What I’m Watching: House of Cards

House of Cards: Season 4, Episode 7 “Chapter 46” (B+)

For the way that some things on this show seem to happen over and over without end, other things change at a moment’s notice and head in a completely different direction. It seemed that, after Dunbar was honest and gave her testimony about having met with Goodwin, she was determined to stay in the race if only to prove that she wouldn’t be intimidated into backing down to corruption. That didn’t last long, and now she’s out of the race. But not a moment passed before Frank’s attention turned to his new major rival – the Republican candidate. If you had asked me to pick any actor to play his opponent, it would not have been Joel Kinnaman, who I named as the Series MVP for “The Killing,” the depressing Seattle-set crime drama that aired for four years on AMC and Netflix. He was great there, to be sure, but this is a completely different character, one who is warm, friendly, and, at least compared to Frank, pretty open and honest. I did not recognize the actress who plays Conway’s wife, and it’s great to see Dominique McElligott, who was one of the best things about the early seasons of “Hell on Wheels,” back on TV. I love what was done with the snippets we saw of him before we knew who he was that later ended up as endearing home video footage for the country to fall in love with him after he acknowledged his search engine investment. Seeing the flashback to Frank introducing Conway to Walker felt like a real throwback, and Conway didn’t waste any time calling Frank up to talk to him one-on-one. I can’t even figure out what Frank is up to trying to shop Donald around as his running mate, and no one aside from him seems to want it. But now that this new Frank is actually interested in Claire and wants to help her practice for her interview, they’re a team united again, both set on destroying Conway and continuing their quest for omniscient power.