Naturally, that leads to questions for season 3.
Was the second season just a fluke?
Can the show continue to craft something thats unlike anything else on TV?
Credit: Jeff Neumann/SHOWTIME
Will the dialogue, characters, and ludicrous power plays start to lose their luster?
The man is a walking cliche, all Texas bluster and salt-of-the-earth metaphors that barely make any sense.
Now, Chuck has to question the very strategy hes built his career on.
However, the consequences of last seasons events mean that everybody is having to compromise.
Everybody is sitting on their hands and very, very sick of it.
Of course, not every compromise or consequence is financial.
Not much has changed for Lara and Axe.
Their marriage is another story.
Chuck and Wendy initially seem to be doing better.
Just a kink, or is it something that suggests Chuck and Wendy havent healed just yet?
Thats necessary, but its also not what makesBillionsso great.
With that said, what the premiere has set up is certainly compelling.
It feels like the show is shifting in ways that will pay off in the long run.
Most importantly,Billionsis becoming about more than just bad blood between Axe and Chuck.
The show is expanding, and its doing so in promising ways.
Taylor, of course, is at the center of that change.
They were the standout of last season and seem poised to take that honor again this season.
Taylor is the one with promise not just forBillions, but for Axe Capital.
Theyre the one steering the ship while its captain figures out how to avoid criminal charges.
They cracked it, and now theyre running with it.
Todd Krakow is now the treasury secretary, and hes trying to recruit Taylor.
In fact, everything around Chuck has changed.
That doesnt mean Chuck is done making moves, though.
He may not be on the Axe Capital case, but hes still Chuck freakin Rhoades.
Theres still Paul Giamatti, Damian Lewis, and Maggie Siff commanding every scene theyre in.
