HOUSE OF CARDS S5 E13 CHAPTER 65 - Plot summary and comments

PLOT SUMMARY: In the pre-credits sequence, President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) blackmails Congressman Romero to drop the congressional investigation.

In private, Vice President Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) is angry with Frank for not sharing his gameplan.  He tells her that his resignation was not a last minute decision but part of a long-run plan since Elysian Fields. He has realised that the real power is not in the White House but in the powerful forces who control it. Therefore the most powerful combination is for Frank to control the private sector influence on the WH and for Claire to be running it. She resents him telling her that he made her the President and tells her she has to pardon him for all his crimes once she's President.  She says she could be impeached for it.  Frank also reveals that he was the leak all along via his Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly). She tells him to shut down the surveillance and that she killed her ex-lover Tom Yates.  He tells her he'll do that as soon as she pardons him and that she'll have to pardon Doug too at a later date.

Claire then tells Special Adviser Mark Usher (Campbell Scott) about the death of Tom Yates in his house.  

HOUSE OF CARDS S5 E12 CHAPTER 64 - Plot summary and comments

PLOT SUMMARY: In the pre-credits sequence, President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) pushes Secretary of State Cathy Durant into a serious fall to prevent her testifying against him.  The Underwoods' Special Adviser Mark Usher (Campbell Scott) learns that the House is preparing to impeach Frank.

Vice President Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) receives a note from her ex-lover Tom Yates (Paul Sparks).  Jane Davies (Patricia Clarkson) gives her a herbal remedy for her migraine but says Claire needs to be careful with the dosing.

Ex campaign manager Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell) tells Frank about Aidan McAllan and is rewarded with a job.  Frank reveals to his Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) that he doesn't fully trust Leann. Later Jane Davies asks her to hand over the evidence Aidan gave her but she refuses. 

HOUSE OF CARDS S5 E11 CHAPTER 63 - Plot summary and comments

PLOT SUMMARY: In the pre-credits sequence, journalist Tom Hammserschmidt (Boris McGiver) and press secretary Seth Grayson (Derek Cecil) debate the impact of ex President Walker's testimony to Congress. Hammerschmidt claims that President and Vice President Underwood (Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright) are close to impeachment.  After the credits we see Secretary of State Cathy Durant discussing immunity with her lawyer over lunch before being joined by Jane Davies (Patricia Clarkson).  Jane makes overtures and asks Cathy if Claire could survive and become President.  

Meanwhile the Underwoods decide to attack Walker's credibility.  But the stress causes Frank to lash out at Claire who has more chance of survival.  Radically, she then breaks the fourth wall for the first time in the series and explains that she knew the audience was there the whole time but feels ambivalent about it.  The Underwoods then tell Usher that Frank is willing to accept Censure. Claire also tells Usher that she won't stay out of it, but will support Frank.

Claire asks her lover Tom Yates (Paul Sparks) to leave the White House.  Frank's creepy ex-personal trainer Eric declares his love for Frank.

Alex Romero tells the Underwoods special adviser Mark Usher (Campbell Scott) that he has become an Independent and is now sitting on the Congressional Committee investigating Frank.

Meanwhile, ex campaign manager Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell) enquires as to whether Aidan McAllan (Damian Young)'s death was suicide or murder. 

Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) discovers that it's Seth Grayson who's leaking against Frank and that Cathy Durant is loyal. He also discovers that McAllan left something for Harvey.  Stamper reveals to Claire that Frank had him follow Tom. In response she warns him off seeing Laura Moretti, the woman he has been sleeping with.  Stamper then tells Moretti he's the reason her husband was killed. But Moretti is sanguine about the news.  Stamper then goes to Leann Harvey's house to tell her he's been watching her.  She seduces him.  We realise that Frank is watching through Leann's laptop cam.

We, and Hammerschmidt, learn that although seemingly loyal, Cathy Durant will testify against the Underwoods. Moreover, he is sent an anonymous thumb drive - perhaps from McAllan?

Finally, Stamper and Frank share their concerns about Claire's loyalty. 

COMMENTS: The shifting power is indicated by Claire breaking the fourth wall. I'm still ambivalent about this. I also feel that the odds are so stacked against the Underwoods that it would be incredible for them to survive. 

HOUSE OF CARDS S5 E10 CHAPTER 62 - Plot summary and comments

PLOT SUMMARY: President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) discusses Congressman Romero's Declaration of War Committee with Special Adviser  Mark Usher (Campbell Scott) and Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly).  Usher uses a press leak to get Jackie Sharp not plead the fifth. 

