Chapter 7 (''House of Cards'')

"Chapter 7" (or "Episode 107") is the seventh 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

United States President Garrett Walker (Michel Gill) finally signs the education bill into law, earning Frank (Kevin Spacey) a major victory by affording him great influence and favor with Walker. Vice President Jim Matthews (Dan Ziskie) feels sidelined and expresses discontent with Walker, for not discussing anything with him about the administration. Moreover, Linda talks to Matthews and makes him understand that he knew what job he would have when he came on board, but sides with Matthews when he questions Russo's ability to run for his governor seat in Pennsylvania.

Doug receives a letter from a sex worker named Rachel Posner (Rachel Brosnahan) with whom Russo had an automobile accident. She asks for money and a place to live in order to keep her mouth shut. Claire is on a peak with her Delaware Watershed project which was initiated for Russo. Underwood turns their basement for Russo's campaign. Doug continuously attends AA meetings with Peter to keep an eye on him. However, during one of the preparing sessions, he gets invigorated by one of Frank's trusted physiologists and facing all the facts about his past and wrongdoings he starts to have doubts about his running for governor.

In order to put Peter on track, Frank contacts Christina (Kristen Connolly) to forgive him and ask her to become his deputy campaign manager. Doug asks Nancy (Elizabeth Norment) to keep Rachel in her home for a while until he finds a suitable place for Rachel. Nancy tries to ask about Rachel, but Doug refuses to say anything instead of lying, Nancy acquiesces to his request despite her reservations.

After gaps of weeks, Barnes texts Frank and asks his whereabouts. She also asks about Russo's running for Governor, so that she would prepare a pre-profile on him and when Frank will announce his candidacy she would be the first one to break the news. Instead he asks her to give this news someone so she could get a favor. Frank visits Barnes's apartment and sees Lucas (Sebastian Arcelus) kissing Barnes. Instead of leaving he goes to Zoe's apartment and to celebrate his education bill victory opens a wine bottle giving her the presidential pen with which Walker signed the bill.

In Zoe's apartment, Franks informs her that today is Father's Day and she should call her father, during her call Frank starts having sex with her.

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
• Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper, Underwood's Chief of Staff
• Sakina Jaffrey as Linda Vasquez, White House Chief of Staff
• Corey Stoll as U.S. Representative Peter Russo
• Kristen Connolly as Christina Gallagher, a congressional staffer
• Sandrine Holt as Gillian Cole, employee at CWI
• Ben Daniels as Adam Galloway, a New York-based photographer and Claire's love interest
• Boris McGiver as Tom Hammerschmidt, editor-in-chief for The Washington Herald
• Sebastian Arcelus as Lucas Goodwin, a reporter and editor for The Washington Herald
• Michel Gill as United States President Garrett Walker
• Dan Ziskie as Vice President Jim Matthews

Recurring characters

• Elizabeth Norment as Nancy Kaufberger
• Nathan Darrow as Edward Meechum
• Constance Zimmer as Janine Skorsky
• Karl Kenzler as Charles Holburn
• Francie Swift as Felicity Holburn
• Rachel Brosnahan as Rachel Posner
• Larry Pine as Bob Birch
• Suzanne Savoy as Patricia Whittaker
• Tawny Cypress as Carly Heath
• Kenneth Tigar as Walter Doyle
• James Hyndman as Nash Aarons
• Chuck Cooper as Barney Hull
• Curtiss Cook as Terry Womack

Reception

The episode received positive reviews from critics.^[1][2] Ryan McGee of The A.V. Club said, "The show now has earned enough goodwill to not dismiss that plot out of hand, even if it feels designed to either pay off something in four episodes or utterly snatch defeat from the jaws of victory at precisely the same time. The show hasn’t had to get truly bloody when tying off loose ends yet." He further said, "it’s probably time for the show to introduce some truly life-or-death stakes for this to move beyond interesting television into something truly compelling."^[3]

Notes

• This article incorporates material derived from the "Chapter 7" article on the House of Cards wiki at Wikia and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License (116 September 2016).

External links

• House of Cards on Netflix
• "Chapter 7" on IMDb
• "Chapter 7" at TV.com