S03.E13: Chapter 39

[Mama No Life]

Great acting, as always but I did not enjoy this season as much.  I like the political shindigs...if I wanted to watch a President argue with his wife I could get that for 22 eps from Scandal.  I can deal with almost anything in this show but not Claire and Frank at odds. I wish they were still smoking at the window in their townhouse. :(

[Mattipoo]

Claire as the UN ambassador was a complete joke especially when she fell asleep while the guy hanged himself. This season is definitely a huge letdown compared to the 2 previous ones, especially the Claire character who has been the victim of some really bad writing inconsistencies. Too much time spent on Doug who was probably the blandest character, and the Rachel storyline. Hopefully her lesbian lover and the computer hacker guy will get together next season to destroy Doug and Frank once and for all. Also, what happened to the threesome storyline with Meechum? I was sure they were going to explore their relationships in more detail this season but Meechum was instead relegated to being a glorified extra in the background. My favorite remaining characters now are Jackie and Remy. Hope they make it work as a couple.

[Garnett7]

It took me forever but I finally watched all of this season. Add me in with those who are sick of Claire. She came across like a spoiled brat to me all season long. Demanding the new toy she wanted, breaking it and then being pissy at everyone else because it broke. Frank handed her the UN Ambassador's job on a silver platter and she blew it. She took on a snake (the Russian president) who was ten times worse than her or anyone she's ever dealt with before. She thought she was so clever and never saw how out-matched she was with him. I agreed with Frank in the finale, too, in that she always knew what the deal was. There's only one seat in the Oval Office and only one person can sit in it. She knew that going in.

 

Not that Frank is any better at his job than she was at her's. Oh, he'll do anything to "win" at any costs but that doesn't equal being a good president. If I'd heard "AmWorks/America Works" one more time this season I might have hurt my computer screen.

 

My favorite part of the season was Doug. I love me some Doug but not in a "Oh, he's a good guy deep down" kinda way but more of a fascination of how messed up he is. He's so controlled yet a total mess at the same time. I never thought he was on a redepmtion arc this season. I knew right off that his real agenda was getting back on Frank's team and he'd do anything to accomplish it. Lie, double-cross, murder. It didn't matter. He is very much like Frank in that regard.

 

Gotta give kudos to Michael Kelly. I think he's a brilliant actor. He keeps me intrigued.

[millennium]

Maybe Claire can put something together with Remy and Jackie.  All three used Frank to reach the apex of their potential, then decided he was unworthy of them.   Like making a deal with the devil, then condemning him for being evil.

 

What a tedious and uneventful season.

 

If it doesn't come back, I won't care.

[PrincessSteel]

I want to point out to Frank that, when the woman who is the power behind your throne expresses her distress over the way things are going, you might want to be conciliatory rather than confrontational. Say something like 'As you wish', perhaps.

[Milburn Stone]

Chaos Theory, this is a consistent problem.  The lives of twenty-something women being a prop for stories about men.  And in this case, the life of a bisexual woman (and her death) being the prop for a story about a man.  The death of another lesbian or bisexual woman being done because it is important to the story of a straight male.

 

I'm not sure how a twenty-something lesbian or bisexual woman bludgeoning a straight male to death (or trying to) is "better" than a straight male brutally murdering a twenty-something lesbian or bisexual woman.

 

But maybe it's just me.

[dohe]

I'm not sure how a twenty-something lesbian or bisexual woman bludgeoning a straight male to death (or trying to) is "better" than a straight male brutally murdering a twenty-something lesbian or bisexual woman.

 

But maybe it's just me.

A woman trying to escape a man who is treating her as a captive, who is forcing her to do whatever they say and who is driving her somewhere unknown at night is a bit different, to say the least, than the man tracking down the same woman who is in hiding and killing her - which sort of proves by the way how right the woman was to attempt to escape in the first place.  There may be disagreements on the plot but I don't really see anyone, even those who felt the plotline was needed, saying they think Doug's action in season 3 is the same as Rachel's in season 2. 

 

Anyways, my post was how the common rationalization of the death of young bisexual and lesbian women on tv as being understandable since it serves a straight character's story is getting tiresome. 

Edited May 9, 2015 by dohe

[WearyTraveler]

Nobody says it's understandable, but I think a lot is being made of Rachel's sexual orientation, which IMO had nothing to do with the reason she got killed.  Doug would have killed anybody he perceived as an obstacle to his objectives.  That's the characterization they were trying to go for, IMO.  Man, woman, straight, gay, bisexual, transsexual, bear, queen or Martian, if Doug saw them as a threat that could only be extinguished by killing the person, he would kill them.

