[A Demon Llama!]

Oh shit, didnt know season 3 was out. Time to binge watch.

[A Demon Llama!]

Yeah Netflix releases all episodes of their shows in one go.

[amphibian]

Got the season done in two days. I'll think on it for a while and then talk about it in more depth after these first impressions:

1) The show has done better about making Frank and Claire's actions more visibly rephrensible in a moral sense.
2) However, the show subtracted most of its racial commentary while adding only a little of gender-based commentary. I think the next season will see if that plays out better.
3) Frank is such a strange mix of Bush II, Dole, Obama and a bisexual FDR that the historical references, the twisted political references and the storylines themselves are fairly rich digging for those familiar with these things and histories.

[Nicodimas]

A Demon Llama!, on 28 February 2015 - 09:49 PM, said:

Yeah Netflix releases all episodes of their shows in one go.

I love this.

I'm almost done. Watching Shameless, Walking dead and House of Cards.!! total win on a slow day.

This season felt different as it really focused on their relationship. I love love the Russian (president?)

I wasn't happy about the fall so far..

[Nicodimas]

amphibian, on 02 March 2015 - 04:43 AM, said:

Got the season done in two days. I'll think on it for a while and then talk about it in more depth after these first impressions:

1) The show has done better about making Frank and Claire's actions more visibly rephrensible in a moral sense.

What was reprehensible? /confused. They are politicians

I like how Frank defines diplomacy. Just being a Fing Adult.. <and agree with me unconditionally>

More Democrats like Frank...let's kill the welfare state.

[Aptorian]

I thought it was a strange season for many reasons.

It felt transistional, in that the Douglas Stamper and Call Girl angle was till playing out and obviously did a lot for the character. Similarly, people like Remy, seemed to just be in a limbo having only a small impact on the main story.

The story shifted from the infighting that Underwood had been masterminding for a long time, to the world stage and the politics of campaigning. I didn't find this nearly as entertaining as the first season where Underwood as the spider was manipulating everyone.

And then there's the relationship between Frank and Claire. I understand the desire to humanize these characters and examine the intricacies of the relationship, but I preferred them to be beyond the more base needs of other couples.

[amphibian]

Going into spoilers because more than a few are still going along the seasons to present day:

Spoiler

Apt, on 02 March 2015 - 11:23 AM, said:

I thought it was a strange season for many reasons.

It felt transistional, in that the Douglas Stamper and Call Girl angle was till playing out and obviously did a lot for the character. Similarly, people like Remy, seemed to just be in a limbo having only a small impact on the main story.

The story shifted from the infighting that Underwood had been masterminding for a long time, to the world stage and the politics of campaigning. I didn't find this nearly as entertaining as the first season where Underwood as the spider was manipulating everyone.

And then there's the relationship between Frank and Claire. I understand the desire to humanize these characters and examine the intricacies of the relationship, but I preferred them to be beyond the more base needs of other couples.

I quite liked the Stamper arc. It showed him putting together a normal-ish life, losing connection with the Underwoods and then throwing half of that normal-ish life away to go back to Frank plus the whole "finish the dangling plot thread by murdering a call girl in spectacularly cold, indecisive and creepy fashion" thing.

Remy... I have some thoughts about.

Throughout the last two seasons of House of Cards, Frank has driven away every person of color and woman that he carefully assembled around him. Linda - gone. Nancy (the actress died of cancer) - gone. The Native American casino money funnelers - gone. Remy - gone. Freddy - gone, then back and kept around as a token. Jackie - gone. Claire - gone. Reporter ladies - dead, gone, transmogrified into Kim Dickens. The only people left on Frank's inner team are white creepy dudes - Seth and Doug. The Secretary of State is basically the only woman left who has a strong professional connection to Frank and that's possibly up in the air too. Just about everyone in the team that Frank put together for his House tenure is basically gone. I get that Frank is supposed to be isolated and sliding into lunacy/bad moves like a crappier Petrov, but why chop all of the PoC and the women from the team?

Remy's departure from the White House is a big one to me because Mahershala Ali is a very good actor and he made the "speak truth to Frank" thing actually work in the far too limited opportunities he got this season. There will be time with Jackie, but that seems like a huge downgrade for a character so capable as to be able to whip most of the House and some of the Senate over the past two seasons. Remy's small scene with Freddy was amazing too. That plus the arrest was a nod to the overt and subtle racism Remy undoubtedly experiences regularly.

