Has anyone seen to the end of this season, cause I watched it last night, and now I’m pissed off and want to talk about it.
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I saw it. Why are you pissed off?
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*Staying far away from this discussion until I see it.*
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Ugh, it was the Doug Stamper/Rachel subplot, especially the way it ended. What happened to her pissed me off because it seems like everyone else who interacted with the Underwoods got something, even if they ended up dead, they got something out of it. And she… well, you know what happened to her. Her storyline was just so bleak and the fact that Doug did all that just to get back in the good graces of Francis pissed me off. I konw that part of the story is that all people are disposable to Frank, but in this case, I found what happened to her way too much. [edited to add] I was keyed up enough about it that my husband was concerned.
I’m glad Remi got out. I hope he stays out.
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######SPOLIERS
Although it’s likely they did just sociopathically tie-up that plot thread, you only really see dirt being thrown on a corspe-shaped bag. It is heavily implied that he’s reneged on his decision but the writers could twist it and have him just, I dunno, taking a pint of her blood and using it as evidence at a ‘murder’ scene and burying the burned corpse of a drifter.
At any rate, Doug overtly agrees to ‘take care of her’ in pretty much the only intimate, face to face meeting he has with the Prez. If it’s such a defining point of metaphorical leverage in their relationship it might be stronger for the story to have it continue to hang in the balance. Maybe not. Maybe he has ‘recovered’ from his broken state and literally killed his past.
Either way, it’s pretty dark.
I was thinking about the overall arc of the relationship between the two principles though. What it would have taken to salvage their relationship even though it’s sort of implied by her behaviour from the very start of the season that her eventual departure is inevitable.
They should have agreed, prior to inhabiting the White House, to use his Presidency to build her resume in order for her to subsequently capture the Presidency in a later cycle. If they had really been working as a team, this eventuality should have always been on the books. His winning of a second term, and the drive to capture it, would have been seen in the light of just extending their overall time in office. Rather than as a manipulation of everyone and everything to that end. Which loses him everyone… apart from Doug? …and Freddy?
I thought when he threw that dirt, it was the side of a head you see, hers. I’ll be fucking over the moon if it turned out he hadn’t killed her, but the biggest cynic in me assumes that he did that (let her go) just to fuck with her anyway. Let her get a half mile down the road and then circle back and slam into her (although, you’re right in that they don’t really show much in what happened between the van appearing behind her and him throwing that shovel full of dirt over… her face? A bag?).
That’s what I got from it.
I assumed that was what they were building towards and why she wanted the UN position in the first place (or maybe her goal was a diplomatic career). He got a turn then she got a turn. but with the Petrov storyline, he just threw her under the bus and really didn’t even manage to save the Jordan Valley mission, either. He literally got nothing out of the deal, just made himself look weak in front of Petrov. So, he basically threw his wife’s reputation out the window for nothing. She deserved to be pissed, but she also finally realized that he only cares about himself and his own power. So her walking out after he nearly physical beat her for daring to point out that he’s used her like he uses everyone else (not like she was unaware of that fact, and was often complicit).
I thought for sure that Doug was going to turn around, but he only re-entrenched himself. He’s still an addict and this just proves it. He’s no longer a drunk, but he’s addicted to the power of working in the political system. And he was addicted to Rachel, so he had to kill her. What a fucking loser…
Freddy - I think he knows. Did you see that scene where he asked Remi to cover for him, so he could go back to work. He knows that Underwood is toxic, and it was his fault that his business went under and that Frank screwed him over because it was politically expedient for frank to do so. He’s a smart dude and he knows how the world works and is under no illusions about Underwood. He might be the only person, aside from Petrov who could see through his BS.
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I think it was pretty clear this season that he just doesn’t have what it takes to be president. Maybe even worse than someone like GW Bush - although maybe the problem is that Underwood doesn’t have a government controlled by lizard-men. In any case, at this level, his usual tricks don’t work very well.
That said, I found his antagonistic relationship to his staff (Remi, the cabinet, etc.) odd - is he letting his true personality come through? Based on the previous two seasons you’d think he’d be smart enough to handle people nicely, and anything nasty has to be underhanded and invisible (not coming directly from him, in any case). Maybe he just doesn’t have the time to plot things as carefully as he did before, I don’t know.
As for Doug - I didn’t read that scene cynically and I thought he really did consider letting her go. I do think the reason he didn’t is because of his loyalty to Underwood - of course he knows that he could get away with letting her go and letting him think that he did actually kill her, but despite what he thought of as poor treatment (I’m not clear on whether Underwood did that intentionally but I think he must have), he thinks he needs to prove his loyalty to get back in the game. Or something.
It’s certainly odd because it’s not like he can actually bring back some physical evidence or photographs or something to prove it to Frank - he may consider the possibility of him mishandling something and it getting discovered to be vanishingly small, but no risk of that nature is too small to not be taken seriously at this point.
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nope I was wrong. I went back and watched it and MY BAD. You see her hair and stuff.
###whoops!
(although… This is TV we’re talking about here. Once Bobby teleports back from the dead into a shower, anything is possible)
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That’s part of it, but I think it was also his desire to punish her for rejecting him. His loyalty to Underwood just gave him the exact excuse he needed.
Ah, yeah that makes sense. I think maybe it’s Underwood manipulating Doug, right down to Doug wanting to punish her for rejecting him - that’s something he’d do anyway, which Underwood knows, so Underwood set up the situation so that he feels really pushed to actually do it (setting up the excuse you refer to). A masterful, subtle manipulation, as Doug certainly seems to feel like he’s in control.
Alright, so is all the frustration out yet, @anon61221983? Is it time to start speculating on Season 4? You know, the season where Claire joins Frank’s opponent as the VP running mate? 
I guess so. The whole thing pissed me off.
I do wonder if she’ll be pissed off enough at him to scuttle his campaign with some reveals from their marriage… or if he’ll have Stamper go after her in some way. But they got rid of the page, didn’t they? So what can he do?
I’m never going to be unmad about Rachel.
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