What I’m Watching: House of Cards

House of Cards: Season 5, Episode 2 “Chapter 54” (B+)

There are only a few people who can sit in a room with Frank and not blink, let alone eat an apple because they’re so far from intimidated. Frank took down a lot of people on his way up to the top, and I’ll be honest, I can’t really recall the details of what happened with Matthews. But it’s obvious that the former vice-president isn’t scared of him, and therefore he’s just another obstacle – or card, if you will – for Frank to knock over on his quest for continued world domination. He’s the definition of a fear-mongering leader, gathering politicians together for the explicit purpose of manipulating them into supportive actions, and he even masterminded a cyberattack that he blamed on terrorists to get those holdouts on board. It may have convinced one particular governor, but Aidan is not a stable ally, if his preemptive fix is any indication. The level of direct access he has to Frank should be cause for extreme concern, especially in light of the very public trial that’s about to be brought against him (with similar parallels in the real world seeming to begin). Dissent doesn’t seem possible, because even those like Karen who wanted to suggest to Donald that they resign out of protest found that he didn’t care enough since he was comfortable where he was. Seth trading info on Doug is a bad idea, and there’s no way he comes out of this in anything close to a positive way. Claire running into an old friend of Frank’s had a very personal feel to it, and one that demonstrated just how much she was willing to do to suppress the potentially troubling story. Her moment with Tom was more than a bit uncomfortable, and I get the feeling that he’s starting to wear out his welcome.