EPISODE 310: “Chapter 36”
Episode 10 the third season of House of Cards begins with the overseas conflicts heating up even more, and just about everyone has had enough – Palestine, Israel, and more importantly, Frank. Even the casual American citizens whom he speaks to along his campaign trail seem to be fed up with the nonsense in the middle east as we see in episode’s great first scene, and it’s time to put an end to the madness. Unfortunately, it’s at this point where trying to keep track of the dilemmas and conflicts involving the handful of nations becomes a tad confusing. There’s a specific balance between political jargon and character dialouge that this show has mastered, but suddenly, now, the former seems to have overshadowed the latter. Of course, once a person becomes president, personal conflicts become secondary, but that’s not excuse to have the scatterbrain war-room vernacular become as overbearing as it is here.
Nonetheless, as we wind down the episodes, approaching the end of the season “Chapter 10” manages to be one of the best episodes of the season thus far.
The highlight of the episode is a bitter, sweat-inducing conversation between Frank and Petrov (as usual), this time not in Washington or Russia, but in a sheltered hut in the Jordan Valley. The battle of issued between the two 7 episodes ago has reach its maximum capacity, and it is here where it finally explodes. This episode presents us with the most high-intensity, teeth-gripping white-knuckle face-off Frank’s been a part of in the entire series, not just in tone, mood, and atmosphere, but in content. If either if these men were to set each other off in the wrong way, it could start a war, and watching them throw down in the middle of a desert in beyond edge-of-your-seat. It only makes things worse when Petrov says the only way he’ll pull out of the Valley is if Claire resigns from her position as Ambassador, and, as you’d imagine, this sets Frank off like a bomb.
Nevertheless, Claire realizes there’s no other way, and resigns. Watching her leave the position she worked so hard to achieve, and witnessing the effects it has on her and Frank is heartbreaking. It was a sacrifice that had to be made, and observing like a fly on the wall, as we always do with House of Cards, is almost like an experiment in cruelty, and it’s absolutely brilliant.
Another monument established in this episode is Doug’s epiphany. When his brother and his family come to visit, he has a heart-to-heart conversation with his brother, and one thing he comes to realize is how lonely, bleak and dismal his life has become since his injury/recovery, both professionally and personally. Earlier in the season, he developed a romantic-ish relationship with his attractive physical therapist, and just as they had an opportunity to hit off, she moved away. Doug is man who can’t seem to catch a break, and it is here where he finally comes to terms with his own melancholy.
This episode also saw the long-awaited flee of Gavin Orsay. After coming clean Lisa about everything he’d been doing, he uses his newly lock-lifted passport to get the hell outta dodge, and in some of the episode’s final moments, we see a brief, but mighty return of the revered guinea pig Cashew.
After all is said and done, “Chapter 36” is pretty freakin’ fantastic. It’s definitely flawed (as this whole season has been), but it is by and large a near-perfect episode, and a worthy transition into our final portion of the season. It seems, upon general observation, that seasons of House of Cards always exceed expectations the most in their final few episodes, so we can only assume that whatever’s next will be absolutely riveting.
Overall rating: 9.5/10
Stream House of Cards on Netflix.
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