S05.E12: Chapter 64

[Athena]

Quote

Frank attempts to stop Cathy from testifying. With Hammerschmidt sniffing out the truth, the Underwoods throw someone close to them under the bus.

 

[Michichick]

Holy fucking shit. I know Frank is evil, but I was still shocked when he pushed Cathy down the stairs. Seems a little implausible that nobody else was nearby, but then it's House of Cards so of course it's implausible. :)

Totally digging it that Sean's girlfriend is playing him on Hammerschmidt's behalf.

Man, asking Doug to take the fall for Zoe's death is sooooome shit. After all he's done for them? Wow. And then he does it, like a fucking sucker. But the reveal that Doug is the leak? I don't know what to make of it.

This season, Claire has worn a lot of outfits that have prominent decorative buttons. I feel like there's symbolism there that I'm missing. Leann's black-and-white wardrobe is a bit more obvious.

Didn't see it coming that Claire would murder Yates. When Jane gave Claire that herbal remedy, was Jane basically telling her (by warning her about the dosage) that she could use it to kill someone? At the time, I suspected Jane was trying to knock Claire out.

"It's unthinkable to assume the FBI would involve itself in an election." Hahahahhahahahaha, Green is so funny.

Edited June 1, 2017 by Michichick

[NorthstarATL]

8 hours ago, Michichick said:

Didn't see it coming that Claire would murder Yates. When Jane gave Claire that herbal remedy, was Jane basically telling her (by warning her about the dosage) that she could use it to kill someone? At the time, I suspected Jane was trying to knock Claire out

I knew the outcome when she didn't just offer aspirin or ibuprofin, and then I assumed that Claire would make use of one of the fireplace tools within reach as well. But Yates' ticket was punched when Claire fessed up Frank's killings to him.

 "You're going to have to take a fall." So punny, Frank.

 Doug is as pure evil as the Underwoods, but I always wind up feeling slightly sorry for him.

[Michichick]

I think Yates might have made it out alive if he hadn't written the book and sent the manuscript to Claire. Wtf did he think would happen after a threat like that? He already knew these people would kill to protect themselves. He shouldn't assume that his magic dick would somehow protect him from the wrath of the Underwoods.

[chick binewski]

I'm barely trying to make a joke here - I could not tell the difference between living Novelist Tom and Dead Novelist Tom. Paul Sparks is a good actor but damn did he look bored throughout this whole season. Almost as bored as Robin Wright which is saying something. 

[MollyB]

On 6/1/2017 at 8:05 PM, Michichick said:

Wtf did he think would happen after a threat like that?

Exactly. This is 'suicide by claire'.  I think he was so disgusted with himself as Claire's toy, living/sleeping in Claire's bed in the white house with Frank around* and generally as useful as tits on a bull that he just gave it up and used Claire as the weapon of his destruction.  I could be off base here as it was hard for me to decipher what his motivations might have been because the actor/character never really showed much emotion. (see quote below).  He just gave that intense stare all the time and when asked about himself gave an unemotional "well, I have been in worse circumstances (hustling?) than this" answer.  Angst 101.

28 minutes ago, chick binewski said:

I could not tell the difference between living Novelist Tom and Dead Novelist Tom.

Dead Novelist Tom is the one with his eyes open.

*and how does that happen when you are trying to win the election.  Did no one notice?  Way to go, Secret Service.

Edited June 4, 2017 by MollyB
forgot that part made my brain spin and need answers

[Joimiaroxeu]

Claire is stone cold-blooded. She watches a man die while she's screwing him and then calmly climbs into her official motorcade and leaves his naked dead body on the floor. But he should've known better than to come at the Underwoods like that. At least he didn't get a bullet in the face. And dang, were they trying to set Usher up to take the fall? It's a wonder people don't run away screaming when they see the Underwoods coming.

Wonder when we'll find out who Jane is working for? I'm guessing it's a foreign government but I can't imagine which one since in the show's current reality it's not the Russians.

[Anela]

Death by homeopathy? 

I'm still watching. I can't believe that Doug is taking the blame for Zoe's death! What the hell?! Unless it's because he feels guilty over Rachel. He did murder her. 

[Refresh]

On 6/1/2017 at 11:27 AM, Michichick said:

This season, Claire has worn a lot of outfits that have prominent decorative buttons. I feel like there's symbolism there that I'm missing. Leann's black-and-white wardrobe is a bit more obvious.

There has to be. When Claire was acting president the buttons and her wardrobe was all very military inspired. Lots of metal buttons, an epaulet here and there. Now that she's back to her FLOTUS the buttons have not gone away but their use is more feminine.

I didn't even notice Leann's black & white. Gosh darnit.

I would like to think that the Secretary of State "falling" down the stairs was an ode to both 1) Showgirls and 2) a certain government official's alleged fear of stairs.

