There is something oddly alluring about the wolves of Wall Street.
It might be their mystery, it might be their drama or it might just be their money.
There’s one TV show that capitalises on all those factors and adds in a few more, like full-on female dominant BDSM, just for good measure.
The show is called Billions and it’s about to become your next binge.
Listen to Laura Brodnik and Tiffany Dunk explain why Billions is must watch TV on The Binge.
Showtime’s Billions follows the story of hedge fund manager Bobby “Axe” Axelrod (Damien Lewis), as he is investigated by attorney Charles “Chuck” Rhoades Jr (Paul Giamatti), for his dastardly economic deeds.
Is he cooking the books? Yes. Is it illegal? Yes. Is he bad? Not exactly.
You see, Axe is too good of a man to be a bad one.
He pays for the children of his deceased colleagues to attend university. He donates to charity. He even swoops in at the last minute to save the bankrupt owners of his favourite pizza shop.
His investigating enemy, Rhoades, may be determined to bring him to justice but it's not that simple. It doesn't help that Rhoades' wife, Wendy (Maggie Siff), is a high-powered psychiatrist at Axe's hedge fund.
Wendy is also the kind of woman who enjoys: speaking in corporate psychobabble and urinating on her husband. It's characters like Wendy, and there are a few, that save the series from becoming too lost in its own gold-flecked bubble.
The power of the series' characters can be attributed to the strong performances provided by its cast.
Damien Lewis' crisp delivery of lines is second only to his perfectly starched shirt. Maggie Siff is every part the doting dominatrix and Paul Giamatti plays his role of the submissive neurotic almost too convincingly.
The critical reception bestowed upon Billions has been overwhelmingly positive.
The New York Times said the series 'delivered a dose of charisma to hedge fund titans', while The Sydney Morning Herald described it, perhaps more mutely, as a 'readily pleasurable show'.
The Binge podcast hosts Laura Brodnik and Tiffany Dunk were more forthright with their praise.
Tiffany described the series as having a kind of David and Goliath story line with no true victor.
"You've got these two men, both powerful in their own rights, really going head-to-head," she said.
"And without giving too much away, it really takes its toll on them both as we go into the end of Season One."
Laura explained how she was initially turned-off from viewing the series' promotional materials.
"Looking at the images and at the trailer depicting what the show was about, I thought it looked like two middle-aged rich white men kind of going through their own existential crisis," she said.
"If I wanted to watch that, I'll just go watch every second Oscar-nominated movie from the last five years. But it's so much more than that. I lost a whole weekend bingeing it."
Billions is currently available to stream in Australia on Stan.
Listen to Laura and Tiffany discuss the series below. As well as a few other brilliant series that deserve your attention.
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