Episode 4 Season 1 – Mr. Selfridge Episode Summary 1.4

Synopsis: Miss Bunting is found guilty of theft and is replaced with a progressive Head of Fashions, Miss Ravillious.  Mr. Selfridge invites the famous ballerina, Anna Pavlova, to Selfridges allowing everyone the opportunity to meet her.  Rose Selfridge spends time with the young painter, Roddy Temple, and his friends losing track of time causing her to miss the afternoon tea her husband arranged for her and Pavlova.

Episode Summary: Miss Bunting is castigated and dismissed in front of all employees after she was found guilty of pilfering Selfridges’ best lace and silk inside the hem of her skirt.  Her betrayal disappoints and upsets Mr. Selfridge, who hoped for her innocence.  It also led Mr. Selfridge to instruct Mr. Grove to increase the random checks on all different departments.  Miss Bunting pleads for mercy to Mr. Grove explaining her situation, but it is too late.  Ironically, her pride to keep secret the hardship of taking care of an invalid mother brought her shame.Continue reading...

Harry Gordon Selfridge takes his wife and daughter to see the ballerina, Anna Pavlova, perform for a private audience.  His wife, Rose Selfridge, was so taken by her performance, but unlike Lady Loxley, she longs for every woman to get a chance to experience a moment of perfect beauty such as the one she witnessed in Pavlova’s performance.  Her statement struck Mr. Selfridge with an idea.  He invites Pavlova to Selfridges, allowing everyone to see her in person.  This delights his family most especially his youngest daughter, Beatrice.  Rose is delighted as well at hearing that her husband managed to arrange an afternoon tea with the ballerina.

The new Head of Fashion, a woman who came to work on a bicycle and has her skirt above her ankles, scandalizes Kitty Hawkins at the sight of her skirt and for requesting for inset collars of the finest gauze with a pearl motif without speaking to the Head of Accessories, Miss Josie Mardle.  Kitty refuses to accede to the woman’s demand, but yields when the woman does not show any signs of dissuasion.  Doris Miller speaks to Miss Mardle about the incident that had just transpired.  Later, Mr. Selfridge introduces to the various heads of departments, Miss Irene Ravillious, as the new Head of Fashion.  He speaks of her with great respect due to her training at the House of Lucile in London and her experience at the Liberty department store.  More importantly, he finds that she will breathe new life into the Fashion Department with her progressive ideas.  In fact, Miss Ravillious predicts that women will be able to purchase readymade for purpose clothing in the near future.  Mr. Selfridge agrees with her belief that fashion will shine and will even surpass accessories.  He plans to stock all shapes and sizes so a woman can purchase clothes without requiring a fitting or a seamstress, clothes a woman can take home the day of the purchase.

Miss Mardle later asks Miss Ravillious about her shortened skirt believing that it is the new trend in fashion only to learn that the woman had it shortened that she may ride her bicycle with ease.  Moreover, Miss Ravillious declares herself as a champion of the Rational Dress Movement, a group that believes that clothes can serve a purpose other than mere drapery.  In addition, she does not wear a whalebone corset believing that a vigorous exercise will keep her figure intact.  Miss Mardle then segues to the incident early that morning cautioning her against taking stock away from one department to another.  Miss Ravillious, however, argues that she is allowed to use her initiative as the staff manual decrees.

Mr. Selfridge announces that the ballerina, Anna Pavlova, will be making an appearance at Selfridges allowing anyone from any class to meet her.  Taking from his wife’s philosophy, he wants everyone to have a Pavlova moment.  More importantly, he wants the store to benefit from the event.  He requests all departments to work together and provide him with suggestions on how to use the event to increase sales.  This request, however, turns into a competition between Miss Mardle and Miss Ravillious with the former forbidding her staff from acceding to Miss Ravillious’ demands.  Moreover, Miss Mardle asks her staff to come up with an idea before Miss Ravillious does.  Unlucky for her, Miss Ravillious is already presenting her idea to Mr. Selfridge complete with an end product.  Miss Ravillious plans to sell a cape with braiding much like the ones Pavlova wears.  Moreover, she has laid out a plan to have her seamstresses produce as much as they can that day so they can test the viability of the capes in terms of sales.  If the capes proved to be sales worthy, the seamstresses will then be requested to work shifts through the night so the capes will be ready for tomorrow’s event.

Miss Mardle finds herself missing the company of Mr. Roger Grove; the man has been avoiding her.  She finds a reason for them to spend time together after receiving tickets for Drury lane, an evening they had planned to spend together awhile back.  Regrettably, Mr. Grove could not accompany her to the theater claiming that his wife’s nurse will be taking the night off.  She confronts Mr. Grove about his avoidance, revealing her fear that he had tired of her.  Mr. Grove denies having done so and maintains that his invalid wife’s care is the only reason for his unavailability.

Victor Colleano sees George Towler loading goods in a blue van absent of the Selfridges livery.  He learns from George that the young man is the only one who loads goods into the van as per the instructions of his superiors, Alf and Sam.  Victor gathers that George is unaware of the meaning of the unmarked motor van.  Although he has been avoiding Agnes, he manages to inform the young woman of warning George about the vans he loads.  Mr. Henri Leclair interrupts their conversation causing Victor to leave summarily.  Mr. Leclair asks Miss Mardle’s permission to have Miss Towler work at the Fashion Department for that day.  The request annoys Kitty and Doris who find it unfair that Mr. Leclair always requests the help of Miss Towler.  Meanwhile, Lady Loxley flirts with Victor at the Palm Court.  She becomes impressed when Victor turns a bland chicken dish into a flavorsome plate.