Molly Parker (Jackie) is a vision come to reality. That proposal/pizza scene was sheer loveliness.

Overall, I think House of Cards didn't hit that hard this season with their chosen topics. They went big on Petrov/Putin, but their mentions of global/domestic surveillance was only worked into the Petrov stories as if Petrov alone was doing it. The hurricane/FEMA funding of jobs program was a great idea - their own version of Hamsterdam from The Wire, but we may have seen the last of it. I'm surprised Frank kept his dick in his pants beyond the one session with Claire. He'd made it a point to nail people constantly over the last two seasons and in a dynamic that makes it weird that he couldn't vibe along with Claire in the hotel room when she wanted a rough session.

Claire's change from someone who was perfectly content and skilled with manipulation (what she did with the water agency and the Walkers) to someone who got played by the Russians and frustrated with Frank is a drastic change. I think they dumbed her down for some reason and gave her a self-imposed ceiling of UN Ambassador just to get more spice into the Petrov angle. Robin Wright is a fantastic actress, but she had some shitty stories this season to work with.

The shift from Frank spinning the narrative driven by others to being the person driving the narrative was okay. Not brilliantly executed - particularly as the Underwood team didn't really leak things like they'd done so often in the past - but okay to show the difference of governing.

As for the campaigning thing, Alpha House, the Amazon Prime show with John Goodman, does it much better. Dunbar's rise is a good thing for the show, but they've completely chopped out the money backers who were so important in the last two seasons for just the public facing stuff. It's a strange thing to see the show just toss so much of what worked the last two seasons out.

The mandala stuff was awesome though.

[champ]

Finally got around to watching S3...

The season had it's moments which I enjoyed (FEMA/Russia) but I agree with BK, the ending just threw the season out of whack for me - Claire's decision to leave Frank and throw everything away that they worked for just seemed so out of character.

She's cold and calculated where as that decision was all emotion/drama - yeah she had it tough but to walk away from everything? I just wasn't believing it...

[LinearPhilosopher]

just finished s1, am very impressed with the series. Without mentioning spoilers, does it get better?

[LinearPhilosopher]

just saw ep 1, s2

Spoiler

HOLY CRAP I DID NOT EXPECT THAT. Zoey just went bye bye...

And that speech at the end, and the whole "im willing to sit and let your child wither within you if that's required, but neither of us wants that."

Great way to kick off the season.

Real question here, Frank Underwood vs Petyr Baelish, who wins?

This post has been edited by BalrogLord: 24 April 2015 - 01:26 PM

[LinearPhilosopher]

So i finished s2. Was enjoyable for most of the run. Kinda got bored near the end.

Spoiler

Reason for that is when it became a question of Frank underwood vs the pres, it was simply no contest. Is this president a modern day louis 16th? I enjoyed the Tusk vs Underwood plot, but near the end i just got bored.

[Tsundoku]

Season 4 trailer. I agree wholeheartedly.

http://www.news.com....65eb5ab148f0978

[Abyss]

So psyched for the madness of King Underwood.

[Bulwyf]

Man, I hate being backlogged on my DVR! I have to clear some of that out before I can afford to watch stuff on Netflix!

GRRRRRRR....

[Aptorian]

I watched the first half hour or so of the first episode. Then I looked at the description on the first three episodes and sort of lost interest in binging on the series like I usually do.

I REAAALLY do not want to watch an entire season of some marital spat between two psychopaths. I want season 1, god damn it. I want the scheming, underhanded, top of his game Underwood. Not this romantic drama bullshit.

I'll probably still watch it over the next week but I just do not give a shit about this story line.

[Bulwyf]

Apt, on 04 March 2016 - 03:34 PM, said:

I watched the first half hour or so of the first episode. Then I looked at the description on the first three episodes and sort of lost interest in binging on the series like I usually do.

I REAAALLY do not want to watch an entire season of some marital spat between two psychopaths. I want season 1, god damn it. I want the scheming, underhanded, top of his game Underwood. Not this romantic drama bullshit.

I'll probably still watch it over the next week but I just do not give a shit about this story line.

Hopefully it's just set up to show him at a low, and to emphasize what kind of crafty, depraved, underhand thing he'll do to get out of it and come out on top. Hopefully the setup isn't 3 episodes of dragging on like you're implying....

