What You Forgot About 'House of Cards' Season 2

Your third annual epic House of Cards binge is quickly approaching. By now you probably should have requested the day (or week) off from work to give the series its due time. Ideally, you get the week off to commence re-watching Seasons 1 and 2, but not everyone has time for that undertaking. If you're like me and you need to get geared up for Season 3 without the primer, you need to figure out how how did House of Cards Season 2 end? If you've forgotten the insane finale, here's your quick recap to bring you up to speed.

Frank Moved Quickly

For starters, Frank Underwood (or Francis to Claire) begins the episode as Vice President of the United States. By the end of the episode, he's the actual President of the United States. As you may be starting to recall, Frank has been sewing the seeds for this coup d'état since the very beginning. It's his beautiful Presidential long con. And, now, the pieces have finally fallen into place. Frank's plan was simple: become the Democratic Majority Whip, then become Vice President, then become president and bam, ultimate power is his for the taking. During the Season 2 finale, then-current President, Garrett Walker, fell right into his trap. Facing extremely low approval ratings — and the looming threat of impeachment, thanks to his alleged Xanax prescription and rumors of his involvement in illegal Chinese contributions to Super PACs — Walker resigned from office. Moments later, Frank was sworn in at Camp David and the country gained a new President.

Claire's Downfall

Elsewhere, Claire was dealing with her own issues after the fall out from her interview in which she accused General Dalton McGinnis. Megan Hennessey also came forward after Claire's interview, but Megan can't hold everything together as well as Claire. Claire gets a call from Megan in the middle of the night and immediately flies out to see her, but Megan pushes her away — Claire has been using her as a pawn this whole time, after all.

Doug Maybe Died

There's also the matter of Doug Stamper and Rachel Posner and it doesn't have a happy ending if you look at it from Doug's point of view. Rachel — the former sex worker who was duped Peter Russo all the way back in Season 1 — is inherently mixed up in the Underwoods' sprawling scheme (she led Peter astray, so she's involved) and it's Doug's job to keep her quiet. The problem is that Doug develops weird, creepy feelings for her, and gets mad when Rachel starts seeing someone else. So, Doug decides to move Rachel to a new location (he had been hiding her outside of D.C.) and in transit, Rachel tucks and rolls out of the moving vehicle to get away from Doug.

That's where everything could end, except that Doug goes after Rachel. She's had enough of everything at this point, and when finds her in the woods, she attacks him with a rock. Does she mean to kill him? Probably not. But that's what it looks like has happened as she leaves his body behind and drives away in his car. The Underwoods have no idea this has happened yet, and it'll probably play a huge role in Season 3.

Who's Still Alive To Return In Season 3?

And, a quick rundown of other people who the Underwoods haven't knowingly (or unknowingly) killed yet, aka the people who could feasibly come back in Season 3: Edward Meechum, Raymond Tusk, Jackie Sharp, Gavin Orsay, Lucas Goodwin, Janine Skorsky (feels like she fell off the face of the show, though), and Freddy (even though Freddy's BBQ is no more).

Cashew For President

The unsung hero of House of Cards season 2, Cashew, made it out of the finale alive, which basically means that she'll also be back for more political adventures. Let's hope her power grab works, and soon she'll be Supreme Court Justice to Frank's President. Or maybe that's just my House of Cards dream.

Image: David Giesbrecht for Netflix (2)