The body count this season, yeesh. When is Murder She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher going to bicycle down to DC from Cabot Cove and start solving these crimes.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Refresh
remembered the name of the town

[Lemons]

How are there that many evil people who will lie, cheat and murder for a president that no one likes?  And of course everyone can be blackmailed because of their shady pasts.   I wish they balanced it out a little bit to make it a little more plausible. 

[Ellaria]

8 hours ago, Refresh said:

The body count this season, yeesh. When is Murder She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher going to bicycle down to DC from Cabot Cove and start solving these crimes.

Maybe Columbo can join her. Frank and Claire wouldn't intimidate those two crime-solvers.

This show is starting to rival The Sopranos for high body count. I'm sure that the herbal potion that Claire used to kill Tom is undetectable in post-mortem drug tests because...of course. Besides, Tom's body will disappear along with the manuscript that he inexplicably decided to give to Claire. 

On 6/4/2017 at 0:22 AM, MollyB said:

Exactly. This is 'suicide by claire'.  I think he was so disgusted with himself as Claire's toy, living/sleeping in Claire's bed in the white house with Frank around* and generally as useful as tits on a bull that he just gave it up and used Claire as the weapon of his destruction.  I could be off base here as it was hard for me to decipher what his motivations might have been because the actor/character never really showed much emotion.

I won't mourn for Tom but I agree that his motivations were difficult to pinpoint. He sent her an incriminating manuscript after she admitted to murder. Seeing a bit more of his thought process (rather than the speech about his prowess at hide and seek) may have been helpful.

Doug is just a complete failure as a human being. After the "take the fall for Zoe" instruction, he gulps and takes out the birthday cards. Did we see him do anything with the cards? And goes to LeAnn and confesses. Why?

Poor Cathy. Frank didn't even bother to mask his contempt while yelling "the secretary has fallen." 

On 6/4/2017 at 5:22 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

 It's a wonder people don't run away screaming when they see the Underwoods coming.

Exactly. I'm still waiting for justice for Peter Russo.

Edited June 6, 2017 by Ellaria Sand

[Michichick]

2 hours ago, Ellaria Sand said:

Exactly. I'm still waiting for justice for Peter Russo.

You and me both. Even after all this time, I feel sad about the way Peter was set up and then destroyed, more so than any other character the Underwoods have used/killed/ruined.

[Primetimer]

And other musical questions from 'Chapter 64'!

View the full article

[Miles]

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Did Claire just kill a relatively young, healthy man with poison, that is probably rather easy to find in a tox screan while her whole secret service team was outside? And with the guy still having her DNA on his penis? Seriously? Is she going to get away with this? This show strains my suspension of disbelieve like almost no other show before. My suspension is not made of carbon nano fiber, damn it!

[Ellaria]

5 hours ago, Michichick said:

You and me both. Even after all this time, I feel sad about the way Peter was set up and then destroyed, more so than any other character the Underwoods have used/killed/ruined.

Agree. I think that's why I have a soft spot for Corey Stoll.

Quick question: so far, Cathy isn't dead. And unless she dies or is left unable to speak/communicate, wouldn't she eventually say, "Frank Underwood tried to kill me?" Or was the goal to temporarily prevent her from testifying?

Edited June 6, 2017 by Ellaria Sand

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Did Claire just kill a relatively young, healthy man with poison, that is probably rather easy to find in a tox screan while her whole secret service team was outside? And with the guy still having her DNA on his penis? Seriously? Is she going to get away with this? This show strains my suspension of disbelieve like almost no other show before. My suspension is not made of carbon nano fiber, damn it!

She left the mess for Usher to clean up and presumably he did so in a way that won't ever blow back on her. If it did she could claim Tom was alive when she left him and perhaps Usher or someone else killed him. However, if Usher were smart (questionable since he's trying to run with the Underwoods and they've proven not to play well with others who have outlived their usefulness) he would've immediately stashed the body in a freezer somewhere. I agree, it's a bad string for the writers to have left hanging, especially since Cathy and LeAnn might both still be looming over the Underwoods' fates. Having them get rid of every impediment by murder is perhaps being overused as a plot device.

[hincandenza]

20 hours ago, Lemons said:

How are there that many evil people who will lie, cheat and murder for a president that no one likes?  And of course everyone can be blackmailed because of their shady pasts.   I wish they balanced it out a little bit to make it a little more plausible. 

I've been asking myself that same question these days.  :(  HoC now exists in a fictional space that is simultaneously more implausible, and yet more believable, than the actual world we're living in (apologies if that gets too close to RW politics for these forums).

[DrSpaceman73]

This show jumped the shark on plausibility long ago.  You just have to accept it and move on to keep watching. 

They have honestly done so many horrible things that at this point I can't keep track of them all or of all the people behind the scenes investigating this or that from their past. 

