House of Cards: Chapter 46
March 24, 2016 6:09 AM - Season 4, Episode 7 - Subscribe
Heather Dunbar suspends her campaign, so Frank turns his attention to getting Claire on the ticket and getting under the skin of his Republican challenger. Thinly veiled versions of Google and ISIS make their way into the headlines and the race.
Joel Kinnaman comes into the main cast as Governor Will Conway of New York, the sole Republican candidate for President. Kinnaman is an award-winning Swedish actor who came to the attention of the English-speaking world by starring in the U.S. remake of the Danish TV series The Killing and the 2014 reboot of Robocop. While he was born and raised in Sweden, Kinnaman is himself eligible to run for President, as he is a natural-born citizen thanks to his father, a Vietnam War-era deserter from the U.S. Army.
Joel Kinnaman comes into the main cast as Governor Will Conway of New York, the sole Republican candidate for President. Kinnaman is an award-winning Swedish actor who came to the attention of the English-speaking world by starring in the U.S. remake of the Danish TV series The Killing and the 2014 reboot of Robocop. While he was born and raised in Sweden, Kinnaman is himself eligible to run for President, as he is a natural-born citizen thanks to his father, a Vietnam War-era deserter from the U.S. Army.
(Hey, I'm watching a show at the same time as the Fanfare thread on it for once, fun! I've been enjoying reading the threads on previous episodes.)
Hooray for the return of Tom looking into Zoe & Peter Russo's deaths! It was so frustrating when that whole plot was basically dropped for most of season 3. If Tom ends up getting killed I am going to be super annoyed.
And it's fun to see Frank & Claire scheming together again. That scene of him helping her practice for the NRA meeting was great. Although I hope they don't get everything they want with no real obstacles. It's fun to watch them be master evil geniuses, but only if they face somewhat equal opponents. Regardless, this season is so much better than season 3. It was pretty shlocky there for awhile. I guess we knew it was coming, but I'm bummed Heather's out of the game. I liked her.
In this episode and the past few ones I've really been noticing the cinematography and composition. Everything's just so clean and symmetrical most of the time, and usually pretty spacious looking too. And I never get tired of marveling at everyone's perfectly tailored clothes in various exciting shades of black, white and taupe. You could do a whole dissertation on the symbolism of Claire's costuming throughout the series.
Other random thoughts:
- Frank keeps having glasses of liquor. Um dude you just had a liver transplant, maybe drinking's not the best idea.
- In the New Year's Eve flashback scene Frank is totally flirting with Conway.
- PollyHop is the worst fictional company name ever.
- How old are the Conways, like 27? They look so young!
posted by aka burlap at 9:04 PM on March 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
Hooray for the return of Tom looking into Zoe & Peter Russo's deaths! It was so frustrating when that whole plot was basically dropped for most of season 3. If Tom ends up getting killed I am going to be super annoyed.
And it's fun to see Frank & Claire scheming together again. That scene of him helping her practice for the NRA meeting was great. Although I hope they don't get everything they want with no real obstacles. It's fun to watch them be master evil geniuses, but only if they face somewhat equal opponents. Regardless, this season is so much better than season 3. It was pretty shlocky there for awhile. I guess we knew it was coming, but I'm bummed Heather's out of the game. I liked her.
In this episode and the past few ones I've really been noticing the cinematography and composition. Everything's just so clean and symmetrical most of the time, and usually pretty spacious looking too. And I never get tired of marveling at everyone's perfectly tailored clothes in various exciting shades of black, white and taupe. You could do a whole dissertation on the symbolism of Claire's costuming throughout the series.
Other random thoughts:
- Frank keeps having glasses of liquor. Um dude you just had a liver transplant, maybe drinking's not the best idea.
- In the New Year's Eve flashback scene Frank is totally flirting with Conway.
- PollyHop is the worst fictional company name ever.
- How old are the Conways, like 27? They look so young!
posted by aka burlap at 9:04 PM on March 24, 2016 [1 favorite]
The whole first half of this episode I kept thinking that Conway looked so familiar, yet despite the supposedly clean cut all American Republican look, he somehow seemed to belong in scruffier attire, like a hoodie and jeans.
Then mr. hgg turned to me and said, "Hey, that is the detective from The Killing!" Suddenly the hoodie thing made sense!
Anyway, I'm really enjoying watching the Conways and Underwoods go head to head. That bloody Will Conway has me rooting for Frank again, sheesh. It reminds me of Deadwood when you spend a lot of time thinking Swearingen is horrible...until Cy Tolliver comes to town and suddenly Al is a lot more sympathetic.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:32 AM on March 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
Then mr. hgg turned to me and said, "Hey, that is the detective from The Killing!" Suddenly the hoodie thing made sense!
Anyway, I'm really enjoying watching the Conways and Underwoods go head to head. That bloody Will Conway has me rooting for Frank again, sheesh. It reminds me of Deadwood when you spend a lot of time thinking Swearingen is horrible...until Cy Tolliver comes to town and suddenly Al is a lot more sympathetic.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:32 AM on March 25, 2016 [2 favorites]
PollyHop is the worst fictional company name ever.
