There are power couples, and then there’s Zoe Barnes and Frank Underwood, which is less a couple than a transaction with the lights turned down.
What happens in House of Cards S1E7
Zoe is a young Washington reporter who works out early that a congressman with an agenda is worth more than any press pass. Frank hands her the stories that sink his rivals; she hands her editors the scoops. Nobody in this arrangement is confused about what’s being traded. By “Chapter 7,” the deal has moved into the bedroom. He lays her on the bed, pushes her dress up rather than off, and goes to work with his mouth. There’s no nudity here, from her or from anyone standing in for her. The camera isn’t interested in skin this time. It’s interested in leverage.
What earns it a place this high is the power math. The scene is less about pleasure than about who owes whom when it’s over, which could well be the most Washington thing ever filmed on a mattress. Zoe plays it as if she’s the one holding the cards, and for a while she might even be right. Mara was 28 and 29 across the 2012 shoot, and season one, the role that made strangers learn her name, arrived on Netflix on February 1, 2013.
Here’s my theory about why it works: in a show where every handshake is a threat, the only honest thing in the room is appetite.
It ranks second among every Kate Mara scene we cover. The same arrangement loses its manners in House of Cards S1E9.
Series: House of Cards (Netflix original) · season 1 released February 1, 2013 · episode “Chapter 7” · Kate Mara as Zoe Barnes; scene partner Frank Underwood
All Kate Mara scenes
1Love Scenes My Days of Mercy- 2Now watchingBedroom Scene House of Cards S1E7
- 3Photo Scene (body double) House of Cards S1E5
- 4Against the Wall House of Cards S1E9
- 5Shower Walk (body double) House of Cards S2E1
Back to the hub: Kate Mara nude: every scene, ranked.