Whispers of Power

“We do not fear terror. We are the terror.”

The house of Claire and Frank Underwood appears to collapse, and then they utter these words.

This climactic scene that ends the show’s fourth season, and we are left afraid and uncertain.

A timely message given that, in today’s political climate, we are also left wondering whether there is anything past fear and uncertainty.

Selected Quote:

“Perhaps everything terrible is in its deepest being something helpless that wants help from us.”

– Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

Innocent waves to the crowd turn into something more ominous in this week’s drawing.

After more fierce fighting, the Underwoods are back on stage again. They have vowed to fight for the presidency with Frank as President and Claire as VP, a teaming previously unthinkable.

Have the rules changed? Have their cards?

Selected Quote:

"All the world’s a stage, / And all the men and women merely players"

– Shakespeare, As You Like It

Every hero needs a villain. Viktor Petrov is the gray, cold, Russian counterpart to Frank Underwood.

The confrontation shown here, with Viktor’s face on the big screen, triggers an instinctive fear and impulse to overcome. In this moment we identify with Frank.

The moral line that usually separates us from him evaporates, and we only want to see Viktor fail.

Selected Quote:

“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

– Animal Farm, George Orwell

Is there ever more distance between two intimates than when they are sitting on opposite sides of a bargaining table?

The discomfort between Frank Underwood and his wife Claire has reached its climax. Their once close relationship has become a mere formality, driven by pure protocol and personal power play.

The vertical line down the center of the image divides and separates each into their own space. Is this the end for them?

Selected Quote:

MACBETH: Strange things I have in head, that will to hand;
Which must be acted ere they may be scann’d.

LADY MACBETH: You lack the season of all natures, sleep.

– Shakespeare, Macbeth

The quietest moment in the story is a poetic one.

Separated from his wife Claire, Frank Underwood faces true loneliness.

In this image, the darkness threateningly creeps up from behind him, as his sole companion and most faithful ally has disappeared.

Selected Quote:

“You can only lose something that you have. You cannot lose something that you are.”

- Jim Morrison

In this scene, we see the vast space between Frank Underwood and his wife Claire.

Their marriage-cum-political alliance is at its breaking point. Is there, for either of them, any difference between self-preservation, strategic power play, and true courage?

Selected Quote:

"Together we can build entire empires
If we only have the courage to be vulnerable, gentle and honest"

The US Presidency, depicted here in its symbolism and drama.

After a frustrating negotiation with the Russian president, Frank Underwood takes a stand.

In this image, we are invited to see Frank as a kind of savior. Or is it just the American people who are invited to do so, while we viewers see through the smoke and mirrors to his true character?

Selected Quote:

“I will be satisfied. Deny me this,
And an eternal curse fall on you! Let me know.”

– Shakespeare, Macbeth

Newly minted president Frank Underwood faces international matters.

This image depicts his literal standoff with the Russian president, Viktor Petrov.

A surfboard stands erect between them, while a funny moment takes a dark turn.

oes this symbol suggest – or poke fun at – the idea that politics is a man’s world?

Selected Quote:

“Everybody’s gone surfin’…
Surfin’ U.S.A.”

– Beach Boys, Surfin USA

After fighting his way to the presidency, Frank Underwood moves forward with his plans.

magining a cooperative and supportive administration, he is surprised to find that they see him as a stepping stone, an intermediate solution until their next, real candidate can be elected and installed.

How can he win them, and the American people, over?

Selected Quote:

“To be a leader
To be a liar
To be honest
One needs the courage to be
In the limelight”

Now the door opens to the most admired room of power, the oval office.

Francis dream becomes true.

Supported by Claire, he takes the last step on its his own. The time stands still and roles are shifting.

Selected Quote:

“If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, Infinite.”

– William Blake

Francis is meeting his rival, down a cellar, while a Puccini opera is played on stage upstairs.

Two shadows at the end of the tunnel, after month of heavy intrigues and fierce positioning, Francis takes it all and the door towards the oval office becomes more open.

Selected Quote:

“Nobody’s very big in the first place, and it looks to me like everybody spends their whole life tearing everybody else down.”

– Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

An amazing image, embodying the delicate and complex relationship between Frank (Kevin Spacey) and Claire Underwood (Robin Wright).

Frank learns that a general, whom he is now to honor at a public ceremony, raped his wife when the two attended college together.

The viewpoint, we take as observers, is extraordinary. After we witness him commit a murder to keep his own secrets, we are reminded of Frank’s genuine loyalty, compassion, and humanity.

Or is it merely a double standard?

Selected Quote:

“Stronger than lover’s love is lover’s hate.
Incurable, in each, the wounds they make.”

– Medea, Euripides

Conspiracy at its best. An empty space, literally underground. The lines of Harry Weese’s famous subway stations pull Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) together, while the pillar reveals the tenseness and separation between them. We are pulled so close in this frame that we experience ourselves as a third participant and conspirator.

Selected Quote:

“Arms may be warmer than a coat

Emptiness is too heavy to carry alone

Our skin is the limit within which we live”

The moment it all begins.

Here, Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) understands that his bid for Secretary of State, a crucial step on his path to an eventual Presidency, has failed.

He is trapped in the corner of the room, which you can see behind his back. At the left, two lamps cast a warm light on a portrait of George Washington, whose footsteps he’ll now be unable to follow.

It’s a surprisingly delicate portrayal of a violent breaking point.

Selected Quote:

“I long to fly
but wings won’t grow till you can carry your own weight”

The high peak, end of season two.

Now, Francis is President. Standing in the area of power, behind the presidential desk, he knocks two times at the table.

Then it’s all black.

Selected Quote:

“Moral people are the most revengeful of mankind: they employ their morality as the best and most subtle weapon of vengeance.”

―Lev Shestov, “All Things are Possible” (1905)