Jump to content

House of Cards (US) (Netflix)

hub2

By hub2,
in Film, TV & Radio

 Share

Recommended Posts

smithstock

smithstock

Posted
Posted

Just this minute finished it.

Genuinely don't know what to think or do now. I enjoyed it, it was brilliant. Although in a different way to the first two seasons.

I finished it all earlier today. Personally, I thought the third season was a slow burner but the final four episodes were absolutely amazing, as good as anything that's came before.
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pete

Pete

Posted
Posted

Finished it, quite weak compared to the other series. Totally agree with Captin Lechuck's comments.

I just wasn't excited like before and I was really distracted even in the final scenes. Where was all the Machiavellian scheming? The manipulating of others?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mr Cochese

Mr Cochese

Posted
Posted

I'm up to episode 8 and they seem to have completely forgotten that Francis and Claire are evil and twisted. Kevin Bacon's asides to camera are now more reminiscent of Frankie Howerd than MacBeth. Maybe Tofu from the last page has taken over as producer this year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
barkbat

barkbat

Posted
Posted

I honestly think that Americans are so brain-washed by patriotism their entire lives that they actually can't present their President as evil. Evil Mayor. Sure. Evil senator. Happens all the time. Even Veep - fine. But President. Chosen by God to represent the greatest nation on Earth. Subconscious says no. Subconscious says he has to have a reason to make the hard decisions. And check with a Pastor that its all okay. Even though he never would step foot in a church unless it was a photo op. It really is weird how they have declawed Underwood and made him human now he's in the Oval Office (when in reality now he has no one above him - and thanks to his lack of scruples he can execute any self serving plan he wants).

4
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rudi von Starnberg

Rudi von Starnberg

Posted
Posted

Flashes of good stuff in this season but by and large I wasn't a fan. I mean it's watchable enough but it puts almost every foot wrong and there was only one plot strand that I was emotionally invested in at all:

Wanting Rachel/'Cassie' to survive.

The rest of them I was interested enough in seeing what happened but couldn't care less how they resolved and wasn't really rooting for any side. Underwood is a lot less interesting when he's not scheming and he's more or less squeaky-clean all season, just reacting to the political crisis of the moment - and not reacting by coming up with complex plans on the fly as before, just sort of floundering around. The season feels directionless and the finale is more like a midseason cliffhanger.

The show's never really been about politics except on a personal level and we don't get much personal politicking and backstabbing and deceit this season at all; the burden falls on the foreign policy stuff and the America Works saga, neither of which are well-written or at all plausible (the geopolitics are badly done in every way, from the thinnest of Putin analogues to the Jordan Valley apparently being on Russia's doorstep and 'near the Caucasus'). The writing in general was weaker, I feel; the episode framed by narration was a particular mis-step.

The actors are still largely good (although the normally-excellent Robin Wright being forced to speak French was a real low point) and it's well-shot and all. It's just decidedly more mediocre than before except for a few flashes of its old self.

3
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Gotters

Gotters

Posted
Posted

good post Rudi, agree with all of that.

this series feels a major mis-step and the direction its taken is all wrong in terms of ditching so much of what made the first couple good.

I'll finish it (got a couple to go) which is almost as much a testament to how much more enjoyable stuff is when not clogged up with ads and 'coming next on sky' channel interruptions.

looks like there will be 4th series, from this recent interview (it has a couple of s03 spoilery questions apparently but they are clearly marked and right at the bottom of the page)

http://www.indiewire.com/article/house-of-cards-creator-beau-willimon-gets-political-about-season-4-20150306

1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Rudi von Starnberg

Rudi von Starnberg

Posted
Posted

Another thing - it's possible that Frank's lack of action is intended to be a thematic point, since he says at one point that he's powerless now that he's at the top. The problem is that we're shown he isn't, and he continues to assert that he can do anything and get away with it. It's not that he's powerless, it's just that he doesn't act; and even if it was intended to be a theme, it's a bit of a crap one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Captain Novaforce