Rose poses for Roderick Temple as he paints a portrait of her for a show at the Chelsea Arts Club, which disappoints her for she had hoped to purchase it as a gift for her husband.  Roddy, however, manages to persuade her to join him at the Chelsea Arts Club.  Rose finds herself enjoying the company of the artists and the artists become intrigued of the American who calls herself Mrs. Buckingham.  Rose, who is to have afternoon tea with Pavlova, tries to take her leave, but to no avail.  Anna Pavlova arrives at Selfridges with the fanfare reserved for celebrities.  She is treated like royalty as Mr. Selfridge presents her with the finest items sold at his store including luggage she can use to transport all the gifts from the entrepreneur.  His generosity does not come without a price and this Pavlova learns when he presents her to the press among a crowd anxiously waiting for her at the shop floor.  Soon, Pavlova wears the cape sold at Selfridges and flaunts it to the expectant crowd with the grace of a ballerina.  Mr. Selfridge watches with delight as spectators become customers.

The Selfridges wonder about Rose’s absence unaware that she was tied up at the Chelsea Arts Club.  The artists, at last, leave the club giving Rose the opportunity to go to the engagement for which she is already late.  They, however, urge her to go with them and Roddy puts her in a bind when he tells his friends to force the supposed Mrs. Buckingham to come.  Rose is flabbergasted at learning that the artists are making their way to Selfridges in order to see Pavlova.  She speaks privately with Roddy in order to confess her real identity unaware that her conversation with Roddy is within earshot of the playwright, Tony Travers.  Rose explains that she had assumed a different identity due to her desire to have a life of her own, one that is not tied to the famous Selfridge name.  Roddy becomes upset at having been made a fool and assumes that the woman has been using him to take revenge on her philandering husband.  He confesses to have fallen in love with her.  Rose, however, confesses to remaining in love with her husband despite his transgressions.  She did confess that she was tempted to betray her husband.

Mr. Selfridge has begun to avoid Ellen Love leading the woman to confide in Frank Edwards.  Miss Love has mistaken Mr. Selfridge’s largesse as his way of settling.  She has made herself believe that Mr. Selfridge is preparing to leave his wife for her. Ellen becomes furiously jealous upon learning that Mr. Selfridge will be too busy to speak to that day causing Frank to divulge the news that Anna Pavlova will be visiting Selfridges.  This concerns Ellen, who gathers that Mr. Selfridge has found a new star for his store.  She finds that it is her duty as the Spirit of Selfridges to be at the event to welcome the famous ballerina.  Ellen Love arrives at Selfridges much to everyone’s surprise, some pleasant and some not.  Mr. Selfridge watches in horror as the tawdry performer steals the attention from Pavlova.  Moreover, causes further embarrassment when she refuses to leave and insists on having her photograph taken with the famous ballerina.  Meanwhile, Agnes Towler becomes perturbed at the sight of her drunkard father at the store.  Reg Towler has come to cause a disturbance at her daughter’s place of business after being refused entry to her apartment.  Miss Towler tries to urge her father to leave the store, but ends up causing a scene when her father falls on a glass display breaking it with a loud crash.  Moreover, the drunkard being escorted out of Selfridges identifies himself as Miss Towler’s father embarrassing the young woman so.  Upon Mr. Selfridge’s instruction, Victor escorts the drunkard out through the loading bay followed by his humiliated daughter.  Reg relishes at having cost her daughter her job, but has the gall to demand respect from her.  Agnes declares her hatred of him causing the man to attack her.  Luckily, Victor was there to protect Agnes.  Victor was relieved to learn that Agnes’ evasiveness was due to her father.  Agnes believes that the incident that transpired will result in her termination and the same incident will recur anywhere she goes as it always had.  Victor offers to look after her for which Agnes is grateful, but refuses to accept knowing that he also has a family to support.

With the commotion placated, the event at Selfridges continues as Mr. Selfridge announces the creation of a window dedicated to Anna Pavlova, a window Ellen Love covets.  This announcement caused another scene from Ellen Love, who has been asking Mr. Selfridge for a window ever since she signed up to become the Spirit of Selfridges, but has yet to have one.  Moreover, Mr. Selfridge ends her contract and their affair that moment.  The Selfridges arrive home and finds Rose there with an excuse of having taken ill.  Meanwhile, Mr. Mardle lies on her bed feeling alone when Mr. Grove arrives with a box of violet creams from the shop she loves on Marylebone Street.  Moreover, he is to spend the night with her.  At Selfridges, people including the famous ballerina herself admire the newly unveiled window dedicated to Anna Pavlova.  Ellen Love too passes by to see, but looks at the window not with awe, but with envy and despair.

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Chapter 13 Season 1 – House of Cards Episode Summary 1.13

Episode Summary: House Representative Francis Underwood scrambles to force Raymond Tusk to approve of his vice presidency without agreeing to the multi-billionaire’s demand.  Zoe Barnes, Janine Skorsky, and Lucas Goodwin pursue the prostitute that was with Peter Russo the night of his arrest in order to uncover Underwood’s involvement in Russo’s death and ultimately expose his corruption and abuse of power.  Meanwhile, Claire Underwood faces a wrongful termination lawsuit with Gillian Cole.

Chapter 13 House of Cards Recap: House Representative Francis Underwood confides with Remy Denton about the supposed plan of the President to tap his friend multi-billionaire Raymond Tusk as his new vice president.  He argues that having a pro-nuclear energy vice president in the White House will not bode well for the natural gas company, SanCorp.  Frank Underwood intimates that Tusk will not accept the nomination if his holdings are at risk and recommends that SanCorp initiate a hostile takeover.  Remy finds the move infeasible given that Tusk is worth three times more than SanCorp.  Frank contends that SanCorp merely has to go after the subsidiaries that refine and ship the uranium in order to cause a stir.  Remy remains hesitant to Frank’s plan conveying the numerous considerations they have to take into account, which includes the unwelcome huge financial exposure for SanCorp.  Frank argues that SanCorp only needs to distract Tusk enough to make him reject the vice presidency.  Remy agrees to speak to SanCorp about the plan Frank laid out, one they have to carry out before the President makes the announcement on Friday.Continue reading...

