House of Cards' generally excellent fourth season was nevertheless a bit unfocused and oddly paced, as if Beau Willimon was throwing all his remaining ideas at us before departing as showrunner. His first concept was a Frank vs. Claire civil war, which plays out the first four episodes, only to be interrupted by a shocking presidential assassination. Then the series revolves entirely around Claire’s ambitions while Frank is placed on the back burner. When he awakens, it’s as if Willimon is kicking off season 5 with little remnant of the Underwoods’ feud enduring on. Next, the spotlight shifts to the election, but as with Frank’s near-death experience, a hostage crisis suddenly postpones all the politicking in a terrorism-focused finale. The result is a 13-episode stretch with one too many sharp turns. And sadly, the ICO storyline that closes out the year is the least interesting of all.
As Frank plays hardball with the captors, Claire meets one-on-one with Yusuf Al Ahmad, a terrorist who ICO demands be released. But as the First Lady explains, Yusuf doesn’t really care about Islam or the caliphate; he’s just using this to radicalize soldiers. She hopes she’ll be able to negotiate with him, apparently high off her successful act of diplomacy with Petrov. The United States can secretly put the Baathists back in control of Iraq in exchange for letting the Miller family go, Claire promises. If not, she threatens a full offensive against ICO and Yusuf's swift return to Guantanamo Bay.
Meanwhile, Tom Hammerschmidt is ready to break the story he’s been investigating for months. Although he’s nowhere near uncovering the extent of Underwoods' corruption, he has several high-profile sources on the record alleging the president conspired to kick Garret Walker out of office. It’s not murder, but it still exposes Frank as the crook we all know him to be. The president is in full damage control mode, howling at his closest confidants and demanding a meeting with Hammerschmidt. Both Underwoods are brash and cocky as always, firmly believing they can haggle with the enemy despite not having the upper hand.
Frank first goes after Tom for trying to publish unsubstantiated claims. And when that doesn’t do the trick, he tries the “you can’t publish during a hostage crisis!” angle. It fails; Frank lies to Tom’s face, but this astute reporter sees right through him and the article shortly goes live. Claire fails too; Yusuf agrees to instruct the captors to release Mr. Miller, but he betrays her, going off script and yelling in Arabic, “Release the video. If they don’t send me home, kill him.” Why the White House did not have a translator in the room, I have no clue.
Is this the end for President Underwood at last? Convincing proof is out there that Frank is shady to say the least and a botched negotiation just concluded in the grisly death of an innocent American. If only there were some sort of a distraction...
Well soon enough, the president gives a national address in which he declares total war on ICO, committing the United States to a multi-year conflict that will guarantee thousands of casualties. He didn’t even consult any of his cabinet first. What the American people aren’t aware of is how little Frank is concerned with obliterating ICO. He merely recognizes that this will be a convenient diversion, a way to avert eyes away from Hammerschmidt's article. All this needless violence will occur merely so President Underwood can secure himself a few more years in the Oval Office.
The Underwoods’ callousness is heavily emphasized in the final scene, where the president and the First Lady watch Mr. Miller’s execution without batting an eye while the rest of the room looks away. “We don’t submit to terror,” Frank tells the audience. “We make the terror.” It’s House of Cards' very own “I am the one who knocks” moment, made all the more chilling by the fact that Claire, for the first time, recognizes the audience's presence. Everyone around Frank typically acts as if they do not notice his fourth-wall-breaking dialogue, but Claire stares directly at her husband as he opens his mouth and then right at the audience before we smash cut to black. Has she been conscious of our existence this entire time? Could we actually get some Claire Underwood monologues in season 5?
And so the season comes to a close with Frank fighting back against the most significant threat to his power yet, leaving us in suspense about whether it will work. On one hand, it’s darkly genius that now Hammerschmidt's report will seem inconsequential compared to the story of a nation at war. On the other hand, how is Frank not going to be crushed in the upcoming election? Here we have a president who has managed to piss just about everyone off in both parties, there are very serious allegations of misconduct in the Oval Office, gas prices approach $7 a gallon and Underwood's actions lead to the execution of an American and the start of a war. Is the compassion generated by a failed assassination attempt honestly going to counteract all that? It’s unlikely House of Cards is leading us towards a Conway administration, especially after putting so much effort into placing Claire on the ticket, but it’s going to take a lot for the audience to believe that Underwood can somehow pull off a victory here.
All in all, this was a strong season of House of Cards and a fine sendoff for showrunner Beau Willimon. True, these 13-episodes were kind of scatterbrained, as if no one in the writers' room was quite clear on what the year’s main plot should be. But it was a massive improvement over season 3, a tedious journey through cliche political storylines and contrived drama. In an ideal world, the rushed plots presented this season could have started last year, with that season perhaps ending with the assassination cliffhanger and this one driven by the election and ICO. But as sloppy as it often was, Willimon and the gang should still be commended for producing such a compelling stretch of television that consistently made me want to hit the next episode button. Let's just hope season 5 can keep this up.