Captain Novaforce

Posted
Posted

I really didn't see where they were going with this season. Clare lost her effectiveness and while I can imagine their marriage falling apart behind the scenes, I would have thought that given her own ambitions she would have gone along with everything Frank needed, planning her own legacy. It feels like they are falling on the drama of their relationship instead of exploring the far more interesting option of having a genuinely evil man as president (pissing and spitting aside) and what they would mean. Would he become surprisingly effective due to all the blood on the carpet? Would the American people willing surrender democracy when they saw the results he was getting? They flirted with the concept of Underwood being a Tyrant with some of the articles the reporter was writing, that was what I wanted to see and I saw the FEMA stuff as the first steps of him potentially trying to engineer some emergency to consolidate his power. However his is cunning and genuine malevolence from earlier seasons were replaced with him shouting at people and being a bully. Lame. Off to watch the British Original now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mentazm

Mentazm

Posted
Posted

Just finished it. Apart from the Russia stuff and a few moments in the finale it was a pretty lowkey season. You could see the ending a mile away, and tbh I'm surprised...

Claire didn't just say outright she was going to run against him for the presidency.

I'm pretty sure that's what S4 will be about. Just checked imdb, it's confirmed for next year. I don't know how long they'll keep the show going, it must be bloody exhausting to shoot, because even although I spaced out the episodes, I still feel like I overdosed on it a bit. Any quicker binging and I'd make myself sick of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mdn2

mdn2

Posted
Posted

Just finished it. Apart from the Russia stuff and a few moments in the finale it was a pretty lowkey season. You could see the ending a mile away, and tbh I'm surprised...

Claire didn't just say outright she was going to run against him for the presidency.

I'm pretty sure that's what S4 will be about. Just checked imdb, it's confirmed for next year. I don't know how long they'll keep the show going, it must be bloody exhausting to shoot, because even although I spaced out the episodes, I still feel like I overdosed on it a bit. Any quicker binging and I'd make myself sick of it.

With regards to your spoiler:

They can't have Claire run against him in S4 as he's already won the Democratic nomination at the end of the season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Mentazm

Mentazm

Posted
Posted

It's a show that isn't shy about heavy-handed symbolism and foreshadowing. I knew the

black egg

would be back, I tweeted "Frank Underwood is America's

black egg

".

What sealed my theory on next season was when the lady in the house said to Claire

"I'd vote for you"

.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Tofu

Tofu

Posted
Posted

Season 3 was all over the place, I have to say I was disappointed only because the previous two season were so tight:

Clare sleeps while a prisoner hangs himself in the same cell...WTF?

Firstly I would have thought that guards would check every 10 mins, after all this is Russian prisons and also because of the high security risk. The guy could have taken her hostage as well if he was desperate.

Plus Doug....snooze, sorry but felt bad for Rachael.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Piccolomini

Piccolomini

Posted
Posted

Thought this season was really weak in comparison with what came before, and I agree with many points brought up here.

One thing that really bugged me was the way they essentially forgot about everything that happened in seasons 1 & 2. Whereas season 2 really built on what had happened in s1 they mostly forgot about that here, apart from

having the abortion doctor's diary reappear as a McGuffin, and broadly speaking, Doug dealing with Rachel.

But neither of those things came really close to what Frank was doing this season, and the inquisitive journalist character never really came to grips with Frank's past. In fact her character was very weird altogether - she

essentially decided that Frank was pure evil at one point, without any real evidence or journalistic reason to assume so, and really just speculating about what Frank had yet to do rather than what he had had already done, and the 'article' she wrote was embarrassing in the extreme and made it same like the writers had never read a newspaper article. The journalist's weird speculations were particularly strange as the writers could've just had her discover Frank's actions from the first two seasons - after all, she could've talked to Janine or Hammerschmidt, or started prodding in Doug's past due to his strange almost-murder, etc.

All in all it really felt like the writers had lots of potentially interesting avenues open to them this season, and they didn't opt for any of them, instead coming up with a lame, badly researched geopolitical story that made no real sense.

2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Padaxes

Padaxes

Posted
Posted

Finished this and ... wtf was that ending.

I was watching the clock thinking , ok they are really running out of time to tie this up now.....

Still enjoyed it but not a patch on seasons one and two.

Seemed to me that FU was reacting rather than scheming and was pretty dull as a result.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Use of this website is subject to our Privacy Policy, Terms of Use, and Guidelines.

  I accept