Zoe Barnes and Janine Skorsky continue to pursue their investigation of Frank Underwood and Peter Russo’s relationship.  They need to unearth the person who managed to expunge Russo’s arrest records.  Janine’s angle is to find Underwood guilty of abuse of powers and corruption if it is revealed that he was involved with the cover-up.  With all records expunged, Janine and Zoe are left to find the arresting police officer, which is a feat given the brotherhood among D.C. cops.  Zoe seeks Lucas Goodwin’s help aware that her boyfriend has connections with the D.C. police given his former work on the crime beat.  Lucas becomes incredulous of Zoe’s intentions given the timing of her request and his knowledge of having prostituted herself to get information.  Zoe realizes that asking her boyfriend for a favor right after sexual intercourse is the wrong approach.  She instead inveigles him into complying to her request with insincere honesty.  Zoe confesses to have been stupefied by Lucas’ declaration of having fallen in love with her.  She claims not to use his feelings for her to manipulate him.  Lucas later arrives at her apartment behaving like a paranoid.  She learns that he has uncovered a cover-up that involves the police commissioner.  Lucas’ source was able to provide information about Rachel Posner, the call girl that was with Russo at the time of his arrest.  He warns Zoe of the consequences of pursuing police cover-ups having been in that situation before.  Zoe, Janine, and Lucas look into the call girl who dropped out of Lorimer High School in Lynchburg, Virginia during her sophomore year.  Her whereabouts are unknown since then making their work to find her an impossible feat.  Fortunately, her previous arrest record for loitering placed her at the District Grand Hotel.

Lucas works the District Grand Hotel, while Zoe goes to Lynchburg.  She learns that Rachel might have run away to avoid having to testify against her father for abusing her.  Lucas, on the other hand, deceives an escort into providing information about Rachel Posner after pretending to be a police officer working under cover.   He learns that Rachel has last been seen working as a waitress at a restaurant in Georgetown.  Lucas and Zoe pay a visit at Slater’s, the restaurant in Georgetown where Rachel is working, but learns that she is not on duty that day.  Zoe manages to sneak in the kitchen and pinch the staff contact list that has Rachel’s phone number.  She gives Rachel a call, but the young woman hangs up after hearing that the woman on the other line is a reporter from Slugline.com who knows about her connection to Peter Russo.  Zoe sends her a text message instead with a threat of writing a story about her and Peter Russo if she fails to meet with her.  Rachel agrees to meet with Zoe, but refutes all of Zoe’s claims.  Rachel denies being approached by Frank Underwood or knowing Doug Stamper.  Moreover, she ignores Zoe’s threat about writing a story about Peter Russo and her that will also reveal her reason for running away from home.  Rachel leaves and goes straight to Doug’s car.  Although she followed all of Doug’s instructions, Rachel could not help but be overcome with guilt about Peter’s death.  Both are unaware that Lucas followed her.  The knowledge of Doug Stamper’s involvement at a meeting with Rachel Posner causes Lucas, Janine, and Zoe to consider a larger angle.  Lucas supposes that Underwood was after the VP nomination, but Underwood’s efforts in Russo’s campaign contradict his desire to become vice president.  Janine reminds them that the only reason the vice presidency is left vacant is because Russo unexpectedly failed.  Zoe supposes that Underwood had planned Russo’s self-destruction in order to force Vice President Jim Matthews to run for governor.  Zoe and Lucas deem that the President will make Underwood his vice president as soon as Matthews wins the gubernatorial race in Pennsylvania.

President Garrett Walker meets with Frank Underwood and Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez to discuss Frank’s assessment of Raymond Tusk.  The President is surprised to hear Frank name Tusk as the best candidate for vice president.  Moreover, he is bemused with Frank and Linda urging him to invite Tusk to the White House with the goal of personally wooing him to accept the vice presidency.  At risk with exposing the true nature of the vetting, President Walker agrees to his advisers’ recommendation.  Frank, however, learns that Remy may not be able to fulfill his request in time.  He goes against SanCorp’s rules of avoiding a direct contact with a politician and flies to Atlanta to speak personally with a peeved Scott Cunningham of SanCorp.  Cunningham is livid at Underwood’s surprise visit that implies SanCorp’s graft due to their relationship with the House of Representatives’ Whip.  Underwood continues to feed Cunningham with information he refuses to hear in an attempt to persuade him to take action against Tusk.  Underwood believes that Tusk will refuse the vice presidency due to the required blind trust that prohibits him from fighting off the threat against his company, the threat that Frank hopes SanCorp will make against Tusk’s subsidiaries.  Scott Cunningham is intransigent to his plea.

