Frank starts to influence key individuals to help ramp up the fear during the campaign.
This is a strong episode with some entertaining moments, beautiful visuals and great central performances.
The story packs in a fair bit of content and appears to kick off plot threads that could go in fairy dramatic and confrontational directions, such as what appears to be happening with Seth and what is hinted at with Conway's history. Much of it requires a fair bit of suspension of disbelief, but it entertains nonetheless.
My favourite scenes are mainly the ones with Frank, such as his opening speech and one confrontation with Claire. There are some good moments involving her, but as ever the Thomas Yates interaction tends to drag it all down. This character better make a significant contribution to the overarching narrative before the show ends.
Visually it is stunning. Almost every shot is perfectly framed, lit, coloured and the placement of people and props is perfect. Some shots have more symmetry than the Taj Mahal.
Most performances are strong, especially Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright.