Monday, April 29, 2024

Being Zoe Barnes: Reconsidering the Most Difficult Character in House of Cards

kate mara house of cards

When Frank discovers that Feng is the source of the donations, he gets Feng to end his partnership with Tusk in exchange for a lucrative contract for a bridge over Long Island Sound. Frank Underwood, a power-hungry Democratic congressman from South Carolina and House majority whip, celebrates the 2012 election of President Garrett Walker, who had agreed to appoint him Secretary of State in exchange for his support. However, Underwood learns that the President wants him to promote his agenda in Congress and will not honor their agreement. Inwardly seething, Underwood presents himself as a helpful lieutenant to Walker. In reality, Underwood begins an elaborate plan behind the President's back. Frank's wife Claire runs an NGO, the Clean Water Initiative, which she uses to cultivate her own power; she seeks to expand its scope to the international stage, often using Frank's connections.

Deal of the Day

"I got so many #wtf tweets. That was the most popular thing that people were saying," she said. "It was such a crazy thing to start the season off with, and we hoped it would be a big deal." The quest for power knows no nationality or political allegiance. Claire relocates to Dallas and runs for Congress in her home district.

Joseph Quinn Acknowledges The Power Of 'Stranger Things' Fans

Kate Mara left House of Cards after her journalist character Zoe Barnes was pushed in front of a subway train at the beginning of the Netflix series’ second season. I asked Fincher before we ever started shooting if I should watch it, because I wanted to. And he told me I shouldn't because we were doing a very different thing. Now that it's done for me, I'll probably go back and check it out, because people say really great things about it.

Episodes

She makes moves and says things impulsively, wounding or angering people she later needs to win back. Zoe, though — Zoe is all ruthless aspiration and a willingness to throw others over or step on their necks to get ahead. It’s the kind of ambition that’s all about context — it’s a quality that could be heroic or terrible depending on how its framed, particularly in a show like this, and one that audiences tend to find more troublesome in female characters. Zoe is uppity, she doesn’t wait her turn, she pushes for work in other reporters’ territory, she’s not thankful for what she’s given.

Kate Mara: Subway Spooked Me Out After 'House of Cards' - Cheddar

Kate Mara: Subway Spooked Me Out After 'House of Cards'.

Posted: Thu, 19 Jul 2018 07:00:00 GMT [source]

They had some people screaming at one point, but I think they told the extras at that point that like, a dog or something was thrown in front of the train.

With Pennsylvania secured by Conway and Ohio seeming to swing his way, Frank unofficially calls Conway directly to concede. However, this is merely a tactic to put Conway off guard, as the Underwoods contact Ohio's governor and convince him to close the polls early on the pretense of a terrorist threat. Ohio and Tennessee refuse to certify the election, and neither candidate reaches the requisite number of electoral votes. Ambassador to the United Nations and faces a crisis in the Jordan Valley, which pits Frank against Russian President Viktor Petrov.

She was 30 years old when the first episode aired on February 1, 2013. Although a shock for fans of the show, Mara’s exit from House of Cards did not surprise the actress. Her contract for the show was for 14 episodes, and she was promised a gory death for her character. Zoe’s apparently lack of a moral compass is troubling, but it seems part and parcel of her most maddening and compelling quality, which is her inability to think ahead, to look at things from a larger perspective. She starts sleeping with him because she thinks it’s a way to keep him close, then tries to cut the affair off when she thinks it may tarnish her reputation as a journalist.

David Fincher, Beau Willimon & Kate Mara On Netflix’s ‘House of Cards’

Kate Mara happy to be killed off in House of Cards - New Zealand Herald

Kate Mara happy to be killed off in House of Cards.

Posted: Tue, 28 Jul 2015 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Rachel, fearing potential harm and Doug's growing obsession with her, ambushes Doug and leaves him for dead, fleeing into hiding. In 2017, following allegations of sexual misconduct against Spacey, Netflix terminated their relationship with the actor. The sixth and final season was produced and released in 2018 without his involvement. TVLINE | I’m worried Zoe’s death may be forgotten, and that Frank won’t be made to pay. I love the show and the questions of morals and who’s good and bad — none of that bothered me as a viewer.

kate mara house of cards

She asks Doug to perpetrate the act, but he is reluctant, mainly desiring to protect Frank's legacy. Claire, through now-Speaker Cole, blackmails Justice Abruzzo into recusing himself in a case dealing with her power to launch nuclear weapons. Janine Skorsky and Doug continue to work to uncover the Underwoods, with Doug leaking contents of Frank's secret audio diary while Claire blames everything on Frank. Claire then uses the pretense of ICO obtaining a nuclear weapon to create a crisis, leading the Shepherds and Doug to accelerate their plans. After sending a copy of Frank's audio and letter opener to Claire, Doug visits her in the Oval Office where he admits that he killed Frank because he was undermining his own legacy.

When Russo decides to come clean about his role in Underwood's schemes, Frank kills Russo and stages his death as a suicide. With the special election in chaos, Underwood convinces the Vice President to step down and run for his old position of governor – leaving the Vice Presidency open to Underwood, as was his plan all along. Underwood is introduced to Missouri billionaire Raymond Tusk, Walker's friend and advisor. Tusk reveals that he has been influencing Walker's decisions all along and convinced him to cancel the original agreement, and explains he will influence Walker to nominate Underwood for vice president if he does a favor benefiting Tusk's interests.

In light of the tie, Claire orders a special election for Ohio and Tennessee. Meanwhile, Jane Davis, a low-ranking Commerce Department official who has a wide-ranging network of connections and influence, begins working closely with the Underwoods. As a private citizen for the time being, Frank attends a meeting of powerful men at a secret society known as Elysian Fields, in an effort to secure their influence for votes in the upcoming special election. Meanwhile, Conway has a mental breakdown on his private plane due to feeling that the election was stolen from him.

There's no moments of him [Frank]—or at least I don't know, because I haven't seen the rest of the series. The reason I was so excited to be a part of it—and I wasn't bummed about it—was because I thought it was such a ballsy move to do it on the very first episode of the second season, and not do it halfway through, or [in] the last episode of the second season. Even if people have seen the original [House of Cards, in which the Zoe character meets a similar fate] even if they know what happens to the character in that one, you don't know when or if it will happen or in what way. So I thought Beau [Willimon, Cards's creator] did such a great job in coming up with that whole thing. And I know the way she goes was really thought out, and it took a very long time to decide what the best way would be. Despite only appearing for a handful of episodes in the series, Mara’s character remains one of her best-known roles.

In response, the Underwoods set up extensive surveillance on all White House personnel. Eventually, the leaker makes a voice-modulated call to Hammerschmidt, implicating Doug in Zoe's murder. The Underwoods convince Doug to take the fall for killing Zoe, and the leaker is revealed to be Frank himself. The leaks are revealed to be part of Frank's master plan to resign the presidency to Claire, believing his thirst for power can be better achieved in the private sector, working alongside his wife's presidency. Frank, concerned about Secretary Durant's intention to testify at the impeachment hearing, pushes her down a short flight of stairs upon accepting her resignation, hospitalizing her.

Frank and Claire travel to South Carolina for a primary, but a series of scandals causes Frank to narrowly lose the state to Dunbar. Frank discovers that Claire had been leaking information to Dunbar, and she threatens to continue unless he names her as his running mate. After Frank begins his vice presidential duties, Claire becomes close with the First Lady and learns Walker's marriage is strained.

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