Oliver Spencer, CWI’s legal counsel, speaks with Claire Underwood about the termination of Gillian Cole.  The woman has threatened the organization with a wrongful termination lawsuit claiming that her pregnancy was the reason for her dismissal.  Gillian presented quotes from Claire from their confrontation that resulted in her termination.  The lawyer suggested that they return with a settlement offer in order to avoid a damaging lawsuit.  Claire agrees to the strategy, but then learns that Gillian refused to accept a settlement offer regardless of the figure and the return of WorldWell.  Gillian wants to go to court despite her lawyers’ advice to settle in order to send the message that organizations like CWI get the vast majority of grant money only to fulfill the will of corporate sponsors that are destroying the environment.  Claire offers her apology and pleads Gillian not to go to court, but the woman dedicated to her cause rejects her pleas.  Gillian would like to use the court as her soapbox.  She is certain that her lawsuit will receive national attention given Claire’s marriage to Congressman Frank Underwood.  She becomes even more confident having received the support of Evelyn Baxter and the eight other former CWI employees that Claire ordered Evelyn to fire.  Moreover, Gillian finds more reason to pursue her cause for her child.  Claire later ponders the use of her legacy when there is no heir to benefit from it.  She later meets with a fertility doctor inquiring about the possibility and the risk of conceiving a child at her age.  She learns that her history of going through three abortions adds to the difficulty of conception, but ascertains that it is still possible for her to conceive.

Frank returns home defeated only to find his wife in the same disposition as him.  Claire conveys of the nightmare she just had.  In her dream, she was among children in the backyard when a girl started climbing up the vines ignoring Claire’s order for her to get down.  The vines start to strangle the girl.  Claire pulls the girl in order to rescue her, but ends up ripping the girl apart.  Things begin to fall apart for the Underwoods.  Remy Danton arrives at the Underwoods at the wee hours of the morning.  He denies not conveying Frank’s plan to Cunningham and contends that the man refused knowledge of his plan to avoid accusations of insider trading.  Remy refuses providing further help and accuses Frank of keeping his real agenda from him.  He claims to have known Frank enough to know when he is being used.  He has slaved for Frank for eight years until he realized his real value.  Remy believes that the tables have turned for he now has power over Frank given his position at Glendon Hill and his representation of SanCorp.  Frank states that he is trying to strengthen his partnership with SanCorp by doing them a favor.  SanCorp returning the favor allows Frank to maintain his influence in the White House, one that trickles down to SanCorp.  Remy agrees to speak to Scott Cunningham again.

Frank learns from Linda that the President will be having dinner with Tusk at the White House.  He instructs Linda to schedule a meeting with Speaker of the House Bob Birch to allow the congressman to share his choices for the vice presidency.  The meeting will never take place, but one that will be on his schedule, but off the official schedule just like his dinner with Tusk.  Frank then sends the President’s OTR schedule between that day and Friday to Zoe who in turn sends it to Janine.  Janine shares the OTR schedule to her superior, Carly Heath, with the supposition that the President is secretly meeting with Raymond Tusk and Bob Birch, because he is considering both as his vice president.  Slugline breaks the news about the two meetings and the press begins to hound Bob Birch about the possibility of the President nominating him as his new vice president.  The President learns of the leaked schedule that spurred the news and cancels the meeting with the Speaker of the House to avoid feeding the frenzy.

Doug Stamper learns of news of a sudden surge in SanCorp’s stock and informs Frank who figures that Tusk has made his play.  Frank hastens to speak with Linda in order to get a meeting with Tusk before he speaks with the President only to learn that Tusk is already at the White House.  Later that night, Frank gets a call from Freddy and learns that Remy is at the BBQ joint waiting for him.  To his surprise, Remy had just delivered him to Tusk, who is already inside enjoying a meal.  Tusk bought 3% of SanCorp earlier that day and will own over 10% of the company by the end of next week to secure his hold on the company enough not to allow the natural gas company to cause him trouble.  Raymond Tusk asks Frank Underwood to reconsider his offer by sharing his need for him to become the vice president.  Tusk is dependent on China that controls 95% of the world’s supply of Samariam-149 that he needs for his reactors.  The imbalance on currency and the foreign debt of the United States, issues that are in the hands of Congress, endanger his business that is dependent on China.  Tusk deems Frank useful to him for his influence in Congress, the legislative body that controls trade tariffs.  In fact, it was the reason why Tusk had instructed the President to forego nominating Frank as State Secretary, because he was more beneficial to him in Congress.  As of the moment, Tusk is unable to apprise Frank of the services he requires of him, because he is waiting for China to make a move.  This causes Frank to continue to refuse Tusk’s offer maintaining his conviction against indentured servitude.  Furthermore, Frank demands that Tusk earn his loyalty.  He is unwilling to accept Tusk’s offer, but is willing to work with Tusk as equals.  He vows to take Tusk’s opinions seriously without the guarantee of agreeing to them.  That is all he can offer.  Frank is certain no other candidate will prove more useful than he will.  President Walker calls Frank in a meeting with him and Raymond Tusk to confess the true nature of his trip to St. Louis.  He intimates that Tusk has been his trusted advisor.  In fact, he had sent Frank to see Tusk that his advisor can vet him for the vice presidency.  Tusk affirms his belief that Frank Underwood will make a formidable and loyal vice president to President Garrett.  President Garrett Walker officially asks Congressman Francis Underwood to be his vice president.  Frank Underwood gladly accepts the vice presidency.  The first benefactor of his rise to vice president is his driver, Ed Meechum.  Frank informs him of his desire to include him in his security detail as a member of the Secret Service due to Meechum’s proven loyalty to him.  Frank and Claire Underwood celebrate the success of their plan with a sigh of relief.  Husband and wife go out on a late night run unaware that Doug is speaking with Christina Gallagher about Zoe Barnes.  He claims that everyone at Slugline is trying to smear Congressman Underwood and learns from Christina that Zoe offered her information about Underwood’s involvement with the Kern scandal.

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Chapter 12 Season 1 – House of Cards Episode Summary 1.12

Episode Summary: President Garrett Walker begins interviewing candidates for the vice presidency and becomes annoyed at the unlikely the candidates.  Unknown to him, Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez and House Representative Francis Underwood have agreed to present hopeless candidates in order to make Frank look like the best candidate for vice president.   Meanwhile, Janine Skorsky uncovers a conspiracy theory pegs House Representative Francis Underwood as the mastermind.

