House of Cards Chapter 40 Season 4 Episode 1 Recap
Season four of House of Cards may be the most brutal yet. This Netflix Original has set the bar pretty high when it comes to backstabbing and dirty play, though.
Will Claire and Frank mend their damaged relationship after his power trip sent her packing at the end of Season 3?
How much lower can Doug go in order to prove his loyalty to the President? And will he end up being in the top five of TV villains in history after this series comes to an end?
He’s got my vote already.
Into the fray we go with episode one…
Former reporter Lucas Goodwin could have it a lot worse in prison than spinning erotic tales to his tattooed cell mate. The guy who was railroaded into a cage by the Underwood Administration could be having to use more than his storytelling abilities to appease the murderer he’s shacked up with.
With Claire missing in action, Frank is a mess. Dude is upset over simple vocabulary in his speeches as he tries to figure out what his estranged wife is up to.
OOf course,the press can’t find out about the lovers’ spat between the First Lady and the POTUS, so Frank keeps making excuses for why she’s not at his side during campaign stops.
It turns out Claire has headed home to Texas to stay at her mom’s place. They haven’t spoken since her father’s death apparently.
Lucas gets a free exit from jail into witness protection as he’s been working with the authorities to catch a murderous Armenian leader in L.A. His cell mate drops the private intel, telling Lucas he was just the fall guy.
Great to be out of prison, but Lucas is anything but free as a protected witness. He has no internet, has to stay home mostly, and will be working a mundane job for the rest of his days. Awesome!
Claire’s plan is to run for Congress in her home district. She wants out of Frank’s shadow. Couple of issues. She’s lily white, which won’t play in that district. And political royalty is in play with the current 800 year old Congresswoman ready to hand over the reigns to her daughter when she retires before the next election.
While Claire tries to get Leann Harvey, played by new cast member Neve Campbell, to help her with this campaign, Frank has an awkward night with Meechum. Not quite the same as a twosome.
And Frank even has a nightmare about a brutal fight twixt he and his wife.
Once Frank learns about Claire’s plan, he sends his pitbull to stop this lunacy. Doug arrives at Leann’s office, fittingly greeted at gunpoint by her, to let POTUS threaten her over the phone to back off.
A chink in the armour of the Underwood Cabinet may be forming as Seth Grayson is offered a spot on Team Dunbar if he will give them intel to sink the Underwood campaign. He is clearly tempted and I doubt he’s as loyal as Doug.
Who is?
Well, Claire’s arrival is greeted with lots of joy by the Congresswoman she hopes to replace.
Until the First Lady tells the veteran politician her plan to push her daughter aside for just a couple years. That was met with some Texas style piss and vinegar!
The aftermath of that disastrous meeting was Claire getting in Doug’s face to tell him to back off.
Of course Frank was going to confront his wife face to face. But first he had to speak with his mother-in-law. They don’t exactly like one another. Actually they loathe each other.
Loving mother-in-laws don’t call their son-in-law “white trash.”
Elizabeth Hale doesn’t care that her daughter is living in the White House. She tells Frank that all these tabloid stories make them no better than the “Trailer park he came from!”
Boom! Maw-in-law dropping bombs on Francis Underwood.
Leann really wants no part of the battle between the most powerful couple in the world. Yet Claire tempts her with a 15 year plan that would result in Claire sitting as King of America.
Leann showed she wasn’t going to pushed around by POTUS when she disrespected the man to his face. Doug felt the need to remind her to whom she was speaking.
Her response: “Yes, I recognize his voice.”
Frank’s always a step ahead of the game and season four is no different. He informs Claire how sick her mother is and has been for over three years. No heartfelt hugs or uniting to help the elderly lady battle cancer. Just a plan for what to do in public and how to use the sickness to the Prez’s advantage.
Lowdown folks!
Claire agrees to go in front of the cameras in order to explain her absence was due to her mother’s battle with cancer. In exchange Frank will let her have her little Congressional run.
The Underwood campaign will need all the help it can get with Dunbar looking strong. I guess it’s great news Claire’s mom is dying! This should really get the sympathy vote out for Frank.
The talk between Claire and her mama was one of the few times we’ve seen real emotion from the cold blooded First Lady. Seeing the woman who gave you life about ready to have her own life taken away will get to even the most heartless person.
Her mom’s advice is that Claire needs to put Frank in his place. Hale believes her daughter is stronger than the hillbilly POTUS she’s married to.
Season four will let us know if that’s really the case.