I knew I was going to like this episode of House of Cards better than “Chapter 40” before the credits were even over. How did I know? Because the credits had the name Lars Mikkelsen in them. Mikkelsen became HoC‘s secret weapon last season, salvaging what was a mostly lackluster string of episodes. The show perks up whenever Mikkelsen’s Viktor Petrov makes an appearance, so it’s good to get him in this season early. It gives the show a shot of life, the only downside being that I spent most of “Chapter 41” – which was a good episode overall – waiting for him to show up. It was a real “When are they gonna get to the fireworks factory?” moment for me.
That notwithstanding, “Chapter 41” was a better, more focused episode that felt like classic House of Cards. Before we really delve into it, can we just take a minute to talk about how hard Ellen Burstyn is killing it as Elizabeth Hale? Two episodes in and she already has me wondering how we’ve gone this long without ever meeting Claire’s mother. She’s just as ruthless as Claire is, enlisting her fellow wealthy Southern matrons to donate money to Heather Dunbar’s campaign. “When he loses, Claire can begin her own campaign,” she reasons.
Yeah, about that. What part of Claire’s campaign are we supposed to root for? That so far has been season four’s most glaring misstep. Here’s what happened, as best I can tell, and it all happened offscreen: Claire convinced Celia Jones not to run for Congress, all without Doris’s knowledge. The problem with this storyline is that it asks the viewer to root for this gorgeous, rich white woman to bully a black woman down from a public servant position, so the white woman can take the job she doesn’t care about and use it as a stepping stone to another job she likely doesn’t care about. Thankfully, House of Cards must realize how nutty it is to ask its audience to invest in that, because this plot more or less gets brushed off, in typical HoC fashion.
By which I mean Frank, at the State of the Union, publicly promises Doris the money for her breast cancer clinic, and follows that up by pledging his support for Celia’s imminent run for Congress. He twists the knife by saying that Claire will support her as well. This is the kind of “fuck you” writ large that House of Cards does so well, and there’s a perverse delight to be found in Frank’s choice of forum. Not to mention that his remarks have the whole crowd on their feet; it’s a smart move on the show’s part to remind us that Frank – murderer, philanderer, manipulator – is a terrific orator.
Claire appears to concede the seat to Celia, but tells Leann that they need to “think bigger.” So I guess two campaigns are in our future, which is fine. It’d be easier to get excited about if HoC didn’t dangle a huge carrot in front of us, though.
I’m talking, of course, about Viktor Motherfucking Petrov, my favorite character in the history of this show (with all respect to Peter Russo and Cashew the guinea pig). Not only is Petrov killing off Russian billionaires who are conspiring against him, but he goes as far as to accuse Frank of orchestrating the coup. Petrov is an old-school, hardline Communist from a bygone era, but Mikkelsen plays him with just enough menace, charm, and intelligence to keep him from becoming some Boris and Natahsa stereotype. I don’t know if this accusation will lead to war, but at the very least it will lead to a scene – hopefully a whole episode – of Frank and Petrov trading barbs and barely-concealed threats. I can’t wait.
A Few Thoughts
- Nice scene in the bar with Remy and Leann. Fourth-season additions are always dangerous, but Neve Campbell is doing a good job of blending in with the ensemble
- Until the SOTU scene, I had genuinely forgotten that Frank has a Vice President
- That PB & J that Frank made was easily the worst I’ve ever seen. Who uses creamy peanut butter? He just lost my vote. And he just put, like, a brushstroke of jelly on that thing. Dude, you’re the President, have someone make your sandwich while you deliver your monologue in another room.
- “I will not allow you to become dangerous.” Kevin Spacey excels at lines like this
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