Chapter 12 House of Cards Recap: Christina Gallagher meets with Paul Capra to speak about him taking over Peter Russo’s seat in the House of Representatives.  The offer surprised Paul only because he thought Christina had asked to see him to speak about Peter, who had only been deceased for a month.  Christina’s behavior puzzles him for the woman opted to miss their friend’s funeral.  The woman has chosen to bury herself with work instead of grieving.Continue reading...

News of the senior official of the Shipbuilder’s Association, Paul Capra, meeting with Christina Gallagher reaches Janine Skorsky of Slugline.  Janine immediately calls Mr. Capra to get confirmation on rumors of him taking over the seat Peter Russo left vacant.  Moreover, she asks him about his involvement in the closing of the Philadelphia Shipyard and learns that the Shipbuilder’s Association was not consulted about its closing.  Janine brings up the fact that the late Congressman Russo did not offer a testimony to the BRAC commission and discovers from him that a politician with more power than Congressman Russo forced him to refrain from testifying.  Janine shares her discovery to Zoe Barnes and names Frank Underwood as her suspect.  She realizes that Congressman Underwood began his association with Peter Russo right after the closing of the Philadelphia Shipyard.  She also confronts Zoe with her speculation that Frank Underwood is her source.  Zoe does not confirm nor deny Janine’s conjecture, but she agrees to speak to Frank about the information she gathered from Mr. Capra.  She confronts Frank about Janine’s conjectures and he, as one would expect, denies all of it.  Frank denies pressuring Peter Russo into closing the Philadelphia Shipyard.  He instead admits to advising him into trading a losing hand for a winning one.  According to Frank, Peter made allies out of enemies after allowing the closure of the shipyard.  Zoe feigns being satisfied with Frank’s answers, but decides to investigate further.  She finds connections between the McCuddin Air Force Base, the stepping down of Majority Leader David Rasmussen, and House Representative Terry Womack stepping up as the new House Majority Leader.  Zoe suspects Womack as the politician who pressured Russo, because the McCuddin Air Force Base that is in Womack’s district remained open at the expense of the Philadelphia Shipyard.  Zoe has imbibed Frank’s lies enough to convince herself that Janine’s conspiracy theory is incorrect.

President Garrett Walker along with Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez and Congressman Francis Underwood interview House Representative Tabitha Lonnergan, a candidate for the soon-to-be vacated vice presidency.  They find the woman utterly jejune and decide to cross her off their list as a viable replacement for Vice President Jim Matthews.  President Walker is irked with the candidates Linda and Frank had presented him, which is what the two had planned all along.  They intended to put the President in a position to find Frank as the most viable candidate to fill the seat of the vice president.  Linda speaks with the President only to learn that he is considering the multi-billionaire Raymond Alan Tusk as his new vice president; she did not have the opportunity to recommend Frank Underwood as an option.  Linda fills in Frank of the President’s decision and receives the same reaction she had upon hearing of his plan.  Duplicitous Frank Underwood, however, decides to approve of the President’s choice of tapping a proven and down-to-earth businessman as his new vice president.  He refers to the President’s strategy as bold and exciting.  Frank learns that the President has already vetted Raymond Tusk before when he considered him for Secretary of the Treasury.  The only hindrance now is Tusk’s reluctance to accept the nomination.  The President confides to Frank of sending his representative to speak to Tusk prompting Frank to volunteer his services.

Doug Stamper provides Frank the research he has on Raymond Tusk.  He wonders whether Linda had purposefully intended to send Frank to St. Louis in order to allow her and the President to continue their search for a viable vice president without Frank’s interference.  Frank believes that Linda has nothing to do with it despite her betrayal with the State Secretary nomination.  Frank arrives at the modest St. Louis home of multi-billionaire, Raymond Tusk, where he is to stay as he tries to convince the businessman to accept the President’s offer.  The smell and sound of sizzling bacon wakes Frank at two in the morning.  The two begin an early morning conversation in their pajamas about Frank’s habit of knocking on wood with his ring.  Frank explains that his father taught him that habit. It was supposed to help harden one’s knuckles for a fight with an extra benefit of knocking on wood.  He considers the mannerism a mixture of preparation and luck.  Their conversation leads to Frank’s father who is a failed peach farmer.  Frank confesses that his father was better at giving advice than following it.  The call from China causes them to postpone their conversation in the morning at Raymond’s office.

As per their agreement, Frank arrives at Tusk’s office and speaks to him about the President’s desire for Raymond to become his vice president.  He would like to know the cause of his hesitation to accept it.  Frank finds that Raymond is deflecting to answer a simple question of whether or not he wants to become Vice President of the United States.  He worries that Raymond is inclined to say no or that he desires to be wooed to accept the offer.  Raymond asks Frank to allow him a few minutes to finish his meetings and proposes they resume their conversation away from the office.  Frank finds himself bird watching in the woods with Raymond Tusk and tries to fish for the reason for the man’s hesitation to accept the vice presidency.  He speculates whether the President’s opposition to nuclear power is the reason, because Raymond does own a nuclear power plant.  Raymond once again deflects the question.  At dinner, Frank tries to get an answer from him again and learns that husband and wife work as a team.  Jean Tusk brings up the blind trust should Raymond accept the vice presidency.  She does note that the blind trust inadvertently unburdens them from a great deal of stress of managing a multi-billion company.  The Tusks want to know why the President wants Raymond to become vice president.  Raymond then turns the table and asks Frank whether he thinks he should accept the President’s offer, but Frank is as good as he is at deflecting the question.  He then asks Frank whether he would accept the vice presidency, but Frank uses the same argument Raymond employed and manages to avoid having to answer the question.