Jane Davies (Patricia Clarkson) tells the Underwoods that IT specialist Aidan McAllan (Damian Young) is being interrogated in Jordan but has not given up any information.  Jane then meets former Underwood campaign manager Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell) and tells her that he's alive but being held for information.  Leann then goes straight to Claire and tells her what Jane said in order to curry favour.  Claire confronts Jane who retains her cool. Jane also tips the President to an attack on Homs, suggests he draw a "line in the sand" before it, to justify a massive troop invasion afterward. This would also distract the Declaration of War Committee.

The Underwoods ask both Usher and Davies for their opinions on each other and both are negative. It emerges that Usher was also backing Romero as a future GOP Presidential candidate and the Underwoods demand he declare his loyalty to them.  Frank then meets with ex President Walker against Claire's advice and Walker straight up accuses Frank of stealing the Presidency.  He then throws Frank under the bus in the Congressional committee.


Doug tracks down the junkie that journalist Tom Hammserschmidt (Boris McGiver) was speaking to and sends a message to Rachel to come home.

Claire confesses to her lover Tom Yates (Paul Sparks) that Frank killed Zoe Barnes.

Aidan McAllan (Damian Young) meets Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell) in a parking garage and once more asks her to leave with him. She refuses but gives him a gun. Later she gets an email indicating that he's dead with a link to some files.  He has been shot in the eye. 

COMMENTS: It's hard to see how Frank gets out of Walker's testimony but they always do. It's also hard to believe that Claire has really fallen for Tom to the extent that she confesses to him. This is the jump the shark moment for me.

HOUSE OF CARDS S5 E9 CHAPTER 61 - Plot summary and comments

PLOT SUMMARY: The election is finally over.  President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) won Ohio and thus the election against Republican candidate Will Conway (Joel Kinnaman).  Conway's old campaign manager Mark Usher (Campbell Scott) is appointed Special Advisor to the President replacing the Underwoods' former campaign manager Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell). The Vice President Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) sacks speechwriter Tom Yates (Paul Sparks) but still wants to see him.  The Underwoods are using Jane Davis (Patricia Clarkson) to assassinate IT specialist Aidan McAllan (Damian Young) and know this will put them in her debt.  Journalist Kate Baldwin (Kim Dickens) goes to Russia to interview Aidan and tells him that Leann has been forced out of power.  He calls her and tries to persuade her to come to Russia but she refuses and tells her people are coming to assassinate him.  However, Jane and the Underwoods are actually taking him to Jordan to be interrogated. 

As they are about to attend the White House Inaugural Ball, Frank's creepy personal trainer Eric makes a move on him and Frank quasi-threatens him in return.  Chief of Staff Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) escorts him from the ball. Separately, a scorned congressman says he's going to attempt to resurrect the Republican's investigations into the Underwoods.  Frank warns Tom Yates not to cheat on his wife. 

White House Press Secretary Seth Grayson (Derek Cecil) tries to contact Tom Hammerschmidt (Boris McGiver) but fails. Tom now has the video tape of the moment Frank killed Zoe Barnes in a metro station but the evidence is inconclusive. Tom calls Zoe's father but he doesn't want to get involved before turning up at Tom's office. 

COMMENTS: A holding episode at best. It's hard to ignore the suspicion that it exists merely so that series creator and episode writer Beau Willimon could give Frank a breaking the fourth wall speech chiding the American voters for electing Trump. Otherwise, from a narrative pacing point of view one would've picked up a few months into the new administration.

HOUSE OF CARDS - Season Two - Chapter Fourteen (spoilers)

PLOT SUMMARY: As Season Two opens, the Majority Whip Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is on the verge of being made Vice President and needs to clean up the mess from last season and shore up his power base. The first involves eliminating anyone on the trail of the murder of wildly self-sabotaging Congressman Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) by pushing journo-blogger and ex-lover Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) under a train. It also involves Frank's sidekick Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) riding hooker Rachel Posner (Rachel Brosnahan) out of town. The second task sees Frank corrupting the rising political star Jackie Sharp (Molly Parker) by giving her the dirt on her two rivals to become the new Majority Whip. On the other side of the bed, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) explores the possibilities of an over-40s pregnancy, and buys off her disgruntled former employee Gillian Cole (Sandrine Holt) by offering her the leadership of CWI.

