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unproduciblesmackdown · 4 years

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Taylor and Winston’s Shared Glances at Wendy Which Could Recontextualize Billions 5x05 into Something Bearable

look if we take taylor’s behavior in 5x05 at face value, not only is it unpleasant for all of us but it also makes no sense. why question winston’s worth here, when he’s been making consistent and important contributions for mase cap the entire time? why bank on wendy, who everyone knows is more loyal to axe and axe cap, and who not only obviously very deliberately betrayed taylor last year for no good reason, but also has been meddling around with mase cap since before taylor offered the teamup, and refusing to ever acknowledge that she’s overstepping or doing anything wrong - not to mention that in 5x03, the episode just before taylor and wendy start off on this partnership venture, taylor expresses that they don’t trust wendy and don’t appreciate her interference at mase cap (or her efforts to deflect on that instead of like, apologizing or even recognizing she’s doing anything wrong. wendy’s really learned from last season, wow). taylor’s explanation to lauren of [Why Trust Wendy] being “well, risk is always involved, and it would be too obvious a move for wendy to betray me again, so she won’t.” i can accept the “there’s always risk” thing, like, maybe taylor knows they’re taking a big gamble on wendy here but is just that desperate and directionless, especially after sara quits, that they’re just willing to bet it all on wendy. but even so, there’s seemingly no need to push away their preexisting employees, or any benefit to doing so. and taylor’s apparent indifference / total lack of appreciation / even slight disdain for winston in this episode, when the entire point of him being here is that taylor could always recognize and respect his ability and worth, is again unpleasant for us all and also just doesn’t make sense.

BUT then we very much extremely have this moment in the first scene between them, and it is entirely Something. the Secret Nonverbal Communication going on between winston and taylor in this moment is Real.

originally what caught my attention was taylor’s initial glance over at wendy and how Unusual it is. it’s too fleeting to be taylor making eye contact with wendy, and the fact that their eye contact returns so immediately to winston means they’ve still Deliberately interrupted that eye contact. if taylor was acting how they normally would, they and winston would just be holding each other’s eye contact (see: kompenso. nobody blinks!!) and they’re too conscious and deliberate in the cues they give off for this to be an accident. i was going to pause just to think about Why taylor has this very strange glance away-and-back, but then of course i saw that the very next thing that happens is winston, looking at taylor, also quickly glances at wendy, then back at taylor, and nods.

he was clearly Bemused At Best throughout this scene, but as soon as this [taylor glancing at wendy and back at him, winston following their lead and glancing at wendy as well, then back at them] moment occurs, he just goes ahead and accepts this request to Prove Why He Shouldn’t Be Fired.

what i’m getting at is that i think taylor’s Glance At Wendy is their version of [a much more pointed glance, featuring raised eyebrows and them tilting their head at her to really get the message across], and winston is picking up on i, which lets him realize that taylor is more on his side here than they can say in front of wendy. taylor has previously Cued Winston In via a pointed nonverbal Look, and he’s shown he understands what they mean to convey when they do so. already, the implication that taylor trusts winston to pick up on this (and that he Does) shows that taylor respects winston a nonzero amount lol which is a little more than this episode suggests otherwise, without the “taylor and winston are Secretly Communicating here.”

naturally, what i think the secret [glancing] communication is about is that taylor themself is not considering firing winston, nor wanting to. they’re putting on this show for wendy here, wanting her to see taylor as already being fully on board with this partnership, which will encourage wendy to Also be more on board, 40% even - for whatever reason taylor might be able to use that down the line towards some bigger plan. and in this moment, taylor is conveying to winston that this whole “i’m considering firing you” matter is playing out because of wendy, hence the glance at her, which winston copies, then seemingly accepting the premise all of this instead of continuing to argue the point here and now.

