What I’m Watching: House of Cards

House of Cards: Season 5, Episode 12 “Chapter 64” (B)

This was another episode that made things feel very insular, with the president and vice-president no longer watching their underlings via covert video surveillance but instead speaking directly to them about the lies they want them to tell for the sake of the country and their presidency. The way that both Frank and Claire said “Poor Doug” was a harbinger of terrible things to come, and just when it seemed like he was going to come clean with Leanne as the one person in his life he could speak to, he told her the same lie he was ready to tell everyone. It makes complete sense that this would be Michael Kelly’s Emmy submission, with my hopeful nominee Joel Kinnaman’s Conway a far and distant memory. It was rightly pointed out that, much like our current administration, the revelation of Doug having killed Zoe isn’t relevant to any of the legion of accusations publicly leveled against Frank. He did, at one point, stop to acknowledge what was being said in a press conference but then immediately claimed he wouldn’t be indicted. The ending of the episode was superbly exciting, with notable uproar both onscreen and on my face when Frank announced his intention to resign, even though he then added as an aside that he didn’t think it would come to that. It’s an important note that Frank being out of the presidency still means he’ll be very close to the White House given that Claire will take over. Speaking of the ambitious wife, what a way to kill someone, on top of him in the middle of passionate sex when he realizes that he’s been poisoned. What a terrible, murderous duo these people are. Who won’t they asphyxiate or push down a flight of stairs?