Season 6: The Underwood Resurrection

Episode 1-2: Frank in the Shadows
Frank Underwood is officially declared dead at the start of the season, with the narrative suggesting he died of a heart attack in his sleep. However, through flashbacks and clandestine scenes, it’s revealed that Frank faked his death to escape political scrutiny and consolidate power behind the scenes.

While Claire Underwood steps into the presidency, she begins facing increasing pressure from Congress, the public, and old enemies. Frank, lurking in the shadows, secretly orchestrates events to destabilize Claire's presidency, using Doug Stamper as his loyal operative to plant seeds of doubt about her leadership.

Episode 3-5: Frank’s Machinations
As Claire begins to assert her authority, she alienates key allies, including members of her cabinet and the Shepherd family. Unbeknownst to her, Frank uses his deep network to manipulate these disillusioned players, creating a coalition of enemies determined to unseat Claire.

Meanwhile, Doug Stamper plants evidence linking Claire to illegal activities, including the suspicious deaths of previous rivals. The media frenzy begins to weaken Claire’s standing, and impeachment proceedings are quietly discussed among her adversaries.

Frank’s interactions with Doug reveal his growing obsession with regaining the presidency, not just for power but as vengeance against Claire for sidelining him.

Episode 6-7: The Betrayal
Claire discovers evidence that Frank is alive but struggles to act, fearing public backlash and political fallout. She attempts to solidify her power by turning Doug Stamper against Frank, appealing to Doug’s complex loyalty.

However, Doug’s loyalty to Frank proves unshakable. In a stunning twist, he leads Claire into a trap under the guise of a peace meeting. Frank appears, cold and calculating, confronting Claire about her betrayal and ambition.

In a tense, dialogue-heavy episode, Frank delivers one of his signature monologues, justifying his return and his willingness to eliminate anyone—even Claire—to reclaim his legacy. The confrontation ends with Frank poisoning Claire during a private dinner at the White House, mirroring Shakespearean tragedy.

Episode 8-9: The Resurrection of Frank Underwood
With Claire dead, Frank stages her demise as a suicide, framing it as the result of mounting political pressure and alleged corruption. The nation mourns, but Frank’s allies quietly work to pave his path back to power.

Using a mix of blackmail, manipulation, and his charismatic appeal, Frank leverages the 25th Amendment to reclaim the presidency, asserting that the country needs a strong leader to navigate the chaos.

Doug Stamper, while instrumental in Frank’s return, begins to unravel emotionally, haunted by his role in Claire’s death and his blind devotion to Frank.

Episode 10: The King Reclaims His Throne
Frank Underwood’s triumphant return to the presidency is marked by an elaborate ceremony, but cracks in his facade begin to show. His enemies, though silenced for now, are regrouping, and Doug’s psychological instability threatens to expose Frank’s darkest secrets.

In a chilling final scene, Frank stands in the Oval Office, delivering a monologue directly to the audience:
"Did you think I was gone? That I could be buried so easily? Presidents come and go, but power... true power… it bends to no one but me. And now, we start again."

As he smiles at the camera, the screen fades to black, leaving the future uncertain.

Themes

This reimagined storyline focuses on themes of rebirth, ambition, and the cyclical nature of power. It explores Frank’s psychological complexity, his willingness to sacrifice everything, and the consequences of absolute power. Claire’s death serves as a tragic culmination of their rivalry and sets the stage for a darker exploration of Frank’s legacy.

I liked Zoe Barnes. She was cool and a good reporter.

But every other reporter is so annoying. Did anyone kind of skip through the Tom hammerschmidt and the guy he fired scenes? It’s been soooo repetitive it’s getting annoying.

The issue I also have is Doug Stamper keep acting like Rachel gonna get up and tell everyone what’s happened… Lisa is not a threat…

Just spent a month of my life watching HoC for the first time. All of that for that ending… Just why?

In season one when Doug is trying to figure out what to do with Rachel, why doesn't he just let her stay in his own place? He lives alone, doesn't he?