Yeah...but I kind of like it. Probably because it's audaciously bad, the better to rightly mock real tech company names, without quite being overtly comic. Like, when they first mentioned the name, I didn't even blink; it just seemed to suit the Underwoodiverse. I think every fictional tech company should have names at least as terrible as that.
It's probably not intended, but Conway makes me think of this guy.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:01 AM on March 25, 2016
Yeah...but I kind of like it. Probably because it's audaciously bad, the better to rightly mock real tech company names, without quite being overtly comic. Like, when they first mentioned the name, I didn't even blink; it just seemed to suit the Underwoodiverse. I think every fictional tech company should have names at least as terrible as that.
It's probably not intended, but Conway makes me think of this guy.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:01 AM on March 25, 2016
Pollyhop reminds me of ChumHum, from The Good Wife. (Also: FaceBranch.)
The weird thing to me about Conway making me want to root for Frank again (I completely agree, hurdy gurdy girl - at least at this part in the season!) is that Conway's not that bad, really. He's all surface and has the perfect family myth thing going, but he's done nothing on Frank's level - not that we've seen, anyway.
posted by minsies at 5:33 AM on March 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
The weird thing to me about Conway making me want to root for Frank again (I completely agree, hurdy gurdy girl - at least at this part in the season!) is that Conway's not that bad, really. He's all surface and has the perfect family myth thing going, but he's done nothing on Frank's level - not that we've seen, anyway.
posted by minsies at 5:33 AM on March 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
PollyHop is the worst fictional company name ever.
"Google" and "Apple" are two of the biggest companies in the world. Fiction ain't got nothing on reality.
posted by Etrigan at 7:34 AM on March 25, 2016
"Google" and "Apple" are two of the biggest companies in the world. Fiction ain't got nothing on reality.
posted by Etrigan at 7:34 AM on March 25, 2016
Minsies--yes, that's so true! I do wonder if any evil skeletons will be dragged out of the Conways' closets by Frank and Claire...
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:48 AM on March 25, 2016
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:48 AM on March 25, 2016
I'm amused by my own response to Hannah Conway--when she's onscreen I can't tear my eyes away. She seems so pretty, smart and gracious, just the person you'd want in that role in real life. I can totally buy that the American public are in love with the beautiful Conways and their cute kids.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:51 AM on March 25, 2016
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 11:51 AM on March 25, 2016
How old are the Conways, like 27? They look so young!
In the flashback to New Years 2013, Conway says he's 35, so he's probably ~38. So young to be a serious contender for president, but then again, signing up for the USAF the day after 9/11 was quite a coup.*
* Should note, the timeline doesn't work that well. He says he was 25 on 9/11, which would put him at least 36 even if I give his birthday the benefit of the doubt.
posted by General Malaise at 3:31 PM on March 31, 2016
In the flashback to New Years 2013, Conway says he's 35, so he's probably ~38. So young to be a serious contender for president, but then again, signing up for the USAF the day after 9/11 was quite a coup.*
* Should note, the timeline doesn't work that well. He says he was 25 on 9/11, which would put him at least 36 even if I give his birthday the benefit of the doubt.
posted by General Malaise at 3:31 PM on March 31, 2016
And it's fun to see Frank & Claire scheming together again. That scene of him helping her practice for the NRA meeting was great.
Yes!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:52 PM on April 3, 2016
Yes!
posted by the man of twists and turns at 8:52 PM on April 3, 2016
This show is such a hate watch for me now. Just when I think it can't get any more ridiculously far fetched, it does. They're going with the asinine Claire as VP storyline. Picking the president's spouse as VP would be a terrible idea even if s/he was qualified, because if anything should happen to the president the VP would be too distraught to be able to govern. Hey Claire, you know you might try doing some actual FLOTUS stuff for a change and see if you like it before you claim you can't be one. Michelle Obama has a staff of 27 people. Where's your staff? What have you done that falls within your purview, other than select Easter eggs?
I'm annoyed that Heather Dunbar was run out of the race for no good reason. Now the election will be between Underwood and Conway, and given the way Conway talks about lower taxes and more freedom, he'll be just as bad a president as Frank, though I hope he at least hasn't murdered anyone.
I was at least happy to see Tom start digging into the murders. Come on, the truth about that just has to come out eventually. It just has to.
posted by orange swan at 10:30 PM on November 7, 2016
I'm annoyed that Heather Dunbar was run out of the race for no good reason. Now the election will be between Underwood and Conway, and given the way Conway talks about lower taxes and more freedom, he'll be just as bad a president as Frank, though I hope he at least hasn't murdered anyone.
I was at least happy to see Tom start digging into the murders. Come on, the truth about that just has to come out eventually. It just has to.
posted by orange swan at 10:30 PM on November 7, 2016
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posted by computech_apolloniajames at 8:56 PM on March 24, 2016