In Politics, Everything Crumbles Like a House of Cards

Hello everybody! Today we have a review of the second season of Netflix exclusive series House of Cards.

HOUSE OF CARDS (Season 2)

DIRECTOR:   Carl Franklin, Jodie Foster, James Foley and Robin Wright

STARRING: Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, Michel Gil, Molly Parker, Gerald McRaney, Mahershala Ali, Sebastian Arcelus

GENRE: Political, Drama

YEAR: 2013- Current

COUNTRY: United States

Francis spends most of the season as the newly appointed Vice President of the United States. Early episodes see Frank vanquish reporters on the trail of a murder he committed in the previous season. However, the drama soon shifts to tensions involving Frank, President Walker, the Chinese government, and the wealthy Raymond Tusk, eventually culminating in a bitter political war between Frank and Tusk. Frank’s wife Claire publicly reveals that she was raped in college by a prominent general and pursues anti-rape legislation. The most significant new character is Jackie Sharp, Frank’s successor as House Whip, who soon finds herself embroiled in Frank’s plans. As the war between Frank and Tusk consumes the Presidency, things fall apart in a scandal that sees Walker resign, Tusk arrested, and Frank ascend to the Oval Office.

Even Barack Obama quipped about his interest in an advance copy of the second series: “I wish things were that ruthlessly efficient…It’s true. I was looking at Kevin Spacey thinking, ‘this guy’s getting a lot of stuff done'”.The evening before the season was posted, someone responsible for the @BarackObama Twitter account (which is run by Organizing for Action) tweeted a request that no spoilers be posted online.

House of Cards is one of the best political dramas I have seen in a very long time. As I have already reviewed season one (you can check that out here) I figured I’d take a crack at season 2. Season 2 is much darker than season 1 and that is evident with the death of a major character in the first episode. The main cast is superb as always and they do not falter when it comes to some questionable motives or content. Season 2 is also faster paced than season 1, as characters appear and have their arcs, then disappear. Its like Game of Thrones but in the White House.

I thought that while Season 2 was fast and had decent pacing throughout the entire season, I felt that the story suffered because of it. The different story arcs weren’t as drawn out as long as I wished, and some of the new characters could have had so much more done with them if only they weren’t written out so easily. Also, have I mentioned the creepy and weird threesome? At one point in the middle of the series Frank, Claire, and Edward Meechum drink too much and have an impromptu threesome after. Sometimes it gets a little weird when you are in politics.

PROS:

• Rise from Vice president – President
• Main/Supporting cast performances.
• Expert example of a political drama.
• Interesting story arcs.
• Character development.

CONS:

• Some instances could have been stretched out.
• No actual houses of cards.
• Pacing.
• Creepy threesome.

SCORE: 9.0 / 10

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