 

I seriously doubt that television writers have an anti-gay agenda and that they sit around thinking of ways to kill all their non-straight characters.  I personally don't keep tabs on the number of deaths by sexual orientation, but if it were a trend, I'd probably notice. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that a few gay/bisexual characters have been killed off in several shows, or perhaps it's just what naturally happens as a result of adding more diversity to our TV.  Plenty of straight characters die on TV, and I don't see that as the writers having a bias against straight people.

 

When it comes to this show, specifically, the main character is bisexual, so, I really don't think these particular bunch of writers is anti-gay or out to spread the message that it's ok to kill gay people.  I think that's what some of us are trying to say to this argument.

[Milburn Stone]

A woman trying to escape a man who is treating her as a captive, who is forcing her to do whatever they say and who is driving her somewhere unknown at night is a bit different, to say the least, than the man tracking down the same woman who is in hiding and killing her...

 

Our mileage varies then.

[Primetimer]

Season 3 of House Of Cards ends with one caged bird set free and another buried in the ground.

Read the story

[PrincessSteel]

Besides being one of the most retch-inducing sequences of anything I have ever watched, the Doug/Rachel thing was totally unnecessary. She may know something related to the skeevy tactics of Underwood and his minions, but she also has something to lose by coming forward. All Doug would have to do is suddenly 'remember' who tried to kill him and Rachel would be worse than discredited.

[WearyTraveler]

Besides being one of the most retch-inducing sequences of anything I have ever watched, the Doug/Rachel thing was totally unnecessary. She may know something related to the skeevy tactics of Underwood and his minions, but she also has something to lose by coming forward. All Doug would have to do is suddenly 'remember' who tried to kill him and Rachel would be worse than discredited.

 

I'm not so sure, what evidence does Doug have that it was Rachel who attacked him?  If there are no witnesses or DNA, it would be his word against hers.  

 

Also I can see people believing he's making up those allegations because he wants to discredit her once she starts talking, or a lawyer arguing that it was self-defense, which I kind of think it was, which would clear her of those charges.

 

I think she was a very real threat to Frank and Doug knew it.  Not that I'm condoning her murder, just saying that the way the story was set-up on the show, Rachel had more leverage than some give her credit for in here.

[attica]

I was really sort of hoping that the end of the season would bring Claire into closeup, and having her break the fourth wall: "What are you looking at?!" Indicating Frank's ascendancy is over and Claire's is taking over.  Ah, well, maybe next year.

 

Not for nothing, but both Frank and Claire need to get laid more. Way more.

 

Whereas Spacey's grasp on the accent has always been a slippery thing, I gotta give props to Kelly for arcing Stamper's physical recovery perfectly. He was always exactly as limpy as he should have been, improving in increment after increment, so that this last ep was a barely noticeable limp that became even less so the more he stretched out his legs walking, or, you know, digging.

[ketchuplover]

The opening credit sequence is my fave thing about the show

[PRgal]

 Ending.  Ibsen. 'Nuff said.

[Prevailing Wind]

Well there goes my plan to NOT bindge.

I don't have the streaming Netflix, so I have to wait for the DVDs.  It's hard to binge when you only get 3 or 4 episodes at a time.  But you DO get the "special features" on the last disc - Y'all should see about getting that last disc mailed to you.

[WatchrTina]

 

Francis was right in his argument with Claire though he absolutely shouldn't have manhandled her like that.  They both knew that the goal was the Presidency and that the room only had one chair.

All through that scene I just kept thinking "Hey, didn't I learn on Scandal that there are security cameras in the Oval Office?"  The president of that show was warned about them by his Secret Serviceman after does Olivia on the desk.  Seriously, I wonder what the Secret Service would do if they saw the President choking his wife in the Oval Office on a security camera?

 

As for the ending -- meh!  Claire has always struck me as quite ruthless and power hungry -- way too power hungry to just toss away her chances to be the First Lady (and all the power than entails) for four more years because she's suddenly waking up to the fact that she's playing a supporting role in her husband's presidency.  I also found her impromputu speech after the suicide in Russia to be out of character.

 

The story with the writer was a bit odd too.  It seemed pretty clear he never had any interest in writing the book Francis wanted.  And about that hand-holding with the President -- that's confirmation that Francis bats for both teams, right?  Though I thought that was confirmed by the three-some with Meechum in one of the past seasons.  Do we think the friend from The Sentinel that the writer reached out to is a former lover of Francis?

 

I didn't like this season as much as past ones.  I'll watch the next one but I'm not panting for it.

