S03.E11: Chapter 37

[Guest]

 

Things turn ugly when Frank, Jackie, and Heather square off during their first debate. Tom joins Claire on the campaign trail.

[TimetoShine]

Don't have much to say just yet only that Doug, who's storyline I don't really care about, has a great brother. 

[DrSpaceman]

Doug will end up dead by season's end.

What I find remarkable mostly about this season is very little cary over from the prior seasons for Underwood himself. Doug is still dealing with the past, Underwood has not been effected by the past at all hardly. Its all new problems he has brought on himself.

Edited March 2, 2015 by DrSpaceman

[Ms Blue Jay]

I'm in love with Remy... 

[Jael]

Oh there was so much goodness in this episode. Jackie and Remy are two of my favorite characters, so to see them jumping the Underwood ship at the same time, it makes my heart sing.

 

I do think Jackie would have found a way around bringing up the private school thing directly -- she was doing plenty of attack-dogging in the debate even without it -- and she would also have had a retort ready if Dunbar bit back, so she shouldn't have been totally struck dumb when Frank did. Lazy writing to make the plot move where it needed to. That said, I have no issue with the direction it sent the plot careening in, so fine.

 

And of course Rachel is alive. Of course. Doug's reaction to it, though, surprised me. And is Gavin screwed now -- or at least Gavin's friend is? -- if Doug won't take the bait? Unexpected and fairly wonderful.

 

Freddy is already sick of listening to Frank yammer on, and has been for years. Heh.

 

Wonder if they're trying to lead somewhere with Claire fainting, but maybe it'll be like the vomiting. Plenty of people pass out while giving blood without any underlying health problems. I've done it myself. I don't think it usually makes them loose-lipped, though, so I wonder whether she was just using the occasion to tell the biographer something she wanted to tell him anyway.

[hincandenza]

I do think Jackie would have found a way around bringing up the private school thing directly -- she was doing plenty of attack-dogging in the debate even without it -- and she would also have had a retort ready if Dunbar bit back, so she shouldn't have been totally struck dumb when Frank did. Lazy writing to make the plot move where it needed to. That said, I have no issue with the direction it sent the plot careening in, so fine.

Yeah, there were a couple of times during the debate- Claire's loss-for-words during the ambassadorship hearing in Congress as another earlier this season- where the two non-Franks were laughably bad at recovering, in a way that wasn't plausible to me.  These are sharp, savvy people who can think on their feet, they don't get struck dumb like a 5th grader during a poorly prepared oral book report, babbling with erms and ahs.  Plus, you don't have an attack line if you haven't also prepped for multiple comebacks; whatever defense she'd use for criticizing Dunbar would be as valid against Frank accusing her.

 

I also thought from what we saw that Dunbar would take a hit in the debate: I agree with everything she says, and she's right that Frank is a monster... but that's because I'm watching the show and know things the public wouldn't.  Dunbar also had a couple of stumble moments, and as a candidate during that debate, she came across as smug and snide and way too combative- which is what you'd expect of a career legal eagle.  In the show, I'd still vote for her because of her ideas as would many people... but I think she'd have been encouraged to be less verbally confrontational like a cross-examining lawyer, without losing her passion and fire.  Frank was playing it perfect with his grandfatherly friendly mediator vibe standing between the two "hotblooded young turks", and even as a viewer knowing how monstrous he is, I can see in-show voters bumping up his polling numbers for looking like the quiet, mature statesman on stage.

[rozen]

Jackie's savvy, but she's a n00b to the political underworld Frank drug her into. I see a lot of parallels between Heather's storyline and Jackie's last season. It took Jackie how long to pull the trigger on her mentor to get the whip position? She also castigated her partymates for wanting favors in exchange for votes, instead telling them to 'do the right thing'. Power corrupting the innocent and all that.

 

She's not ready to swim with the sharks yet, if she were she'd know that jerking Frank around in pathetically transparent attempts to get more leverage was not going to end well for her. The fact he's been so congenial in the face of all her bullshit should have told her something was coming her way. The easiest comeback if Dunbar had pointed out her stepkid's schooling would be to just call her a hypocrite. Frank has no children, he could easily slip out of any retort Jackie threw his way.

 

I never bought Remy's One True Love obsession with Jackie. She's never been that compelling of a character to me. And her husband is way hotter than Remy, sorry not sorry. Don't buy why she'd still have eyes for Remy after landing him.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

I loved the contrast of Remy's realizing how little Frank cares about any but himself, coupled with Freddy's bluntly telling him that this is what Frank is, and you can't blame "the snake for having fangs" or whatever. Freddy's already experienced the limits of Frank's faux friendship last season, and now just accepts it for what it is: Frank will be your best friend right up until the moment that friendship might cost him personally, at which point he'll dump you without a second thought.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I never bought Remy's One True Love obsession with Jackie. She's never been that compelling of a character to me. And her husband is way hotter than Remy, sorry not sorry. Don't buy why she'd still have eyes for Remy after landing him.

