S03.E12: Chapter 38

[Guest]

 

Heather Dunbar goes for the jugular, forcing Claire to confront her worst fears. The rift between Frank and Claire widens.

[NorthstarATL]

I binged, and may have the episode wrong, but Claire and her contingent visiting the all-too-convenient housewife who differs politically from her husband is more of a stretch that the Secretary of State/First Lady napping in a Russian prison cell! And, lovely as Robin Wright is, empathy and "good listener" is not what she exudes to me. Heck, I was uncomfortable with the amount of venting that woman did to a total stranger!

[rozen]

I love that they're trotting Claire up and down the coast like a race horse because her crosstabs are amazing. But when she's locked in a room with a "real" person she can't gtfo of there fast enough! Her face expressed about fifteen stages of horror in under five minutes. 

 

A lot of people TMI dumped on my mom like that too, because they mistook silence for listening and empathy. At the bus stop, grocery store line, car wash, you name it. And she'd be bewildered why they thought she cared (she didn't). I guess so many people spend all their time talking at each other that someone who's not jumping up to interrupt is a novelty. 

Edited March 1, 2015 by rozen

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

I LOVED Claire's horror at gradually realizing that of all the doors she could have knocked on, this one belonged to the trashiest family in Iowa. No lady, it is NOT normal for a married woman to go down on some guy just for putting together a baby crib. Nor is it normal to contemplate matricide, let alone admit it to a complete stranger, especially one surrounded by law enforcement officers literally 24 hours a day.

[Ellaria]

Well, Claire has something up her sleeve and it's going to be fun watching what it is.

Doug gets creepier by the minute. I don't think that we have seen the last of Tom.

[Anela]

I felt bad for Doug at the beginning of the season. Not anymore!

[Litnit]

So I shouldn't give head to people who do odd jobs for me?  Very bizarre encounter that rang completely untrue to me.  I work with some pretty interesting characters whose concept of boundaries is strange at best, but they still wouldn't divulge that kind of information after 2 minutes.  Very strange and designed just to get at marital issues (the theme of the season).

Edited March 6, 2015 by Litnit

[Haleth]

I think the thing that horrified Claire the most was that she completely understood what Suzy was talking about. They had a lot in common.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Haleth

[LibertarianSlut]

I think bizarre, uber-sharing, Claire-in-a-different-dimension Iowa woman was having thoughts about committing filicide. Matricide is the killing of one's mother, which, who knows, she may be into that too.

I don't think thoughts of suffocating one's young child are as dysfunctional as they may seem. When I was in high school, my teacher told our whole class she had those thoughts when her daughter was a baby. At the time she told us this, her daughter was a beautifully developing pre-teen, so maybe that's why the expression of the thought from my teacher and this Iowa woman didn't strike me as shocking, just honest.

I understand the show wanted us to see Claire with that woman in order to further themes of marriage and such, but what possible real-life reason could Claire have had to get into that woman's house to talk to her? Like, what would the show have us believe her motives were to take a half hour or so of time away from the campaign, leaving fellow campaigners and the press alone on a cold suburban Iowa lawn so that she can go into a house alone to find out...what? Why someone wouldn't support her husband? Surely she's come across this rare breed once or twice before, no? Did she feel she needed to see it in its natural habitat to understand it?

[Fen]

So I shouldn't give head to people who do odd jobs for me?  

 

I'm going to check Debrett's - just to be sure.

 

Agree with those who felt that the conversation was a little false.  It would be bizarre to share so much information with a 'normal' person, let alone the President's wife.  As a Brit, the conversation was so gruellingly embarrassing that I think my soul actually left my body and only returned once the scene was over.

 

This seems to be Doug 2.0.  He made a conscious effort to improve his relationship with Seth (offering him trust without demanding proof - unlike his conversation with Frank earlier).  He's mended his relationship with his brother.  He's still utterly ruthless, though, and Gavin had best look out.  Thank God Cashew is safe.  It feels like Gavin's attempt to use Doug's obsession with Rachel to free his friends was a real misstep on his part - because being played for a fool seems to have given Doug fresh resolve. 

 

I'm starting to find Claire's indecisiveness wearying.  Do I really want to be the First Lady and power behind the throne?  Or do I long for some nebulous life where...what?  She settled down and had a family?  She stayed free and single?  She pursued a career in politics?  She devoted herself to the charity sector?  Never has anyone been so afflicted with a case of 'the grass is always greener'.

 

There also seems to have been a bit of jumping back and forth in her relationship with Frank.  One minute she's devoted and in love again, the next she's strangely distant.  I'm sure all will be revealed, but at the moment it just feels like uneven writing.

 

That thud in the distance was Dunbar falling off her high horse.  All that hand-wringing about how dirty Jackie was for attacking her personally as a woman - when that's exactly what she planned for Claire.  And she's passed up the role she was offered way back at the beginning.  I hope she ends up with absolutely nothing.  Loved Frank's face after hissing his threat down the phone at her.  It was satisfying.

 

What did Tom think was going to happen?  He ignored his brief, and then penned some very personal stuff.  Meechum was so smug :)

 

Make up your mind, Jackie.

