House of Cards: Chapter 34
March 12, 2015 8:58 PM - Season 3, Episode 8 - Subscribe

The forecast looks bleak for the President's signature AmWorks project.

Worse than that he faces pushback from his none-too-numerous allies as well as his staff, who are understandably afraid of sticking their necks out. Doug falls back into the old obsessiveness, watching for a familiar face. Two writers compare notes and get busy. Freddy's got a new job and 2016 is on!
posted by computech_apolloniajames (6 comments total)
 
Here's a nice, verbose recap

I was excited for the hurricane, and we'd get an episode or two of Underwood doing disaster response rather than...whatever's been happening all season. And then it veers away at the last minute! It would have been entertaining to watch. I wonder if they started writing in a hurricane but found that it would go way over budget to shoot, so they did this. Or maybe the writers had a "what is the Opposite of what could happen?" moment in the writers room. I'm not sure why because it kills like 3-4 side plots that the last episode set up.

I also don't understand Underwood's quixotic pursuit of AmWorks, since the series is built on Frank accumulating power, doing something so with no tangible payoff seems weird.
posted by hellojed at 9:48 AM on March 13, 2015


Did the actor who played Mendoza die or something? That was such a weird change out.
posted by sparklemotion at 10:47 AM on March 13, 2015 [4 favorites]


I think Benito Martinez went to do American Crime, but yeah, that was a clunky piece of exposition.

Do I appreciate how Frank can't control almost anything as President? Approval ratings, Congress, Petrov, Claire, what Tom is gonna write in that book, and now nature. It's pretty amusing.

Oh Freddie. It's so good to see you, but did you have to be your grandson's dream killer? Way to deflate a kid.
posted by zix at 11:32 AM on March 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think Benito Martinez went to do American Crime, but yeah, that was a clunky piece of exposition.

There was some reality to how quickly someone can go from rising star to political has-been. Although if they were going to wipe him out completely I was hoping they would drop some hints that it was revenge for what he did for Claire at the hearing.
posted by Gary at 3:12 PM on March 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


Did the actor who played Mendoza die or something? That was such a weird change out.

I didn't understand why the writers wanted to suddenly replace Ayla too. Although she did at least get a proper sendoff.
posted by grouse at 9:27 PM on March 20, 2015


I was really, really hoping that after that line "Have the stewards wake me when it makes landfall" was going to be the end of the episode.

The whole thing about AmWorks, I think, goes back to what Claire said in S2 about legacies, and what they'll leave behind. Going down in history as the President who got America back to work puts him (somewhat) on the same level as FDR and erases his misdeeds.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 7:35 PM on March 22, 2015


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