Warning: this article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the latest season of House of Cards so unless you've seen it already, you probably best turn back now.
Seriously, once you scroll past this picture of Baby Groot it's a no-holds barred spoil-a-thon, and you can't say we didn't warn you.
So, about that scene where Claire Underwood murdered Tom Yates.
Season five saw the First Lady become just as evil as her husband Frank, as she murders her sometimes friend, sometimes employee and sometimes lover in cold blood.
Obviously such a seismic shift for the show would not have come about easily in the writers' room – in fact, current showrunners Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese called the moment "painful" to both write and shoot.
Speaking to TVLine, Gibson said the twist was heavily debated. "Part of what we were grappling with is how is Claire really Frank's equal?" she added.
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"On a certain level, she's not his equal until her hands are as dirty as his. Until she can prove that she's willing to stop at nothing to get what she wants. Claire's ambition is a major theme this season, so, of course, it had to be justified.
"It was actually really painful," Gibson continued. "It was painful to write and shoot. [Tom] is a beloved character. And I believe that a real depth and love had developed in that relationship. It was the highest price she had to pay."
Pugilese added: "It had to happen, as difficult as it was. So much of the arc of the season is Claire coming to terms with her ambition and embracing it and figuring out how to become different that Francis but also his equal.
"The world of the show is very corrupting and there's a price you pay for power. And many times it's some piece of your humanity. And, in a way, Tom was asking her to be human."
So how does this affect the show going forward? Well, Gibson said that "the stakes could not be higher for the two of them" while Pugilese adds that Frank realises "he has someone formidable in front of him, and it happens to be his wife".
Of course, Tom isn't the only character to bite the bucket this season, LeAnn Harvey may or may not be dead, and her actress has done nothing to clear up the confusion either.
House of Cards season five is streaming on Netflix now – you can read our review of the first few episodes here.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.














