So, I’ve finally got to Billions season 3. Regular readers will know that I had some criticisms of season 2. I was particularly bothered by the gratuitous glorification of the transgender agenda in the form of the character known as Taylor. This all has continued. Though, ironically, Taylor has turned out to be one of the more interesting characters in the series. Having said that, however, it is a continual annoyance that the writers feel the need to constantly put into the character’s mouth pop culture and philosophical references that obviously neither the actor nor the writers really understand. Just trying to make her (I refuse to says “them”) sound esoterically smart. Whatever.
Another couple features that carry over from last season, of course, include the general disrespect of capitalism. We’re supposed to believe that the corrupt Axelrod is the quintessential capitalist. And also of course, as I’ve noted elsewhere, it’s become the norm on these prestige TV shows that there simply can’t be a sympathetic character — one that isn’t a liar, cheater, sleaze, etc. Because i guess that would be too sentimental or something.
The big new thing on this season of Billions though is their take on the Trump age. From season two, there’s a new Attorney General, and his presence is frequently associated with the “new administration.” Now, interestingly, at least so far, Trump has never been mentioned by name. But this new Attorney General is obviously meant to be a stand-in for him. He’s a very tall, wealthy, vulgar, dishonest man, with a rather helmet-y looking haircut who turns out to have made his fortune from illegal real estate deals. Uh-huh.
And of course this new Attorney General is the epitome of vicious law-and-order obsession and backroom collusion. So, there you go. The #resistance continues to colonize your TV viewing.
Aside of all that, the show also lapses into some pretty bad writing at times. The overall arc of the season seems to be pretty aimless. All in all, I can’t strongly recommend the show, but, hey, if you want to keep up on the progressive zeitgeist, you could do worse.
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