History Fridge / HouseOfCardsUS

* Frank's MercyKill of the dog (and the monologue with it) in the opening scene of season one did well at establishing Frank's character but it seemed slightly out of place in the episode. Until you realize it was foreshadowing Peter Russo's death. During their final conversation, it becomes clear that Frank just sees Peter's pain as destructive pain rather than the kind that'll make him stronger. Thus, he ends it. (Also to cover his own skin but still.)

** In the first episode of season 3, after Frank orders a drone strike, he stares at UsefulNotes/HarryTruman, the one who made the fateful decision of dropping the atomic bombs on Japan.

* With the reveal in Season 5 that [[spoiler:Claire Underwood has been aware of the presence of the Fourth Wall, and the viewers beyond, for quite some time, it's worth noting that Claire tends to watch her husband rather intently when he's giving a speech, especially if he's also giving an internal monologue while making the speech, with it being more frequent in Season 5, as Frank's speeches become more dynamic and involve him moving around the area the speech is being given in in ways he couldn't possibly do in actuality. How much of that is her simply listening to the speech...and how much is her listening to her husband talk to us?]]

* With the reveal in Season 5 that [[spoiler:Claire Underwood has been aware of the presence of the Fourth Wall, and the viewers beyond, for quite some time, it's worth noting that Claire tends to watch her husband rather intently when he's giving a speech, especially if he's also giving an internal monologue while making said speech, with it being more frequent in Season 5, as Frank's speeches become more dynamic and involve him moving around the area the speech is being given in in ways he couldn't possibly do in actuality. How much of that is her simply listening to the speech...and how much is her listening to her husband talk to us?]]

** Portraits of UsefulNotes/AndrewJohnson and UsefulNotes/BillClinton, presidents who were impeached.
** Speaking of the portraits of Clinton and JFK, both of those men had affairs, just like Frank and Claire each have (Frank with Zoe Barnes; Claire with Adam Galloway and Thomas Yates).

* As tropers in both main page and headscratchers point out, Frank's cornerstone program, America Works, would never work in real life. It's going to worsen people's lives more than it will ever improve them. But that's exactly the kind of program you can expect from someone like Frank. He excels at fucking people over, not helping them.
** It's also a short-sighted program that is fiscally unsustainable, which is a demonstration of Frank's short-sightedness. All of season 1 and 2 were dedicated to Frank's goal of reaching the presidency, but at no time did he discuss what he wanted to ''do'' as president. Come season 3 and he's scrambling to build a public image and legacy to run for reelection on.

* It seemed like season 3 was lacking in callbacks to seasons 1 and 2 and felt a bit like filler material and the writers had completely forgotten about events in seasons 1 and 2. But then season 4 came out and I realized, perhaps what the writers were going for was making clear that while Frank may have forgotten all about those matters, the audience sure hasn't.

* The scene where we see the boy randomly eat the barrel of his parents' unattended firearm is supposed to explain where Frank got his new liver. It does seem out of place, but that's intentional because it shows how a random nobody can suddenly become connected to someone notable. This makes somewhat more sense after a later scene where Frank stages a press event with the boy's parents and every one of the patients who received his organs.

* It seems odd why Frank's hallucination of Zoe Barnes during his surgery would depict her with short hair, as opposed to the long hair she had when she was alive. The real-life explanation is that Kate Mara cut her hair short, but in-universe, it seems that his hallucination is more a blend of Claire and Zoe. Zoe acts like Zoe, but has Claire's short hair and is wearing that State of the Union dress.

* Frank's MercyKill of the dog (and the monologue with it) in the opening scene of season one did well at establishing Frank's character but it seemed slightly out of place in the episode.
However, it was actually a foreshadowing of his murder of Peter Russo.
During their final conversation, it becomes clear that Frank just sees Peter's pain as destructive pain rather than the kind that'll make him stronger. Thus, he ends it. (Also to cover his own skin but still.)

* It's mentioned that the Russian TV mogul seeking asylum in the United States is being quarantined in Bangor, Maine. It doesn't make sense unless you understand Bangor's importance to international air travel: it's the first major American airport encountered by planes approaching the United States from the east and the last for plane heading towards Europe. This makes it a very popular diversion point, and provides a place to land in case of bad weather at an airplane's destination, bomb threats, unruly passengers, or passengers on the No Fly List. It would make perfect sense why Milkin's private jet would be landed there.

* It seemed like season 3 was lacking in callbacks to seasons 1 and 2 and felt a bit like filler material and the writers had completely forgotten about events in seasons 1 and 2. But then season 4 came out and I realized, perhaps what the writers were going for was making clear that things Frank did all the way back in season 1 would eventually come back to haunt him, like Lucas Goodwin.

* As tropers in both main page and headscratchers point out, Frank's cornerstone program, America Works, would NEVER work in real life, and in fact would be roadblocked by Congress at every turn. It's going to worsen people's lives more than it will ever improve them. But that's exactly the kind of program you can expect from someone like Frank. He excels at fucking people over, but he doesn't know the first thing about bettering people's lives.