Chapter 52

Frank fights on two fronts to try and save his presidency.

This is a very strong episode and an effective series 4 finale.

It is as much about Frank and Claire as it is about two plot threads coming together and backing the two main characters into a corner.

It's not at all hard to swallow for a cynic like me. I've always thought statesmen and leaders take extreme political decisions when power is at stake and the writers of this obviously have the same outlook.

This has many memorable moments, mostly involving Frank speaking to the kidnappers and his final line to the audience. Probably the most effective part for me is something that is shown on a big screen in the situation room. Just watch the reactions of everyone in the room and pay attention to Frank and Claire. Very cinematic indeed.

It is a beautifully filmed episode with virtually every shot as beautiful and effective as always on House Of Cards.

Kevin Spacey is great as usual and he is supported well by the others, especially Boris McGiver and Robin Wright.

It's an 8.5/10 for me but I round upwards.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Chapter 52" is a brilliant ending to a terrific season 4. This is by far the best episode of the series overall (period). Everything - acting, writing, directing was a top notch - as usually, but with that "twisted" smile that makes this show unique and one of my favorite.

Overall Season 4 was a huge step up in comparison to a very good 2nd and good but inconsistent seasons 3. There were more interesting and gripping plot and twists, and reminded my of the terrific season 1 - it was that good. These two people won't let go what they have and what they want to have that easily, like one of them said "we will go one step further then any of them". That what makes this show and characters fascinating (and although sometimes they are over the top hilariously bad / twisted, but always entertaining, and plausible as possible).

Overall, do not miss Season 4 - if you liked previous seasons, you will be in nirvana watching these 13 great, great chapters.

I enjoyed the 4th season of "House of Cards". The highlights were the chapters directed by Robin Wright, with everything before, between and after those being good but often uneven up until now.

My favourite developments were the ones involving the campaign, all the backstabbing etc. I hoped we would have the election this season, but after some episodes it started to drag a bit and it was clear we wouldn't reach it this year. "Chapter 51" shifted the focus completely and was all about a terrorist crisis that lost all my interest. This crisis continued in the last episode of the season, and another crisis showed up, one that is equally uninteresting: Tom Hammerschmidt's article on the Herald.

The new story doesn't feel all that threatening, and yet everybody keeps talking about it as if it was super harmful. What important part does it have that Lucas Goodwin didn't know already? Some quotes by partial people? We know what happened to Lucas. Frank should easily overcome this, considering everything he's been through in this series.

All of this ended up being hard to swallow and even eye-rolling. The dialogue between Claire and Frank when they decide to generate fear and war is just cringe-worthy. The actors try hard but there's not much to do about it. Also, I have no idea what it means for the future of the series when Claire breaks the 4th wall in the last seconds of the episode.

I still don't know if I want Frank to win or to die...

The plot armor on Claire is so thick, the entire nation love her, for what reason? Lets review her past achievements: Got into the position of ambassador through pure nepotism (arguably illegal) with zero experience; She deliberately sabotaged decades of relationship progress between US and Russia for one selfish delusional protester; She destabilized middle east on multiple occasions; She got tricked by a Russia agent and led the special ops directly into a trap. Then she blames her demotion on Frank rather than her own colossal failures. Her favorite words to Frank are "Fix it", Frank is constantly trying to fix her past mistakes. Even in 1st season Claire's hypocrisy was off the charts, she blamed Frank for cant accept the SanCorp money, but actually SanCorp's only objective was to use that money to buy political favors from Frank. Claire's entire career is built on top of leeching off Frank's political power while whining about it, every time they were in crisis Frank was the one to figure a way out, she even sabotaged his water bill, and somehow she is entitled to Frank's success. Im sure the writers forcing the praise of Claire down our throat has nothing to do with Robin Wright is an executive producer.... We get it, your executive producer's character is the main protagonist, you want to increase her involvement in the show.