Victory Lap

Billions 2×7

& Hall: When an op goes sour, we’re taught to go back to its genesis.

& Marco: It’s some kind of Albany machine shit. The kind that’s been going on for 100 years that we got caught in. You’re getting fottuto for something someone’s cousin did to someone else’s boss in a distant part of the state.
    Bruno: «Fottuto» means getting fucked.
    Axelrod: I picked that up in context.

& Dimonda: ... House, Senate, or do you have plans to run for Governor?... What I hear is you’re taking a quick victory lap, and then it’s City Hall, Capitol Building, or Albany.

& Rhoades, Sr.: ...and then I withdrew my membership from the Garden City Golf Club.
    Chuck: Oh, that’s your natural habitat.
    Rhoades, Sr.: Few places a man can be as comfortable. But it was time. They don’t allow women. And I cannot be a member of a restricted club anymore.
    Chuck: Noble.
    Rhoades, Sr.: Anticipatory. Of the future.

& Rhoades, Sr.: You cannot be an effective candidate if your marriage is in the crapper.
    Chuck: That’s not really a thing anymore, Dad. That I’d need a woman standing behind me on the podium, that’s archaic.
    Rhoades, Sr.: Son, you do know why you need her in your life, don’t you?... She is a natural-born killer.

& Rhoades, Sr.: You’re a good candidate. She’d make you unstoppable.

& Joe Scolari: Oh. You want specifics. Details into our process. Inner workings and so forth.
That would be helpful...
    Joe Scolari: Sure. I can share that. The committee chose the location that would bring the greatest benefit to the greatest number of people. That turned out to be Kingsford.

& Wendy: So what was it kept you up?
    Danzig: Russian hackers. They can fuck with us so easily, in ways we can’t even comprehend. A few keystrokes and they can bring an entire airline to a standstill. Thousands of people stranded.
    Wendy: So your fear is, uh, what?

& Wendy: This is all connected. When a situation starts affecting you so much you can’t sleep, you have to take action.

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& Taylor: It is unfortunate... offensive, actually... to even be talking about this, and that people have to live in near-poverty. But in many ways, a town is like a business. And when a business operates beyond its means, when numbers don’t add up, and the people in charge continue on, heedless of that fact, sure that some sugar daddy, usually in the form of the Federal Government, will come along and scoop them up and cover the shortfalls, well, that truly offends me.
    People might say you hurt this town. But in my opinion, the town put the hurt on itself.
    Corrections are in order. There’s a way to make this work, and that way is hard, but necessary. As Taleb says, «Become antifragile, or die.» Once we do this, the town will face that challenge and come out stronger. Or it will cease being. Either result absolutely natural, as in, of nature itself.

& Chuck: Mutton’s an interesting euphemism, isn’t it? Well, nobody ever says «sheep.» But who wants to eat something so adorable, right? So it’s a mutton chop.

& Chuck: The kangaroo industry recently tried that... In fact, there was a country-wide survey to pick a name, and they settled on «Australus.» But not for the same reason as a sheep. No, this was entirely different. Seems the kangaroo has a great deal in common with the rat. Hence, «Australus.» I mean, it’s elegant, don’t you think? And yet, even by any other name, there’s still a slab of giant rat sitting on the plate right in front of you.

& Axelrod: You’re an idealist. But the man that you work for now... he’s not just dirty, he’s worse than that. He’s a hypocrite. And if you know that, and you still let it happen, then I think you know what that makes you.

& Chuck: Well... now I know for certain who I have to thank for my day at the Senate. But unlike Julius Caesar, seems I managed to pull through.

& Chuck: Going ahead, I am committed to complete transparency between us. No more silence or subterfuge. If one of us is angry, or disappointed, we express it.

& Chuck: So, you can either quit right now... or you can stay. Prove your loyalty. And when you do, you will truly have earned that chair.

& Chuck: I’ll have the mutton. What about you, Bryan?
    Bryan: ... I’ll have the same.

& Chuck: The thing is, I’m really not sure that I finished my mission.
    Rhoades, Sr.: Well, who ever does, kid? You can weigh all that from your goddamn nursing home.

& Rhoades, Sr.: First thing we do is we get you anointed.
    Chuck: Ah. The whispered names.
    Rhoades, Sr.: You have to really know them now. One at least... Black Jack Foley.
    Chuck: I haven’t heard that one in quite awhile.
    Rhoades, Sr.: By design. You need some personal time with him so that he can take your measure, and so he’ll bless you.
    Chuck: Things still run through him?
    Rhoades, Sr.: Indeed.

& Rhoades, Sr.: Now... I want you to get his granddaughter a clerkship. Then we wait for the call.

& Chuck: Sadly, I’m like you. Public servant for life.

& Chuck: True objectivity. It’s the ultimate luxury.
    DeGiulio: It’s corrosive, Chuck. I mean, I went to law school to help fix the system, not succumb to it.
    Chuck: Sounds like you’re feeling the holy spirit.
    DeGiulio: For the first time since clerking for RBG. Which is why I’m careful with my own clerks.

& Hall: It wasn’t the Governor who called the shot. Sure, he controls Scolari. But this goes to who controls the Governor, and that’s Jack Foley.
    Axelrod: I know who that is...
    Hall: Old steel and railroad money.... But more than that, an Albany machine man. His family goes all the way back to Tweed... Foley’s war chest got three of the last four Govs elected, along with half the Assembly.

& Boyd: He’s driven by maintaining influence... naturally... and growing his six-generation fortune and staying invisible despite it all. Advisor to kings and princes.

& Boyd: Know this... Everybody’s a Libertarian until it’s their town that’s dying. Then a bailout only seems right.

& Boyd: Just don’t forget... if they hate you enough, they will find legal grounds to fuck you.

& Lara: I can see both sides of this. Those people up there are who we used to be... Did anyone ever help us, or look out for us? ... The way we were brought up, it was always them or us. And it still is.

& Lara: And like you said, Bobby... in the end, everyone else is cannon fodder.

& Axelrod: ...And don’t stop till we get what we’re owed.

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