COMMENTS: I spent much of last season railing against how this version of House of Cards was less subtle, less dark and less fast paced than the British original. This left me with nothing but rage and disappointment. So this season I have vowed to ban the original (also available on Netflix, and reviewed on this site) from my thoughts, and to take Season 2 on its merits. The opening episode certainly packs a punch - a punch that should've arguably been the climax of season 1. But no matter: it was wickedly fun to watch Frank and Claire clean up their mess from season 1. I loved Frank's corruption of the all-too-easily corrupted and ambitious Jackie - but wasn't it a bit naive to just let her sit at his laptop? And I also love that Claire is now trying to get pregnant - a move I can only presume is motivated by being the perfect political wife - just as she wants Frank to give up smoking. She seems to change her mind after threatening to let Gillian's baby "wither and die inside her" - a far more chilling moment than Zoe's murder.  I'm really fascinated to learn more about her psychology - giving up a child and CWI - what does she get in return? 

But of course, the real test of this episode is how you deal with the murder of Zoe. Personally, I felt it didn't have the power of the original UK series (I know!) because the relationship between Frank and Zoe had never been as psychologically warped and intimate as between Mattie and Frances. There was something casually efficient - bureaucratically necessary about Zoe's death - whereas in the UK version, Mattie has more than an air of the bunnie boiler about her. Still, I suppose as an indictment of cool ambition, this version has the virtue of being All About Business. My only other gripe is that in the age of CCTV is killing someone in a metro station really wise? The mysterious be-hatted figure walking against the rushing crowd?  Also, what's with the lack of straight-to-camera snarky commentary from Frank until the end - and what a relief when it returns!

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter thirteen

PLOT SUMMARY:  Congressman Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) returns to Washington, and tries to persuade lobbyist Remy Danton (Mahershala Ali) to convince Sancorp to mount a hostile takeover on Ray Tusk's nuclear companies.  Frank hopes this attack will prevent Tusk accepting the VP position because he won't want to put his assets in a blind trust.  However, it transpires that Danton has sold out Sancorp to Tusk, and that it's Tusk who is mounting a takeover bid on Sancorp.  Nonetheless, Tusk still endorses Frank, and as the episode ends, Frank has accepted the Vice Presidential role, although this has yet to be announced to the public.  He tells Claire (Robin Wright), but she does not tell him that she wants a baby and has sought medical advice. Meanwhile the Scooby Gang of Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara), Janine Skorsky (Constance Zimmer) and Lucas have tracked down the hooker, Rachel, who is still being controlled by Frank's fixer Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly).  He realises that they know about the Kern letter, the Russo arrests being over-turned and the other machinations.  As the episode, and series, ends, Doug is trying to call Frank to warn him, but he is out running with Claire. 

COMMENTS:  It would be an understatement to say just how angry I am at the piss-poor ending of this series of House of Cards. It utterly cheats the invested viewer out of any kind of closure and we should all boycott the now necessary series 2 in protest.  It's the worst kind of bullshit since the US series of The Killing, and shows that as slick, and well-acted as this series might have been, commercial interests have trumped simple good storytelling.  It also means that the original British series, with its desperately tense climax, remains the superior story.  

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter twelve

PLOT SUMMARY:  Two stories work in parallel. In the first, Justine Sorski (Constance Zimmer) confronts Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) with the fact that she knows Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) was feeding Zoe stories. They work together to uncover why dead Congressman Peter Russo didn't testify in favour of the shipyard, realising that Frank probably strong-armed him, and was arguably linked to the machinations to get Kern to resign as Secretary of State, and to get Terry Womack appointed House Majority leader.  In doing so, they are aided by Russo's former lover and aide Christina and a stripper called Echo.  Doug Stanhope realises they are on the case but promised Frank he can contain them.

Meanwhile, Linda (Sarakina Jaffrey) and Frank try to manipulate President Walker (Michael Gill) into nominating Frank for the Vice Presidency.  However, the President has duped Frank into flying to St Louis to vet billionaire Ray Tusk, all the while asking Tusk to vet Frank.  When Frank realises this, Tusk asks for a favour in exchange for a recommendation.  Frank decides to go after Ray's nuclear interests instead. 

COMMENTS:  As we move into the endgame, the net is closing in on Frank, but this episode is mostly set up.  The Scooby Doo gang is on the case, and retracing Frank's steps is rather dull. I also find it implausible that Lucas should think himself in love with Zoe when she's such an unlovable character. Indeed, it's one of the virtues of this series that it doesn't try to make the characters lovable.  Down in St Louis, I was far more amused by the thinly veiled portrait of Warren Buffett - the billionaire Tusk still living in his modest house. But even there, the idea of creating yet another obstacle for Frank to jump over seems a bit weak. We know he will, but have to wait till the next episode.  So all in all, I get why this episode has to exist - it's about the plot machinations that bring us to a final confrontation between Zoe and Frank. But it all seems rather pedestrian, and a bit disappointing from director Allen Coulter of Boardwalk Empire fame.