At midnight, Frank receives a call from Doug informing him that the President lied to him about not knowing Raymond Tusk personally and of only meeting him once at a fundraiser.  Walter Doyle was able to catalog all the events Raymond and the President both attended.  Moreover, Raymond Tusk was a major stockholder of Pioneer Airlines, a company where the President used to be the CEO.  Early that morning, Frank Underwood confronts Raymond Tusk about the charade.  He conveys to him of having discovered that he was not sent there to vet Raymond and learns that it is the other way around.  The President considers Raymond Tusk as his trusted adviser.  Moreover, he learns that Raymond advised the President not to nominate Frank as Secretary of State.  He is aware that Frank has made himself incorrigible since then with Kern, the teachers’ strike, and Matthews.  Raymond attributes all of those problems as Frank’s doing.  He, however, have come to see that Frank is effective in attaining goals.  This efficiency will be of value to Raymond and the President.  Moreover, with Frank as vice president, the President has a man that straddles between the Executive and the Legislative branches of government.  Despite the benefits of having Frank serve as vice president, Raymond’s favorable recommendation depends on Frank’s ability to return the favor.  Frank rejects agreeing to return the one favor Raymond wants of him, but Raymond gives him time to consider.  Upset at having been played, Frank confronts Linda about the possibility of her lying to him about her knowledge of the President and Raymond’s relationship.  Linda maintains not knowing of their relationship and argues of not benefiting from lying to him.  She informs him that the President still wants to meet with Frank to get his evaluation of Raymond Tusk, one they already know to be a farce, but Frank agrees to attend the meeting.  Frank must figure out a way to force Raymond to come crawling to him for he will never agree to become beholden to him.  He believes that Raymond’s weakness is his fortune.  Frank wants to create an illusion that it is in danger and he must do so in a week’s time.  His estimation of Tusk is that the man is more concerned with the loss of his life’s work than the loss of money.

Gillian Cole speaks with Claire Underwood about a request from the PR Office of SanCorp to send a film crew to shoot footage of their filtration project in Botswana.  Gillian becomes suspicious of CWI’s relationship with SanCorp aware that the same company fought against them on the Watershed Bill.  Claire informs her that SanCorp was the one who helped them get their filters out of South Sudan.  Gillian is against doing business with a company that is against everything their organization stands for, but Claire finds that their relationship is harmless.  Soon, Claire receives a peeved call from Remy Danton after receiving a complaint from the PR team regarding Gillian Cole’s lack of cooperation.  Gillian rejected SanCorp’s request to have its crew film their filtration project in Botswana.  Claire prepares to reprimand Gillian for opposing her only to learn that the woman took the day off due to illness.  On Gillian’s return, Claire accuses Gillian of feigning illness to avoid having to deal with the consequences of rejecting SanCorp’s request.  Claire reprimands her for her actions, but Gillian argues that the filtration project is hers and she can make the decisions without consulting Claire given that she had promised her autonomy on her projects.  Claire argues that the filtration project would not have been possible without SanCorp’s help to which Gillian contends that Claire did not consult her about the deal with SanCorp.  Claire disputes that Gillian works for her organization, but Gillian refutes this given that their agreement is an affiliation.  Claire refutes this claim, because the contract Gillian signed did not specify an affiliation.  Gillian’s claim is based merely on a good faith understanding that Claire is no longer honoring.  Claire states that the good faith understanding they had was dissolved the moment Gillian disobeyed her.  Claire orders Gillian to take a leave of absence equivalent to her termination if she refused to return.

Janine pursues her conspiracy theory and speaks with Christina about it unaware that Frank Underwood had put Doug Stamper on alert.  He believes that Janine asks the right questions that could uncover the truth.  Doug interrupts the conversation between Janine and Christina, ending it abruptly.  He offers the ruse of protecting her from harassing questions from the press.  Christina returns to the office.  She finds herself having to go through Peter’s things for a document and finally finds herself grieving for the loss of Peter Russo.  Meanwhile, Janine is convinced even more that Underwood was behind the closing of the Philadelphia Shipyard after the incident at the cafeteria with Doug and Christina.  She was able to establish more connections in her theory.  Janine found that the Education Bill went to the floor shortly after Womack rose to become the House Majority Leader.  Zoe was pivotal in the success of Underwood’s Education Bill, because she leaked Congressman Donald Blythe’s education bill that is far left of center.  Then there is the Kern article that Zoe also leaked.  Janine finds that the link to all those events is Zoe.  Frank Underwood has been using the young journalist to his end and Janine finds that they must uncover what Underwood’s goal truly is.  She urges Zoe to speak to Roy Kapeniak about the Kern article.

Lucas Goodwin offers to drive Zoe to the airport to see Kapeniak and confronts her about his suspicion that Zoe was sleeping with Frank Underwood to get ahead.  Zoe confirms his suspicion upsetting him more than one would expect, because Lucas has fallen in love with her.  Zoe arrives at Roy Kapeniak’s neighborhood and learns from his neighbor that the man was evicted and left.  His stripper girlfriend, Echo, however is still in town.  Zoe arrives at the strip joint where Echo works and learns from the stripper that a man claiming to be a congressman came to see Roy about the Kern article.  The congressman was Peter Russo.  Peter convinced Roy to declare that Senator Michael Kern wrote the editorial that expressed an anti-Israel sentiment.  Zoe tries to inveigle Echo into officially making the statement, but the stripper refuses to do so.  She returns to Washington D.C. and shares her discovery to Janine.  Both of them are now certain that Underwood was behind all of it.  Regrettably, none of them has hard proof of Underwood’s role in those events.  Zoe knows him as a dangerous person to fight against and fears of him learning of their awareness of the truth.  Janine argues that the only weapon they have against Underwood is to uncover the truth about him to the public.  They must find information and evidence that connect Underwood with the death of Peter Russo.  Zoe believes that the key lies with Christina Gallagher.  She informs her that Peter convinced Roy Kapeniak to speak to her about the editorial Senator Michael Kern supposedly wrote.  Peter was acting on someone’s orders.  She asks Christina if she remembers any strange events around the time of the inauguration, specifically on January 24.

