Cail wrote:I just started watching the British series this is based on. If Spacey's 4th wall breaches annoy you, the Brit series will drive you nuts.
Blimey! I watched that - in 1990. I was rather a fan of the late Ian Richardson since his appearance in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (Alec Guiness, Michael Jayston and a wonderful performance by Beryl Reid) in 1979. But "I couldn't possibly comment"
I am playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order!
"I must state plainly, Linden, that you have become wondrous in my sight."
Finally finished season 2. Overall I think season 1 is better, but this was close. All the machinations were overwhelming at times. I'm still confused about Seth. Whose side is he really on? I still think there isn't a decent bone in Claire's body, but she did seem conflicted finally at the end.
I predict 1 more season, and Frank will go down in the end.
Last edited by dlbpharmd on Tue Mar 10, 2015 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Doesn't look like season 3 is as popular around here, at least going by the lack of comments. I tried to watch it. Got as far as the first scene where Frank pisses on his father's grave and his first smarmy, smartass look at the camera, and turned that shit off. I didn't want to watch another second.
I've heard some bad things online. Am I missing out, or was my instinct right?
Very different tone this season. Good, and a bit more grounded than Season 2.
The 4th wall thing is a carryover from the British series.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
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"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
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"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
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My issue isn't the 4th wall thing as much as the character himself. Taking a Presidential motorcade to your father's grave so you can piss on it is over-the-top pettiness. I don't think I've ever seen someone go to such extraordinary lengths to be so small. When it was combined with his dripping-condescension look directly at the viewers, I felt the show might as well be pissing on us.
It was a gut reaction. Maybe I'm getting tired of the morally ambiguous protagonist thing (yeah, I said that on a Donaldson website ).
My initial exuberance for the show has waned. HoC can only be consumed by binge watching. If you were to take this series at a one episode per week dosage, you'd have time to pick apart the silliness. As it stands on Netflix, it's a fun watch to power through for 12 hours at a clip.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
I would point out how different Frank and Claire seem in this season. I'm not surprised that Frank's manipulations don't work to perfection now that he's President. But, suddenly he's talking about putting the public good foremost (AmericaWorks.) I kept waiting for some ulterior motive behind that, like a massive kickback or embezzlement scheme.
And, Claire suddenly caring about human/gay rights, to the point where she wrecked Frank's deal with the Russians? With everything from the first 2 seasons, this was completely out of character for her. Thus, their breakup didn't jive with me.
The most interesting character was Stamper, and he was also the most consistent with the previous 2 seasons. He continued to develop as the ruthless consigliere. I'm interested to see what happens with him in season 4.
I see America Works as Frank's attempt to do something big and bold with his name on it: something that he'll be remembered for. It needed to be something that was huge and went entirely counter to the current ideas, because that guarantees it'll be important enough to remember, while sounding like something good for the country, because otherwise he'd risk his power.
And as for Claire, she tanked the Russia talks after having a man commit suicide in the same room as her using her scarf. That's kind of a hard thing to ignore. She went in there fully intending to talk him into compromising his beliefs for Frank's sake.
She did have a history of working for women's rights in earlier seasons, for more than just reasons of gaining power, so I don't see her caring about other issues as out of character.
I enjoyed season 4, and liked that there was a lot more of Claire getting to do stuff. A little bothered by how far removed the show is from real world politics, particularly for a show about an election during an election year. I kind of wish they'd just move toward an ending, instead of dragging this out. (I've commented elsewhere that the 52nd episode would have been a perfect place to end a show called House of Cards, but nope, there's at least one more season.)
Apparently the original showrunner has left after making this latest season; the new showrunners are people who only joined during season 3.
I'm halfway through the final season, and it's dragging pretty badly. In an attempt to fill the massive hole left by Kevin Spacey, they've tried to be more topical. Unfortunately, it's come off as preachy, and the devilishness of prior seasons is gone.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
I didn't even consider giving this season a try. Spacey is what made this show. I think it was the right decision to fire him, but I have no interest without his character.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." - PJ O'Rourke
_____________
"Men and women range themselves into three classes or orders of intelligence; you can tell the lowest class by their habit of always talking about persons; the next by the fact that their habit is always to converse about things; the highest by their preference for the discussion of ideas." - Charles Stewart
_____________
"I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - James Madison
_____________
They really wasted an opportunity in this season, and I feel like it's because the writers have no idea who Claire is or what she wants. Then in the last episode they kinda stopped developing things in favour of focusing on wrapping up Doug Stamper's story and the fallout of Frank's death. Half the stuff they set up in the season was left hanging at the end.
).