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter eleven

Robin Wright at the London première

PLOT SUMMARY: Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) remains in New York with photographer Adam Gallworthy (Ben Daniels) but it is clear she will return. Zoe (Kate Mara) begins to confide in Lucas about the older man she was sleeping with to get her leads. However, the focus of the episode is on the fragile mental state of the now disgraced Congressman Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) as he continues to drink, and guilt-ridden, hands himself into a police station.  He is tracked down by Doug Stamper (Michael Kelley).  Meanwhile Congressman Frank Underwood's (Kevin Spacey) long game is revealed: he will persuade the Vice President to step in as candidate for the Governor's seat; and will himself become Veep, hoping in time to launch a Presidential campaign. He calls in his favour from Vasquez (Sarakina Jaffrey) and also tempts her with implied senior office.  To get his plan in motion, Frank stages Peter's suicide. It is unclear how complicit Doug is. As the episode ends, Claire is by Frank's side at a press conference mourning Peter's death.  

COMMENTS: Carl Franklin (HIGH CRIMES) directs another emotionally heavy episode, where Frank's true schemes are revealed.  The focus of the episode is Peter Russo's slide into a suicidal state and Frank calmly murdering him.  As usual, I just love Corey Stoll's believable, tragic performance as Peter - a character whose bad choices and self-indulgence could have been unlikable and unforgivable.  However, it is in this episode that I most feel the problems of Kevin Spacey's Frank Underwood as compared with the Ian Richardson Francis Urquhart.  In the British original, Urquhart was so manifestly evil that the grandeur of his plans and his murderous intent were no surprise.  He didn't go from honest citizen to murderer in one fell swoop - rather he had committed feigned insider trading, pimped out secretaries and generally done nefarious deeds all the way through the series.  This made him less plausible, perhaps, but made his final act of murder far less jarring.  I looked at Frank Underwood, by contrast, and wondered if US viewers, unfamiliar with the original series, would have guessed that he would go to such lengths based on the information contained in the preceding ten episodes  I'd be genuinely interested to hear what you all think. One final note about the bizarre opacity of Doug Stamper.  How far do we think he was complicit in the plan from the beginning - from grooming the hooker, to tracking down Russo?  And how far can his loyalty by questioned? If Claire rebelled, why not Doug? And how far does he know so much that Frank will have to murder him too?  We are all set for a gripping denouement. 

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter ten

Kate Mara at the London première

PLOT SUMMARY: In the wake of the failed Watershed Bill vote, chief whip Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) takes the rap, sheltering Linda Vasquez (Sarakina Jaffrey) from President Walker's (Michael Gill) anger, and currying favour by persuading Gillian (Sandrine Holt) to help Vasquez' son get into Stanford.  Frank tells Claire (Robin Wright) in no uncertain terms that her charity is not as important as his political goals. She reacts by visiting Zoe (Kate Mara) before joining her ex-lover Adam Galloway (Ben Daniels) in New York.  Zoe (Kate Mara), disgusted and alienated from her apartment, sleeps with her ex-colleague, Lucas. Meanwhile Frank sets up Gubernatorial candidate Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) with Doug's hooker Rachel (Rachel Brosnahan), resulting in him falling off the wagon and blowing a radio interview. In the final scene, Peter goes awol. 

COMMENTS:  A good, tense episode focussing on the emotional fallout from Claire's betrayal in the last episode.  It was obvious that Claire would go to New York, but not that Zoe would sleep with Lucas, seemingly having a change of heart about her nakedly ambitious, heartless career choices to date.  It was also a surprise to see (presumably) Doug and Frank set Peter up for a fall, although one can't yet see to what end. Doesn't it look bad for Frank to have backed the wrong horse - a man so obviously in a fragile recovery?  I guess we have to wait and see who he plans to put into the gubernatorial race instead, and to what end that helps him.  Finally, Frank knows where Claire is.  Will he go and get her? Or just wait for her to return? I thought the acting in this episode was particularly top notch, especially as it didn't rely on zingers, or any dialogue at all, but rather long drawn out reaction shots. I loved Kate Mara's reaction as she does a double-take of her grimy apartment, seeing it through Claire's condescending eyes, tinged with her own bad choices and memories.  And  I loved the look on Corey Stoll's face when he drank his first shot, and I really hope he gets some awards love for this challenging performance. 

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter nine

PLOT SUMMARY:  Gubernatorial candidate Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) goes on a bus campaign in Pennsylvania. At first he is undermined by the Vice President, but on Frank's advice flatters him into the fold. Back in Washington, reading a thinly veiled morality lesson from Janine (Constance Zimmer), Zoe (Kate Mara) dumps chief whip Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey). In retaliation  he withholds political scoops, until she resumes their transactions. 

