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House of Cards

Every new season of House of Cards leaves us with a ton of burning questions, and the fifth season of the Netflix original series is no different. As on-again, off-again President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) stealthily eliminates every threat that stands in his way, he’s suddenly confounded by a seemingly squeaky-clean congressman hellbent on taking Frank down. Luckily for Frank, however, Congressman Alex Romero (James Martinez) is not as faultless as he’s led others to believe.

After Romero leads the committee to investigate Underwood for wrongdoing, it seems as though Underwood has no other option than to take him down. In “Chapter 65“, after Romero pledges to continue his investigation, all Underwood says is one word: “Rochelle”. It’s enough to drain all the color from Romero’s face. Confused? The name’s been explained before, but if you were suffering a binge-watch hangover, you might have missed it:

Who is Romero on House of Cards?

Congressman Alex Romero of Arizona is first introduced in “Chapter 53“, the first episode of House of Cards‘ fifth season. Despite being a Democrat, he tries to make a deal with Republican candidate Will Conway (Joel Kinnaman) and the two bond over their dislike of Underwood. Conway even jests that he leans a “little to the right”, which Romero receives with a smirk.

Conway nudges him to get onto the committee to investigate Underwood, which will help them both, and while Romero doesn’t give him a direct answer, he certainly seems to be weighing his options.

Why does Frank Underwood go after Romero?

Romero champions Congress’ investigation into Underwood’s criminal actions, and it’s a matter of time before they find out the truth. Underwood employs Mark Usher to find some dirt on Romero, and initially, he seems to be clean as a whistle. Later, however, when the threat of Romero’s actions seem to be carrying some real weight, Usher reveals that he does have something on Romero.

What dirt does Usher have on Romero?!

It’s not pretty. In “Chapter 64“, Usher reveals to Underwood that back in college, Romero and five friends took turns gang-raping a girl named Rochelle. Romero claimed to the dean that he only watched and did not participate, but this evidently turned out to be untrue. This late revelation from Usher frustrates Underwood, who believes Usher was withholding this information all along.

So who is Rochelle on House of Cards?

Simply put, Rochelle is Romero’s rape victim, and apparently someone who never saw justice served to Romero for what he did to her. She’s essentially Romero’s skeleton in the closet; if word got out that he was a rapist, his entire political career (and otherwise) would come to a screeching halt.

How does this help Frank?

All he has to say is her name, and it dismantles Romero in an instant. “Rochelle,” Underwood drawls. “Such a lovely name. Tell me how much you don’t want that to end up in the press. And then shut this committee down.”

What does Romero do?

As Underwood expected, he backs down. This is too big of a scandal to ever live down, and Romero can’t risk it. Romero shuts down the committee, freeing Underwood from further investigation and charges from the Department of Justice (for now). Later on, Romero defends Underwood in a television interview, expressing joy for their first female president. We all know this is a guise, though. Romero’s just a filthy coward who doesn’t want anyone to know he gang raped a girl in college.