to have control.

483. Resignations fucking accepted.

484. This meeting is postponed until the board is reconstituted.

485. With the amount of convertible debt Bensinger controls,

486. he's our largest creditor.

487. He can convert it into enough shares to dwarf our position.

488. Then we'll get diluted and our voting power shrinks.

489. If he backs Taylor they can run the company

490. right from underneath me. Or fire me.

491. Kind of move he's made many fucking times.

492. You know him?

493. Well. Maybe we can go sue for peace. Work him.

494. I do know him.

495. But the kind of peace that he'll grant

496. is the type that has my head on a pike.

497. You have a remarkable way with people.

498. Thank you.

499. But believe me, we can't work this guy.

500. No, it's time to punish him.

501. Okay, everybody, take a nice, big, deep breath in.

502. Roll your shoulders all the way up and back.

503. We got the final stretch of class.

504. It's never coast, never quit.

505. I need everything you got all the way until the end.

506. In three, two, let's go!

507. That's five, four, three, two, one!

508. Done!

509. - Yeah! - Whoo!

510. Dr. Gus.

511. Yeah.

512. G-man can pedal!

513. Thought I had you.

514. Yeah? Yeah.

515. Now, how often do you say that... and turn out to be wrong?

516. Next time, I'll want it more.

517. It's not enough to want it more.

518. I need to want it most?

519. No.

520. You need to sharpen your odachi and slice a hole in the universe

521. between you and where you're going.

522. And if you don't cut down everyone

523. and everything that gets in your way,

524. then they will return and they will cut you to shreds

525. and then they will cover those shreds in bukkake.

526. Whoo!

527. These mayors...

528. We need easements on their rail corridors.

529. So they need to be put to a decision:

530. the sweet smell of honeysuckle.

531. Or the other.

532. Warm 'em up and invite each of 'em to a phone call

533. upon which we give 'em what they need.

534. And threaten 'em if they don't take it.

535. Headlocking a bunch of backwoods mayors, sounds grand.

536. Mm. Pizza or Thai?

537. I too have a dinner to attend.

538. Bon appétit.

539. Happy birthday, Kevin.

540. Thanks, Grandpa.

541. It's a fucking slinky.

542. Now leave us alone and make some fun out of that

543. with your hands and some hardwood stairs, huh?

544. If he's still playing with it tomorrow,

545. put all of your energies into the girl.

546. I have energies enough for all the people I love.

547. Do you? Because I haven't heard anything

548. about a matter of great personal importance.

549. I might, in fact, say the same thing.

550. Well...

551. I always thought you two, coming together,

552. united in a common cause would be a good thing but—

553. But nothing.

554. Which is what I gather you're delivering for each of us.

555. I assure you

556. I am laboring on both of your causes.

557. Save your assurance

558. for those not so well versed in your bullshit.

559. Normally, I'd be aghast

560. at a father speaking to his son that way,

561. but I know the motivational power you hold over him.

562. Sure, on the inside he may be "Fuck the old man."

563. Screaming it.

564. But he always comes through.

565. The need for your love.

566. The shame in not delivering...

567. And, like a country doctor

568. with an outbreak across the shire to deal with,

569. I'm gonna get back to fucking work.

570. Hall said a Chinese consortium is in town

571. to buy the Chrysler Building.

572. Which is why Bensinger is in town.

573. So he's not just here to fuck with me on Rebecca's company?

574. He wants to keep it out of Chinese hands.

575. He's planning to purchase it preemptively.

576. Part of his little campaign to preserve the nation.

577. Sure. And he'll do it without fanfare, too.

578. That's what he'll say anyway.

579. That he wants no recognition for it.

580. But somehow, he'll get it.

581. Or maybe he won't, huh?

582. Yeah.

583. The Flagship Fund is "choice."

584. And we should demand our inclusion.

585. Wendy misled me?

586. That's how I knew what was going on.

587. Maybe it's not my time.

588. Maybe if I wait and keep my head down,

589. I'll be rewarded down the line.

590. Said every factory worker ever

591. before watching his job disappear,

592. then going home to beat his wife.

