Chapter 46
- Episode aired Mar 4, 2016
- TV-MA
- 52m
Frank and Claire adjust to their new reality. The search for Frank's running mate begins. Frank starts a campaign to weaken Conway's strong support.Frank and Claire adjust to their new reality. The search for Frank's running mate begins. Frank starts a campaign to weaken Conway's strong support.Frank and Claire adjust to their new reality. The search for Frank's running mate begins. Frank starts a campaign to weaken Conway's strong support.
After being a little disappointed by "Chapter 45", "Chapter 46" is a big improvement and sees Season 4 and 'House of Cards' back on track. Find it one of Season 4's best episodes, the best since "Chapter 43" and equal in quality to that episode. It may not quite have the same level of intensity of that episode , but it is still outstanding in its own way while having the same strengths and the closest any episode of Season 4 up to this point of it (the halfway point) has come to feeling like classic 'House of Cards'.
Compared to the previous Season 4 episodes, "Chapter 46" is a somewhat lighter episode in places and is not as suspenseful, but there was a freshness to that approach and it was welcome to have something a little less heavy-going. It was good to have a fresh slant and introduce new story strands and such while not abandoning what has happened beforehand, rather than spending too long and too much of the season on the on-going conflicts and struggles. There is still a good deal of tension though, the conflict that is set up is very intriguing already and that is present in also Frank's manipulation of Blythe and Claire's gun control/NRA subplot.
The Conways are also introduced and their storyline is compelling and even genius, providing a reminder of the horrors of social media that is still very much current today. The scene where Frank imagines a duel with Conway in front of former presidents' portraits was brilliant writing and classic 'House of Cards'. That is also the standout of the writing, which is some of the season's finest and even sees a return to the much missed Frank talking to the camera/breaking the fourth wall.
Visually, the stylishness still remains as does the clever direction, the cross-cutting not being too gimmicky. The performances are first rate, with Kevin Spacey dominating and in the most masterful of ways, truly having a great time delivering Frank's ingenious character writing.
In conclusion, outstanding. 10/10
- TheLittleSongbird
- Oct 28, 2019
- Permalink
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDuring his speech to supporters in New York, Conway tells the crowd his grandfather set sail from a nearby dock during World War 2 to fight in the Pacific. This is historically false, as those soldiers going to fight in the Pacific actually set sail from the West Coast.
- GoofsIn a speech, Conway refers to Thomas Jefferson as the founder of the Republican Party. This party was actually founded in 1854, long after Jefferson's death. Jefferson did help found a party that originally went by the name of Republican, but this party is the ancestor of the current Democratic Party.
- Quotes
Francis Underwood: Imagine a duel. Me and Conway. Now, Conway has a powerful gun, a search engine. And it's powerful because with it, he can tell what you think, what you want, where you are and who you are. He can turn all those searches into votes, and that's enough bullets to kill my chances of winning. But I have an even bigger gun. It's called the NSA. It's one of the perks of being president. That is, if the courts allow my surveillance request.
Francis Underwood: [indicating portraits of past presidents] I imagine the men hanging on these walls wished they'd had a gun like that available to them. Your phone, the phone of the person sitting next to you, your neighbor's phone and everyone you know and the 300 million Americans you don't know. I can see you, and I can use what I see to rig this election.
Francis Underwood: Now, of course, a weapon like that, well, you can imagine how risky it is. Huh, it might have even given pause to an old crook like him.
[indicating Nixon]
Francis Underwood: I mean, they roasted him on the spit for tapping into a few rooms at the Watergate. I'm talking about tapping into every single home in America. And a weapon like that could blow up in my hand and that's why it's plan B. Plan A is much safer. Expose that Conway is using his gun illegally and remove the weapon from his hand.
Francis Underwood: [standing between Kennedy and Reagan] Hmm, all three of us took bullets. Well, I know why we're smiling. We survived.
Details
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime52 minutes
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- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
- 2.00 : 1