[Athena]

The story with the writer was a bit odd too.  It seemed pretty clear he never had any interest in writing the book Francis wanted.  And about that hand-holding with the President -- that's confirmation that Francis bats for both teams, right?  Though I thought that was confirmed by the three-some with Meechum in one of the past seasons.  Do we think the friend from The Sentinel that the writer reached out to is a former lover of Francis?

 

It was heavily implied that the friend and Frank were lovers. When Frank goes back to alma matter in S1, he tells that friend more or less, "I love you so much," and the friend just nods calmly knowing how it was between them. This implied to me that their relationship was romantic and sexual at one point, but then the next day, they just went back to their families.

 

I think the show has been quite consistent about Frank's interest in men. I would even posit that he's more into men sexually then he is women. The only time we've seen him sleep with women is to manipulate them or that strange time Claire had sex with him. The threesome was something Claire did for Frank because she even said he "needed that." I do believe Frank has and does love Claire, but I don't think their sexual relationship has been an important aspect or at least hasn't been in a long a time.

[WatchrTina]

 

I think the show has been quite consistent about Frank's interest in men. I would even posit that he's more into men sexually then he is women. The only time we've seen him sleep with women is to manipulate them or that strange time Claire had sex with him.

Hmmmm.  Now that you say that I was a bit confused by the scene when Claire tries to get Francis to have rough sex with her.  He starts to comply, throwing her on the bed on her stomach but she rolls over and says "No you have to look at me" and then everything grinds to a halt.  Then she says "That's what I thought."  So . . . is that a hint that the only way they are usually able to have sex (if they ever have had sex) is from behind and <ahem> up the butt so that he can pretend she's a man?   Is that the dirty little secret underlying their very strange marriage? 

[Athena]

Hmmmm.  Now that you say that I was a bit confused by the scene when Claire tries to get Francis to have rough sex with her.  He starts to comply, throwing her on the bed on her stomach but she rolls over and says "No you have to look at me" and then everything grinds to a halt.  Then she says "That's what I thought."  So . . . is that a hint that the only way they are usually able to have sex (if they ever have had sex) is from behind and <ahem> up the butt so that he can pretend she's a man?   Is that the dirty little secret underlying their very strange marriage? 

 

I wouldn't say he can only get off from that type of sex necessarily. I think their sexual relationship primarily exists because they are both drawn to each other and do love each other in their own way. They saw each other as equals. I think Frank does idolize Claire; she really was the stronger one. He wouldn't be President without her and he knows he. When he's been down, she's the one to encourage him and get him to focus over the years. They have a physically affectionate relationship, but it's not really sexual.

 

In that scene, it seemed to me that, certain scenarios will help him to get off. He doesn't make love to women with eye contact as he does with men perhaps.

 

It seemed to me when he had sex with Kate Mara's character or maybe even other women, it was always about power and he got off on the power rather than the sexual attraction. He enjoys feeling like an Alpha and perhaps using it as a manipulation. He probably gets it with Claire too. She actually seems to use sex as a way to encourage him again, but their sex doesn't seem out of love. They seem to make love when they talk politics while smoking.

[WatchrTina]

They're a weird pair. When Claire moved into the spare bedroom because she had a cold and then never moved back, he seemed hurt by that but it also wasn't a very big deal.  I presume the complete cessation of sex between a married couple would be a very big deal (I've never been married so I'm just presuming) so now my interpretation is that Francis enjoys the comfort of sharing a bed with his wife but doesn't want to have sex with her.  He likes to cuddle, or rather, be cuddled (we've seen Claire spoon him, not the other way around.)  I'm beginning to understand that Francis and Claire are not equals and never were -- that Claire, the Dallas Debutante, has actually been the dominant player in their personal relationship -- until now.  We learned this season that the "every seven years" threat of her leaving has always hung over their marriage and that he's carried around shame both at her having raised him up through marriage and (I now suspect) his secretly being more attracted to men than her.  So finally, I understand why she puked after she asked for the recess appointment to the ambassador role.  She hated that she had to ASK.  Francis was finally in the dominant role in the relationship.  They were never equals before -- she was the dominant and she condescended to him by telling him they were equals.  That's why it stung so much when she told him "I should have never made you President."  It hurt because it was TRUE.  She did make him.

 

Damn.  I'm feeling pretty good about being single right now. 

Edited August 9, 2015 by WatchrTina

[RustbeltWriter]

Rachel wasn't really close to Russo. She was a hooker he picked up the night he was pulled over by the cops and arrested for being drunk and high. Rachel was let go and later Frank had the police chief or whoever who was in his pocket, drop the charges against Russo. He did it because he had his own reasons for needing Russo at the time. I don't think Frank was even aware that there had been a woman in the car, so he didn't know about Rachel's existence. 

