Overview:

"There is but one rule," says Frank Underwood wryly to the camera, staring confidently into the audience's eyes. "Hunt or be hunted. Welcome back."

With a grand flourish, our main protagonist reinvades us into the corrupt and corrosive backwaters of Washington, D.C., where he's been doing much, much more than just simply hunting. 

Read on to find out how Frank's been battling, backstabbing, and bullying his way to the top of the White House, no matter the cost. 

(Note: A list of important characters can be found on the bottom of the article, descriptions included.)

 

Episode 1:

After a grueling, eventful Season 1, Frank emerges victorious, having already cemented his position as the next Vice President.

There's hardly time to celebrate though - Frank's treacherous path to power is paved with skeletons waiting to be uncovered. Stamper visits Underwood's townhouse in the middle of the night, as the Underwood political power couple are out on a celebratory midnight run. He has bad news: Zoe, Janine, and Lucas are digging into Frank's relationship with Russo and Russo's 'suicide' that Frank mercilessly arranged. They've also contacted Rachel, Frank's puppet prostitute that played a key role in the events leading up to Russo's death.

Meanwhile, Zoe's been having remorse-filled night sweats over her exploitatively sexual relationship with Frank. Sick of her own actions, she reaches out for comfort and finds Lucas, her former managing editor at the Washington Herald. In typical Zoe fashion… she ends up sleeping with him too.

Frank, preparing for Vice Presidency, vets a young three-term congresswoman named Jackie Sharp as a replacement Whip. Sharp protests, claiming that there are two more senior members of Congress - Wes Buchwalter and Howard Webb - that have priority to the majority Whip position. Frank, always eager to have someone in a position of power at his beck and call, gives her damaging information on both Whip candidates to help her get elected.

Frank demands privacy over the next few days, despite the insistence of Secret Service members. Using the precious few moments he has before he gets thrust into the limelight as Vice President, Frank ties up loose ends with Zoe. 

Zoe meets with Frank and questions him on the incriminating evidence her and her colleagues had uncovered. Frank scoffs at her the accusations like the skilled politician he is. "You're connecting dots that don't exist," says Frank. "Why don't we start this new chapter with a clean slate?" Zoe lets herself be swayed, blissfully unaware that Frank's idea of a 'clean slate' is entirely different and much more sinister than her's.

Ever curious, Zoe still tries to contact Rachel for information on Russo, but Frank's a step ahead. Stamper had already moved Rachel to another location.

Frank lures Rachel to an underground subway station with the promise of a "clean slate." Unfortunately, her conscience and curiosity get the better of her once again - Zoe unwittingly hammers the nails in her own coffin by directly suggesting Frank arranged Russo's death.

Just as the next train pulls into the station, Frank turns a corner as if fed up with Zoe's questions. When Zoe tries to follow him, he seizes her by the shoulders and flips her around - and pushes her into the subway tracks.

With a sickening crunch, Zoe stops being a problem for Frank Underwood, permanently. "Clean slate" indeed. With one fell swoop, Frank eliminates Zoe, and scares away Janine, leaving Lucas alone in his efforts to bring Underwood to justice.

It's not only Frank that's capable of murder, though. Claire also reveals a side of her personality just as sinister as Frank's in Season 2's flagship episode. Claire forges a signature on a medical consent form to win the upper hand in a legal battle with a former employee, by terminating the employee's insurance coverage. Without it, the employee - who's pregnant - cannot access lifesaving medicine. 

"I am willing to let your child wither and die inside you if that's what's required," said Claire unflinchingly. Oof. Perfect couple.

Blackmail, baby murder, dead detectives, and political machinations. We're off to a great start.

 

Episode 2:

Frank's townhouse has turned into a battlefield. A throng of construction workers and Secret Service Agents are renovating the Underwood home into a fortress with its own private communications and surveillance systems.

Why? Because Frank's finally become Vice President, and he needs his new Secret Service reinforced digs. 

In a moment of triumph, Frank swears in as Vice President. Zoe is a thing of the past, and now he can focus on his campaign for power.

His scheme to get his fledgling Whip Jackie Sharp elected is succeeding. While the two senior Congressman Buchwalter and Webb  shadow Frank for advice, Frank is secretly supplying information to Sharp.

Not everything's completely going to plan. Frank is realizing that Raymond Tusk, the business mogul with close ties to the President, has an uncomfortable amount of political influence in the White House. 

