House of Cards - Episode 3

Henry Collingridge calls an emergency cabinet meeting and tells his colleagues he is resigning at once. He thanks them for their friendship and loyalty, at least those who feel the words apply to them. Later he goes to see his brother in the private nursing home where he is drying out, and tells him that he is glad it is over and he will not have to fight the bastards any more.

Urquhart turns to the audience straight afterwards, and does it while standing at a urinal. Not feeling guilty, he hopes. If there are any pangs of pity, they should be ground under the heel. He says he has done the country a favour, because Collingridge did not have the brain, heart or stomach to lead it, and his deepest need was to be liked, which is admirable in a spaniel but not in a Prime Minister.

He lets others announce their candidacy first and plans to enter the race later in the day. He can count on powerful friends when he does. Ben Landless promises the support of his media empire and says he will expect Urquhart to be grateful for ever.

There is a quiet shift in this episode. It is less about Urquhart's scheming than about Mattie Storin's investigations. The title suggests that a house of cards is a big structure that can be brought down by one small movement, and the first movement is Mattie's refusal to give up the share scandal.

She has been moved off the political section of the Chronicle and on to Women's Features, but she keeps digging. Collingridge himself has convinced her that he has no head for share dealing, so someone must have set him and his brother up.

Urquhart tries to warn her off by sending Roger O'Neill to her house to throw a brick through the window and daub paint on her car. It backfires. Penny Guy tells Mattie that Roger was responsible, but begs her not to go to the police, since in his state he might kill himself. Urquhart persuades Mattie that he is the best person to talk to O'Neill and find out what he knows. Archive TV Musings fears that the easily manipulated O'Neill is not long for this world.

For now, Mattie believes everything Urquhart tells her. But she will not stop, and so he takes her to bed, which may secure her loyalty. In the study the two of them argue over what she should call him. Not Francis, and Chief Whip seems silly. After some beats she says she wants to call him Daddy, and has to repeat it for the shocked Urquhart. The kiss seals it. Susannah Harker and Ian Richardson play the scene in alternating tight shots until they share the frame.

Urquhart cannot know that Mattie has been tape-recording every one of their meetings.