Currently watching House of Cards for the third time. I do this mostly during every election cycle in the US.

During the first season, there's quite a mention about Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) standing in front of the refrigerator and we do see it once while she is hosting her friends. And one of them asks if it's night chills.

I am trying to understand if there's something behind or around it that I failed to notice earlier.

I have always wondered this. Mark tells frank and Claire after winning the election that his job is to “make sure his 4 years turn into 8.” But Underwood took over during the first half of Walkers presidency, making him unable to run for reelection again. Right?

My last post about most annoying politicians in HOC generated quite some interest, so let's talk about some clean, smooth and slick politicians in this thread. And sadly, no one seems to embody those qualities to me except for Garrett Walker.

He was a nice human being, didn't have a shady track record like Frank and other politicians, and still effective enough to handle the stress of Presidency (unlike Donald Blythe).

There was only one issue with him: he didn't know how to deal with clever people. And he paid a heavy price for that. First he took the advice of Tusk and spoiled his relationship with Frank, and later he allowed himself to be manipulated by Frank and spoiled his 3 decades of friendship with Tusk as well. Same things happened with his Chief of Staff Linda, whose resignation he accepted under Frank's manipulation.

Ultimately, he lost his Presidency and relationships with both men with whom he had worked for a long time. Despite being the most powerful man in the world for a short while, ultimately he ended up isolated with no friends.

I feel there should be a prequel of HOC based on his life, showing his rise to power so we can explore his shortcomings in detail which ultimately lead to his fall in HOC.

Would love to hear this community's thoughts about it.

I was rewatching the show casually and maybe times have changed in the last 10 years but why would him or his wife taking medication (xanax) be such a big problem?

Obviously no one wants a President who is chronically addicted to substances…like a President who is an alcoholic or engages in…darker stuff.

But Walker seemed like a typical corporate Democrat who had troubles privately…if he were to go public with it, i would assume the vast majority of the country would be sympathetic as to why he would need extra help to keep stress low because many Americans themselves suffer from anxiety or depression.

Obviously, the media, the opposition, and foreign countries would paint him as a weak POTUS, but couldn’t he have turned the tables and appeared more vulnerable and human by admitting he needed counseling?

Clinton, Nixon, Trump have all been impeached in the modern era, and compared to them…Walker was practically an angel.

Is it because in 2014 mental health wasn’t as recognized as it is today?

I just started the show a few days ago and I'm almost halfway through Season 1. At this point, I'm invested in the plot and really enjoying myself, but I'm also aware that Season 6 drops the ball hard and I don't know if I want to watch multiple days worth of television just for it all to come to an terrible conclusion. What point would you all recommend to stop watching to get the best of the show and what it has to offer, while ending on a fairly satisfying note? Should I just stop now and not go further? Thanks for your help :)

Did they really have to kill the show like this? The main character not being involved is not enough of an excuse to give us this inconsistently written sloppy mess. They should have just canceled it instead

For me, it's this guy.

This never made sense to me. She was doing a good job of ruining Gillian's life. By withholding the medication Gillian needed and endangering her unborn child, Claire could have pressured Gillian into giving up her lawsuit. But instead, she just handed the Clean Water Initiative and everything over to Gillian on a platter so they could "wash their hands of each other." Why? To avoid some bad publicity? To avoid a huge fight? Claire didn't strike me as a quitter. I was surprised she caved on this.

They should have showed what happened to those who are against the administration. Annette, Mark, FBI agent that I think Claire will kill for resigning. Self-defense excuse for murdering Doug, Seth.

I need more :)

Both Meechum and his predecessor (the one who died in a hospital, who used to protect Frank when he was a Congressman) are shown in HOC with enough emphasis on their roles... But once Meechum dies, no one is shown to be filling into his shoes.

Or is it just me who missed it? Does anyone know who replaced Meechum after he died?

Doesn't he sound southern to you? He's from Missouri. The actor is from Mississippi. It was my understanding, that Missouri is considered “midwest”, not (deep) south. Now I know that it might be hard to switch of a think accent, I myself have this problem as well in my language, but couldn't a professional actor switch of his accent? I ask because I always have to smirk when I watch scenes with Raymond and Frank, one has a touch of an original deep south accent, the other has to pretend being from the south. English is not my first language, so I might be wrong.

Russia using Aidan McCallan's secrets to create domestic problems in the US seems inspired by the real-life scandal of Edward Snowden to me. Would love to hear your thoughts on the same.

Season 3 was pretty good and I enjoyed the Petrov scenes, especially where he outwits Frank and gets in his head but.... Claire kinda lost me in the last 3 episodes. I just don't understand her actions and the Iowa hotel room scene. What did she want from Frank? I thought it was for him to stop being indecisive like he had been but then when he grabbed her and she left I was like... soo it's over? What'd the subreddit think?

I'm only on season 2 EP 1 but I realized a few episodes ago, at the murder, Frank Underwood is not just a clever politicker but an evil man, especially evil and cynical even for the town.

I don't know how the series will progress but when did you guys realize this, or did you?

I think we live in the era of glorying the anti hero, ambition and charisma trump all.

I lost all love for him as I saw he doesn't just beat people at the game- more or less fair and square but he uses and destroys people without integrity, even for the benefit of a gambit, even to the point of literal actual murder.

So I only see wickedness despite how clever he is. And his henchman too is just an accomplice who threatens and destroys others (I don't know his name) and his wife too, the former princess buttercup. It's a very low morality crew... But I'm not convinced people engaged with the show see things that way necessarily.

Someone once said that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled.. is convincing the world he doesn't exist

Jackie is at a restaurant with a man who I believe ends up being her husband, and as Remy approaches, the man says to Jackie, “I thought you said he was handsome.” I know it’s not essential to the plot, but what was the point of that comment? Was he feeling insecure? Did he legit think Remy was unattractive? Was it a quick way to illustrate what kind of man he is? Not important, but just curious.

I don’t know how people can root for these characters. Believe me, this isn’t a term I use lightly, and I don’t generally subscribe to such binary, simplified designations as good and evil, but if I had one word to describe them… it would be that: Evil. Mostly Frank. I don’t think Doug is as bad, but after what he just did to Rachel, the mere thought of him is abhorrent to me.

Their regard — or lack thereof, is sadly a lot more accurate — for other human lives would be impressive, if only it weren’t so utterly horrifying and despicable. I’m on S3, E13, literally right after Doug viciously kidnapped Rachel, let her go, then… went back and killed and buried her. Frank killed Peter and Zoe so casually — I forgot what exactly he did to Peter in the car (poison gas?), but just pushing Zoe onto the train tracks like that? — and hasn’t thought twice about it.

Humans are trivialities, commodities, wholly expendable to them: If they present even the slightest chance of imperiling Frank’s ruthless, wicked, unmitigated ambition and megalomania, they’re to be disposed of and forgotten. This is disgusting and sadistic. Who in their right mind can possibly want characters like that to thrive. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt like I’d have less qualms and regrets about killing someone in vengeance.

Obviously, this is a dramatized depiction of American politics, buffed up to be more exciting and intense, but if what’s going on behind the scenes in Washington is even remotely close to this, then I sincerely fear, and greatly, for our country.

Edit: Downvotes? This is a new low, even for Reddit. Are we really going to act like defending/supporting two clearly, verifiably cruel, murderous people is all good and well?

Update: It seems even Claire is now a mere pawn in Frank’s game, after their altercation at the end of the episode (and what an episode… my goodness). This guy cares about nothing and no one but advancing his own power and influence.