Meanwhile, Frank tries to shepherd Russo's Watershed Bill through Congress despite Sancorp's heavy lobbying against it. Claire secretly scuppers the Bill in order to win Sancorp's help for her charity, when Frank fails to pull the necessary strings at State. Finally, Frank's chief of staff, Doug, gets the hooker, Rachel, her old job as a waitress back.

COMMENTS: I'm happy to see Frank back to his day job of scrambling the votes to get a bill through Congress. He has some superb lines: "I've often found that bleeding hearts have an ironic fear of their own blood," and "I can't lie: I despise kids. There, I've said it."  But he also has some duds. "Never slap a man while he's chewing tobacco." What does that even mean? 

As he breaks the fourth wall, he protests that he doesn't care about being dumped by Zoe, but I can't help but think his argument with Claire is a direct consequence of this. It's shocking to see such a tight career couple arguing, and one wonders what the ruthless Clare will do to him in return. Well, it turns out she screws him over. Is this turnaround from ideal career marriage plausible? I guess so. Their relationship has also been transactional.  So long as they both benefited equally it worked, but with Frank pulling rank over her projects, she fought back.   I wonder what Claire is thinking at this point.  Does she realise that Frank will be able to trace the defeat back to her?  He'll identify the "No" voters, berate them, and they will protest that Claire said he wouldn't mind.  

In a sense, Frank's marriage is therefore as transactional as his relationship with Zoe. Although one wonders if Claire and Frank even sleep together. As a side note, am I reading too much into the fact that Zoe calls Frank "Francis" for the first time - something that only Claire does - after she dumps him?

Finally, I don't really understand what Doug is still doing with the hooker. I hope it doesn't turn out to be something hokey, like she's Frank's illegitimate child.  All this heavy-handed talk of kids - Frank despising them; Claire sympathising with them; the President's chief of staff neglecting them; Gillian pregnant - is foreshadowing something....  

Overall, I loved the pace, the tension and the ambiguity of this episode.  It's no surprise to find that it was directed by James Foley of GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS fame. (Put the coffee down!")  And I loved the final line, "I want to know who lied".  Best episode in a while. 

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter eight

PLOT SUMMARY: Congressman Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) goes to his alma mater in Charleston, a military college that's a thinly veiled version of The Citadel, for the dedication of his Sancorp sponsored library. He gets nostalgically drunk with his old friends, one of whom he may have had a homosexual affair with.  Claire (Robin Wright) travels with him, and while calling Adam Galloway (Ben Daniels) discusses her decision not to have children.  Meanwhile, recovering addict and gubernatorial candidate, Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) goes back to Philadelphia, only to be rebuffed by both is mother and the shipyard workers. Eventually, Peter is able to win their tentative support. 

COMMENTS: Once again, I find that when House of Cards leaves Washington, the pace slackens and the focus drifts.  These kinds of extended scenes away from the action only work if they serve to deepen our understanding of the characters.  I'm afraid that the Charleston scenes don't really add much.  The hint at a homosexual affair seems ill explored and there for a shock value that isn't really carried through. "You meant something to me" - oh, for heaven's sake, have the balls to say it. The same goes for the clumsy way in which the questions about biological children is introduced to Claire's conversation with Adam. Is she a beard? As for Peter's scenes on the docks, it made me realise how much more grounded and authentic The Wire's depiction of the dockers was, and how two-dimensional and basically uncaring this version is. 

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter seven

PLOT SUMMARY: Congressman Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) turns his attention to Peter Russo's (Corey Stoll) gubernatorial campaign. The plan is to confess to his addictions and frame a recovery story. To do this, Frank uses Zoe, who in turn hands the puff piece to Janine Skorsky (Constance Zimmer), baiting her to leave the Tribune for Slugline. Frank also calls in his favour from the President, getting Linda Vasquez to lean on the Vice President to stop intervening in the allocation of his old seat. Russo has cold feet, but Christina convinces him to run, and they reunite. Meanwhile, Frank's sidekick Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) bails out the whore he paid off earlier in the season. Zoe lobbies the owner of Slugline on Janine's behalf and gives her former colleague Lucas the cold shoulder. 

COMMENTS:  We're now into the episodes directed by Charles McDougall, who I respect greatly for his work on the seminal Hillsborough disaster fictional recreation, as well as the original Channel 4 Queer As Folk. That said, I found this episode rather slow - with neither political skulduggery nor emotional stakes. One can only hope it's laying tracks for a big finale to the second half of the season.  I feel like we wasted an episode going back and forth on whether Peter would run. Wasn't that what the powerful razor scene at the  end of the last episode was all about? And as for Doug's romantic attempt to save the beat-up hooker - dull and implausible that he would drag in Nancy. I also find it implausible that a) Janine would apologise to Zoe and b) that she would fall for her help in getting into or c) want to go to the risibly named Slugline.

