Read This Before Watching House Of Cards Season 5

House of Cards is the Game of Thrones of D.C. It's politics, minus the dragons. Like Game of Thrones, each episode is bursting with jaw-dropping plot twists. Also like Game of Thrones, you come away from the season shocked and oversaturated by violence and drama. By the time the next season drops a year later, you may realize you’ve let all the particulars of that drama slip from your reptilian mind.

There are a few ways to catch up for House of Cards season 5, which comes to Netflix May 30. You could rewatch all of season 4, which would take a long time. Or you could read this short refresher.

You could also scroll through Twitter and watch the news. It's all but certain that the House of Cards writers will be riffing on current events. In season 5, President Underwood is taking his first tentative steps into autocracy. It’s up to you which version of Washington you think is scarier: House of Cards’, or our own.

Since there are so many plotlines, we’ve distilled the most important points to remember from each.