#9 - House of Cards' Final Season
A few years ago, House of Cards was one of my favorite TV shows. The first two seasons were exciting, and dramatic, and sexy - all the things you want a political thriller to be. But the third season was underwhelming, and the fifth season was a total mess. Around the same time, my favorite actor was none other than Kevin Spacey. Since then, we've learned just how much of an absolute piece of shit that man is (if you're curious, my new favorite is a Mr. Samuel L. Jackson).
This all goes to say that I wasn't too keen on a new season of House of Cards. I was pleased to hear that all known pedophiles were fired from the show, and that Robin Wright's character would be the new lead. I was intrigued - could the show work without its main character? How would the writers handle the changeover? Being a real Zoe Barns/Tom Hammerschmidt/Janine Skorksy type myself, I was determined to find out.
I'm going to try my best to keep this review spoiler-free. There may be a few minor ones here and there, but nothing to worry your pretty little head over. If you really don't want to know anything about the new season, just don't read this. But know that you'll be missing out on an absolute delight of a blog post.
House of Cards' 6th season is totally mediocre. There are some bright moments, but it's generally just a slog. It's certainly better than Season 5, but that's really not saying all that much.
Let's start with the worst offense: it's just boring. There was nothing keeping my interest (and sometimes attention) from minute to minute. Even an assassination attempt on the president comes off as dull. And the characters seem to think so too - the "good guys" find out who's behind the attack, and then do... nothing about it.
There are plenty of moments like that in this season. Something will happen, something that should have a rippling effect, and nobody seems to really care, or even notice. This, combined with how dense HoC has always been, makes the sequence of events obnoxiously hard to follow. I love a show that requires the audience's focus and attention, but this didn't seem to even want our attention.
Claire Underwood has always been a compelling character, and for the most part, she does well as the new lead. I think that was a smart move by the creators - the show was almost ruined by the predatory behavior of a man, so why not put the spotlight on a strong woman instead? Feminism becomes one of the central themes of this season, and there are some nice moments from that; seeing a president with an all-women cabinet was very exciting and refreshing to see. This unfortunately gets tarnished by how villainous Claire is, and we see more of that in the new season than ever before. The feminist message sort of becomes "Women can be horrible people too," which didn't sit totally well with me. I'd love to hear if any of my female friends felt similarly about this.
This leads to another issue I have with both Claire and Frank. They're both completely power-hungry, and obsessed with one-upping everyone around them. Which is good: at its core, HoC is about two people struggling to get and then hold onto power and influence. But Claire and Frank seem totally against just being good at their jobs. Everything has to be twisting this guy's arm, or kissing up to that guy, or revealing a secret to someone at just the right second, to get them off their game. Why not just be good at the job that you have? Maybe I'm being naive, but that seems to be the best way to move up in the world. None of the promotions or opportunities I've ever gotten in my life have been from plotting my boss' demise. I know that wouldn't exactly make for compelling TV, but it gets to a point where it feels implausible.
One last thing: this is the final season of House of Cards. The cast and crew decided they're done making the show even before they all read this devastating review. But Season 6 never really feels like a finale - at least, not until the last one or two episodes. I couldn't help but compare it to the last seasons of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. Both of those shows have a definitive sense of things spiraling downwards, where the stakes are higher than ever and every character's choices count. Game of Thrones still has one more season to go, and it's already doing a better job of that than HoC. The last season of a show should have people asking, "What's going to happen next?" Not, "Boy, how are they going to tie up all these loose ends?" House of Cards doesn't even bother to wrap up a few of their arcs - the show kind of just... ends.
But look, I really shouldn't complain. We're all privileged to live in such a time, where not only do we have seemingly unlimited entertainment, but the freedom to compare them to one another as we please. The fact that us mere mortals have entire worlds at our disposal, and can tap into them whenever we like with just a click of a button is simply astounding. Well, the click of a button and $7.99 a month.