593. Tell me you're just fine with this caste system.

594. Jesus. I don't think that's an okay thing to say.

595. Trying to make you angry enough to fucking do something.

596. You good being salarymen in this place?

597. I bust my ass. I want my due.

598. Yeah, seems right.

599. We're in.

600. A lot of physical force goes into pulling a shot of espresso,

601. and sometimes the torque of said pull,

602. leads to a follow-through arc where one's hand could

603. accidentally graze the outer contours

604. of a receptionist's mammary.

605. Whatever the fuck that is about, take it to your grave.

606. You're not in trouble. At this moment.

607. In fact, you are urgently needed.

608. How may I be of service, fair maiden?

609. Leadership.

610. To take our demands to Axe.

611. You have his ear.

612. My words do traverse that regal canal

613. like a vaporetto gliding to the Piazza San Marco.

614. Yes, you are our man.

615. You know how many people jumped from those buildings

616. to their deaths on Black Tuesday?

617. Not a one.

618. But people were so upset with the banks,

619. they wanted to believe.

620. What will the future believe about

621. people who partnered with Bobby Axelrod?

622. I think you know he's not my partner.

623. Quite the opposite.

624. But if you support the Saler's board

625. under Rebecca Cantu, you are supporting him.

626. My son said you had a direct

627. and incisive way of looking at things.

628. I've cultivated that within myself.

629. And your son is a complete person.

630. Not easy to achieve in a child raised with billions.

631. A credit to you both.

632. Let's say I didn't want to support Axe.

633. Let's say I wanted to pay him back

634. in trouble and pain for the high crimes

635. and misdemeanors he's committed against me.

636. Then support me.

637. Convert your debt into shares and back me with them.

638. I'm coming out shooting. So's he.

639. When we tally up the bodies, it'll be a long ledger.

640. But if you don't want it to include Saler's,

641. as I believe you don't, because of your status,

642. I'm your best and only choice.

643. Why is he our man?

644. Because of what they thought about Rambo—

645. He's got PTSD and he's going to tear apart the entire office?

646. No, they thought he was expendable.

647. If he gets cut down it's only him we've lost.

648. Spyros.

649. I don't like it when you come in here.

650. Especially don't like it when you're smiling.

651. I smile the people's smile.

652. For I am here, not in my capacity as your grand vizier,

653. but to bring their demands unto you.

654. Demands?

655. One demand really.

656. The Fundo De Flagship.

657. What about it?

658. That's a hands-off situation.

659. Access for all Axe Cappers.

660. And everyone out there

661. is on board with this campaign of yours?

662. I know: "This is too much power for one man to have."

663. But I gots it.

664. Spyros. Most who are first pay the price.

665. Very few exceptions: Maybe Vaclav Havel?

666. Lech Walesa?

667. The tightrope guy?

668. The Flying—

669. No, you simp.

670. Write down those names and look 'em up later.

671. I feel they could've pulled this off.

672. You can't.

673. Now, had you come up here

674. and asked me the path to the Flagship Fund,

675. I would have told you... you are compliance,

676. you don't make enough, and you are never getting in.

677. Though the others could have worked their way in.

678. But since you rolled heavy, no one is getting in ever again.

679. There is no Flagship Fund.

680. It's a thing of the past.

681. Fucking dissolved.

682. Everyone can eat what they kill.

683. And they can invest in the main fund,

684. side by side with our clients.

685. Now get out of here before I don't even let you do that.

686. Is buying this building so the Chinese can't

687. part of a nationalistic impulse?

688. Don't forget you're not a reporter at the moment—

689. you're my ghostwriter.

690. My WW Beauchamp.

691. I still have to ask the questions,

692. to get to your mindset.

693. The question shouldn't deal with nastiness like nationalism.

694. Some things should remain American owned.

695. Our greatest buildings among them.

696. Which is why I'm buying this one.

697. And why the book is gonna be called "American Champion."

698. You get all that?

699. Yes, sir. Great.

700. Pleasure doing business with you, Gary.

701. Enjoy Montana.

702. Sanford, I'm sorry I wasted you a trip.

703. But— Well, this is awkward.

704. He sold to the higher bidder.

705. You just made a world class mistake.

706. The fact is, we overpaid.

707. I didn't catch your—

708. Why do you give a darn, Sandy?

709. Your priority was to keep this building in American hands.

710. And that's where it is.

711. Who the hell was that?

712. That was Michael Wagner— Bobby Axelrod's COO.

713. Want to give it some context, for you to overcome in the book?

714. Turn that goddamn thing off.

715. Time to stop the motor of the world.

716. Yes, Inspector, this looks like a bona fide health risk.

717. I don't know what color you'd call that sludge

718. coming out the sides of those boxcars

719. but you need to stop this thing. Now.

