Terrorism has finally been put on the list of hot topics that Cards deals with. Which means Frank agrees with what Yates said-Will is too smart to slip up and lose his momentum. In their kitchen showdown, Frank managed to deliver Will a punishing ego check, but note his phrasing: He said that if Conway wins, he’ll be revealed as a fraud.

The ends, in this case, were some electrifying scenes of Frank conversing with Will, Claire conversing with Hannah, and radiant little brats running all over the frigid museum that is the Underwoods’ domestic life. Like the Underwoods themselves, House of Cards’s writers believe that ends always justify means. It’s best not to think of the levels of coincidence that were required to bring the Republican presidential nominee and his family into an overnight stay with the sitting Democratic president. As in previous years, I’m binge-reviewing the latest season of Netflix’s House of Cards, the TV show that helped popularize the idea of “binge watching” when it premiered in 2013.

House of cards season 4 episode 12