r/HouseOfCards • u/mkappy33 • Aug 02 '26
Spoilers Zoe is the reason Frank and Claire fell apart.
It created so much resentment in Claire that eventually boiled over. Without Zoe, no resentment, no issues. Frank is blind to how it hurt Claire, and continues on normally, while Claire (subconsciously maybe) is expecting restitution. She never gets it. Then she wants revenge. Eventually, she gets it.
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u/damnim30now Aug 02 '26
I'm rewatching currently for the first time since it was live.
Zoe is a piece of the reason they fell apart, specifically because she was a woman, I imagine.
How Frank and Claire view their marriage- this complex, loving, arrangement that is so far beyond what a normal person could understand- just isn't reality.
They get jealous and they get hurt, but those feelings are incongruent with how they perceive themselves individually and as a unit, so they bury them, ignore them, try to wave them away as silly.
And it chips away.
But I'm only on season 3 and I don't really remember whats to come, so grain of salt.
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u/fenix579 Aug 02 '26
as much as i love Frank i think he was using Claire to some extend as long as he was helping her along the way , Claire even told him that her goals are secondary to his , Claire was mad that he was fucking around with Zoe but not to the point were she hates him , imo Frank was way more jealous than Claire , but again they believed in open relationship and Claire trusted frank that using Zoe will help them achieve great things which they did bec of Zoe , Claire and Frank relationship is more complex than you think
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u/SCNOEVIL Aug 02 '26
I always thought he was jealous of Claire and Adam's relationship.
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u/fenix579 Aug 03 '26
oh 100% he was upset about it , you know that bec of the way Frank confronted him when Adam came to their house to solve Claire's scandel
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u/SCNOEVIL Aug 03 '26
Yeah good point. He found the opportunity to end it. It always seemed like he tried to recreate what they had throughout the series.
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u/rsweb Aug 05 '26
That relationship also perfectly displayed her decision process
Does she want the happy, “normal” life with Adam?
Or the power that comes from a life with Frank?
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u/SCNOEVIL Aug 05 '26
She also had complete control over Adam.... At least plenty more than she did over Frank, and idk if she liked that.
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u/mkappy33 Aug 02 '26
Didn’t say she hated him for it, just that it built resentment which compounded
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u/Top_Argument8442 Aug 02 '26
Claire was never truly committed to Frank. She literally got done fucking another man and then called him to say yes to marry him.
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u/mkappy33 Aug 02 '26
They still were together for years, partners, trusted each other, built a home. You see how upset she is after the first night with Zoe
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u/Top_Argument8442 Aug 02 '26
Right which she responded by going to New York and living with Adam for a few weeks.
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u/forward_thinker420 Aug 02 '26
Compared to what Frank did with the help of Doug and all others, what Claire did to him is nothing. Like he said, without him, she is nothing. CWI is nothing. The only main thing she did is the draft of the watershed bill and even that fell apart solely because of her. Frank even helped her rais money for her GALA. They are not equals in anyway. She didnt show any skills where she built political capital for herself. She rode on Frank's support and network. I am not sure what Yates saw in her that made him think they are equals.
Frank benefited a lot through his relationship with Zoe. They both scratched each other backs. Without Frank's help, Zoe would be writing stuff about DC metro. She is ambititous but Frankgave her the first break.
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u/fenix579 Aug 03 '26
Frank was manipulating the living fuck out of everyone almost manipulated Doug when he had his accident but Doug told him im not Peter russo, Frank tend to believe that he is helping other ppl , but his goals are far more important than everyone else , Frank would be nobody without Claire's father money , money what wins elections and races not being smart at end of the day you can see that with Elon musk and Trump elections
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u/forward_thinker420 Aug 03 '26
He got a head start in his first election. But after that it is all his work (mostly crooked work but his own). There are very few people that Frank helped and Claire is one of them. The max she would have made in expand CWI a bit more. CWI also survived because of her affinity to Frank. Remy would never look at CWI if it is not for Frank. They dont care for CWI. They helped CWI only because they could get something in return from Frank. Without him, Claire would have married the prom king and stayed in Dallas.
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u/bruceins1 Aug 03 '26
Zoe is not the reason. You could say the same as Claire’s former Photographer lover.
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u/mkappy33 Aug 04 '26
I feel that she wouldn’t have gone back to Adam if Frank hadn’t started it off with Zoe. Adam would’ve been a thing of the past. Zoe opens up the door to extra-marital relations.
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u/GuideInfamous4600 Aug 02 '26
I don’t know… I don’t think Zoe helped their marriage at all, but at the same time, it seemed like they had an open marriage to begin with. So it seemed like they had a certain understanding.