What I’m Watching: House of Cards

House of Cards: Season 6, Episode 4 “Chapter 69” (B-)

Halfway through this show’s final season, it’s becoming increasingly tiresome as more battle lines are drawn and it seems that none of the many shadowy characters know just who offed Cathy. That could have something to do with the fact that we saw her boil her own cell phone at the end of the episode, though she strikes me as someone far too concerned scared of losing her life to engineer her own suicide to ensure the proper political fallout. Even faking her own death seems above her. It was a positive thing to recall this show’s better days by bringing back two familiar characters that we haven’t seen in a while. Linda slyly noted to Claire that she might have caused all this because she didn’t give Frank what he originally wanted in the first episode, a real throwback to something that feels so insignificant at this point. Petrov’s return was the best part of this episode, as he and Claire are truly able to match each other and have an honest conversation. Claire and Doug comforting Cathy’s family felt especially inauthentic, possibly because it made for the calmest confrontations of the episode. I don’t know what’s going on with Tom and his stolen identity, but he’s far from front and center on this show anymore. I have a feeling that Mark is going to kill Seth soon given how much he’s inserting himself into places he doesn’t belong and ignoring everything Mark says as he works for the Shepherds. Somehow, I imagine another murder wouldn’t be so unexpected for this show.