and consider: if taylor really thought they should fire winston, they could’ve immediately done so in this scene. They are the one who’s putting the brakes on, managing to keep any decision from being made, yet without making it seem like they aren’t still essentially in accordance with wendy’s perspective here. i mean, damn, they’re out here getting pedantic about the fact that no, they don’t *have* to fire winston as a *need* to continue to be alive as organisms.......it’s easy to see them playing this as like, putting themself between wendy and winston while still making it seem like they’re actually fully on wendy’s side for this, acting indifferent towards winston, avoiding defending him to any point that they seem like they’re definitely advocating for him.........not to mention that winston’s right, and the math works no matter what, and it makes no sense to consider getting rid of him.......and taylor is directly contradicting themself by denying that they “need” winston, unless they’re just again talking about “i do not literally Need you like literal oxygen,” and/or, say, because they’re putting on a show of reluctance to keep winston on for wendy’s sake.

further consider: winston goes to mafee to complain, and then mafee and winston both bring lauren into the fold, but winston is complaining about what wendy specifically is doing - he’s not mentioning taylor. and winston complaining about this to mafee (and lauren) doesn’t have to be an act, because wendy’s not in on all this; she probably Does want to push out pre-impact-fund mase cappers, and they Don’t have reason to trust her. there’s no reason for winston to Not be upset about wendy wanting him out / interfering so much at mase cap - and maybe this Moment where taylor communicates to him via this glance is all the info winston has, like, all he knows is “oh, taylor maybe doesn’t want to do everything wendy does, but wendy is obviously pushing some Agendas,” like, he was there, taylor was managing to defend him without making it look like they were Clearly wanting to do that, but wendy was all in on just firing him asap.

not to mention how taylor acts in the scene where they do decide to keep winston on - they wait for wendy to make the call, then without waiting for even a beat to pass, confirm that winston’s Still Aboard, and immediately leave so that the whole matter is done with. more on this whole scene in a sec lol

and for another thought on how this Broader Recontextualization (i.e. that taylor is Not as aligned with wendy as they might act at face value / has some more complex plan at work here which requires them to act as though they’re just fully invested in this partnership with wendy) could be supported here, before i even noticed these Glances, i also noticed that it seemed like taylor was really Emphatic in telling lauren not to get into the middle of what they were doing with wendy.....and not in like an angry way or anything obviously, just like, they seemed particularly Earnest about that. and i think that could be indication of like, taylor does have this elaborate, big plan here, and they want it to unfold smoothly and/or just don’t want lauren to have to deal with any unforeseen consequences of stumbling into this Scheme..............but it’s unfortunate if lauren’s entirely in the dark, especially with how taylor was kind of ignoring her advice about the 25% vs 15% thing or whatever.........good that lauren’s on board anyways, like, not like taylor didn’t back her up on the less-than-ideal(-for-taylor) transition into being partially an axe cap employee, but it’s like......any relationship strife here is unnecessary, lauren’s just trying to look out for them. why can’t she be in on any larger schemes unfolding here

also, i think about taylor’s conversations with oscar back in 5x02. he was talking to them all about speed chess and having to think as many moves ahead (including your opponents potential moves) as possible, which, first of all i think that’s just always true in chess, but with speed chess you try to do it faster......as is the nature of speed chess......and, anyways, at the end taylor lets him know that they were even better than he was at that [seeing as many potential moves ahead as possible] thing. and i could definitely buy that taylor here is playing speed chess and has a much more in-depth plan than they’re letting on, vs. that their plan should be taken at face value and they really Do just trust wendy because of like, well there’s always risk + why would she betray me twice in a row. lol. and just the fact that all taylor’s behavior and choices and attitudes here like......do not make much sense otherwise, or line up much with how they’ve ever done things previously, really.

and here’s a whole extra galaxy brain layer to the matter:

