Cards Versus Classes: How to Fit House of Cards Into Your Harvard Day

The dastardly Frank Underwood returned to our television sets and laptop screens last Friday in the second season of acclaimed political power drama House of Cards. Round two of Underwood’s Machiavellian antics lasts 13 episodes, which also means 13 hours of valuable time.
Harvard loves power, and Harvard loves winning, so Harvard should love House of Cards. Unfortunately, Harvard also loves schoolwork, extracurriculars, and being busy. To help students combine all these passions in the future—and to instruct them on how they erred in the past—we’ve come up with some multitasking methods for everyone’s Netflix-viewing pleasure.

House of Hallmark Cards
Any couple who did not cozy up on a dorm room couch this February 14 and close out a romantic evening with Frank Underwood’s fourth-wall-breaking croons made a grave mistake. If you want to plan a romantic date this weekend, open up a bottle of wine for two as Frank sips his bourbon. Better yet, remind your beloved how much more warmth exists in your relationship than in Frank and Claire’s with a cup of hot cocoa.

Brain Break
As midterms descend on Harvard as ubiquitously as unmanageably as the snow, students throw themselves into studying and paper-writing with aplomb. But all work and no play never did anyone any favors. A break from academia is often in order, and who better to supply it than the House of Cards cast? Try rewarding yourself for every essay page written with a few minutes of Frank’s (likely even more eloquent) tirades against his enemies. Crush an Ec 10 practice test? Watch Frank positively pulverize Senate Republicans faster than you can say “David Johnson.”

Chapter 27
Forget about just watching House of Cards. You can make time for the show and everything else those silly professors, teaching fellows, and bosses have been keeping you from doing: Tack an extra chapter of House of Cards onto the 26 that already exist by employing Frank’s tactics in your own life. Pesky problem set? Under a different name, con your TF into making you a grader and give yourself a check-plus-plus. Midterm on Monday? Promise your peers rewards (free uses of your Board Plus? Insomnia Cookie cake?) if they stage a coup.