What I’m Watching: House of Cards

House of Cards: Season 5, Episode 4 “Chapter 56” (B+)

There’s no denying that this is good TV, but it was hard to watch this on a day where I read about impeachment protests going on around the country and saw that our real-life president had tweeted out a video of him punching a guy whose head had been replaced with the CNN logo. What the man who’s actually in the oval office lacks is the true cunning and evil brilliance of what Frank has, manipulative enough to call his opponent to concede simply because he will seem like the better man once the results are eventually in and he is actually the victor. Conway was careful enough not to celebrate prematurely, and only Campbell Scott’s Mr. Usher was just as cautious. Claire and Hannah went on television with similar narratives about staying true to the vote, all while Doug was tricking a man about to lose his office into doing the exact opposite of what he was telling him. A terrorist raid happening on the same day as the election with a voting center as the target did feel all too convenient, and in the end, it’s not going to matter what transpired since Frank is still probably going to collect the votes because of his handling of a tense situation that he in fact orchestrated. Ending the episode with him listing a handful of election years in the near future and proclaiming “One nation, Underwood” was quite ominous. This election is far from over but Frank is just getting started on his quest to be at the top forever.