Season 4, Episode 2: ‘Arousal Template’

Zugzwang is a delightful word for a dispiriting concept. In chess, zugzwang occurs when it’s your move, but your opponent has cannily set you up to dig yourself deeper into defeat. It’s a useful concept for anyone who needs to outmaneuver an enemy without staging a frontal assault. And as Taylor Mason’s ruthless new right-hand woman, Sara Hammon (Samantha Mathis), realizes in this week’s episode of “Billions,” zugzwang is the name of the game for every player on the board right now.

Thank Grigor Andolov for that. As he has threatened many times, and proved last week by orchestrating the abduction of Wags, that menacing Russian will stop at nothing to protect his investment in Taylor’s company. This means that Bobby’s best play is to cut off his former protégé’s supply of cash by cutting sweetheart deals with banks that are in a bad way. They’ll owe him a favor and take their business elsewhere, with minimal exposure on his end.

For Axe, there is an ancillary bonus. Scoping out a bank that has made a bad investment in robots that can barely walk without tripping, he makes the acquaintance of Rebecca Cantu (Nina Arianda), a fellow billionaire who made her fortune by recognizing the best products to sell on a home shopping network and thus sees right through the robot manufacturer’s song and dance. It’s a match made in heaven’s V.I.P. lounge.

The two go into business by splitting her share of an industrial cleaning company, then have sex to celebrate. They get in a shouting match when Rebecca realizes Axe was responsible for an immigration sting that sunk the company’s competition, making him money she could have had for herself. They make up when he agrees to give half of her shares back, plus the profits on them, in exchange for her promise not to float Taylor any money herself.