[amphibian]

I've now seen Episodes 1 and 2 and I'll put the spoilers in the boxes, but most of what I have to say is spoiler-free.

Apt, on 04 March 2016 - 03:34 PM, said:

I watched the first half hour or so of the first episode. Then I looked at the description on the first three episodes and sort of lost interest in binging on the series like I usually do.

I REAAALLY do not want to watch an entire season of some marital spat between two psychopaths. I want season 1, god damn it. I want the scheming, underhanded, top of his game Underwood. Not this romantic drama bullshit.

I'll probably still watch it over the next week but I just do not give a shit about this story line.

Do you give a shit about Claire? No, you don't. Most people don't at the close of Season 3.

The writers appear to have acknowledged that they trashed her character over the last season. The first two episodes go a long way towards establishing her identity again. Who is Claire? She is the product of what we see in Episodes 1 & 2 and when she and Francis don't get along, this lovely set of maneuvers/national politics result.

I like the political consequences of Claire and Frank fighting. If it gets to dominate the full season over the Dunbar race, I'll not like it, but two episodes in, it's nice.

Spoiler

I like how the Jones duo, black ladies to their core, both stand up for what they do, who they are, and what they want. They bend a bit for Claire, but firmly grasp the gift Francis offers them because it's a better deal for them. It's a mini-plot that matters - and reveals that Claire really is a carpetbaggin' asshole like Jones Senior said.

More Remy times is good times. Petrov coming in for Episode 2 is a good touch. I hope he gets more to do in the 4th and 5th episodes IMDB has him in.

I'm indifferent to Mama Hale. Burstyn does a good job as her, but the character isn't revealing anything beyond being a meaner Claire/manipulative carpetbaggin' asshole in the first two episodes. There's no flashes of genius as Claire sometimes displayed in Seasons 1 and 2.

Lucas showing up again is something I'm undecided about. I didn't like his arc in Season 3, but we probably do need something external to help Underwood fall eventually.

This post has been edited by amphibian: 05 March 2016 - 05:33 AM

[amphibian]

To some degree, Underwood is supposed to be Bill Clinton and Claire is Hillary. The writers amped up certain elements and ignored Bill's support of Hillary's Senate run, but the focus of both having ambitions is the same.

So the discord between the two works here because Frank got what he wanted, while Claire bungled the Sec of State role.

[Aptorian]

amphibian, on 05 March 2016 - 05:33 AM, said:

Apt, on 04 March 2016 - 03:34 PM, said:

I watched the first half hour or so of the first episode. Then I looked at the description on the first three episodes and sort of lost interest in binging on the series like I usually do.

I REAAALLY do not want to watch an entire season of some marital spat between two psychopaths. I want season 1, god damn it. I want the scheming, underhanded, top of his game Underwood. Not this romantic drama bullshit.

I'll probably still watch it over the next week but I just do not give a shit about this story line.

Do you give a shit about Claire? No, you don't. Most people don't at the close of Season 3.

The writers appear to have acknowledged that they trashed her character over the last season. The first two episodes go a long way towards establishing her identity again. Who is Claire? She is the product of what we see in Episodes 1 & 2 and when she and Francis don't get along, this lovely set of maneuvers/national politics result.

I actually really like the Claire character. Half of that, admittedly, might of course just be me being infatuated with the actor, she is gorgeous, but I think she is a fascinating female character. Complex, ruthless but also devoted to what every weird morals she carries around in her designer hand bag.

The problem to me remains that she was a career woman in the beginning of the show. A person who was actually driving her husband to do the unscrupulous things he does. And then suddenly, 20 years into their marriage, at finishing line, she suddenly starts changing course? Sure, you could argue the possibility, the flaws of human nature, but that's not what they sold us at the beginning of the show, and it feels like a disservice to the character it self.

This was a power couple, elevated above the petty, normal social bonds and traditions us ordinary folks are weighed down by.

She was a strong, determined, calculating society woman. Suddenly making her a humanitarian who feels overshadowed or scorned by her partner who is running for president, is just lazy TV-writing, it's a complication for the sake of complicating things.

... Still not gotten around to watching more.

[Nevyn]

Good season, but I was really hoping they'd just wrap it all up. Some shows are better for short runs.