Here’s That House of Cards Scene Everyone Is Talking About
[There was a video here]
Don’t worry, it’s very PG-13. Otherwise, beware of spoilers ahead.
Above you’ll find one of the weirder scenes in Netflix’s House of Cards—an expertly choreographed foreplay sequence between Francis J. Underwood, his wife Claire, and their young, hand-picked Secret Service agent, Edward Meechum.
It’s not without precedent: In the first season, Claire sleeps with Adam Galloway, a New York photographer; and Francis, sitting on the floor of his alma mater’s library with an old classmate, acknowledges the two men “messed around a couple of times.” (He also slept with Zoe Barnes.) But nowhere else do their desires for others, and each other, so neatly cohere and envelop the entire frame.
The scene is additionally noteworthy for the presence of Kevin Spacey, who rarely plays gay characters (one exception: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, portraying an antiques dealer who murders his lover), and is commonly understood to be gay.
Otherwise not much leads up to the encounter, and not much explains it afterward, except perhaps the Underwoods’ wish to demonstrate their power over someone like Meechum. Take away the specifics, and it’s...just like any other moment.