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Chapter 11 Season 1 – House of Cards Episode Summary 1.11

Episode Summary: House Representative Francis Underwood speaks with Vice President Jim Matthews about the vice president running for the governorship of Pennsylvania.  He presents his proposal to President Garrett Walker and Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez with Linda coming to a realization of Frank’s plan, a plan that depends on Peter Russo’s withdrawal from the gubernatorial race.  Regrettably, Peter Russo has remained in seclusion, drowning his shame in liquor.  Moreover, he grows a conscience and desires to take responsibility for all his offenses.

House of Cards Chapter 11 Recap: Congressman Francis Underwood speaks with Vice President Jim Matthews about finding a replacement for Peter Russo after his disastrous radio interview.  With only seven weeks left until the election, the vice president could not think of anyone with the name recognition and donor base that will win the gubernatorial seat for the Democrats.  Francis helps the vice president realize that he fits the bill.  He strokes his ego with a declaration that the vice president resigning his position in the White House to save Pennsylvania will make him a hero.  Moreover, he insinuates that President Garrett Walker is considering not keeping him as his running mate for the next elections.  The only obstacle hindering Vice President Matthews from returning to his passion for state governance is the notion that President Walker will not allow it.  Frank volunteers to speak secretly in his behalf.Continue reading...

Frank proposes the idea to President Walker, who is reluctant to accept the proposal, claiming that there is no historical precedent for such a move.  Frank offers two vice presidents from centuries ago who had done so, but the President finds the examples unsatisfactory.  The President is unwilling to use vice presidents who committed murder and believed in slavery as their reference.  More than the unlikely references, the President wants to avoid the appearance of him pushing the Vice President out of office or the appearance of the Vice President abandoning the administration.  Frank argues that there are important things at stake if they lose an important swing state.  The Democrats could lose the majority of the House and the President could lose the second term of his presidency.  Frank suggests that the President and the Vice President come out with a joint statement declaring that the Vice President will only resign his position if he wins the gubernatorial elections in Pennsylvania.  Sensing that the President is reluctant to acquiesce, Frank turns Machiavellian and employs the same strategy he used on the Vice President.  Frank turns the President against the Vice President.  He uses the latter’s supposed criticism of the former as his weapon.  Moreover, he presents benefits from agreeing to his proposal.  Having the Vice President win the gubernatorial elections in Pennsylvania will secure the swing state for the Democrats.  In addition, it presents the President an honorable way to find a more favorable replacement.

Christina Gallagher finds Peter Russo in his trashed apartment with a bottle of hard liquor watching Jeopardy.  Peter knows that his career as a politician is over.  He plans to remain in seclusion until the ignominy is forgotten.  Christina tries to rescue him from self-destruction, but to no avail.  She leaves him in his apartment to allow the ruined house representative to collect himself until he is ready to face the public with a statement.  Peter does seem to have a desire to return to the world.  He asks a staff from his building to purchase liquor for him and pays him significantly more than the cost of the alcohol.  The staff rejects the exorbitant payment and even offers to help him recover from inebriation, but Peter refuses his help.  Later, a heavily inebriated Peter Russo eludes the press by taking the freight elevator straight to the garage.

Claire Underwood takes a walk in the park with Adam Galloway.  They speak of their relationship beginning with Claire’s reason for ending their affair.  Claire would not allow herself to fall deeply for Adam.  She denies fear as the rationale behind her decision for she believes that fear does not accomplish anything.  Adam argues against her belief claiming that rational fear keeps people alive.  He confesses that when he is not overseas his fears surround the notion of triviality.  He fears of wasting precious moments for frivolities.  Claire confesses to have had those fears as well, one she would not dare admit to her husband.  She is afraid that her life would not amount to something.  Adam believes that Claire is some other person before she met Frank.  He likens her to the young woman they see on a bench, alone, reading a book.  Claire, to him, was a curious, independent person who absorbs everything.  She denies his estimation of her as a young woman.  Moreover, Claire claims that she wanted to become more than an observer.  She wanted to be significant.  Later that night, they print an enlarged photograph of the young woman they saw at the park whom Claire photographed.  Adam insists on calling the unknown woman Claire.  He maintains that the young woman though not resembling Claire exudes an aura reminiscent of her youth.  News about Peter Russo reaches Claire in New York and she finds herself sympathizing for the congressman despite knowledge of her husband’s plan.  Adam perceives that Claire is missing the life she escaped and senses that their affair is about to end yet again.  He can no longer serve as a mere diversion for Claire.  He could not fathom why she gave up a free spirited life for that of sadness.  Claire confesses to have chosen a man she could love for more than a week.  She chose permanence.  Claire has a history and a future with Francis, both of which Adam does not possess.  Adam tells her to kill whatever part of her that still loves him, because he will.  He returns later that night to find Claire still in his loft, sound asleep.

