Here's How House of Cards Ends, in Case You Just Want to Know

Just because Frank isn't present for this season doesn't mean the character doesn't affect the plot. His death, which happens off screen, pits his right-hand man, Doug, against his plotting wife, Claire. It isn't revealed until the final episode that Frank had been murdered by Doug, who is trying to protect the Underwood legacy from the man himself.

Arguably the best part of House of Cards, Robin Wright's beautiful performance of Claire Underwood has naturally garnered her numerous nominations and awards. Yet it's the show's final season where she is given a real chance to shine and we witness how far Claire is really willing to go.

In the beginning of the sixth season, Claire receives a barrage of gross and sexist attacks on her life. As commander in chief, and the first female one at that, the country does not like her. She spends much of the season grabbing onto any chance she can get to make Americans fearful. She tries to control the populace and her nemeses — The Shepherd Corporation, helmed by brother and sister Bill and Annette — through manipulation and backstabbing. She spends much of the season under their thumbs, as they blackmail her with the knowledge that she's behind Tom's death. With that threat looming over her, she has to find ways to get out from under their control.

Through numerous political maneuvers, some successful (like firing her whole Cabinet and replacing them with women) and some less so (the murder of various characters), her presidency manages to stay alive throughout the season, thanks in no small part to the fact that she is also pregnant with Frank's baby (yes, really).

As her belly grows, so do her vicious schemes. The last we see of Claire, she is in the Oval Office with Doug. He threatens her with a letter opener, but she turns it on him, first stabbing him in the gut, then smothering him.

Doug Stamper's (Michael Kelly) mental health deteriorates even further in season six. As Frank's minion of choice, Doug is always loyal but often gets carried away by emotion and acts impetuously (as evident by the murder of Rachel in season three). Season six Doug is no different. The death of Frank clearly is affecting him, but he begrudgingly works alongside Claire, whom he loathes.

Even though Doug agrees to help Claire, every chance he gets in this season he undermines her and actively seeks to make people distrust the president. While he is talking to the press about how he doesn't see eye to eye with President Hale, Claire is also bad-mouthing him in press briefings. It's confirmed that Doug was to be gifted everything after Frank's death, after a last-minute change to his will. He spends much of the season trying to get anyone, especially Claire, to stop maligning Frank and Frank's legacy.

In the final minutes of the season, it's revealed that he is actually the one who killed Frank in an effort to protect the Underwood legacy, since Frank had been determined to kill Claire. After that revelation, Claire is unwilling to acquiesce to Doug's demand that she admit that Frank played an integral role in making her who she is. He gets angry and threatens her with a letter opener in the throat, but when he relaxes, she turns it on him and stabs him in the stomach. He dies on the floor of the Oval Office in Claire's arms.

The former Underwood staffer is now squarely on team Shepherd, even if they would rather him not be around. Seth (Derek Cecil) spends much of season six trying to help the Shepherds but doesn't seem to be too successful. He fails to stop an exposé from coming out about an app that they had developed that would track everyone's moves and tells Doug to stop speaking to the press about President Claire.

Presented as a journalist at her finest, Janine (Constance Zimmer) has the benefit of working on two major stories that affect Claire's presidency. The first is an exposé on the Shepherd family and an app they have developed. The second is an article that publishes excerpts from recorded conversations that Doug had with Frank on the night of Frank's death. These recordings would seriously affect Claire's reputation, as the recordings make it clear that Claire was complicit in all of Frank's crimes.

At the end of season five, Frank pushes the secretary of state (Jayne Atkinson) down a flight of stairs for her knowledge of the Underwood family's crimes. The not-yet-dead Cathy attempts to fake her own death to avoid a real assassination from Claire. Unfortunately for her, Claire gets wise to this deception, and a sniper guns her down in the French Alps.

Journalist Tom (Boris McGiver) can't catch a break around the Underwoods. Since he gets so close to truly taking them down over the past couple seasons, it makes sense that Claire would jump at the opportunity to have him killed, which is exactly what she does. Staging it as a robbery gone wrong, Tom is killed, thus saving Claire from another political scandal.

Bill Shepherd (Greg Kinnear) is one half of the brother-sister duo that is the Shepherds, the main nemeses for Claire's presidency. Bill, sick and suffering from cancer, hates Claire. After arranging a failed assassination attempt, Bill tries to force Claire's hand (quite literally, by dragging her hand across the paper) to sign a bill that would benefit him. Unsuccessful, he spends the remainder of the season railing against Claire through the media and is largely shunned by his more powerful sister.

If you've ever wondered what Claire would be like if she had kept her babies instead of aborting them, look no further than Annette (Diane Lane). A childhood friend of Claire's, Annette is equally powerful and cunning.

After unsuccessfully attempting to have Claire assassinated, it's clear she has numerous other plans in place to take down the president. One such plan is having the body of Tom Yates, whom Claire murders the previous season, on ice as a way of blackmailing Claire into submission. When that still doesn't take down Claire, Annette gets Claire's OBGYN to try to kill Claire's baby by drugging it through an IV, but that doesn't work as well.

Unsuccessful at forcing Claire to do her bidding, her final scene is in the Oval Office, where she makes one last-ditch effort to get Claire to let her son Duncan go, which she of course does not.