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?