Chapter 2 (House of Cards)
| "Chapter 2" | |
|---|---|
| House of Cards episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 2 |
| Directed by | David Fincher |
| Written by | Beau Willimon |
| Produced by |
|
| Featured music | Jeff Beal |
| Cinematography by | Eigil Bryld |
| Editing by | Kirk Baxter |
| Production code | HOC-102 |
| Original air date | February 1, 2013 |
| Running time | 49 minutes |
"Chapter 2" (or "Episode 102") is the second 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.
Frank (Kevin Spacey) is still sitting on the terrace of Freddy's, enjoying his first step to securing his revenge. He is off to meet part of the Democratic leadership for breakfast, where they discuss their course of action on how to handle the disaster of the education bill. They are interrupted by Remy Danton (Mahershala Ali), and Frank introduces Remy, who he explains used to be press secretary to the leadership before leaving to work at Glendon Hill. Remy reminds Frank that SanCorp has heavily invested in him, and they want to see results. Frank assures Remy that he is "on top of it."
Doug (Michael Kelly) finds something on Michael (Kevin Kilner) to keep him from nomination, but Frank refuses, saying "it's thin". Frank deliberately leaks the draft of the bill, in order to secure full control over legislative course from the President and lures Donald (Reed Birney) into his plan to blame him for the leak. Claire (Robin Wright) downsizes half of her Clean Water initiative staff despite her wishes, because the donation contingent on Frank's being appointed Secretary of State is withdrawn.
Frank arranges a meeting with Zoe (Kate Mara) to work on his next task, and hands her the editorial in a student newspaper in which a much younger Kern once called the Israeli occupation of the West Bank illegal. Though skeptical, she takes it to her editors, who also show reservations, though Zoe convinces her editor to publish. During an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Kern criticizes Frank's line of "trickle-down diplomacy" but stumbles over his own words when Stephanopoulos brings out an advance copy of Zoe's article. Much to Frank's amusement, Kern is relieved to know that this will kill his nomination. Furthermore, Stamper managed to locate an old member of Kern's college editorial board, Roy Kapeniak (T.J. Edwards), a burnt-out anti-government extremist and columnist, and Kern's former co-editor of the student newspaper. In order to take full control and raise the stakes, Frank decides to send Peter Russo (Corey Stoll), who is already in his debt over the previous drink-driving episode, to talk with Kapeniak, who reveals that it was actually his article, and that Kern had nothing to do with it. Russo asks him to lie about it and say that Kern wrote it.
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