Ballers has rebounded in a huge way after a rough middle of the season and last night actually made us all care a hell of a lot about what is going to happen in next week's season finale. This is no longer a semi-dramatic NFL Three Stooges starring The Rock. Everyone's actions are having real consequences and there are a lot of very interesting threads that the writers of the show are pulling right now. Let's dig into Million Bucks in a Bag, shall we?

We picked up this week's Ballers right after Spencer's (Dwayne Johnson) draft day party, which went mostly well, save for T-Sizzle sort of spoiling his plans to buy the company from Mr. Anderson (Richard Schiff). Even though his place is trashed, much like his hip, Spencer has some serious business to attend to. Jason (Troy Garity) had five clients get drafted in the first round and that leaves him wondering where Spencer is at with his plan, because there are bonus checks to attend to! Before he can attend to those checks, we need to be reminded by Spencer's doctor that his hip is ruined and she is much more worried about it than Spencer is, apparently. His ever so kind doctor is trying to schedule a surgery, but Spencer isn't having it. More pain pills it is.

While Spencer is running around to try and sort out the business of buying his business, Mr. Anderson and Joe (Rob Corddry) are meeting with everyone's favorite/least favorite businessman Andre (Andy Garcia). As we know, Andre had previously offered to buy the firm, and he is honoring that, kind of. In a bit of a surprise turn, we learn that Andre has seriously devalued the company because Spencer was let go. He feels that Spencer is an asset to the firm and without him, the price goes way down. So, needless to say, he and Mr. Anderson were not able to make a deal, but we did learn that Mr. Anderson likes hot wax dripped on his nipples. So that's something!

This leads Joe to give Spencer the good news that they may have a window of opportunity to make their offer to Mr. Anderson. So, they go see Ricky (John David Washington) to get some of the money he is loaning them for the deal. Some being a million dollars cash in a big duffel bag, to be exact. The show is called Ballers, after all, and that bag of cash made it live up to the name. So what did they do with that bag of cash? Spencer walks right into ASM, in an especially dapper suit I might add, and drops the bag right on Mr. Anderson's desk. Baller move, Spencer. He makes an insanely compelling argument about why Mr. Anderson should sell to them instead of Andre and offers the money as something of a good faith down payment. But Andre has other plans. More on that in a moment.

Elsewhere, Ricky is unsure (still) about what he wants to do, but his dad does make a compelling argument, saying that if he goes with a better team as opposed to following the money, he could wind up in the hall of fame. So, the rest of the time we spend with Ricky this week is discussing the merits of Tom Brady, Cam Newton and Aaron Rodgers. Charles (Omar Benson Miller) is killing it at his new job, getting shipped around the country to meet with undrafted free agents, but it has put a huge strain on his marriage. Up to this point, Charles's new gig seemed like nothing but a good thing, but it looks like he may have to face the career/family dilemma sooner rather than later. Do the right thing, Charles. Do the right thing. Finally, Vernon (Donovan W. Carter) is doing rehab and trying not to stress about Dallas drafting a new player that is threatening his position. At the same time, Jason (Troy Garity) reveals to he and Reggie (London Brown) that Spencer lent them his last $300 grand a while back, which leads them to offer Spencer a loan for his buyout of ASM. Spencer declines, but that was strategic.

Now for the main event. Something we have been waiting for all season. Spencer gets that call from Andre. That "we need to talk" call. They finally are hashing things out, man to man. Fittingly, they meet up at the lot where their feud began, the lot that Spencer invested in and lost all of his money, which we were sure was Andre's fault. But this meeting taught us a lot. We learned that Andre may not be such a bad guy afterall. It turns out that he wants to buy ASM and rehire Spencer, letting him do with the company as he pleases. Not only that, but he reveals that he only told Spencer to invest $600 thousand into the property that cost he and his friends a fortune, not the $6 million he did. Sure, there is some grey area, but clearly Andre is not the villain we had thought him to be. Spencer of course sticks to his stubborn ways and insists that he is going to try and buy the company on his own. Andre even calls him out, knowing he is going to attempt to do so with his clients money.

Spencer's last stop is another visit to Vernon to take him up on his initial offer. Well, a lot more than his initial offer. Spencer warns Vernon that there is no guarantee that he will ever see his money again, but that he needs a $5 million loan, and that is where we leave it. Easily one of the best episodes of the season if not the series as a whole. We can hope that the writers have been able to use that momentum to deliver an equally awesome season finale. We will find out next week when Ballers returns at 10 p.m. EST on HBO.