What I’m Watching: House of Cards

House of Cards: Season 2, Episode 12 “Chapter 25” (B+)

With just one episode to go after this, things are heating up in a big way and on the verge of exploding. Frank has been positioning himself to take Walker’s job for a while now, but in this episode he all but cements it. Getting Walker to freeze him out was not intentional, but it does mean that he’s going to be overly cautious and feel like he has something to prove, which will in turn give Frank the upper hand. Securing the Secretary of State as an ally is important, and he also did away with Raymond as a threat pretty quickly, even if he doesn’t end up getting convicted for the crimes of which he’s been accused. Walker and Tricia trying to cover up their “spiritual counseling session” looks bad enough that what happened during it, which may or may not have involved medical prescriptions, almost doesn’t matter. Jackie calling in to take apart Megan’s arguments was vicious, and it’s about time Claire sat down with her face to face. Working with her to support a new bill is one thing, but charging her with calling to impeach the president is a much bigger deal, one sure to have disastrous fallout. Gavin’s latest action continues to be mysterious, but it is enormously significant. Getting Rachel to hate him is going to be the least of Doug’s worries going forward if Gavin succeeds with whatever plan he has concocted.