#4d speed chess theory

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TAYLOR: I have been thinking a lot about… a lot of things. And I have noticed that you seem to be happier out on the main trading floor.

MAFEE: Happier? No way!

TAYLOR: Maybe you’d be more effective, then. Sitting out there. Being in the flow, picking up intel. It could benefit all of us.

MAFEE: I see what you’re saying. Yeah, that could work. I’d be willing to give it a try. I mean, if that’s what you want.

TAYLOR: Yes, I’d like you to start sitting out there.

—————

Taylor enters on Wendy.

TAYLOR: I lost a CEO yesterday and maybe also Mafee, too. Something’s blocking my… efficiency. I’ll say it: I need to learn how to win again.

—————

Wendy and Taylor watch Mafee settle in.

WENDY: No grown man should be that happy at getting to sit next to his friends… Still, it was nice of you, more than nice. Must’ve cost you a lot.

TAYLOR: We should do it — what we did today.

WENDY: We nailed it for sure.

TAYLOR: We should do it again.

contemplating this series of conversations from 5x04 opportunity zone… to mafee, taylor’s framing their decision to have him sit out on the trading floor as both something that will make him happy and something that they think will be beneficial to everyone at tmc after having considered it at length. as soon as he leaves, taylor goes to wendy and talks about having “lost” mafee, starting an exchange that ultimately leads to taylor and wendy teaming up to win over the petroleum ceo that taylor couldn’t find favor with initially.

after that meeting, wendy offers sympathy about mafee choosing to sit with the axe cappers and how it must have been difficult for taylor to allow it — and taylor, instead of responding to that sentiment at all, jumps to convincing wendy to reinvent tmc as an impact fund with them. taylor letting mafee sit with the axe cappers could genuinely be something they did to make him happy despite it being a blow to their own confidence and efficiency… or it could have been the start of a plan to fold wendy into their business by appearing to be ineffective and in need of wendy’s help and support. (or even some of both!)

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McAlone: Is there anything that you’ll particularly miss about Taylor, the character, any piece of the character you’ll miss being able to inhabit?

Dillon: I'll miss knowing how Taylor would respond in a certain situation. I think one of the things I really admire about Taylor is their decisiveness. Like a chess player, they’ve already thought 14, 28 moves ahead. Their ability to make lightning-quick decisions and/or say exactly what’s on their mind the moment they want to say it, the way they want to say it, is something I admire and will certainly miss — among everything else about them.

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5x07 the limitless shit + the importance of noticing your boss’s glances

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is that so

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rewatching everyone’s favorite billions seasons 1-4 recap / season 5 trailer, as one does, and particularly going Hmmm at 1) “FEED THE BEAST” being intercut with taylor smashing up the rage room 2) the shot of wendy and taylor shaking hands in 5x05, followed by a shot of the chess game from 5x02, both overlaid with taylor’s line of “at the right moment, when both have their guns raised, i’ll step out of the way and let it happen”

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from behind the billions with brian koppelman and david levien, “the chris rock test,” season 5 episode 2 with corey stoll:

KOPPELMAN: [Lee Tamahori, the episode director] also really helped us on the chess scene, in terms of expanding it. I think in our minds it was gonna be sort of a tighter sequence, and he had this notion, it was his idea that Taylor should know… It’s very rare that a director comes up with a little story button.

LEVIEN: Well, it’s rare, right, because on our show, for the most part the directors are visiting. Some of them come back time after time, but they’re not living with it. We live with it all the time. So it’s natural that the bulk of that kind of thinking is done by us. But that guy came and visited and somehow got so deeply inside it that he suggested that Taylor actually be ahead of Oscar Langstraat in the chess game, the literal chess game.

KOPPELMAN: Yeah, he said, “Wouldn’t it be fun if Taylor was clocking it and we gave Taylor a last little line�� — now he didn’t try to write the line — the last little line where Taylor’s able to give a dig at Langstraat, what Langstraat should have done in the chess game. I mean, Dave, you and I are very good at parrying ideas that come from the outside that we don’t think are good. And I remember hearing his idea, and because I respect that dude so much, I so didn’t want to have to say no to a bunch of ideas. And he only had one or two that were like this kind of thing, and they were both, they were excellent. And it was like, “Oh, that’s great, Lee, thank you!” It was really lovely.