What a way to end this thing. Folks, I would genuinely love to discuss House of Cards or really anything else with you. Send me a postcard, drop me a line stating point of view! You can find me on Twitter @andrewhowsmon, and the comments section here is always good too. As always, thanks for reading!
This all goes to say that I wasn't too keen on a new season of House of Cards. I was pleased to hear that all known pedophiles were fired from the show, and that Robin Wright's character would be the new lead. I was intrigued - could the show work without its main character? How would the writers handle the changeover? Being a real Zoe Barns/Tom Hammerschmidt/Janine Skorksy type myself, I was determined to find out.
I'm going to try my best to keep this review spoiler-free. There may be a few minor ones here and there, but nothing to worry your pretty little head over. If you really don't want to know anything about the new season, just don't read this. But know that you'll be missing out on an absolute delight of a blog post.
House of Cards' 6th season is totally mediocre. There are some bright moments, but it's generally just a slog. It's certainly better than Season 5, but that's really not saying all that much.
Let's start with the worst offense: it's just boring. There was nothing keeping my interest (and sometimes attention) from minute to minute. Even an assassination attempt on the president comes off as dull. And the characters seem to think so too - the "good guys" find out who's behind the attack, and then do... nothing about it.
There are plenty of moments like that in this season. Something will happen, something that should have a rippling effect, and nobody seems to really care, or even notice. This, combined with how dense HoC has always been, makes the sequence of events obnoxiously hard to follow. I love a show that requires the audience's focus and attention, but this didn't seem to even want our attention.
Claire Underwood has always been a compelling character, and for the most part, she does well as the new lead. I think that was a smart move by the creators - the show was almost ruined by the predatory behavior of a man, so why not put the spotlight on a strong woman instead? Feminism becomes one of the central themes of this season, and there are some nice moments from that; seeing a president with an all-women cabinet was very exciting and refreshing to see. This unfortunately gets tarnished by how villainous Claire is, and we see more of that in the new season than ever before. The feminist message sort of becomes "Women can be horrible people too," which didn't sit totally well with me. I'd love to hear if any of my female friends felt similarly about this.
This leads to another issue I have with both Claire and Frank. They're both completely power-hungry, and obsessed with one-upping everyone around them. Which is good: at its core, HoC is about two people struggling to get and then hold onto power and influence. But Claire and Frank seem totally against just being good at their jobs. Everything has to be twisting this guy's arm, or kissing up to that guy, or revealing a secret to someone at just the right second, to get them off their game. Why not just be good at the job that you have? Maybe I'm being naive, but that seems to be the best way to move up in the world. None of the promotions or opportunities I've ever gotten in my life have been from plotting my boss' demise. I know that wouldn't exactly make for compelling TV, but it gets to a point where it feels implausible.
One last thing: this is the final season of House of Cards. The cast and crew decided they're done making the show even before they all read this devastating review. But Season 6 never really feels like a finale - at least, not until the last one or two episodes. I couldn't help but compare it to the last seasons of Game of Thrones and Breaking Bad. Both of those shows have a definitive sense of things spiraling downwards, where the stakes are higher than ever and every character's choices count. Game of Thrones still has one more season to go, and it's already doing a better job of that than HoC. The last season of a show should have people asking, "What's going to happen next?" Not, "Boy, how are they going to tie up all these loose ends?" House of Cards doesn't even bother to wrap up a few of their arcs - the show kind of just... ends.
But look, I really shouldn't complain. We're all privileged to live in such a time, where not only do we have seemingly unlimited entertainment, but the freedom to compare them to one another as we please. The fact that us mere mortals have entire worlds at our disposal, and can tap into them whenever we like with just a click of a button is simply astounding. Well, the click of a button and $7.99 a month.
What a way to end this thing. Folks, I would genuinely love to discuss House of Cards or really anything else with you. Send me a postcard, drop me a line stating point of view! You can find me on Twitter @andrewhowsmon, and the comments section here is always good too. As always, thanks for reading!
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