1/14/16
I’ve been re-watching the third season of the Netflix series House of Cards, to brush up on the show prior to the release of season four. At one point, after a particularly tough series of circumstances, Frank Underwood phones his wife Claire. Frank had recently been at a funeral for Navy S.E.A.L.S. & was subsequently told off by a civilian who had been injured in a drone strike. Those details were unnecessary, but backspacing seems even more so. Anyhow, the point is that, in the episode, President Underwood was stressing something fierce. Over the course of the phone call, Frank starts to say things like “They died because of me, etc. etc.” (this quote is not verbatim.) Almost immediately Claire interjects a curt “Stop it!”
Frank stops it. Claire goes on to say, “I will talk about this if you want but if you're doubting yourself, I can't indulge that.” At that point I was like “DAMN #relationship goals!” because I’m with it af. But seriously, I’m aware that we’re supposed to see the relationship between Claire & Frank Underwood as volatile & dangerous, & it is, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from it. For example, imposing an embargo on self-doubt indulgence would encourage personal evolution. If the person one loves fails to acknowledge one’s self-doubts, those doubts will become increasingly less important and, like a cube of sugar thrown in a pot of water, gradually fade away. What’s possible for a couple who have dissolved each other’s self-doubts? I don’t know. Maybe the White House. Maybe seeing the world. Maybe having a bunch of kids. Maybe finally opening the restaurant. Maybe just a lifetime of good, dirty, horizon expanding sex.
Whatever they are, your #relationshipgoals won’t be achieved through possessiveness or jealousy. Frank and Claire Underwood are neither polygamous nor polyamorous but they aren’t entirely “faithful” either. Back in season one, when Frank first fucks the young & supple reporter Zoey Barnes, Claire asks him simply, “What does she do for us?” (or something like that, I’m not reading the script). Well, first, (& glossed over on the show, for some reason) she got a nice, young, excitable pussy for Frank to enjoy. Second, of course, she’s a reporter. In season two, Claire runs off for a while with an artist. Why? To sow some oats & get dicked down by a man with less-calculated passions (but passions, indeed) (she needed to cum hard). It makes sense! Why should it be such a crazy thought that our lovers might need a change of pace once in awhile? Why should we avoid for ourselves & ban for our lovers affairs that may be beneficial to the relationship, or even just our lover? Does any of this make sense? Shouldn’t we want our lovers at their best?
It’s enough to get me thinking, anyway.
Frank X Maloney