Meanwhile, Lucas still tries to bring Underwood to justice. He stalks his police contacts and pitches the idea of Frank murdering Zoe, but to no avail - no one's willing to investigate that high up, and Zoe's death looked exactly like a suicide on camera.

Back at the White House, Frank begins undermining Tusk's influence. Chinese cyberattacks become the most pressing issue in a White House meeting between the President, Raymond Tusk, Cathy (Secretary of State), and Frank. 

Tusk, having business interests in China, advises the President to avoid confrontation for fear of antagonizing Chinese ambassadors, while Cathy advises to confront the Chinese about the cyberattacks to prevent appearing weak. The meeting concluded with a compromise between the two - Cathy was to give a warning 'agenda' to the Chinese with a 'soft touch.'

Worried about Tusk's influence in the White House, Frank pulls Cathy aside after the meeting to directly defy Tusk's agenda by arranging an 'unintentional' confrontation with the Chinese ambassadors. "If you don't like the way the table is set," says Frank, full of sass. "Flip it over."

A scene later, insulted Chinese ambassadors storm out of the conference room while American diplomats announce to the press that the talks would cancelled until the issue of Chinese government-sponsored cyberattacks is put on the table.

Then, a dark secret about Claire's past is revealed at Frank's first public appearance as Vice President. Frank is called on to  attend a banquet celebrating newly appointed generals… but one of those generals - Dalton McGinnis - violently raped Claire during her freshman year in college. Seething, Frank has no choice but to suppress his rage and publicly pin a medal on General McGinnis.

Back at home, Frank softens up to comfort a vulnerable Claire. We begin to see through the chinks in Claire's armor…

At the Washington Herald, Lucas tries to enlist Tom's help to investigate Zoe's murder, but Tom reacts just like everyone else: "You went through a lot, and I think you're just trying to make sense of it all."

The President's advisory team - Tusk, Frank, and Cathy - reconvene to discuss the negative Chinese reaction. Cathy is blamed for straying from the President and Tusk's agenda, but Cathy claims her staff misinterpreted her orders during the conference. When interviewed by the press, Cathy did not publicly apologize to the Chinese to avoid a perception of disunity within the White House.

After Cathy is dismissed, the President deals with what is now a PR disaster. Tusk (on the phone this time) advises the President to make a public apology to appease the Chinese, and hangs up. 

This is where Frank cracks his knuckles and goes to work undermining Tusk. With a silver tongue, Frank sways the President towards publicly supporting confronting the Chinese about the cyberattacks… directly against Tusk's wishes. Tusk is furious, sparking the first of many feuds between him and Frank.

Meanwhile, on Sharp's Whip candidacy, Buchwalter and Webb finally figure out Frank's been playing them against each other and secretly supporting Sharp as the next Whip. To stop Sharp from winning the Whip election, Buckwalter agrees to step down as a candidate for Whip to join forces behind Webb… presenting a major obstacle to Sharp's election as replacement Whip.

Here's where Sharp proves herself a worthy protege under Frank. To prevent Buckwalter from teaming up with Webb, Sharp gives Buckwalter what he wants the most - revenge. Sharp's mentor, Havemeyer, has been a political rival of Buckwalter for years. 

To earn Buckwalter's compliance, Sharp promised to leak sensitive information on Havemeyer about an illegitimate daughter to publicly shame him out of Congress. With an abrupt warning to Havemeyer, Sharp throws her mentor under the bus, ignoring decades of mentorship from Havemeyer and intimately emotional relationships with Havemeyer's family to ascend to power. Just as ruthless as the former majority Whip.

Lucas, distraught with grief, turns to the Deep Web during his investigation to attempt hacking into Frank's phone records.

 

Episode 3:

"There are two types of vice presidents," Underwood announces wryly to the camera, staring confidently into the audience's eyes. "Doormats and matadors. Which do you think I intend to be?"

A new bill is on the line 3 days before the President's State of the Union. However, the bill includes raising the retirement age, an extremely polarizing issue between the Democratic and Republican sides of Congress. 

The Democratic President's stance on the bill is clear: don't give in to the Republican's demands on raising the retirement age. This confrontational position may likely lead to a government freeze, much like the ridiculous government shutdown last year.

Time for the matador to step in the ring.

Frank, up to his old schemes, convinces the President to give into Republican demands to raise the retirement age. If Frank can manage to push the bill past Republican opposition, he gets credit while everyone wins: the Congressional Republicans get what they want, while the Democratic leadership can seem strong and effective during the President's State of the Union.