 

Rachel later, all on her own, sent a letter to Doug threatening to go public about Russo's arrest that night because that was the point where Frank was pushing Russo in the House, again for his own selfish purposes. The journalist guy too at that point had already started investigating the arrest and wondering why it just disappeared. Doug saw the letter, did not tell Frank and met Rachel on his own.

 

He basically told Rachel she was delusional if she thought she could threaten them or had any power. Rachel basically said she just wanted money because she didn't want to keep living the life she was. At that point, Doug developed this creepy paternal like feelings towards her while also sort of being attracted to her. And at that point she trusted him fully when he set her up in Frank's assistant's home, helped her get a job and later got her her own place. She trusted him enough to help set up Russo when he asked because Frank no longer needed Russo and was ready to throw him to the wolves. 

 

This is why I said above that Rachel's story honestly in my opinion, ended much like I expected it to. Rachel stepped into fire the minute she sent that letter threatening Frank and company and as I said, she only stayed alive as long as she did after that because Doug had his creepy obsession with her. Because that's why he never told Frank about her and what was going on because he knew if Frank knew about her existence, he would say get rid of her permanently. Things worked when she was completely grateful and even somewhat devoted to Doug which means he had power over her. Once he started losing that power, things got ugly and her death was imminent.

 

Thanks for the summary because it was difficult to remember why Doug was being so creepy. The storyline was kind of a waste, though. Rachel had clearly gone into hiding and if she hadn't come forward when Frank became president, she wasn't going to. They could have just left Doug dead and closed off that storyline. It 's ludicrous to think the White House Chief of Staff could take some time off to fly down to Colombia, threaten his henchman and then turn in to a killer out of a bad CSI episode.

 

By the way, as long as Doug is tying up loose ends, what's up with him letting Gavin live? That dude knows way more damaging information than Rachel. If Doug was being consistent he should have been at the bottom of the river with his laptop.

[ethalfrida]

Big-watched the entire series and was totally engrossed in every line spoken. Even bought and downloaded the theme music to my iPod for jogging.

Did anyone else think that if the role of President of the United States was written out like the TV series that Spacey would be perfect? He totally had me believing him as a POTUS! Claire, not so much but she was initially strong in her role. 

 

Season 4 hopefully will be just as good.

[Hanahope]

I think both of them didn't realize how much being in the public eye, for everything, was going to affect them, Clair more than Frank.  When Frank was Whip and Clair running her NGO, both had some public eye, but they did a lot of their manipulations or peers 'behind the scenes'.  Being President and First Lady/Ambassador, suddenly pushed both into the public eye 24/7 and they couldn't hide anymore.

 

If Clair has such ambitions, she should have stuck to legislation, worked with him on the America Works bill, at least until Frank won his own term.  Then perhaps she could have requested a cabinet position to start her executive office resume.  Thrusting herself into such  high profile position that soon, to which she wasn't really suitable for, was a huge mistake.  Frank had no real choice but to acquiesce to not-Putin's demand because to not accept would have risked a serious conflict, and Clair had already lost whatever small amount of respect other foreign diplomats might have had for her, and the US.

 

As popular as she still may be with the masses, I don't see her being able to really prosper on her own at this point, especially if Frank loses.  For as much as almost everything Frank has done has failed since he became prez, so has Clair, if not moreso.

[Crossbow]

I just finished watching this last night. I have to wonder what Claire expected from all this. Did she think the first lady has the same power as the president?

 

I'm glad she asked "What's all this for," but I wish she'd questioned his answer, "The White House." That's meaningless. He wants power but power to do what? What's the objective? Nothing: Frank sees power as an end in and of itself, and Clair has been married to him 28 years and should have understood that. In fact I thought she was the same. That legislation she introduced seemed to be all about getting herself in the public eye and establishing her influence. Her objective in being UN ambassador seemed to be being the UN ambassador. If she was re-evaluating that whole outlook, why didn't she talk to Frank about it instead of just walking out?

[LeGrandElephant]

I just finished this. When I first started watching Season 1 I was really impressed, but now - I'm thinking this show should have ended at the end of Season 2. At the very least, Doug and Rachel's storyline should have ended then. It was satisfying to see her kill Doug, and completely unsatisfying and annoying to have him come back and kill her. What was the point of having her as a character for so long in the show if she wasn't eventually going to come back and reveal how they killed Peter Russo? I think this show has made a mistake in killing off all the characters who are likable and/or have any potential to reveal Frank's past murders. 

 

I also liked Frank and Claire better when they were creepy reptilian equals - their relationship was their one redeeming feature - and I don't really understand why she suddenly has a problem with their way of life in this season. Maybe she shouldn't have given up her charity?