Chuck and Wendy are separated at the beginning of season 2 of Billions. Until episode ten, there are not even mentions of Chuck and Wendy’s BDSM practice season 2. Chuck gets into judo, which seems to be a partial substitute. They both have flings, by mutual consent, but only Wendy actually consummates it, with another billionaire like Bobby.
S02E10
Wendy has returned to her old post at Axe Capital, though she insists she will have no sessions with Bobby. This prompts Lara, Bobby’s wife, to take their two kids and leave.
Furious, Bobby accuses Wendy of making Lara leave.
Bobby: “Maybe lying in your marriage was tolerated, looked upon with leniency, considered some sort of fucked up foreplay, but in my marriage, in 15 years, I have never lied to my wife except once, except about what was said between you and me.”
This is as close as Bobby has ever come to directly insulting Wendy or Chuck about their kink.
While Bobby is threatening Wendy, a man in a leather hood (whom we are supposed to think is Chuck) is seeing Troy the dominatrix in her suite. When she steps out of the room to prepare for the session, the client grabs her laptop off a table and leaves.
Chuck, preparing for a campaign for governor of New York, is interviewed by Ms. Minchak about any possibly damaging details from his past or private life. Chuck keeps it professional, but he is distracted when she takes off her high heels and wiggles her stocking-clad toes.
Troy and Chuck meet at a crowded coffee shop. They stand next to each other, but don’t face each other. Troy, using the “Mr. Hernandez” alias, tells him that her laptop was stolen by a client she had been seeing for 3 months. She thinks it is an attack on Chuck or one of her other prominent clients.
Troy: “Should come as no surprise to you. The lifestyle attracts brilliant people, intricate temperaments, intricate tastes.”
Troy says her laptop is well secured, and that she would never release any information on him.
Chuck: “I know that your relationships are beyond transactional.”
Troy: “The idea of blackmailing someone with something so close to their core, of punishing true expression –”
Chuck: “Understood. And thank you.”
Troy deliberately drops a bottle cap from her water on the floor.
Troy: “Pick that up.”
Chuck bends down. Troy presses her heel onto his hand, much to Chuck’s delight.
Troy says they should see each other again, once he has secured proper permission.
Even though Troy is doing Chuck a favor by telling him about the theft, she still gives him a free mini-scene.
We later see that Chuck sent a subordinate to get in good with Troy over months, steal her laptop and give it to him. He in turn gives it to Ms. Minchak.
After going out for dinner and reconnecting, Wendy invites Chuck to come back home.
Chuck: “Is that an order?”
Wendy: “Damn right it is.”
Chuck immediately turns around. He finds Wendy in full domme gear in the bedroom.
Even though Chuck and Troy have a relationship that is more than commercial, Chuck isn’t above dirty tricks to secure his secrets. However, Chuck’s real vulnerability isn’t Troy’s laptop, but Troy herself. Perhaps the real goal of Chuck’s ploy is to test Troy’s trustworthiness. If she didn’t tell him about the stolen laptop, he would know she couldn’t be trusted to keep his secrets. (Not to mention that laptop probably contains compromising information on many other people.)
Though Billions is fun to watch for the witty dialog and glamorous lifestyles, it also shows that many, many people suffer as collateral damage from the machinations of wealthy, powerful people like Chuck Rhoades and Bobby Axelrod. Bobby has lots of money and connections that are, to say the least, sketchy. He could apply a lot of pressure to Troy, who’s in a vulnerable position in a semi-legal sex work profession.
If Chuck goes ahead with his bid for governor, he will be even more exposed in the public eye, and have good reason to avoid seeing Troy or otherwise mixing with kink circles. Reconciling with Wendy would mean he wouldn’t have to go without kink play in the future.
