Billions, premiering on Showtime January 17 at 10 p.m., might be the ticket you need to an upper-echelon of television entertainment in 2016.

The financial collapse of 2008 is still on everybody’s minds — the film adaptation of Michael Lewis’ The Big Short is receiving critical acclaim not just for the stellar cast but also for the way it explains what happened in the mid-00’s (hey, Selena Gomez!) — and while there have been dozens of fancy shows about people with money who want power in the years following, Showtime’s newest drama, Billions is something different.

While the show is centered around U.S. Attorney Chuck Rhoades, and billionaire CEO of Axe Capital, Bobby Axelrod — the sublime Paul Giamatti and Damien Lewis respectively — the people that populate this world are equally engaging. Their wives, Wendy Rhoades (Maggie Siff) and Lara Axelrod (Malin Akerman) in particular have promising roles on Billions.

Wendy, we learn in the pilot, has a brewing conflict of interest at her job as in-house performance coach (she counsels a struggling employee in a particularly notable scene) at Axe Capital, but she is married to Chuck. Should Chuck want to go after Axe Capital, he could indirectly destroy her career. We look forward to seeing this plot line unfold over the next few episodes, as Wendy’s relationship with the two men seems complicated.

Lara Axelrod’s presence in the pilot is small, but mighty, particularly after a scene with another woman that had us unknowingly holding our breath. It’s also one of the first moments in the show that lets viewers know, there is more than meets the eye.

The pilot sets up much of the premises for the show and defines these character’s emotional, intellectual and mental baselines. Anything that happens after the first 59 minutes could make these factors fly wildly out of control.

Bobby lives in a mega-mansion with his family, a maid, a chef, and presumably oodles of expensive toys to play with. He eats dinner with his young sons sandwiched between him and Lara. He instills values such as competition and very Slytherin-esque characteristics (he applauds his younger son for making his older son look foolish for the sake of dinnertime conversation).

Chuck lives in a townhouse in New York City, with his son and daughter’s works of art hanging from the walls and his wife working after-hours when he gets home. They share a glass of wine while they argue. More accurately, Chuck grabs the glass of wine from his wife, and she steals it back.

To say that both men are ‘controlling’ might be too strong of a word, at least for only having watched the first hour of the show, but they both view life as a chessboard. They’re just daring one another to make the first move, move the first pawn, work his way to the Queen.

There’s no gratuitous sex scenes or extramarital affairs (yet), the lack of which honestly surprised this viewer, particularly for being a Showtime show. Though, Chuck and Wendy seem to have a keen interest in keeping their sex life alive. Overall, Billions is a refreshingly tense financial and political thriller. A game of cat and mouse, and red herrings abound.

Viewers of shows ranging from Suits (fans of David Constible’s Daniel Hardman will recognize him here as a curious man named Wags) to House of Cards will surely find something enjoyable in Billions’ who’s-on-who’s-side world. It was created by Brian Koppelman, Andrew Ross Sorkin and David Levien, so you know this show’ll be good.

Billions is currently streaming its first episode on Hulu and will premiere on Showtime Sunday, January 17 at 10 p.m. ET.