What I’m Watching: House of Cards

House of Cards: Season 5, Episode 3 “Chapter 55” (B+)

In an age where everything electronic and social media-related is instantly perceived by the American public, it’s extremely interesting to see the bold gamble of a presidential candidate hosting a question-and-answer question over live video chat where both he and those posing the questions can be seen. That’s part of what has defined Conway in the time that we’ve known him – he wants to face his accusers head-on and combat their allegations rather than let Frank, who ominously enough decided to call in and “allow” Conway to ask him a question, hurl libelous insults at him. Ultimately, it was his non-American wife Hannah who helped to truly humanize him when he got clearly agitated by the captain’s brother’s call. If that’s one way to handle the night before an election, Frank and Claire acting out lines from an old movie was something completely unexpected and actually quite endearing. Frank’s sore throat and cough was ill-timed, ready to make him look weak at a time that he couldn’t afford it, and even though Claire is exactly the partner that he needs, he still thinks that she isn’t supportive if she even thinks to bring up the possibility of losing the election. I’m not sure who voter turnout being lower than expected is bad for, but it sounds like it’s not great for everything that Frank expected to happen. Doug standing behind the commander-in-chief’s desk and carving his initials into it was a strange symbol of power, one that represents how much this particular position has meant to him.