What I’m Watching: House of Cards

House of Cards: Season 5, Episode 6 “Chapter 58” (B+)

Okay, so maybe that final scene in the previous episode shouldn’t have made me speculate that Claire might become president but instead confirm that she had been chosen to serve as acting president. It’s a crazy thing to see her sitting next to Frank and having people unsure of who to address as the president since, technically speaking, no one actually chose him to be president while she was temporarily placed in the role. Watching her debate whether to give him security clearance was a tense moment since he surely would have destroyed her for it, but it’s hard to blame her for thinking about going all in on her own since she had to fight him tooth and nail to get where she is now. Tom is engineering his own little mini-rebellion by having sex with a tour guide in the press room, and I’m sure Claire will be furious once she finds out that he’s actually daring to live his own life. The Russians holding an American responsible for hacking to affect election results feels a bit close to him, and I do wonder how much of this plotline was planned in advance and how much was a middle finger to the current political administration. Watching this episode, I’m puzzled that Emmy voters once again chose Michael Kelly, who is good but mostly stagnant, over Joel Kinnaman, who is doing a tremendous job showcasing Conway’s descent into anger and full-on aggression, demanding to pilot the plane he’s flying and lashing out at everyone around him. It appears that Usher is powerful if nothing else, and things aren’t looking up for Conway given the level of familiarity he showed with the Underwoods.