 I am not disappointed in Tom being killed.  Best thing the Underwoods have done in 5 seasons.

Edited June 10, 2017 by DrSpaceman73

[Negritude]

On 6/5/2017 at 8:36 PM, Refresh said:

The body count this season, yeesh. When is Murder She Wrote's Jessica Fletcher going to bicycle down to DC from Cabot Cove and start solving these crimes.

Ha! 

[revbfc]

Tom should have been gone ten episodes ago.  Seriously, there is no chemistry between Tom & Claire, and his neediness exacerbated the whole mess for me.  Thing is, I know both these actors are absolutely awesome, and it's maddening that they couldn't ever find a way to make me believe that they ever enjoyed each other's company.

[OtterMommy]

On 6/1/2017 at 11:27 AM, Michichick said:

Holy fucking shit. I know Frank is evil, but I was still shocked when he pushed Cathy down the stairs. Seems a little implausible that nobody else was nearby, but then it's House of Cards so of course it's implausible. :)

Honestly, I thought that Frank dreamt pushing Cathy was a dream until it just kept going.  I think that is in part because it wasn't very creative and in part because it was the most predictable thing possible.  Definitely not one of the, ahem, better moments of this show.

[knaankos]

On 6/5/2017 at 7:31 PM, Anela said:

Death by homeopathy? 

I'm still watching. I can't believe that Doug is taking the blame for Zoe's death! What the hell?! Unless it's because he feels guilty over Rachel. He did murder her. 

Definitely. The way he was describing Zoe was probably exactly the way he felt about Rachel

[Anela]

4 hours ago, knaankos said:

Definitely. The way he was describing Zoe was probably exactly the way he felt about Rachel

That's what I thought. 

[OtterMommy]

12 hours ago, knaankos said:

Definitely. The way he was describing Zoe was probably exactly the way he felt about Rachel

Yep, I definitely saw that as Doug confessing to murdering Rachel (even though he was confessing to Zoe's murder, which he didn't commit).

[polyhymnia]

On 6/12/2017 at 0:03 AM, OtterMommy said:

Honestly, I thought that Frank dreamt pushing Cathy was a dream until it just kept going.  I think that is in part because it wasn't very creative and in part because it was the most predictable thing possible.  Definitely not one of the, ahem, better moments of this show.

I thought the same thing.

I was a little surprised that Claire killed Tom timing wise but not the least bit sad to see him go.  Such a dull freaking relationship.

[kelslamu]

I guess Tom's manuscript is supposed to just not exist anywhere else then?  I'm pretty sure it exists (redacted and un-redacted) on his computer.  I would think someone could come across it.  I don't know if he said it was the absolute ONLY copy or not.  

[Adiba]

On June 27, 2017 at 8:39 AM, kelslamu said:

I guess Tom's manuscript is supposed to just not exist anywhere else then?  I'm pretty sure it exists (redacted and un-redacted) on his computer.  I would think someone could come across it.  I don't know if he said it was the absolute ONLY copy or not.  

Thought the same thing-- doesn't everyone write on a computer nowadays ( or at least the final manuscript, as publishers would want it in that format)? At any rate, wouldn't there be handwritten notes around, rough drafts, etc. that would turn up? And really, why give it to Claire telling her it's the only copy when you know what she and her husband are capable of? Smh

Also, why kill Tom during sex? Huh? 

Only started watching this show recently-- at my husband's insistence that it was such a good show, I binge-watched the first 4 (1 and 2 were really good) and we watched this season together. Really debating if I should invest my time when (?) season 6 comes out.

Edited June 28, 2017 by Adiba

[HazelEyes4325]

14 minutes ago, Adiba said:

Thought the same thing-- doesn't everyone write on a computer nowadays ( or at least the final manuscript, as publishers would want it in that format)? At any rate, wouldn't there be handwritten notes around, rough drafts, etc. that would turn up? And really, why give it to Claire telling her it's the only copy when you know what she and her husband are capable of? Smh

 

Not necessarily.  There are many authors who swear by writing longhand (or on a typewriter!!).  These writers, at least the ones I know of, then hire someone to type up an electronic version of their final manuscript for submission.  I wouldn't say that this is the norm--I think the vast majority of writers, successful or not, do write on computers.  But, I also think that there are notable exceptions to that.

[Adiba]

1 hour ago, Morksmate said:

Not necessarily.  There are many authors who swear by writing longhand (or on a typewriter!!).  These writers, at least the ones I know of, then hire someone to type up an electronic version of their final manuscript for submission.  I wouldn't say that this is the norm--I think the vast majority of writers, successful or not, do write on computers.  But, I also think that there are notable exceptions to that.

Yeah, ok I can see that-- I think I did hear about some writers writing longhand or on old typewriters. Given that, though, wouldn't Tom have had any notes around, or did he commit everything to memory? No carbon copy or anything in case something happened to the manuscript ( wasn't he was trying to blackmail them)? Where the heck did Tom keep his things? Not in a knapsack like a hobo, did he? 

