Chapter 4 (House of Cards)

"Chapter 4" (or "Episode 104") is the fourth episode of the first season of the American political thriller drama series House of Cards. It premiered on February 1, 2013, when it was released along with the rest of the first season on the American streaming service Netflix.

Plot

Back in Washington, Frank (Kevin Spacey) approaches House Speaker Bob Birch (Larry Pine) to support his education bill, who refuses and objects to its controversial amendments. Frank then asks Birch and Linda (Sakina Jaffrey) to compromise but both refuse. Frank then meets with President Garrett Walker (Michel Gill) who suggests compromising on a key point of disagreement, "collective bargaining for teachers." Expecting this exactly from Walker, Frank changes his tune, saying that "compromise would make the Oval Office look weak, and that can't happen on his watch."

Frank decides to organize a coup against Birch by bringing Majority Leader David Rasmussen (Michael Siberry) as his ally, and offers him a position of House Speaker in exchange for helping him pass the education bill, but Rasmussen shows reservations. In order to take down Birch they need 13 votes, so with the Speaker and Rasmussen they still need 11 votes on board. Doug (Michael Kelly) and Frank devise a plan by inviting Black Caucus leader Terry Womack (Curtiss Cook), and offering him the Majority Leader position once Rasmussen is House Speaker. Frank further offers his help to Rasmussen by forcing Russo (Corey Stoll) to allow a shipyard in Southeastern Pennsylvania (Russo's district) to close in order to keep a military base open in Womack's district. Already under Frank's power. Russo agrees, despite his fear that thousands of people will lose their jobs as a result, and that his voting base will be damaged.

Russo gets drunk, and leaves his children at his apartment. Christina (Kristen Connolly) visits to find the children alone. She takes care of them and breaks up with Russo when he arrives home. Frank succeeds in his plan when Womack brings all eleven votes. Placing his final move, he tells Birch that Rasmussen intends to take his place, and that he will not vote against Birch if he will appoint Womack as Rasmussen's replacement. He convinces Birch that it will be seen as a good administration that appoints the first black Majority Leader. Both of them tell Rasmussen about the outcome, and Frank lures him into resigning.

Claire (Robin Wright) who is still dealing with the funds, gets a visit by Danton (Mahershala Ali), who asks for a partnership between SanCorp and CWI and offers a double donation of $1.5 million. Despite needing the funds for the Sudan project proposed by Gillian to reinstate CWI's image, Claire turns it down after consulting with Frank. Franks says they don't want any favors from SanCorp, and will organize a charity dinner to raise funds, inviting every politician he knows. To further showcase her organization, she invites Adam Galloway (Ben Daniels), a New York based ace photographer known for his water-related imagery, and with whom she had a relationship in past. Galloway invites Claire for dinner and they share an intimate moment, but Claire turns down his advances and makes it clear their relation is to be business only.

Things further accelerate between Hammerschmidt (Boris McGiver) and Barnes (Kate Mara), when the Heralds publisher herself allows Barns to continue her story. In order to avoid any further clashes, Hammerschmidt offers Barnes Janine Skorsky's (Constance Zimmer) position as White House Correspondent, while Skorsky herself has been promoted to Midwest Bureau chief despite her unwillingness. She tells Janine that she is not interested, and Janine in turn tells her to take the job. Barnes further consults with her editor Lucas (Sebastian Arcelus) and expresses how he feels sorry for Skorsky for taking her position. He also tell her to take the position. Inclined towards the offer, she texts Frank asking his opinion, who at first shows interest but pursed her not to take it, which results in a rift between her and Hammerschmidt who calls her "cunt", she immediately tweets this incident on Twitter causing a controversy and resigns. She calls Frank and invites him to her apartment, where they end up having sex.

Cast

Following is the list of billed cast.

Main Cast

• Kevin Spacey as U.S. Representative, Francis "Frank" J. Underwood
• Robin Wright as Claire Underwood, Francis wife
• Kate Mara as Zoe Barnes, reporter at The Washington Herald
• Corey Stoll as U.S. Representative Peter Russo
• Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper, Underwood's Chief of Staff
• Sakina Jaffrey as Linda Vasquez, White House Chief of Staff
• Kristen Connolly as Christina Gallagher, a congressional staffer
• Sandrine Holt as Gillian Cole, employe at CWI
• Boris McGiver as Tom Hammerschmidt, editor-in-chief for The Washington Herald
• Constance Zimmer as Janine Skorsky, reporter
• Sebastian Arcelus as Lucas Goodwin, editor and reporter at The Washington Herald
• Michel Gill as President Garrett Walker
• Ben Daniels as Adam Galloway, a New York based photographer and Claire's love interest
• Mahershala Ali as Remy Danton, lawyer for Glendon Hill and lobbyist

Recurring characters

• Larry Pine as House Speaker Bob Birch
• Reg E. Cathey as Freddy
• Michael Siberry as Majority Leader David Rasmussen
• Karl Kenzler as Charles Holburn
• Francie Swift as Felicity Holburn
• Kathleen Chalfant as Margaret Tilden
• Daisy Tahan as Sarah Russo

Reception

The episode received positive reviews from critics.^[1][2] Ryan McGee of The A.V. Club said, "House Of Cards is limiting the current time spent with its most fascinating aspects.."^[3]

Notes

• This article incorporates material derived from the "Chapter 4" article on the House of Cards wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (6 September 2016).

External links

• House of Cards on Netflix
• "Chapter 4" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Chapter 4" at TV.com