House of Cards (2013)

I've seen a fair few political show's over the years but this is the first one that really brings home the corruption and power of today's political class. Spacey is brilliant as the central character, exuding ambition and showing just what he will do to make it to the top. The little scenes where he talks to the camera really make a difference too his character as you see whats going on in his mind rather than just seeing the front he puts on to various other characters in the show.

Add to that some stunning performances from his wife and various other politicians and journalists and you have a cracking show that grips you from beginning to the end.

The quality of the videography is also worth a mention, this show is probably the best looking in 4K I have ever scene with great lighting and locations.

Recommended!

"If you can tell a taut, precise story in one episode, stretch it out into a slack, incoherent, tedious season instead" seems to be this show's motto. House of Cards has good ideas and good actors, which it fails in its execution, with poor scripts and poorer editing. The story could have easily been told in half the time, and would have been all the better for it. This TV series is, like so much in the original Netflix stable, cattle feed for its undiscerning subscribers.

Seasons 1 and 2 are a 9.7/10.
Seasons 3,4 and 5 are around an 8/10.
And season 6 was a 6.3/10, unlike most people I didn't hate the last season even tho the ending was pretty underwelming. The show is an 8/10.

Wow! I have never stopped watching a series before this one. Even some of the paltry tripe like "Dante's Cove" or "Game Of Thrones" I managed to watch the series. But I watched the first season of this into Episode 10, where Frank kills Peter, and I just. Couldn't. Stand it. I ejected the blu-ray and have put up the series on Ebay for sale. I'll let someone else suffer.

NO ONE IS THIS MORALLY BANKRUPT AND EVIL (except for maybe Donald Trump). While we all would like to think that the deep, dark heart of politics is based on behaviour such as this, it is not reasonable that two people (Frank and Claire) would be able to manipulate EVERYBODY in their sphere to get what they want. Yes, there are naive people out there, but not everyone is cut from that cloth. This series (or at least what I could take of it) tries to make us believe that they are all cut from the same cloth, except for Frank and Claire. Stupid, just stupid.

To the creators of this show and to Netflix - you have to give the viewer a reason to watch this series, other than to dread every next move that the main characters make. There was no evidence at all that Frank and Claire were anything more than conniving, hateful people, because the writing and, especially, the direction gave us no more than that. And when the main characters are like that (written and directed very one-dimensionally), it makes it unwatchable because I, as the viewer, have no hope for any character in the show to develop in a positive manner or to react realistically to situations presented. Instead of killing Russo, Underwood could have been a human being and helped him into rehab, which would have effectively muzzled him anyway. But no - for dramatic effect, they had to have him killed. To what end? It made me as the viewer cringe and realize that the show was going to continue this way going forward, with no redemption for anyone in the show.

That being said, the performances were absolutely amazing, given the crappy material and direction that they were given. But good acting only goes so far. It *almost* seemed like Claire wanted to bust out when she was off coupling with her soulmate, but he turned out not to be that, as she suddenly reverted back to her mean and heartless ways.

I watch series for character development and to learn about human behaviour. I need a *hero* or at least a main character that has hope for growth and/or redemption. This series has neither. (Very much like Dexter years ago - why would I cheer or want to follow a serial killer?)

Don't waste your time with this. It'll leave you feeling dreadful and somewhat angry after each episode, without any payback for being put through that.