What if Rian’s Already in On Taylor’s Plans Here, Potentially Even A Co-Conspirator With Both Taylor And Winston

here’s another thing i noticed was Strange before noticing the glances.....why is rian even back interviewing again??? i mean i could absolute ignore the weirdness of why rian apparently came back to this interview, pitch ready on her laptop, but didn’t even know *why* she should want to be doing the interview until bringing that up partway through. also, the presentation / idea was not That impressive lmao like, idk, taylor was a bit more generous with praise than warranted mayhaps lmfao but like. yes this could just be all taken at face value and it’d make more sense than [taking Everything taylor does at face value] but check this out

let’s say somehow taylor gets in touch with rian before she comes in and rian is in on all this from the start lol. acting kind of ambivalent, yet has this whole project just ready to pitch?? also like, apparently conveniently an “earnest believer” in saving the world one hedge fund trade at a time or whatever, but idk, i guess some people theoretically are........but anyways yeah taylor Wants to bring rian on, but wants wendy to be part of that / for wendy to think it was mostly her idea, aka mostly taylor listening to / valuing wendy’s good idea here.

like, the real point comes with how like, the glance suggests taylor Does Not Want To Fire Winston, but in the scene where winston Starts Up the conversation about keeping him on, taylor is Not helping winston.....still sort of being neutral, but also acting bizarrely indifferent and unimpressed with him. but then you know, for no particular reason, rian cuts in and makes a case for keeping him on.

and idk, maybe she’s just that nice and like, reverse hospitable to new coworkers, maybe she’s already decided he’s Alright and she may as well try to keep him around. but her defense of winston includes some Weirdly Strong language throughout.

well, it actually helps that he's outside the camp. don't you think? studies have proven that a diversity of opinions really strengthens an organization. impact funds really benefit from having a capitalist douche on staff as a bellwether; i mean, if you can sell impact plays to him, you know they'll be viable to anyone.

with the italics being where rian herself places emphasis. like, aside from the mystery of how anyone at a hedge fund thinks some people are capitalist and some, apparently, anticapitalist, or why winston should apparently be Exceptionally Mercenary and uncaring when he was all for the nlp oil divestment strategy which led to this whole impact fund idea in the first place.......rian is really arguing for winston here, and taylor literally looks to wendy, who agrees with rian that they should keep him on, and then taylor immediately affirms it and leaves.

co-conspirator galaxy brain blast here being: taylor can’t directly stick up for winston, they want to seem as indifferent / unenthused as possible, while not actually throwing him under the bus, yet not defending him to put themself at odds with wendy. winston can’t really defend himself here - imo the fact that wendy’s even considering firing him at all kind of shows that like, maybe the usual reasonable arguments he has aren’t gonna fly, since presumably arguing for the value of his own quantitative approach doesn’t count for anything if wendy’s just dead set on hiring “true believers” for whatever reason, even though the math will still work, like he says, and he hardly seems pressed about being Against this impact fund maneuver or anything...........he can’t argue for himself here, taylor can’t either b/c they want it to be wendy’s idea/decision to keep him on so they can simply seem to be agreeing with her, so here comes co-conspirator rian, mysteriously but firmly arguing that winston should be kept on board b/c of this reason that really doesn’t make all that much sense (when has winston ever been like, skeptical of any strategies for not being Capitalist enough or whatever).......but apparently wendy buys it, and she’s sort of further affirmed by it having been her Good Idea / Good Call to hire this person who she’s now taking the advice of.........and taylor just gets to Really quickly agree in a way that still firmly concludes this whole issue, and yet doesn’t make it seem like they were sticking up for him in the least. sure was really convenient for everyone lol, thanks rian for gunning for this guy you probably met just today.

if rian’s not a co-conspirator, maybe that was just dumb luck, but that’d really be bold if taylor wanted to keep winston on but there was no game plan for how to guarantee that happens, we’re just gonna wing it..........and despite their seeming indifference, even slight disdain towards him in this scene, as Soon as wendy agrees he should stay, bam, taylor tells him it’s Decided and he’s fine and immediately bails so that the conversation can’t continue, boy, they sure accepted that Wholly and Immediately for someone who was supposedly on the fence about all of it.

and anyways the point is:

tl;dr The Glancing Between Winston And Taylor Is Real and They’re Secretly Communicating With Each Other This Way in This Moment

#winston billions #also #billions #this is Something!!!