You're like the mirror reverse of me ! :)

[Ellaria]

Yay - Remy has seen the light and leaves Frank. I appreciate Jackie's change of heart despite the silliness of how she represented herself in the debate. There is no way that she would have let the "children in private school" issue play out as it did. Regardless, there is someone else to oppose Frank.

Even Freddy sees thru the nonsense.

RW looked beautiful in this episode. Her smile when she was reading to the children was captivating.

The Doug - Rachel story line better be headed somewhere important.

[Haleth]

What I find remarkable mostly about this season is very little cary over from the prior seasons for Underwood himself. Doug is still dealing with the past, Underwood has not been effected by the past at all hardly. Its all new problems he has brought on himself.

I know!  In the other seasons Frank and Claire were so sure of themselves, so in control (for the most part) of their destinies and always had a plan up their sleeves.  This season it's been a change in tone as we watch Frank have to juggle more and more balls.  His pawns are all abandoning him, he and Claire are going to end up alone and broken.  They achieved their goal of the WH, but it's going to be an empty win.  They are a couple of very lonely people.

 

I like Remy and Jackie and although they aren't perfect, they are the closest things this show has to good guys.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Haleth

[Anela]

I like the loyalty between Jackie and Remy, and Jackie giving her support to Dunbar, as she wanted to do before - only doing it for the right reasons, this time.

 

Seth is a douche. It looks like the wrong Underwood is running for President.

[Ms Blue Jay]

LOL, I like Seth.  Or maybe I just really like the actor... but I do like Seth.  It's Doug that gives me the creepy crawlies.

 

Seth looks a lot like an actor that already exists.... can't put my figure on it.  I think it's giving me overflowing goodwill towards him.  

Edited March 6, 2015 by Ms Blue Jay

[Litnit]

I think Remy is way hotter than Allan, but maybe because I remember him from Big Love.  Nevertheless, stories of grown ass women marrying men they don't really love "that way" while pining for an ex don't do it for me.  You still got the hots for Remy?  Use it in your fantasy life and get over it, or don't marry the other dude.  I just can't get past the adultery to buy into the true love.  I don't know if the show expects me to, though.

[Sesquipedalia]

Wait, was there adultery?! I'm not sure whether y'all are reading a lot into Remy's loyalty to Jackie or talking about eps I haven't seen yet. Anyhoo, I just posted yesterday in an earlier ep thread that Rachel can't really be dead.  But now that Gavin says she's alive, I'm going on record as thinking she probably is actually dead.

[Jade Foxx]

Ms Blue Jay

Mar 02, 2015

I'm in love with Remy...

Scoot over...I am too! But he looks so crumpled and weathered this season. Not full on hot like before.

[Fen]

I don't think it was below the belt to bring up the schooling that Dunbar had chosen for her children, or her background.  Certainly the private school issue was big here a few years back, because several of the New Labour set were extolling the virtues of comprehensive education - but sending their own kids elsewhere.  It's perfectly valid.  As is her moneyed background, in my opinion.  The only flub was when Jackie moved off political hypocrisy and tried to pin Dunbar as a bad parent for sending her kids to boarding school.

 

Like an aggravating hangnail or persistent indigestion, Rachel pops up again.  At least Doug seems to be a bit more in control about it this time - perhaps the fact that she is being used to play him like a mug has hardened him?  I can see him dealing with this rather brutally.  Pretty concerned for his welfare now that he has made up with his brother.  Hoping he can at least end the season alive and well.

 

Frank and Claire seem to be drifting apart again - although I think some of it is due to some self-loathing on Claire's part.  She can't bear that she's seen as an indulged wife who was given a position she hadn't earned.  But it's exactly how it looked, and she was the one who asked for it.  The seven year deal they made is a strange one.  It is a perpetual limbo - I suppose: she's never leaving, never fully committing, but always leaving a question mark hanging.  I don't think she doubts Frank's feeling for her - but I think she constantly questions the big decisions she's made: career, marriage, children.  The idea of a life she never lived seems to loom large from time to time.

 

Wonder how long Jackie's latest bout of morals will last.  She's played both sides all along, so I don't really understand how she can be in such a strop about being unappreciated.  She was hardly completely loyal and committed.

 

There was a real sense of foreboding by the end of the episode. 

 

 

Anyhoo, I just posted yesterday in an earlier ep thread that Rachel can't really be dead.  But now that Gavin says she's alive, I'm going on record as thinking she probably is actually dead.

 

I like your thinking :)  Trust no-one.

