House of Cards Season 2 did everything we could hope or expect

I suppose I should raise a spoiler alert here, but is there anyone who doesn't realize that Season 2 of the Netflix House of Cards will end with Kevin Spacey/Frank Underwood achieving his ultimate goal of rising to the presidency? Yes, the mechanisms of the plot are a bit hard to follow at times and, yes, some of the plot doesn't quite stand up to scrutiny - I honestly cannot figure out why the loathsome (an adj. that keeps coming up, I wonder why) businessman Tusk would rebuff Underwood's overtures to work in partnership and unseat the President and then, in the middle of his House testimony, after pleading the 5th on lawyer's advise, suddenly blurt out "He knew," the words that would lead to the impeachment and resignation? Why? What could Tusk gain by this? If it's to build an alliance with Underwood and later win a presidential pardon, why would he have dismissed U. so curtly when the two met in secret the day before? Anyway, no need to scrutinize the plot after all, as it was a truly exciting season that kept us thinking and guessing - like the great The Wire, it seemed that every word, every on-screen moment was important - it was impossible to say a word to one another during the viewing without hitting pause for fear of missing something telling or vital. Among the great elements in the last 5 episodes we see the incredible torment of Doug and the ex-hooker, Rachel, who has the info that can (and no doubt will, eventually) bring Underwood down; the increasingly hateful Claire Underwood, played almost too well by Robin Wright - suggest she get a truly likable, light, comic part for her next gig for fear of being typed as evil incarnate - especially as she manipulates both the extremely vulnerable young Molly, the foolish photographer with whom she'd once had an affair, and the naive and too-trusting first lady. He final exhortation to Frank U is great. And what about the kinky sex liaison that closed one of the episodes? With this play a role in Frank's final undoing, or was it just a little insight into his character, similar to the drunken gay pass he made in season 1? This season pretty much did everything fans could want or expect - completely entertained over the course of 13 episodes, introduced some new characters of interest, moved Frank along on his upward arc, and set us up for the great downfall (if it follows the 3-season model of the original) - all this without Kate Mara/Zoe Barnes, such an important character in Season 1 (a minor disappointment is that season 2 kept trying, and failing, to build up the investigative journalist angle - with the 2 post journalists shunted out of the picture, Zoe dead, and the newly introduced WSJ reporter not quite having such an interesting role because she doesn't cross any of the boundaries - we'll see what happens going forward; the death of Zoe is a ticking time bomb that will surely explode).