Why go to all the trouble to go to Nancy?

May its just me, but in my second watching I noticed all Frank eats is apple, coffee, ribs and peanut butter jelly sandwiches. It bugs me bit that president of USA has a poor diet.

Massive spoilers! Don’t read if you have not finished the show.

Claire was absolutely terrible.

Each episode grew progressively worse, and hated it.

The ending scene was horrendous.

I get it, Kevin was accused/did terrible things in real life, but to ruin a phenomenal show of 5 seasons for that trash of a 6th season was borderline crime.

If you enjoyed the last season, please explain to me why so that I may find a reason to rethink my opinion.

It was a serious letdown.

After a third watch through I couldn’t help but notice how ironic some of Franks comments were. Specifically when talking to Blythe at the beginning of season 2, he speaks to the audience saying “for some, it’s the size of the chair that matters.” And there are also those comments he makes regarding power being more valuable than money, eventually making Remy Danton reconsider his long term priorities.

In these comments, Frank sets himself on a higher pedestal than everyone else because he thinks his mission is more noble and meaningful than others because he cares about the sturdiness of the chair rather than its size. When he finally becomes POTUS, he very quickly falls flat. So much so that he’s considered one of the worst POTUS’ in US history after his death. The irony is that he can’t stand the people that want the title and its riches but not the responsibility but when he gets both, he fails almost immediately. Perhaps I’m dumb but is the entire point of his story arc to be ironic and hypocritical?

It’s the episode where Frank desperately needs a liver and is third on the transplant list. When he’s shown to have moved to second place, whenDoug went to threaten the DHHS lady, she shows him the transplant list.

As you can see. It states his blood type is A+, whereas the person on the top of the list is O+. They cannot received the same liver, as far as I know and have read. (Underwood couldn’t even have gotten a partial from Doug, period, as he said his blood type was O.)

Let me Jon what y’all think! Live this show, first post, sorry for the shitty photo.

Does anyone know the music being played at around 1:20 when Francis is talking about one nation, underwood?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GenKFQ_HMyw

Very confused about the dynamic between these two. After Rachel successfully disappears it seems that Rachel is not/has never been interested in exploiting the information she has against Frank, at this point she just wants to live her life in peace. Yet Doug has this obsession with her that makes it seem like he loves her, so he seeks her out and finds her, only to kill her? Did he kill her out of loyalty to Frank, or did he kill her because his obsession with her was causing him to drink and he needed to remove her all together? What's your take on this dynamic?

I’m wayching season 1 rn and I’m on op 10 and I hate what frank did to Peter. It honestly makes me so angry and I hate frank so much

Did you know that Kevin Spacey predicted that House Of Cards would run for 12 seasons? What have we missed??!!!

Ive never seen something unfold so beautifuly. Its like oragami. Maybe thats what Claire's obsession with the oragami was.

I was thinking about current us elections and a season focued on a revival arc for frank would have been a good ending for this show.

I put the episode I’m on for reference and to protect against spoilers for those not this far.

Thomas Yates. That dude creeps me the heck out.

I don’t know his characters ending, but he comes off as a creeper and a very odd man.

Does anyone else get that vibe from him?

...kill off Zoe from the jump? Ive tried looking online and cant find an answer.

The entirety of season 1 we get a lot of exposition on Zoe. To the point where she is practically a main character. We are rooting for her along with Frank. Even when things begin to turn sour, I feel as though we are still given the vibe that the relationship between the two will still be tumultuous but perhaps at times still mutually beneficial. It seemed like Zoe was being set up to be the anti-hero for multiple seasons or perhaps the entire series. Then the subway happens.

I would have thought they would have killed off someone with less exposition like Janine or Lucas, which would accomplish the same objective of showcasing Frank's ruthlessness.

With that said, this reasoning could work against its own argument, as the exposition we got on Zoe did all the things mentioned above, which only goes to add to the shock value when the unthinkable actually does happen.

