She has just stabbed him in the belly with a letter opener after he nearly slit her throat with it. In the final moments of the final episode of House of Cards-which occurs in a truncated season made after Spacey left the show due to allegations of sexual misconduct-the president, Claire Hale Underwood (Robin Wright), cradles her dead husband’s henchman, Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), in her lap. Moments like this require someone who will act, who will do the unpleasant thing, the necessary thing.” “The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain, the sort of pain that’s only suffering.
“There are two kinds of pain,” he said into the camera. In the opening moments of Netflix’s House of Cards premiere episode from 2013, Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) hunched over a dog that’d been injured by a car. She cracks some eggs in a frying pan and the camera zooms in.This article contains spoilers through the Season 6 finale of House of Cards. As soon as Frank leaves the kitchen, she retches into the sink. You'd think she'd be happy, right? Of course not. "Okay, I'll do it," he says, agreeing to make Claire ambassador using a recess appointment. Frank stops singing "Hobo's Lullaby" to consider this. "What if this is all over in 18 months?" she frets. Cue Doug taking another squirt of Old Darby from his syringe after a visit from Seth at Frank's request.īack at the manse, Claire wonders whether this is as far as the Underwoods will ever get. "You are entitled to nothing," he says of his plans to cut social security and Medicare. "You can't change the law of physics, can you?" And so Frank decides he will not run for re-election-well, at least not on paper, or in the revolting speech he'll go on to deliver a few moments later, which would never get him re-elected in real life. "Have you ever tried to balance an egg?" Frank asks. "52 to 48," she says, pausing for dramatic effect.
As Claire plucks an onyx egg from the box, her aide delivers the news. The next day Claire seems like herself again, picking out official eggs for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll while listening to real-time reports of her nominee ballots.
Because drama is her life force, she tells reporter Ayla Sayyad the meeting lasted five minutes, refusing to say any more. After all, she tells Remy, she was in the Oval Office when the Democratic leadership told Frank he was out. True to form, Frank's former deputy wants to cash in on those votes she whipped for President Walker's impeachment last season. If the last episode established Doug as a central character, this episode reaffirms the trouble that is Jackie Sharpe. In a rare show of decency, she touches him. She returns to find Frank slumped on the floor sobbing. Over the phone, Claire does her best imitation of a virtuous first lady, nudging senators for support, while Frank, as always, tells off whomever stands in his way, or in this case, refuses to donate funds for his 2016 campaign.Īfter an evening of work, Claire decides to run on the National Mall "to clear her head," she tells boy toy-slash-security guard Meecham, who is back for another season. Neither is the type to give up what they want, and the episode kicks into high gear when they decide that they're not backing down. Still, it is fascinating to watch the Underwoods in action. The look on Frank's face is almost enough to make you feel sorry for him-until you remember he's a murderous tyrant. And they couldn't agree more, one tells him, which is exactly why they don't want him on the ticket in the next election. "We need to redefine our party," Frank tells them. As he watches a videotape of Claire's conference in the Oval Office, he hopes to discuss his domestic agenda. Things aren't much better at the White House, where Democratic leaders from Congress are scheduled to meet with the president. "I have the utmost respect and appreciation for our troops, sir." To which Hector responds, "Not with statements like that, you don't." When the Underwoods' political nemesis, Hector Mendoza, swipes at Claire for calling American troops "irrelevant," a tense back-and-forth ensues that seems to jeopardize her future in politics. A hopeful Claire Underwood faces down a mostly male, and mostly white, Senate Committee, but tough luck on that one-Republicans couldn't be any more displeased and Claire can barely keep her composure.