720. There's a biohazard sign on the side, sir...

721. but something's leaking.

722. Best send a HAZMAT team. Immediately...

723. Yes, I can give you the exact location...

724. Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts,

725. which we are about to receive from Thy bounty.

726. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

727. Amen.

728. Jock? My nose is picking up an odor that is rather off...

729. Oh. What is that?

730. A goddamned plague...

731. I—I feel as though I might...

732. Oh, lord...

733. Oh, Jesus.

734. That fucking train is from New York City,

735. courtesy of Rhoades.

736. You were supposed to have your arms around him.

737. I do. NYPD is still at the building site.

738. Well, it hasn't stopped him

739. from deploying bio-weapons against me!

740. Maybe you're so used to the foul and fetid

741. up there in New York City that it doesn't faze you.

742. But I consider it a fucking war crime!

743. Yes, General.

744. We need to slice a hole in the universe,

745. cut down everyone and everything in our way,

746. or they will return to cut us into shreds and...

747. do some fucked up stuff to those shreds.

748. I don't care about waiting for biothreat testing to come back

749. or your investigation— move that fucking train

750. or I start investigating you!

751. Don't strain your neck like that.

752. Liable to pull a muscle.

753. Breathe, you know?

754. Later.

755. If I don't get that shit train out of there,

756. I'm gonna have a first class ticket on it. Any ideas?

757. Tighten things up at the construction site.

758. Start looking for violations.

759. And suffocate 'em with fines...

760. Or skip the JV shit and let's just take 'em.

761. For bribing Biancarosa

762. and everything else we got on the wire.

763. I can't engage with marginal junk. Not now.

764. What I need is the Brass Brazilians.

765. I'll go see what I can come up with.

766. Kornbluth called. He wouldn't talk.

767. He's protecting his sinecure with Bensinger.

768. One thing I did yank out of him:

769. Bensinger had a good meeting with Taylor.

770. With Bensinger behind Taylor, I am boxed in.

771. 'Fucked' is the word.

772. I'm fucked. I know.

773. Why hasn't the Chrysler move gotten him in here yet?

774. What else can we do?

775. Give it time to work.

776. For the salt to settle in the wound.

777. To grind on his sense of self...

778. What the hell?

779. I thought I ended this.

780. Mm. Can you do that, appropriate the glove?

781. They just did.

782. You get back to your stations right now!

783. Shall I line 'em all up Paths of Glory style

784. and give 'em what they're asking for?

785. Mass firing? No—what more of a distraction do we need?

786. Oh, shit.

787. Wendy!

788. Something about this whole Sandinista revolt thing

789. isn't clear to me.

790. Where did it all start?

791. You were the one who went to Wendy about the Flagship Fund.

792. Where'd you find out about it?

793. I shouldn't answer, I should hold strong for my source.

794. Damnit...

795. Really...?

796. Tuk, who fed you?

797. Oh, God, it was Danzig.

798. He was going to write you an email asking in.

799. He asked me to review it before he hit send.

800. He didn't hit send.

801. So many angry words.

802. So many other words misspelled.

803. So. How'd the Flagship come to you—

804. rumor of the old days or fresh information? Hmm?

805. Or did your seat neighbor spill?

806. Hey! I kept my mouth shut...

807. Except when I fucked up and told Bonnie.

808. I first heard it from Ben Kim.

809. The circle closes.

810. And tightens.

811. Which leaves our source as...

812. Glad you landed back on your feet.

813. Hope they're taking care of you.

814. You in the Flagship yet?

815. This whole thing was a psy-op

816. to ruin our morale and our productivity—

817. Worked pretty damn well—

818. And you all fucking bit.

819. But this is not a union shop.

820. There's no limit to what you can earn here.

821. So take responsibility and get back on it right fucking now.

822. And you...

823. Shit, Axe, I got fucking used.

824. I don't deserve to be in the Flagship.

825. I don't deserve to work here at all.

826. No, no, no.

827. You stay here, you stay alive and you suffer.

828. I'll deal with you later.

829. You're gonna wish your way out was so easy.

830. Matter of time now.

831. What? Before Connerty finds out about my jail visit? Yep.

832. Should be enough to break the blockade on your father's site.

833. Mm. But it was a gamble

834. putting Wendy's thing in play in your fight.