As for the final scene between Frank and Zoe, my misgivings about the casting of Kate Mara as a sexy ingenue continue.  The final line about her wishing Frank a happy father's day could of course be interpreted in may ways.  Frank's metaphorical children - the people like Peter he keeps under his wing - maybe her. If it really does refer to a biological child I'll lose respect for Frank and for Beau Willamon's writing in having Frank make such a major damaging reveal in an offhand comment to a journalist. 

The things I liked about this episode were on its fringes.  I love the way in which recovery is handled. In fact, this is one of the few times I've seen a meeting on screen. Doug Stamper's share is superbly articulated: "fuck the zero" is the first line of this new series that matches the original's "I couldn't possibly comment". I also love the melancholy motif of the Vice President, sidelined, irrelevant, taking the President's chair in the Oval Office: a realistic dark backing to the satire of Ianucci's Veep. 

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter six

Plot summary: A month has passed and the national teachers' strike causes President Walker to question Chief Whip Frank Underwood's (Kevin Spacey) judgement.  The pressure on Frank is exacerbated by Frank bungling a CNN debate with the union leader, Spinelli (Al Sapienza).  Undeterred, Frank refuses to gut the bill, and uses journalist Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) to point the blame at Spinelli when a kid who should've been in school is shot on the street.   He then goads Spinelli into throwing a punch, which ensures his bill will pass. Meanwhile, a newly sober Pete Russo (Corey Stoll) starts recovery, making amends to Christina. He also starts his campaign for Governor, helped by Claire's proposal to redevelop the shipyard as an environmentally friendly development, generating thousands of jobs.  Separately, Claire hears the deathbed confession of Frank's former security guard, in which she explains the nature of their love and marriage. 

Comments:  I suppose it was inevitable that at the half way point of the series, we would have to see our anti-hero, Frank, brought low.  It's always a good test of how much you're invested in a character: how much you squirm when they stumble.  I  hated seeing Malcolm Tucker made irrelevant at the end of The Thick Of It season 3, and I could barely look at Frank's omnishambles.  This is a good thing.  Elsewhere, I'm a bit disappointed that the Zoe character, who was turning into quite an enjoyably manipulative player, seems to have been sidelined.  Similarly, Claire had seemed rather Machiavellian, and I had high hopes of the bodyguard's deathbed confession, but nothing revelatory happens there either. It all feels rather banal and slow-paced - maybe Schumacher's direction or just a mid-season lull?  Even the insults seem rather juvenile. Frank bully Spinelli: "I can smell the cock on your breath from here."  Where's Tucker when you need him?  I'm also starting to get rather tired of Beau Willamon flirting with shark-circling writing. Don't get me wrong: it's not as bad as the Homeland season 2 pacemaker assassination, but would Spinelli really have thrown a punch?

HOUSE OF CARDS - chapter five

Kate Mara as ambitious journalist Zoe Barnes.

Plot summary: While Frank (Kevin Spacey) appeases one of the teachers' unions, the other exacts revenge by picketing Claire's charity ball. The protesters are made to look callow in accepting food, but this may result in a nationwide strike.  Frank decides he will get the Philandering Philly elected as Governor.  Peter, abandoned by Christina, guiltridden over the shipyard job losses, gets wasted, leaving Frank to practice extreme tough love to get his head back in the game. Meanwhile, Claire (Robin Wright), frustrated at the loss of the Sancorp donation, booty calls Adam Galloway (Ben Daniels) to no effect. Zoe(Kate Mara) joins internet news portal Slugline, and goads Frank into taking blackmail photos of her as proof of trust. The Herald's editor, a stalwart defender of quality old media, is forced to resign by the proprietor. 

Comments:  I felt this episode was uneven and unfocussed, perhaps reflecting that the spotlight wasn't so much on Frank as on the two people feeling the consequences of the last episode's scheming: Claire and Congressman Russo.  I am full of admiration and wonder at Claire and Frank's marriage: open, honest and apparently anything goes so long as the other approves and can see the benefit to "us".  Imagine my relief when Frank dunks Zoe's iphone into a glass of water to erase the evidence of their meeting, and then my contempt for writer Beau Willamon when I realise all the evidence of their meetings is still hanging in the iCloud somewhere. Will this come back to haunt Frank at some point? 