That is some genius writing, don't get me wrong, but I still almost get the vibe just because it happened right at the start of a new season that maybe the actress had something else to work on and it wasn't necessarily planned from the beginning.

If the answer to this is known, this is a pointless thought exercise, but I would love to hear everyone's thoughts nonetheless.

Edit: I've been informed that Zoe dies to frank in a previous version as well. I'll raise my hand and say my bad for being misinformed. Moreso I'm wondering, do you think the original intention was to do it off rip in season 2 or for there to be more to her story originally?

Currently at ep 72 so basically I am just missing 2 ep to ending it all. So far season 6 feels so confused to me almost like I am skipping episodes. It's just me or it is actually convoluted with new and old characters popping our every 2 minutes

My first watch through I’ve been hooked so far just been waiting for them to kill Frank off unfortunately. But the episode where he gets shot not gonna lie I didn’t give a damn about Frank. My first words were “no not meechum!” He isn’t a main character but damn he has been one of my favorites. Legit sad he died. I hate it. Only person left I’m pulling for now is Doug.

Is it real? Yes, no, maybe? A little? I want to know!

How do you devour a whale? One bite a time.

Watching season 2, I assumed by the end of the show the whole publicity and allegation of Kevin Spacey would result in him being cut out somehow. The fucking trailer for the show shows his headstone saying “the 46th president of the United States”. Kinda saw that coming, but still. Why put a spoiler in the trailer. So dumb.

Hey everyone, I've recently been rewatching this TV series and just made an observation. I always miss things the first go around and it can take several rewarches to catch everything so forgive me for any inaccuracies.

Is it just me or are like season 2 episode 8 and anything beyond that more emotionally touching. I don't know maybe it was because these were genuine moments where Francis was actually scared like Season 3 episode 2 but it felt more emotionally intense and I know a lot of people complain about how the show should've been cut at season 3 but for me all this extra emotion has drawn me in more. Especially seeing Doug's relapse and how Frank runs things as president. Which is arguably my favorite part of the series, watching him be president. Other than that I found season 2 a little too chaotic but I guess that was the point- a free for wall where everyone was on the chopping block.

Does it explain why Frank and Seth tried to arrange a new job for Doug when he was recovering?

I think the first couple of seasons being better is a unanimous opinion held by the community, including myself. S3,4 and 5 weren’t bad, but IMO it didn’t have the “spark” the first two seasons had.

I think that was inevitable, because Frank became the president. I believe just this event alone restricts a lot of potential action, and could have been delayed for later seasons. Here are a few reasons why Frank becoming president would inevitably slow down the show:

1. End of the Rise-To-Power / Revenge Story: Many people are fans of rise-to-power and revenge stories. From The Odyssey (700 BCE) to Dune (2024), it is one of the most thrilling, inspiring types of stories. That is exactly what made the first two seasons the best: Frank had the ulterior motive to become the president and take revenge from the ones who betrayed him. After he became the president, even though many new goals were set (I.e winning over Dunbar or Conway), the ulterior motive was achieved and Frank was at the climax of power.

2. More Restriction Around Character: After becoming the president, Frank has no space to move. He has to have secret service assisting him everywhere, and there are tons of people around for every action he takes. This restricts the creativity and unorthodox things Frank might do (I.e killing Zoe). It also very significantly restricts the possible setting of the show, which might get boring over time.

3. President’s Responsibilities: By logic, the president does not have the free time and freedom as the Congressman Frank. He should always be busy, swaying from meeting to meeting. I am amazed that they managed to still get some stories out of that. But still, the stories’ range is quite small: it either has to be international conflicts or politics regarding Underwood’s future, other than those two, the president cannot do anything else!

Anyway, I think the first two seasons could’ve been a series on their own, yet, the presidency could be delayed to S3 or S4, and we could see more struggle in Frank’s rise to power. This could’ve been done by making Walker a more competent character, or adding internal problems regarding Claire etc.