835. You play the pass line, you can only win small.

836. Not the game I'm in.

837. But I've gotta find out what Jock wants,

838. what matters most to him.

839. You wanted something, I have something.

840. Visitor log.

841. From the federal prison

842. where a certain doctor is serving his time.

843. Right this way.

844. That only took a little longer than I thought.

845. For me to figure out you bought that building to fuck with me?

846. No. For your ego to rise up and make this all about

847. you not being the one to save it—American Champion.

848. Guess it takes a narcissistic egomaniac to know one.

849. Fair enough.

850. What now?

851. You flip it to a Chinese national company

852. at a steep profit just to rub it in my face?

853. Actually, no.

854. But you can if you want.

855. Because I'm selling it to you.

856. At my cost.

857. Well that pitch had some break on it I didn't pick up.

858. Well, I knew you'd be leaning into the fastball

859. of me selling off a chunk of Americana,

860. so I had to come with the hook.

861. And I'll let you take all the credit

862. for protecting our national heritage

863. and give you that last chapter of your book.

864. This is about Saler's then.

865. Yes. It is. And trying to persuade you

866. not to side with Taylor Mason against Rebecca Cantu.

867. The Saler's chain is bigger than your personal feuds, Axelrod.

868. Indeed it is.

869. Which is why I had to get you here.

870. You two haven't met.

871. We know one another by reputation.

872. And yours is a very good one, Ms. Cantu.

873. Rebecca has the best vision for this company.

874. So I'm gonna turn this over to her.

875. It's her project, her passion...

876. And my chance to take something that mattered to me

877. and make it matter again.

878. Why?

879. You know this even better than I do, Sanford.

880. But legacy is important.

881. So I want this now, today,

882. as a businesswoman, for my legacy—

883. so I can say I did what others couldn't.

884. But I also want it for the little girl that I once was.

885. And publicly I say that girl was allowed to dream

886. by looking at the catalog, but you know the truth:

887. My parents—My parents couldn't afford to buy me anything.

888. And I promised that one day I would buy it for myself.

889. So now I want to own it all.

890. That kind of personal stake can be very risky—

891. But I'm not a child anymore.

892. And when you read my plan,

893. you will see a clear march forward

894. to massive profitability.

895. And the ice cream fountains? I'm keeping them.

896. Alongside an artisanal coffee bar.

897. Because coffee is good business

898. and addictive and we'll sell enough of it

899. to float the entire fucking enterprise.

900. And ice cream is delicious

901. and it's the perfect reward for everything.

902. But ice cream, at a fountain—

903. I mean, that makes you feel free and young, like—

904. An American.

905. You want Saler's to be America.

906. That's right.

907. And, wait, there's more:

908. I'm stepping off the board.

909. You two should work closely on this,

910. and I don't need to be in the way—

911. Bobby—

912. Sanford can take my place on the board.

913. It's a net PR win for everyone.

914. No.

915. The company needs Sanford. For sure.

916. But I need you there helping me steer this.

917. You've already protected it like a pit bull

918. in this opening salvo.

919. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it.

920. Bobby Axelrod actually gives a goddamn—enough to walk away.

921. And you actually giving enough of a goddamn about him

922. to risk me walking away.

923. That's the kind of strength and loyalty

924. great brands are built on.

925. I want that at the heart of this company.

926. And I want the wattage in your combined brain pan too.

927. Okay, keep your board seat.

928. I'm not going with Taylor Mason.

929. I share your vision.

930. But what really sold me is the two of you. Together.

931. Ms. Cantu, if you can make this fallen man

932. part of something good,

933. you can make us all part of something great.

934. I'm gonna need you to tell me what Chuck Rhoades wanted.

935. And I need to know now...

936. Now I know what this is really all about...

937. I missed it at first, but now I see.

938. See what?

939. That sure, this is a psy-op, like I said.

940. That it was about the Flagship Fund.

941. But it's more than that.

942. This is a move.

943. On you.

944. Is that right? Yeah.

945. That's what all this was,

946. on top of sowing general chaos in here

947. and distracting me from the billionaire

948. that I was tangling with:

949. this is Taylor poaching you—

950. I see how they all look to you out there—

951. and Taylor must have figured it out too.