As for Congressman Russo, I like Corey Stoll's depiction of his fragility, and wonder if maybe this is an Emmy-winning Supporting Actor role in the making.  This also raises the question of whether a series that airs on Netflix is even eligible. (The risible Lillyhammer meant we have yet to see a test case.)  Was Frank's tough love at the end of the episode plausible? I could see the sharks circling. I'm not quite sure the provision of the razor was impactful enough.  Overall, perhaps the weakest episode since the Peachoid.  Are we seeing the weaker quality of Joel Schumacher's direction? 

HOUSE OF CARDS - Chapter Four

Writer Beau Willamon; Robin Wright (Claire); Kate Mara (Zoe);
director David Fincher; Kevin Spacey (Frank)

Plot summary:  Democratic Whip Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) does his job, trying to gather the votes to get his Education Bill passed. He secures the support of previously intransigent Speaker Bob Birch by framing David Rasmussen, the House Majority leader, for trying to sage a coup.  Rasmussen is manipulated into resigning, clearing the way for the first African American Majority Leader, thus gaining his votes from the Black Caucus, Terry Womack.  Frank buys Womack by making Peter Russo close down the shipyard in his district, thus allowing the base in Womack's district to remain open. 

Meanwhile, at the Washington Herald, the proprietor, Margaret, over-rides the Editor, Tom, and orders him to promote, rather than to chastise Zoe (Kate Mara) for doing TV interviews.  However, Frank manipulates Zoe into turning down the promotion to Political Editor so that he can continue to use her, apparently sexually too.  She appears to tweet her Editor's inflammatory response, and is fired.

Finally, we learn that Claire (Robin Wright)  cut the jobs at her charity because she was unsure of a donation from her husband's campaign contributors, Sancorp. Lobbyist Remy Danton (Mahershala Ali) doubles the donation, but Claire is aware this obligates Frank, and turns it down. The people for whom she procured the Jefferson Ball tickets step in. She is willing to flirt with her former lover, photographer Adam Galloway (Ben Daniels), to get a donation. 

Comments: I very much liked this episode.  Screenwriter Beau Willamon deftly handles four related but essentially disparate fields of battle. This is the first time we see the President, and also the the first time we see Frank actually doing his job, which is to Whip Burch into line and get the Bill onto the floor without concessions. 

We also get more colour on Claire, which had previously been the most vague and thus uninteresting storyline. She had an affair with the photographer, but how far is she now flirting with him to use him, or because she is genuinely tempted by him. I also love the ambiguity about whether Frank and Claire know about how far the other will go to use sex to get what they want, and whether this is okay by both of them as they both understand what power entails. At this point, my impression is that they are truly in love, and with no illusions about each other.  My only reservation is whether Frank would be so stupid as to get involved with someone as nakedly ambitious and manipulative as Zoe? 

On a more minor note, I loved the chillingly pragmatic attitude of Pete Russo's children, taking it for granted that their father will have a mistress.  And I also rather like Franks' interest in gaming - first person shooters, no less!

HOUSE OF CARDS - Chapter Three

Plot summary: Democratic Chief Whip Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) simultaneously tries to negotiate with Teachers' Unions on the education bill while travelling to his home state of South Carolina to contain the Peachoid crisis: a teenager died in a car crash while texting about it, and now her parents are threatening to sue. Frank manipulates the deeply religious mourning parents into "letting me help you", neatly sidestepping the machinations of his fourth district opponent.  "I've been elected in this district eleven times, did you think that was all luck and a handshake?"  Meanwhile, Frank's wife Claire (Robin Wright) manipulates a Bleeding Heart into joining her charity, and rising star  journalist Zoe (Kate Mara) meets the owner of the Herald who, friends with Durant, puts Zoe's piece on the front page.

Comments:  For me, this episode severely lost pace and interest when it left Washington for South Carolina.  Still, as Armando Iannucci shows so well in The Thick Of It and IN THE LOOP, part of the   weirdness of high political power is that one still has to contend with petty constituency business. I'm also sure I wasn't the only one who googled The Peachoid to see if it really existed, and was delighted to see that it did.  A better hook upon which to hang a political satire was never invented. Other than that, it was nice to see some nods to the current debate over Charter Schools, but I missed the "real" politics. Meanwhile, I still don't see where the Claire story is going, and that's irksome, and the attempt to see her spooked on her run through the graveyard was just odd rather than effective. The other thing that irks me is how blatantly thinly veiled the references to the Washington Post are, complete with a Kitty Graham-like female proprietor. I was almost expecting to hear a comment to "titties caught in the ringer".  No matter how good a TV series shapes up to be, there's something rather arrogant and question-begging about referencing the icons of the genre. 

