Frank (
Kevin Spacey) is in the middle of negotiating the education bill with Marty Spinella (
Al Sapienza), head of a teachers'
union, when he learns that a 17-year-old girl has been killed due to
texting while driving in his hometown of
Gaffney,
South Carolina, while being distracted by the
Peachoid, a water tower shaped like a peach that Frank had advocated to keep standing.
County administrator Oren Chase (
Murphy Guyer), a
Republican rival of Frank's who wants his
congressional seat, urges the girl's parents to file a lawsuit against him. Over Linda (
Sakina Jaffrey) and Spinella's protests, Frank leaves for Gaffney. There, he meets the girl's parents and delivers a
eulogy at her funeral, offering a settlement of $150,000 and promising to sponsor billboards warning against texting while driving. When the parents don't seem satisfied, he asks Reverend Jenkins (Bill Phillips) to arrange the following morning's service to give him the pulpit. Meanwhile, Claire (
Robin Wright) tries to recruit Gillian Cole (
Sandrine Holt), the head of a competing environmental nonprofit, but is refused. Unfazed, Claire follows Gillian home and, noting that she can't afford treatment for her chronic illness, promises her
health insurance. Zoe (
Kate Mara) makes numerous media appearances as a result of her leak of Durant's (
Jayne Atkinson) nomination for
Secretary of State. Her off-the-cuff comments during interviews lead to a rift with Hammerschmidt (
Boris McGiver), who suspends her for a month. Meanwhile, Russo (
Corey Stoll) starts making efforts to put his life back in order to maintain his relationship with Christina (
Kristen Connolly), who is considering taking a job with
House Speaker Bob Birch. He gets rid of his drug stash and tells Christina that he doesn't want her to leave. In South Carolina, Frank continues negotiating the education bill via
conference call. After a brief phone conversation with Claire, he corresponds with Zoe via text and she sends him mildly flirty messages. The next morning, Underwood speaks to the congregation of his hometown church and gives a passionate old-school sermon around the "idea of hate". He's then able to connect to the parishioners by making them equals, saying they've all done this before when feeling soul-crushing loss, and two among them are feeling that today. Frank invites the parents to lunch. Discussions get heated with Underwood asking them if they want him to resign. He ends up on good terms with them, announcing a
Furman University scholarship in their daughter's honor. In order to take Oren down, he finds out that the responsibility for guardrails is the county's—but none have been built. Along with the mayor, Frank visits Oren and confronts him with that responsibility. He also tells Oren that the planned
power lines that the mayor has blocked, because they would fall on Oren's property, can go up this year if he claims it as
eminent domain. ==Cast==