She’s hard to read at the moment beyond being eager, smart and manipulative, although that hardly marks her out in DC circles. And I don’t buy his promise to stay out of Claire’s campaigning ambitions for one second.Īnd just in case you doubted her seriousness, Claire’s also hired a heavy-hitter in Leann Harvey (Neve Campbell), a whizzkid on the campaign trail whose father knew the Underwoods. That brutal nightmare about a physical brawl with Claire suggests one of his most valuable public assets – that sense of self-control – may be at risk. With his wife gone AWOL, he’s no longer the self-assured, entitled leader-in-waiting instead he’s raging about phonetic pronunciation and looks both edgy and unexpectedly vulnerable. The apportioning of his own loyalties may tend towards the pragmatic, but there’s no doubt that Frank Underwood hates being betrayed.

Both Frank and Kevin Spacey have renewed fire in their eyes there should be fewer absurd threesomes (although Frank’s weird “keep me company for a bit” line to his security guy Meechum hinted at unfinished business) and tiresome, bizarre cameos (Pussy Riot) this year. Now, just like the real world (where truth is arguably proving stranger than fiction), primary season is in full swing, the candidates are jockeying for position and there’s an urgency where there was once calculation. It’s usually more fun to watch the chase for power than the exercise of it – a point proven by House of Cards’ lacklustre third season in which Frank Underwood finally occupied the White House. The primaries have given it renewed momentum Read House of Cards, season four, episode two talking pointsġ.

House of cards season 4 episode 1 cast