HOUSE OF CARDS - Chapter Two

Plot summary: Chief Whip Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) manipulates the author of the leaked education bill into standing aside, allowing Frank to introduce and take credit for a revised bill.  Frank uses journalist Zoe (Kate Mara) to get Daniel Kern to withdraw as candidate for Secretary of State, by scurrilously bringing to light an old Op-Ed from his college days.  Frank then uses the Philandering Philly Congressman (Corey Stoll) to persuade the real writer of the controversial editorial to claim that Kern wrote the piece, sealing his resignation. Frank's final play is to have Zoe start the buzz that Catherine Durant should be Secretary of State.  Meanwhile, Claire (Robin Wright) sacks 19 members of staff.

Comments:  This episode is all about seeing Frank manipulate people to get what he wants, manoeuvring himself onto the Education Bill, and Kern out of State, earning the thanks of Durant and Vasquez into the bargain. It's swift, neat and clever. That said, there's something about the concept of leaking via physical meetings and text message that worries me.  Why doesn't anyone try to discover where the leak comes from? I know that the author claims he got his staffers to shred it, but still.  Would Frank really meet Zoe directly in a world of a hundred camera phones waiting to catch any odd meeting (as used so powerfully in Chapter One?)  There's something about a story of political leaking that seemed far more plausible in the 1980s when electronic tracking was de minimus.  Why doesn't anyone wonder where Zoe is getting her information and question her meteoric rise? Wouldn't the Editor-In-Chief ask for, if not her source, then more context?   

Once again, the charity storyline seems dull and irrelevant, other than showing what we already know - Claire has balls of steel: it had better pay off. 

HOUSE OF CARDS - Chapter One

Plot summary:  Despite helping the President-Elect come to power, Chief Whip Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is overlooked for Secretary of State.  He feigns loyalty, agreeing to usher an education bill through Congress within the President's first 100 days. Instead, he scuppers it by leaking a radical left first draft through the press via an ambitious young metro reporter, Zoe Barnes, who crudely attempts to capture his attention sexually (Kate Mara).  Meanwhile, we learn that Frank's wife Claire (Robin Wright) runs a charity and appears loyal to him.  And we see Frank exert his power over Congressman Peter Russo (Corey Stoll), a philanderer and casual drug user.  

Comments: As expected, the writing and production values are slick and smart. Fincher's palette is cool blues and browns, the production design classic luxe.  Nowhere is this more epitomised in Robin Wright's beautifully groomed wife.  Spacey's Frank exudes power, but in a less overtly Machiavellian manner than Ian Richardson, which is less entertaining but more realistic.  I liked the subtle humour - the education guru sitting next to his book titled "Learning about learning" - the inaugural address seemingly lifted from a Whitney Houston song, "I believe the children are our future..."  

Stylistic choices that irked me?  Somehow, the device of having Frank break the fourth wall and speak to camera seems cheap in the wake of Don Cheadle in House of Lies.  I found the score to be derivative of the Scandinavian version of The Killing.  The debate about old versus new media in the thinly veiled Washington Post is old hat, and quasi Newsroom, which is never good. The visual depiction of text messages seems derivative of Sherlock.  And casting an actress who is clearly Asian to play the Latina Presidential Chief of Staff.

Overall, a promising start.  Not sure why we're spending so much time with Claire's charity or Peter Russo, but clearly track is being laid and I'm interested to see where it leads.

HOUSE OF CARDS - Introduction

In the early days, this blog started as a water cooler for my friends around which we could discuss the latest films.  Given the rush of emails, tweets and general hoop-la, I thought I'd break convention and review Netflix' new long-awaited new series, House of Cards.

I come to it with some prejudice: the original British novel by Michael Dobbs and subsequent TV adaptation penned by Andrew Davies and starring Ian Richardson is seen by many as the high water mark in Thatcher era TV.  It was scabrous, radical, dark, dark, dark.  Richardson's Francis Urquhart seemed like an embodiment of all that we saw as sinister (yes, even us Thatcherites) in the ruthlessly ambitious, free-market Thatcherite years. And, of course, his catchphrase, "You might think that, but I couldn't possibly comment" became the "Tuckerism"" of it's day.  The original House of Cards was part of a long and beloved tradition of high quality political satire and drama that the UK seems to excel at - stretching from Yes, Minister to Thick of It.  Having seen the latter defanged as HBO's Veep, I was sceptical about yet another US remake.

That said, one couldn't argue with the quality of the cast and crew.  David Fincher, master of visual style and complex technical material (THE SOCIAL NETWORK) at the helm; Beau Willamon, political playwright, doing the screenplay; Kevin Spacey in the Urquhart role, starring as the scheming Democratic Whip; and Robin Wright as his perfect political wife Claire.

So, on with the show: let's see if Netflix really is the new HBO.....