Edited March 10, 2015 by Fen

[Ottis]

Jackie pledging allegience to Heather after that debate would make no sense to anyone who watched the debate. Jackie would have to apologize for her attacks, make some kind of statement that Heather is the moral leader she respects despite her debate comments attacking Heather ... it would all look very weird. Some would see it as a "girl power" kind of thing, which won't play well with many. Unless Jackie explains the whole strategy with Frank publicly, which seems unlikely.

 

There was a real sense of foreboding by the end of the episode.

 

 

I've often wondered over the years if the opening montage of shots of DC as shadows creep up the sides of landmarks is an attempt to indicate that, which makes me wonder where the whole series intends to end.

 

Is Remy sporting a cheesy moustache this season? I am watching the show on a Kindle and never can see him well enough to tell (this whole show is so dark -are there any lights in Doug's apartment?!), but it looks like a thin moustache.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Ottis

[Fen]

Jackie pledging allegience to Heather after that debate would make no sense to anyone who watched the debate. Jackie would have to apologize for her attacks, make some kind of statement that Heather is the moral leader she respects despite her debate comments attacking Heather ... it would all look very weird. Some would see it as a "girl power" kind of thing, which won't play well with many. Unless Jackie explains the whole strategy with Frank publicly, which seems unlikely.

 

Totally agree.  It makes Jackie look very weak, and - like you said - is utterly baffling to anyone who watched the debate.  She told Dunbar that she had no understanding of working for a living, was a hypocrite about private education, lacked experience, had failed to address equality issues - and now she's backing her? 

 

Aside from that, I'm not sure what Jackie's support is worth.  She's incredibly contrary and unreliable.  As viewers, it was easy to sympathise with Frank's outburst, because she's been so flighty all along and we've been privy to her double-dealing.  She either wants to be on the ticket, or not - but don't agree and then require endless wooing to stay on board.

 

Remy is indeed sporting a moustache. 

Edited March 11, 2015 by Fen

[Silly Angel]

Ms. Blue Jay, 

 

Seth looks a lot like an actor that already exists.... can't put my figure on it.  I think it's giving me overflowing goodwill towards him.

He looks very Jason Bateman-y to me.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Silly Angel

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I do think Jackie would have found a way around bringing up the private school thing directly -- she was doing plenty of attack-dogging in the debate even without it -- and she would also have had a retort ready if Dunbar bit back, so she shouldn't have been totally struck dumb when Frank did.

I thought the easiest and most logical response would have been to say that she JUST got married and she was not part of the decision making process when her husband and his previous wife chose schools for their children X number of years ago. Then she could say that as much as she supports public school education, she doesn't feel it's her place as a brand new stepmother of, like two months, to yank these children out of schools they have attended for so many years simply for the sake of looking better for her campaign. I certainly wouldn't hold her accountable for the choice that her husband made for his kids before she was in the picture, and it would be terrible if she swooped in as the new stepmom and made them go to new schools.

[millennium]

Jackie and Remy were happy to ride on the Frank train as long as it behooved their personal interests.   Now they're too big for their britches and want to bite the hand that fed them.

 

Hope they both end up under the Frank train.

[rippleintime17]

Part of what took me out of this episode is that it was a debate with three candidates and only one was a older white dude. Like that would ever happen! 

[Primetimer]

Frank fights fiercely for the state of Iowa but neglects the state of his marriage yet again.

Read the story

[Milburn Stone]

I thought the easiest and most logical response would have been to say that she JUST got married and she was not part of the decision making process when her husband and his previous wife chose schools for their children X number of years ago. Then she could say that as much as she supports public school education, she doesn't feel it's her place as a brand new stepmother of, like two months, to yank these children out of schools they have attended for so many years simply for the sake of looking better for her campaign. I certainly wouldn't hold her accountable for the choice that her husband made for his kids before she was in the picture, and it would be terrible if she swooped in as the new stepmom and made them go to new schools.

 

You should be doing PR for an actual candidate! :)

[wayne67]

I find it hilarious that Frank becomes petulant and verbally abusive whenever anyone disrespects him as a President, when he dismantled the last president behind his back. Frank had the advantage while trying to gain power, he was in a position of trust and his main focus was obtaining the presidency, his opponent didn't even know Frank was gunning for him. The president of Russia has experience as an actual leader and isn't as naive as the last POTUS and isn't as easily manipulated as the people who were in the first 2 seasons.

 

Dude expects loyalty and has shown none to anyone. If you buy someone you can't expect their loyalty, nor can you expect happy cooperation when you bully someone into agreeing with you at metaphorical gun point. I'm not surprised Freddy is tired of Frank's bullshit but quietly hides his contempt, he works in customer service, smiling and nodding is not an indication of friendship.

 

Frank hasn't earned loyalty or respect from anyone in government. He was handed the presidency and during his time as interim president he's made a bunch of unilateral decisions alienating basically all other branches of governments along with at least 2 other foreign governments. Appointing your wife as a UN ambassador made them both look weak and pathetic.

Edited October 2, 2015 by wayne67