Meanwhile, Lucas remains determined to put Frank down. He contacts Christina Wiggins (Russo's former girlfriend) to attempt digging further into Russo's murder. Wiggin stonewalls him, still emotionally distraught from Russo's death.

As effective as always, Frank begins convincing Congressmen on both sides to compromise and back a bipartisan bill. But - there is still one major obstacle for the conniving matador: Curtis Haas. A staunchly conservative Republican, Curtis carries many votes and presents the strongest point of Republican opposition.

Lucas begins reaching out to a Deep Web hacker named Heronymous, who promises him access to Frank's phone records. Armed with new resources, he tries to get Janine's help in investigating Frank, but Janine refuses, still spooked by Zoe's death. Frank and his assistant Stamper learn about Lucas' activity and begin preparing a counterattack on Lucas' investigation.

Back at the White House, Curtis Haas finally shakes hands on backing the bipartisan bill after Frank promises to raise the retirement age on the final bill. 

Right before the final vote count on passing the bill, Curtis Haas gets cold feet and backs out of the bill. The President freaks out. Tusk talks trash about Frank to the President. At this point, a lesser Vice President would have shriveled up in anxiety and turned into a docile 'doormat,' but for Frank, Curtis is child's play.

With a complex series of political acrobatics (involving handcuffing escaping Congressmen and physically carrying them back into session) that's too complex to go into detail here (quorum calls, filibusters, the works), Frank outnumbers and outsmarts Curtis.

The matador successfully pushes the bipartisan bill through the first stage of becoming a law, despite the raging Republican bull Curtis.

The President gives a triumphant State of the Union address with a successful bipartisan bill, and Frank gets credit just as he planned, while Tusk is humiliated for questioning Frank's ability as Vice President. 

Frank 1 - Tusk 0.

Sharp begins feeling remorse for being a cold, heartless politician who would do anything for power. The mother of Havemeyer's (Sharp's mentor that she betrayed during the last episode) illegitimate daughter calls her and blames her for her betrayal.

Lucas meets with the Heronymous Bot, who appears to be a very, very capable hacker and intelligence gatherer. Bad news for Frank.

 

What's Next?

Will Sharp prove to be just as cold-blooded as Frank?

Will Claire's inner demons throw the Underwood power couple off balance?

Will Lucas get closer to reveal Frank's hand in Russo and Zoe's murders?

Who will win more influence with the President - Frank or Tusk?

Keep your eyes peeled for the second part of this Season 2 recap of "House of Cards" to find out… unless, of course, you simply decide to watch the show.

 

Character List:

• Frank Underwood: Frank is a ruthlessly pragmatic power-seeking politician whose efforts in electing the incumbent Presidient Garret Walker were ignored in the events of Season 1. Sorely pissed off, Frank renewed his ambitions and made it his life's mission to climb to the top of the White House, no matter how many casualties he leaves in his wake.
• Claire Underwood: A proud, dignified, and capable woman, Claire is Frank's wife and soulmate. Given that it is pretty much established Frank has no soul, it comes as no surprise that Claire is equally as ruthless in pursuing her ambitions as her husband.
• Doug Stamper: A capable, effective, and unquestioningly loyal assistant. Frank's right hand man - the right hand that does the dirty work.
• Rachel: A former prostitute that Congressman Peter Russo hired on the night he got arrested for drunk driving. Now living under protection of Doug Stamper, Rachel is the only living proof of Frank's role in Peter Russo's murder.
• Peter Russo: Russo was a pawn in Frank's giant political chess game. Frank kept him under control by threatening to publicize Russo's arrest for drunk driving as well as Russo's drug abuse and solicitation of prostitutes. Eventually, Russo played his part, and Frank tied up loose ends by arranging his "suicide."
• Zoe Barnes: An overly ambitious young journalist that resorted to sleeping with Underwood for an inside source in Washington. Her close ties to Underwood makes her volatile and hard to control, and her curiosity brings her dangerously close to the truth in the beginning of Season 2.
• Lucas Goodwin: The managing editor at the Washington Herald, who is romantically involved with Zoe Barnes.
• Raymond Tusk: Tusk is a wealthy, powerful, and influential businessman that has close ties with the President. He was Walker's mentor before presidency, and his words continue to hold power over Walker's actions.
• Jackie Sharp: Since Frank's moving out of his position as Whip to become Vice President, he needs a replacement Whip serving as a loyal foot soldier in his unceasing efforts for power. Jackie Sharp is his protege Whip, and is proving to be just as merciless as he is.

 

Reach Executive Producer Benjamin li here: