Review: House of Cards ‘Chapter 8’ – Who Wants Steak For Dinner?

‘Chapter 8’ is an hour long look into the pasts of Frank Underwood and Peter Russo, two separate journeys about two men trying to recapture friendships and feelings of yesteryear, emotions long since buried under the stresses of everyday political life. But it’s not just a journey into the past for the sake of contextualizing these two characters more: it’s about the deceit underneath it all, suggestions that things aren’t as peachy as they look on the surface.

For all intents and purposes, Peter replaces Frank’s presence from previous episodes. Tasked with a political problem, he spends the episode working “tough ” issues with simple, largely unchallenged solutions. It’s all very well-acted, but there’s no real sense of drama from the beginning: we know how integral the shipyard unions are to Russo’s plan for governor, so it’s pretty easy to deduce that he’ll ultimately be successful in that pursuit. Like previous episodes, things just happen to work themsevles out: Christina returns to him, and after a fist fight, Paul (the head of the union) inexplicably feels silly for getting physical and decides to support the man who cost him and everyone he knows their jobs. It’s not a huge stretch that Paul would support his long time friend in the end – but like Christina’s return, there isn’t a lot of definition beyond faith for them to return.

But it’s an interesting idea: faith in someone’s words is all we have sometimes – even actions can be deceiving, as we see in Frank’s night time excursion with the Rifleman. Frank shares an emotional connection with one of his former barbershop co-singers, one that has some serious romantic suggestions. The “harmony” metaphor is laid on a bit thick here, as Frank makes a speech in front of the library being named after him, and spells out exactly what allusions are being made throughout the episode (continuing the trend of the fourth wall-breaking monologues of over-explaining everything to the audience).

Now, I’m not sure how deep the writers are trying to implant this idea of deceit in Frank’s life. Has he lived a life of closeted homosexuality, even though he’s married and sleeps with women on the side? Is he trying to run from himself? Is this a defining characteristic of his character – or is it a throwaway detail, treating it the way Frank does the memory of his school at the end of the episode. It’s hard to tell – ‘Chapter 8’ is the first time anything in Frank’s mind is really externalized in a stripped down, truthful manner, and despite the fantastic acting, it’s definitely an odd, left-field development to keep an eye on moving forward.

On some level, ‘Chapter 8’ isn’t about Frank and Russo lying to each other, it’s about two men lying to themselves: Frank about his sexuality, and Russo about his plan to bring prosperity back to the downtrodden people from his childhood. But while the presence of Paul and Russo’s mother are external presences that characterize him further, the presence of the Rifleman only gives us a small glimpse into Frank’s mind – a narrative completely controlled by him, through his actions and dialogue. A well-crafted episode on paper, ‘Chapter 8’ falters a bit on-screen, full of intriguing individual scenes that don’t quite coalesce at the episode’s conclusion.

Grade: B-

Other thoughts/observations:

– the best moment comes when Frank’s talking about how silly it is to have the library named after him: it’s only going to be replaced in fifty years with another political move, just like he did replacing the previous library. Even the legacies we make for ourselves can only last so long.

– Claire continues to be an interesting study, especially in this new context: what does she know about young Frank – does it matter? Her wanting for a different life also pushes a little closer to the forefront, with an hour long conversation with Alex about life and why she didn’t have babies.

– I love how people just don’t give a shit about wedding rings on this show: Remy’s all over Claire, trying to get himself a piece in the bridal suite.

– Russo’s high school hair is hilarious, as is his disdain for Wendy Williams.

– I can’t lie: I didn’t miss Zoe in this episode.

– the opening scene shows Frank wearing black, and Claire wearing white. The yin and yang – or two people on completely different paths? We shall see.