Ssshhhhiiiiieeeeeeeetttttttttttttttt

the meth heads burn all the files. Something like this happened before, when Katrina flooded a prison. The inmates all got transferred to different prisons, but often without ID or file, and no one is doing the paperwork to fix this. So they're basically ghosts, some of them should have been released by now. Not saying OitNB will do something with the burning files, but it still touches upon relevant issues and I appreciate that.

I don’t think ‘zero consequence’ is fair. It’s more ‘potentially massive future consequences’. This season sets up Claire’s rise to power and the awful things she had to do to get there. Next season has to deal with how many enemies she now has and how many skeletons in her closet. Usher and Davis are now the real power because they have Claire by the balls. They know she’s a murderer. Claire thinks having them both as accomplices/accessories to the crime protects her, but they’re guaranteed to have deniability or immunity. Davis especially is a pro at having people ‘removed’. And Frank … what did Davis agree to do for him? What position in the ‘private sector’ is he going to take, with her help? I’m hooked in for season six.

Frank doesn’t see the real power as being in the private sector. As you say, he’s dismissed that out of hand in the past. His big revelation is that he and Claire could wield ultimate power together by being in and outside at the same time. With her as President and him on the outside, they can genuinely control everything. Far greater power – and corruption! – than could ever be possible in either individual role. Thing is, with him and Claire estranged his whole grand plan could fail.