 

Overall, things are so tense at this point it's almost hard to enjoy watching.  I must be an awful person, since going into the finale I care most about: Frank winning, Doug cleanly and safely ending the Rachel business and staying on track, and Claire committing to her role as Lady Macbeth. 

Edited March 11, 2015 by Fen

[Ottis]

Never has anyone been so afflicted with a case of 'the grass is always greener'.

 

 

ITA, and Claire is dangerously close to becoming the stereotypical "woman who doesn't know what she wants and makes people around her miserable as a result." I'd prefer she had a clear thought on her ultimate goal, so we can decide whether we admire her or not. Is this a realization of the hollowness of her life so far? Or is she just mad because life isn't giving her what she wants? Or ...? I actually pity Francis, because he doesn't have a clue about what's going on with her, either.

 

What did Tom think was going to happen?  He ignored his brief, and then penned some very personal stuff.  Meechum was so smug :)

 

 

This whole development rang so, so false. Tom would have to be a complete idiot to think that his attempt to write something he feels is good would have any appeal to the guy who hired him to write it. I get it, he is an artist. But even artists know the difference between the hack jobs they do to make a living and the true pieces of art they create. Shoot, the reporter who hates Frank understood that. I assume this is going to lead to either a threat to Frank and Claire or a bad end for Tom, but other than it triggering thoughts in Claire's head, it all seems so wasted.

[Maysie]

I have to say, it seems a bit quick that the American public LOVES them some Claire. When did this happen? Wasn't she so busy crashing and burning at the UN that the public really wouldn't have much time to connect with her? I feel like I missed something, but that's entirely possible. I'm watching, but the season isn't quite as compelling. Somehow the Underwoods were more interesting before they made it to the White House.

[Primetimer]

With Claire charming Iowans and threatening Heather's frontrunner status, Heather reaches back seven or eight episodes for a piece of evidence that could destroy the Underwood dynasty altogether.

Read the story

[rttore]

Hi! What's the song name at six minute while the meeting in Iowa? Thanks;)

[jsm1125]

Was anybody else thinking that Frank was going to kill Dunbar in the basement room where Petrov burned his cigarette on the wall?

[Hanahope]

I have to say, it seems a bit quick that the American public LOVES them some Claire. When did this happen? Wasn't she so busy crashing and burning at the UN that the public really wouldn't have much time to connect with her?

 

IIRC, she became very popular when she publicly admitted to being raped by the military guy and she, along with the woman who started it all, got him discharged, or got him to resign.  I think that's also when she pretended to be ashamed over having an abortion, implying it was from the rape.  Her acting so vulnerable got her a lot of fans, fans that probably didn't pay any attention, or would even understand, the manipulations and foreign events happening at the UN.  Those in power knew Claire sucked as ambassador, but not the masses.

 

I just had to laugh that the Supreme Court Justice now does want to retire and does want Dunbar to  replace him and she's like, "nope, too late". 

 

Frank really screwed the pooch.  You just can't treat everyone like shit all the time and expect to earn their loyalty.  Serves him right losing Jackie.  Have to admit that she's definitely turned 180 degrees from 'career over all' to realizing that her career/power wasn't making her completely happy.

[ethalfrida]

ITA, and Claire is dangerously close to becoming the stereotypical "woman who doesn't know what she wants and makes people around her miserable as a result." I'd prefer she had a clear thought on her ultimate goal, so we can decide whether we admire her or not. Is this a realization of the hollowness of her life so far? Or is she just mad because life isn't giving her what she wants? 

Oooh, I was thinking it would turn into Claire becoming the President! I really thought she had the character to do it but then they go and make her just the type of woman you said. She became really annoying. She was totally hardcore with the two murders but then goes all shaky over her own failed goals...

[wayne67]

I think the part I've disliked most about this season is that it seems like they're trying to paint them as OTT evil and give them morals. It comes across as the characters being flimsy and wish washy all of a sudden.

 

They should have left them as amoral career politicians who share a weird sort of reptilian love with each other and sometimes lure in a third for novelty/ leverage.

 

Now they just come across as quick to anger and floundering around while having attacks of conscience after despoiling a grave and a jesus statue about what it all means.

 

IMO they were more likeable when they had a clear purpose, now it just seems like they're treading water until the election and it's dull.

[EarlGreyTea]

I love Jackie and Remy but it was pretty rich of both of them (mostly the former) to act so betrayed when Frank double-crossed her. Wasn't she doing the exact same thing to him when she met with Dunbar before the debate? Unless there was some master plan in there that flew over my head. I must say, Molly Parker is knocking it out of the park in this role, though. She manages to make Jackie empathetic and endlessly watchable. I buy her conflicted feelings for her husband and Remy.

 

Robin Wright does polite horror well. The look on her face was hysterical.

 

Meechum is so indescribably hot. I love his loyalty to the Underwoods, cool demeanor and outright contempt for anyone who isn't up the Underwoods' asses.

 

Never have I simultaneously hated and been bored by a character as much as Doug. Hate, hate, hate. He is automatically fast forward material. His behavior toward Rachel is despicable. And yet I have to admit Michael Kelly does manage to make him sympathetic at times, which speaks more of the actor's abilities than the character.

[J-Man]

The actress who played the trashy Iowa housewife (Annie Parisse, from "Law and Order") is married to the actor who plays Tom in real life.