952. They're going to reach out to you, come at you...

953. Or did they already?

954. It's possible.

955. When you take that meeting with Taylor,

956. you tell them that you are staying at Axe Capital.

957. Because Axe values you.

958. So much so, in fact, that he's reopened the Flagship Fund

959. under a different name and put you in it.

960. Which I just did.

961. Nah.

962. I'm not gonna tell Taylor that.

963. Axe should have put you in the Flagship Fund.

964. Come aboard here and you'll be treated right.

965. Hey Taylor, Bonnie's very happy at Axe Capital.

966. We're taking great care of her.

967. And she's staying.

968. I guess I was wrong about you— I thought you were smart.

969. The elevator is that way.

970. Bensinger's not going our way.

971. We lost this one.

972. Against Axe and Rebecca.

973. Bensinger's backing them.

974. Okay.

975. This means our data's come in:

976. Axe is that emotionally committed to Rebecca.

977. Especially so if I'm coming after her.

978. Is that a stopper?

979. The opposite. A structural weakness.

980. This means if I push hard enough

981. it all collapses on both of them.

982. And Bensinger, we just quietly retreat?

983. Nope. He just added himself to my fucking list.

984. Part of me still roots for you, Bryan, you know that?

985. Oh, yeah? Which part's that?

986. The part that remembers an idealistic young man

987. walking into my office,

988. asking for a chance to chase the bad guys.

989. Whaddaya think happened to change him?

990. Better question: who?

991. Oh, you're gonna say it was me did that to you.

992. But we both know that no man can change the nature of another.

993. No. You went dark because good was just too fucking hard.

994. But you're not really dark either, are you?

995. No. It's like back during Project Mercury,

996. you either had the right stuff or you didn't.

997. And I don't see any wings on you—

998. Enough. Look.

999. You won this fucking round.

1000. Move that shit train

1001. and Jock will let your father's people go.

1002. But that's where we were—

1003. before the rain of frogs and the river running red.

1004. You want more.

1005. You want us to clear things up with the med board.

1006. Med board?

1007. I know you went to see that doctor in jail.

1008. I know why. And I know you wanted me to know.

1009. It's what you really need. And to get it you'll have to—

1010. Oooh, I did teach you how to make a deal. Didn't I?

1011. Better than you think.

1012. Because the deal requires you also walk away

1013. from the voting nonsense.

1014. Blockchain. Your pilot program.

1015. So that's what Jock needs.

1016. Of all I could do for him, that's what matters most?

1017. I tried to convince the man to have you owe him one.

1018. Classic Rhoades: lord one over 'im

1019. and hold out for something bigger.

1020. But, uh, he wants to be paid up front.

1021. Yeah. That shit train is powerful.

1022. No. I move it and you give me both.

1023. Uh uh. You need two things, you give two things.

1024. No mobile voting.

1025. These are the terms: Your dad gets taken care of.

1026. Wendy gets taken care of.

1027. Jock gets taken care of.

1028. Everyone gets something. Except me.

1029. So really that's one more thing for you.

1030. Do we have a deal?

1031. I'll give you your answer now.

1032. No.

1033. Not even you can be this petty,

1034. that you'll let your wife suffer just—

1035. Some things are even more important than marriage.

1036. Like fair and free elections?

1037. Bullshit!

1038. I know you too well to buy that from you.

1039. Well, when you figure that out—why this matters—

1040. maybe you'll become an ally.

1041. Or a worthy opponent.

1042. Or maybe you'll finally be fully corrupt.

1043. But either way, the answer is official and the answer is no.

1044. Another in a long line of Chuck Rhoades mistakes.

1045. One step closer to the fucking end.

1046. You fucking played me.

1047. You're in the fund and I'm out.

1048. That's the only reason we had our tomahawk date.

1049. Not the only reason.

1050. Not even the biggest one.

1051. The Medical Board...

1052. I'm afraid it's a no-go.

1053. I'm sorry, Wend.

1054. You're gonna have to take your chances with them.

1055. I asked you to go out and kill, and—

1056. I couldn't.

1057. I just didn't have the pull.

1058. Then I know it couldn't be done.

1059. I don't usually work this late.

1060. And I don't take walk-ins—

1061. I don't have the right stuff...

1062. Re-make me.