Billions: Chuck’s Plan To Sabotage Bobby Fails Miserably

Chuck makes several calculated decisions to push Bobby into a corner. But as fate would have it, it gets Bobby only closer to his charter bank. 

Episode 8, which heralded the return of Billions Season 5’s second half, also set up the “Implosion” that occurs in Episode 9. It all starts with Bobby tricking Chuck into investigating in a payday loan company called Plaintiff-ful. 

However, this move ultimately causes the company to become worthless, after which Bobby buys it up for cheap. It’s not the company that Bobby really wants; it’s the asset that the company possesses: a bank charter, Bobby’s big dream. 

In Episode 9, Chuck does his best to return the backhand move back to Bobby. First, he seeks help from Drew Moody, Delaware’s AG who he believes can stop Bobby in his tracks. 

But when Moody turns out to be another roadblock, refusing to help, Chuck devises a plan that puts his father, Chuck Sr, in the position of special trustee for Bobby’s bank.

He believes that this power-play will undoubtedly cause problems in the bank’s functioning. 

That is until Chuck Sr is alive to help do so. 

What Chuck Jr fails to calculate (even though it has been staring him in the face the whole episode) is his father’s deteriorating health. Earlier on, his father was rushed to the hospital due to a kidney failure.

Chuck manages to get his father on the organ priority list but knows that he may have to dabble into the illegal side of things if the honest route does not work out. He even considers buying an illegal immigrant’s kidney for the same. 

And this is where Bobby whips out a trump card. Using his secret employee files, Bobby finds out that Danny Margolis is a perfect match for Chuck Sr. 

Bobby moves quickly and, without Chuck Jr finding out, begins the kidney donation and transplant procedure. 

In the end, Chuck’s plans fail — Bobby manages to save Chuck Sr’s life, and there’s no way the patriarch would now act against him, no matter how much his son wants him to. As Chuck remarks in the episode,

Every time I move, I make his life better and mine worse.

But perhaps not all hope is lost yet for those who want to destroy Bobby Axelrod. After all, the episode did conclude with Chuck, Taylor, and Michael joining hands.

If the three together cannot take down Bobby, then tough luck to anyone else trying. 

About Billions

Billions is an American drama created by Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Andrew Ross Sorkin. The series is set in financial centres based in America.

The series follows hedge fund manager Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis), as he accumulates wealth and power in the world of high finance. The series premiered on Showtime on January 17, 2016.