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desperationandgin · 6 years

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I don't think shephard ever wanted him dead. When Remi says she will "rip them apart from the inside" in the finale, she means destroy the FBI and the country that betrayed her. And now she will want to kill them because she woke up 3 years later and Oscar and Roman are gone, Sheppard is arrested and Sandstorm is over. I do agree with the jeller drama part. I love the whole Remi thing, but the drama was unnecessary in S3. Theres still a lot more to watch than just sully and Jaimie though. ❤

I, of course, have a bias, but I fully believe, going into this show, Martin Gero wanted us to have that bias. They set the entire show up for people to root for Jane and Kurt. That could have been anyone's name tattooed on Remi's back. They could have just picked Patterson outright because she's a puzzle whiz. They could have gone with Tasha because she had an addiction with debts Sheperd could have no doubt made go away and gotten Tasha to the top of the ladder faster. It didn't have to be Kurt, but the creator of the show obviously wanted us to be emotionally invested in THAT relationship.

So, while I agree that there is and should be more to the show than just Jeller, when you set up something to be focused on those two characters and then give them the allusion of happiness in the form of a wedding to imply that more happiness is to come, it's sort of a dick move to make her leave him, have her cheat on him, insert Avery only for the drama (because where is she now? She was a plot device not someone to be fleshed out, apparently) and then turn Jane back to Remi. We already spent an entire season and most of the next watching them go back and forth with trust and hurt and misplaced feelings. I don't understand how it's enjoyable to keep going back for more of that.

Someone mentioned that dudes don't like romance or won't watch if there's not enough action to which I say lol bullshit. (Not to the person but to the entire concept that dudes would bail.) The notion that any form of pop culture is “for girls” or “for guys” is silly and gender normative. After all, most of the shows I watch fall under 'guy' shows: Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, etc.

Let's just look at Outlander for a second. On the surface it's a romance and it's easy to assume that only women are watching it. The two main characters, Jamie and Claire while not even remotely romantic with one another until midway through the first season (same as Jeller for the most part) wind up together and there's tension. GREAT tension. She doesn't want to marry him, she tries to run away, they argue and yell and fight with each other. For the sake of going with gendering television shows that's all 'girl' stuff, right? But there is also blood and violence and war and close up shots of amputating limbs and P L E N T Y of moments for male fantasy.

But you know what Outlander has that Blindspot has never?

Satisfying resolution. Growth.

At the end of the day, Jamie and Claire have grown together rather than apart because the writing staff knows that at SOME POINT characters have to change and learn and develop. Jane and Kurt (but Jane especially) never seems (or seemed to) learn from past mistakes. You have to give us enough good to sustain through the bad. Maybe some people are satisfied with the two or three genuine moments we got between Jane and Kurt in season 3 but I'm not. There should have been more after season two and after she came back. But instead, we got bombshell ~Revelations~ and cheating plotlines. Fuck off with that, lmao.

All of this tl;dr to say I think there are enough people in the fandom excusing what the writing has done with Jeller by trying to focus on other aspects of the show and that's fine. (For the record: I dislike Reade and I hate the Reade/Tasha move.) I am always going to be interested in this show and where the characters as individuals go and wind up. I LOVE Patterson with my entire heart and soul. I love Rich so much. But I just can't excuse bad writing based on old and tired tropes. There's too much television breaking barriers and railing against the norm for me to think what Gero is doing is smart anymore.

#blindspot #i keep watching because i keep hoping #because the first season was incredible #because i know what it COULD be #but it's fallen into such an old formulaic trope show #and now all i have to really look forward to #are gorgeous faces #it'll have to be enough #Anonymous

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