LEVIEN: Yes, and that was, as you were saying earlier, his vision for the sequence was actually more expansive than ours. We thought that we would have the chessmaster at one board and that people would be taking turns playing games, like, they would sit down, play their game, and as they lost, the next person would go. And he said, “Well, I’ve seen these rapid chess players, these blitz players, play many, many boards at the same time.” So we came up with this idea that he was going to be playing nine different opponents, quickly moving around the room, making his moves. And it just so happened to turn out that Hikaru Nakamura, our grandmaster, who came to be in this and portray himself, is a blitz master. So he was able to go table to table and think for literally one second and make a brilliant move while the other person wrestled with it.

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AXE: I’m sorry I didn’t warn you first.

DONNIE: I knew what was going on. We had to put on a show. But it still rattled my nerves.

AXE: That was the only way I could convince Rhoades you were legit. You okay?

DONNIE: Sort of.

*thinks about this dialogue and the plotline surrounding it* *thinks about 4d speed chess theory* *screams*

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WENDY: We have to fire him. TAYLOR: “Have to” is a bit strong. We have to breathe. Have to find shelter. Food to eat. We don’t have to fire Winston. “Should.” I can co-sign should. We should fire him. WENDY: Then we will. TAYLOR: Will we? WENDY: We said no exceptions. TAYLOR: The exact words were: “Strive for no exceptions.” Meaning — WENDY: So Winston’s the perfect fit. You said — TAYLOR: No. Winston’s Tony Stewart in 2005. Cocky ‘cause he drives fast, but too brazen, too cutthroat. He’ll punch you on pit row, or run you over. But like Stewart, he gets results. WENDY: Sure. At Taylor Mason Capital. But we’re building something new. Tell me he sees the Matrix and we’re done here. TAYLOR: I can’t tell you he sees the Matrix.

when it’s all written out (and with the benefit of hindsight), taylor’s side of the Firing Winston conversation really does feel much less like they think he actually should be fired and more like they’re protecting him as best as they can without it being clear that that’s what they’re doing

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rewatching early s5 clips and oh my god they really just told us taylor’s strategy in the first episode didn’t they

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hmm do we think the becky lynch speech about taking a beating to make someone else look good for the good of the whole operation could tie into taylor 4d speed chess theory... winston taking a verbal lashing + threat of firing from wendy and taylor’s accompanying disdain to support taylor in getting wendy to trust them...

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billions episodes featuring winston with one-word titles, ranked

5. contract (5x05)

this episode effectively began with the dual psychic blow of wendy calling for winston to be fired and taylor agreeing that he should be fired, and effectively ended with the dual psychic blow of taylor’s utter indifference on the matter of whether or not winston stays and the seed of Winston Likes A Girl being planted, which i believe is what the language of cinema calls a circular structure. we’ve now come to terms with all of these plot developments, thanks to the taylor 4d speed chess theory and the realization that winston and rian’s dynamic has the potential to be quite compelling, but some bells can’t be unrung.

4. lamster (4x11)

downside: winston getting no response from taylor after speaking his mind to them about the unfairness of their comp plan and instead getting yelled at and personally attacked by mafee in a way that does nothing to address or debunk his complaints; the plethora of figurative language and minor details and misleading imdb listings that had us thinking winston might literally die for real. upside: the brief moments of neutral-to-fair banter winston had with mafee and lauren before getting yelled at; the sweet, sweet vindication of taylor’s arc in 4x12 opening with them giving a speech to all of mase cap that was a clear acknowledgement of and apology to winston; the abundance of delightful posts that sprang from this episode. why CAN’T you count to loyalty?

3. chickentown (4x03)

our first instance of season 4′s favorite mase cap-related subplot, Everybody Hates Winston. mafee and sara are dunking on him left and right but at least taylor is seeking his input and trying to minimize all Dunking and also just very clearly On His Wavelength. and few winston lines have been as influential as “i’m cassandra! always seeing the future!”

2. icebreaker (3x09)

this was, presumably, the first set of Winston Appearances that the billions writers put together after actually seeing what will roland could do on a television set with what was meant to be a one-off character, and it shows. who would have expected the cocky and unsuccessful Quant Kid 2 from the front half of the season to reappear in a one-on-one meeting with taylor, tell them a little about his personal life and a little more about the serious introspection (and self-loathing) he’s been doing since they first / last met, and instantly tune into their nonverbal cues and ways of interaction? no one! and yet it works brilliantly.

1. kompenso (3x11)

if you didn’t know this was going to be #1 you haven’t been paying attention. the rapport between taylor and winston that this episode lays out is the entire reason we’re here! the banter! the unqualified appreciation of winston! the immediate and lasting Understanding! there is only one step and it IS kompenso