House of Cards
Some of the best twists in television are events that buck the conventions of the show’s genre as a whole, taking things that would normally be skirted or narrowly avoided for dramatic effect and making them a reality. This decision, this road of bold less taken, is where House of Cards makes its money. It doesn’t skirt, it doesn’t resolve and it doesn’t care. House of Cards wants to make you forget about how TV is supposed to feel and make you duck at the punches it throws instead.
Frank and Claire are not supposed to break up. They are supposed to take their marriage to the brink and eventually decide to stay together because it’s good for business. Claire is not supposed to value ideas like feminism or respect or independence over something as concrete and valuable as her career or her power.
Doug Stamper is not supposed to kill Rachel. He’s supposed to have a crisis of conscious because he’s a good guy, and then just keep on driving down the road. Or maybe he turns back and tells her that when she left, it tore him up inside and that, even though things are crazy and they always will be, he loves her. And that’s what matters.
Love is supposed to exist on TV.
But that’s not what we get here. We get Rachel in a desert grave somewhere far from Santa Fe, New Mexico, and we get Frank Underwood, soon after winning the Iowa caucus, standing really and truly alone for the first time. Both outcomes are not surprising in the sense that they happened. We always knew that things would not go well when Stamper finally found Rachel and that Frank and Claire were in a very bad place. But both scenes are shocking in that they actually happened. There is no going back from here.
This episode is a showcase of what House of Cards does right. Directed by House of Cards veteran James Foley, it is crisply and beautifully shot and portrayed, its opening shots of Santa Fe standing as only the beginning of a truly exceptional hour of direction. The script, penned by showrunner Beau Willimon, continues the trend of taut, thrilling greatness this season had going down the home stretch. The acting is a master class, as always, highlighted by Spacey and Wright going elite-level good in the final scene. This episode stands as an hour-long reminder of what this show can be and why we get so excited for it year after year. Let the wait for season four begin.
Sidenotes:
– Nothing in this episode on Jackie and Remy, so we can only assume that season four will bring their reckoning. Whatever happens, there is no way this show can get rid of either of them, because the acting they bring to this show is superb.
– Amid all this personal trouble, Frank still manages to be a great politician. How does that guy get any kind of support after his term in office? How?
– This show always has some between-season developments, but that’s not what I want here. I don’t want another surprise of Doug being in the hospital instead of in a grave or anything like that. I want to watch Frank Underwood as an emotionally broken man.
– I guess it’s funny that I’ve spent thousands and thousands of words talking about this show only to end it with this small recap. But anyone reading this has seen the finale and knows what happened. There’s only so much you can say outside of well done. As for the future? Well, this is House of Cards, so the future is just something to make your head hurt. It’s been a ton of fun covering this season and I hope you’ve enjoyed following along with my recaps. If you’ve got some burning thoughts you need to share on what happened in season three or what you think will happen going forward, feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an e-mail. I only write these recaps because I know great TV is best when it’s shared with others.
