Saw this today - I’d been calling Claire “Neckhole” thanks to somebody here but now I’ve upgraded to “Bossbitch.gov”.
I just really felt this season was so fragmented - it’s like they forgot they’d still need a character in the press to interact with, so they made a new one but didn’t bother to give us any reason to care about her. The whole thing was so scattershot, I just don’t know.
You do have to respect a show that just goes for the scenery-chewing hunchback exit pursued by bear Shakespeare brass ring, though. I mean, seriously, whispered bargaining backstage at an opera? Most shows would be embarrassed, but House of Cards just goes for it like a fat kid for a snack cake.
Listen to any first-season title sequence. Then listen to the second-season title sequence. Night and day. The first is haunting, hypnotic, even a little scary. The second is a ham-fisted reworking with the strong elements submerged in a whiny overlay. (The second-season visuals are no longer matched well to the score and seem a few frames and a beat off all the way through.)
I wondered that, too. At first I thought it was maybe a family crest ring and he was burying it near where his ancestor died, which happened to be near the ground breaking site. Later when it is revealed that it was his class ring, my initial theory didn’t make sense. So now I don’t know why he buried it.
Well, Frank attended the Citadel (fictionalized as the Sentinel, last season) which was the only thing even close to military service he ever had, right? Maybe having it rubbed in his face that his ancestor fought and died in brutal hand-to-hand combat, even for a lost cause, made him embarrassed about flaunting the pseudo-military substitute?
I dunno. (Open question) Is it explained or referenced by the end of the season?
I would have seen it coming a mile away, *if *I hadn’t seen the two-page ad in the New Yorker for the second season that featured just three characters: Frank, Claire, and Zoe. That convinced me that they would keep Zoe alive at least until the end of the season. That ominous subway set-up was obviously just a fake-out. Nothing’s going to hap–oh fuck!!!
Exactly. Between that and “Thought I’d forgotten you?” the last five minutes were worth a season ticket.
I did like the gruesome splatter she made on the front of the train, seen in the slo-mo security camera footage in the second episode. Someone had fun with the CGI.
This is a good question because it’s hard, based on the bits and pieces we’re given, to figure it out. Sharp specifically says she was in the Army, but seems to have been involved in firing missiles at targets. Most drones are operated by the USAF or Navy; the Army’s supply is limited and they aren’t as powerfully armed. Artillery officer is also a possibility.
In an interview the actress, Molly Shannon, says Sharp “comes out of military intelligence,” but this probably reflects Shannon’s ignorance of matters military more than it does an official backstory. Jackie Sharp specifically refers to her ordering attacks and killing people, something that isn’t part of an intelligence officer’s job.
I just finished Season 2! I thought it was a great yarn and enjoyed it greatly. There were some strange sideplots, but I enjoyed it just the same. Molly Parker was a welcome addition to the cast, IMO.
I felt really uncomfortable when Claire and Frank and the bodyguard
had their menage a trois. I don’t know why, but the whole thing made me squirm. On the other hand, I was relieved that THAT was the conclusion to that storyline. Every episode before that, when they invited him to drink or otherwise relax with them, I was really afraid they were planning to screw him over for some reason, though I couldn’t fathom why they would want to.
Anyhoo, it was an interesting sideplot, I suppose. Have we ever seen Claire and Frank have sex or otherwise being sexy together? We’ve seen them getting dirty with other people, but I can’t recall any erotic scenes where it’s just the two of them.
I just finished it. I guess no need for spoiler boxes anymore, so if you haven’t finished it, quit reading this post.
A couple of thoughts:
Is the President a total dolt, or what? First off, he KNOWS he is innocent of all of this and he knows that Frank Underwood knew and purposely kept him in the dark. He figures out that Frank had been scheming the entire time and even listed all of Frank’s mini-coups (like the Secretary of State race). He had it all worked out, and had a deal with Raymond Tusk to bury Frank. But all our hero has to do is send a typewritten letter with more of the same type of lies and although our fearsome President still thinks that Frank is full of shit, is now chummy with him and resigns the most powerful office in the world. Why not just stick with the Tusk deal and let Frank get what is coming to him??
As much as I enjoy the show, I wish that Frank Underwood was about two notches less evil. Make him more like Walter White in Breaking Bad and give him some redeeming qualities so that the viewer is conflicted and might actually root for him.
Some of the plots by Frank seem far-fetched. Pushing for asylum for the Chinese business guy (forget his name) could have easily backfired. What if he starts talking at any point? He knows all of the dirt on Frank and can prove it.
The three way with his wife and Meachum also seems ridiculous. What a terrible risk to take. If he is caught doing that, his political future is zero, and there are other secret service guys around.
The final scene was chilling. Frank Underwood the leader of the free world. It felt like Adolf Hitler, Jr. had become President. And the final “knock, knock” scared the hell out of me, both as a surprise and actually imagining it could happen.
Great show all around, though, and I can’t wait for next season.
I agree with much of what you said jtgain. Particularly on point 1, I kept thinking “does the President have any staff in a strategic role at all?” I mean, he has a lawyer, who gives him lawyerly advice. And he had a Chief of Staff who resigned. But that can’t possibly be it. There was nobody else in his employ who could pull him aside and say “sir, with all due respect, what the hell is going on? Because here’s what we’re going to do to fix it.”
As far fetched as it was that the President had no one who could advise him…if that’s true, he probably deserved exactly what he got.
Well one wonders if letting Linda go was a more massive loss than realized. She did try to tell the President it was a bad idea, but Frank played the masterstroke of a confessing letter. The President was basically a moron in the high stakes game Frank was playing!
I thought that Frank’s “confession” letter was going to be a hot potato. I’m sure there was a contingency in case the President used it. For example, that old Underwood typewriter would probably be found hidden in the Oval Office and set up to look like the President forged it.
Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it went like this:
Tusk knows about the dirty money, and can take someone in the White House down with him if he confesses.
Walker offers Tusk a pardon (something a sitting president can deliver) if he confesses and implicates Frank.
Frank offers Tusk a pardon (something he can deliver if Walker is forced out of office and he becomes president) if he confesses and implicates Walker.
Tusk chooses Walker’s deal.
Frank makes it appear that Remy, who can implicate Tusk, has thrown in with Frank and will testify against Tusk. This would remove Tusk’s leverage, and he would wind up in jail with no pardon.
Believing that his only chance at a pardon is Frank, Tusk implicates Walker.
With Tusk willing to testify against him, Walker has no play left, and resigns rather than going through the impeachment process.
Throughout this process, Frank’s falling on his sword with the confession letter makes Walker waver enough that he doesn’t actively throw Frank under the bus, thus giving Frank time to turn Tusk.
Molly Shannon is wonderful, but as a cute goofy SNL alum, probably doesn’t have the gravitas for this show.