Zoe Barnes returns to her squalid apartment and cleans it up.  She gets a message from Frank asking her to come to his home to talk.  Zoe learning that Claire is not at home takes the opportunity to invade her privacy just as she had done to her.  She rushes up to the master’s bedroom and goes through her things.  She puts on the dress Claire wore at the gala and insists on keeping it to underline her intrusion.  She decides later not to steal the dress after undressing and disheveling Claire’s side of the bed.  Frank asks Zoe of starting their relationship anew.  He wants to simplify things by agreeing to Zoe’s previous request to keep their relationship professional.  The two agree to this.  Zoe continues to stay at Lucas’ apartment.  She confesses to have carried on an affair with an older, married man without revealing his identity.  She divulges of the threat the man made against her the first time they engaged in a sexual relationship.

Frank requests a meeting with Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez to ask about the proposal he presented.  Linda admits that President Walker is torn.  She confesses that she finds acceding to it a mistake.  Frank’s plan has become clear to her.  She realizes that Frank expects her support as payment for his part in getting her son into Stanford.  Moreover, she has come to a realization that Frank has been aiming for the vice presidency all along with a more ultimate goal of running for president in 2020.  Linda confronts Frank with these conjectures, but he avoids the admission of guilt.  After careful consideration, Frank decides that honesty will win Linda’s support and concurs to her accusations.  Frank states plainly his desire to become Vice President of the United States and his hope that Linda will return the favor after he got her son into college.  Moreover, he instills seeds of ambition in Linda expressing that the two of them make a formidable team.  The success of his plan, however, remains in the hands of Peter Russo.  Peter needs to withdraw officially in order to put pressure on Walker.  Regrettably, Peter Russo has gone missing.  Unknown to them, Peter is parked merely a few meters away from the Capitol.  He listens to news of his disappearance and the consequences of his disastrous radio interview, one that seemingly secured his opponent the gubernatorial seat in Pennsylvania.  That night, Peter parks across her former wife’s house and calls her children on the phone.  He asks to speak to his son, but his son refuses to speak to him knowing very well the dishonor he brought to them.  Guilt overcomes him at this realization and the awareness that his children have witnessed his self-destruction.  Her daughter senses that her father is intoxicated and politely ends their conversation much to Peter’s dismay.  Peter calls Christina, the one person who is still willing to speak to him.  He tells her his whereabouts and she asks that he stay where he is.  Peter, however, throws his cellphone on the sidewalk and drives away.  He drives to a police station and turns himself in for a previous criminal offense that was expunged from police records.  The desk sergeant refuses to arrest him for an exonerated crime he committed.  Peter desires to be imprisoned and confesses to have driven to the police station while under the influence.  He identifies himself as Congressman Peter Russo and presents valid proof of identification.  Doug arrives at the neighborhood of the former wife of Peter, but does not find him there.  He, however, finds his cellphone on the gutter.  Soon he learns from Police Commissioner Barney Hull that Peter has surrendered to the police.  Peter is now being held in an interrogation room by himself.  The commissioner worries of Peter divulging the purging of his criminal offense, one he had made possible as a favor for Frank.  Doug fetches Peter through a back exit at the police station, but Frank meets them and offers to drive Peter home.

Frank learns that Peter had thrown himself in jail as an act of taking responsibility for his actions.  Peter divulges his plan of making a statement of pulling out of the race, but also of confessing all his offenses.   Moreover, he refuses help from Frank in writing the statement.  This worries Frank, who had a part in Peter’s troubles.  They arrive in the private garage in Peter’s building.  Peter refuses Frank helping him up to his apartment.  Frank sees a bottle of liquor and offers it to the heavily intoxicated alcoholic.  He drinks with him in his car and shares his dislike of fathering children due to his unhappy childhood whom he believes Peter had too.  Frank, however, realizes that it was a coward’s excuse.  Peter succumbs to fatigue and falls asleep on the passenger seat of the car.  Frank wipes his fingerprints off the car and the bottle of liquor.  He uses Peter’s finger to turn on the engine of the car.  He leaves Peter inside the car and closes the garage door while the engine is still running.  Frank puts on a baseball cap and sneaks out of the building.  He returns to his house and finds Doug waiting for him.  He tells Doug that they will never speak of the events that will surface in the next few hours.  This shocks Doug, but he accedes to the order.

Frank has an early meeting with President Walker, Chief of Staff Vasquez, and Vice President Matthews.  He learns that his strategy to use honesty won him Linda’s support.  President Walker explains that Linda managed to convince him of the benefits of agreeing to his proposal.  Moreover, he has spoken to Vice President Matthews and convinced him of agreeing to run for governor.  All agree that the President and the Vice President will make a joint statement of their decision for the vice president to run for governor.  Moreover, the President will make it clear that he will only accept the vice president’s resignation if he wins the election.  They are, however, confident that Vice President Matthews will win so much so that the President has already asked Linda to put together a list of candidates for the vice presidency.  All now rests on Peter Russo officially withdrawing from the gubernatorial race.  With the rest of their plans depending on Peter’s withdrawal, the President sends his people to go look for him.  Secret Service informs President Walker of the suicide of Peter Russo.  The President announces the news to Linda, Matthews, and Frank.  Peter was found in his garage with the car still running.  Frank feigns shock and sends a text message to his wife informing her of Peter Russo’s suicide.  Peter’s suicide soon fills every news headline except Slugline’s who is learning about it from other news outfits.  Zoe only learns of it from Lucas who receives a text message prompting him to leave for the office immediately.  Peter’s campaign staff including Christina only learns of his fate on the news as well.

Claire resumes communication with Frank and tells him that she is coming home.  She leaves Adam’s loft without a goodbye except for a large origami of a swan made from one of the pieces of the young woman’s enlarged photograph that Claire had rearranged.  Claire arrives home and finds Frank waiting for her in the living room where they reconcile.  Later, husband and wife stand side-by-side to address the press with their sympathies for the loss of the ruined house representative, Peter Russo.

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