There's too many loopholes for me to just suspend my disbelief ( as with much of the season), but I'm not sorry they killed off Tom, just the manner that they did it.

[HazelEyes4325]

1 hour ago, Adiba said:

Yeah, ok I can see that-- I think I did hear about some writers writing longhand or on old typewriters. Given that, though, wouldn't Tom have had any notes around, or did he commit everything to memory? No carbon copy or anything in case something happened to the manuscript ( wasn't he was trying to blackmail them)? Where the heck did Tom keep his things? Not in a knapsack like a hobo, did he? 

There's too many loopholes for me to just suspend my disbelief ( as with much of the season), but I'm not sorry they killed off Tom, just the manner that they did it.

Yep, there are a lot of loopholes there...even if he did write longhand!  I never felt like they knew what they wanted to do with Tom and, ultimately, gave up and just killed him...

[Dobian]

So this show pulled out the old shove-them-in-the-back ploy again.  Really?  She fell down about six steps.  Who's to say all she does is break an ankle?  Then she's on the floor screaming about how the president just shoved her down the stairs.  Once again this show has a character do something totally reckless with the certainty that it will work out exactly as planned.  Sure.

Now Claire murders Yates.  I hated Yates, but this is just becoming silly.  They spent a good part of the season creating some complexity and depth in the ice queen and almost humanizing her, but now she's back to simply being a sociopath like her husband.

Frank and Claire laying out for Doug how he'll take the fall for Zoe Barnes almost made me feel sorry for Doug.  Almost.  But once again the Underwoods easily get someone to take the rap for their crimes.

Edited July 7, 2017 by Dobian

[ElectricBoogaloo]

As soon as Frank told Cathy she had to take a fall when they were near the stairs, I thought no, they would never have him go full on Showgirls/My Sweet Audrina with the secretary of state and then he did!

When Claire said that she missed touching Tom, I was like Molly, girl, you in danger! I thought she was just going to stab him, so at least she was polite enough to kill him in a less messy way in someone else's house.

I can't believe that Frank and Claire are making Doug take the fall for Zoe's death. I mean, I CAN believe it because they clearly give no fucks, but you'd think that they would find someone else to pin her murder on so that they could keep Doug around. It's not just that he knows their secrets either. It's that he is loyal enough to do anything for them, which means he is a valuable asset to them. That's not someone you should throw away so easily because he will be hard to replace.

I can't stand Sean, so I had to laugh when I saw that Hammerschmidt was totally playing him through Angela. I mean, it's pretty low when you use your girlfriend's thumbprint to unlock her phone while she's asleep so you can snoop through her emails and then demand a meeting with the President. I hope he takes a fall down the stairs.

Edited July 30, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[millennium]

Tom was one of the most useless, boring and insufferably smug characters I have seen on any show in a long time.  I'm glad Claire killed him.   I only wish it had been a more painful and horrible demise.

[Hanahope]

Wow, seriously.  Frank is sure Cathy will be knocked unconscious by a relatively short staircase fall?  Claire killing Tom during sex?  Frank and Claire getting Doug to take the fall for Zoe's death?  Ok, its entertainment, because its just so out of this world.

Seems like no one leaves the Underwoods alive.  someone really should start counting up how many people seem to die around them, though I guess some just disappear without a word.

And Doug was the leak?  I just can't believe he'd do that, not unless Frank knew exactly what was going on.

[Sesquipedalia]

Holy shitballs! I did not see a lot of what happened in this episode coming, especially Claire's sexicide of Tom. She's so Lady Macbeth.

Best quotes: "He has no ideology, no North Star. Isn't that the scariest thing of all?"

Being behind on the show, I had to look up when this was aired. I wondered if the writers were prescient, but clearly they meant this quote as a commentary on T****.

Doug: "You don't think I'm dedicated enough?" lolololol

I can relate to Jane. She wants a woman president and would do almost anything at this point.

[Roseanna]

On ‎6‎.‎6‎.‎2017 at 10:42 AM, Lemons said:

How are there that many evil people who will lie, cheat and murder for a president that no one likes?  And of course everyone can be blackmailed because of their shady pasts.   I wish they balanced it out a little bit to make it a little more plausible. 

It's not liking someone which motivates people like that but yearning for power (Doug like Frank and Claire, as well as Frank's bodyguard who died saving him.)

I don't think the show is even meant to be plausible. It's a world of its own kind and in the beginning you either accept its premises or don't. 

On ‎9‎.‎1‎.‎2018 at 9:55 AM, Sesquipedalia said:

I can relate to Jane. She wants a woman president and would do almost anything at this point.

She says so, but actually she wants a president who does what benefits her interests.