Big fan, totally disappointed.
The WH under this new president is a mass of confusion with the leader secluded in her room pouting because she thinks that way she’s winning.
A rich kingmaker family trying to topple her but miraculously sabotaged at every step. They resemble Team Rocket from Pokemon, ‘More trouble on the double’ and always falling on their face in a cartoonish way.
Then Claire decides the solution for all the troubles of the world is to replace the entire management of the country, and replace them all with women. That she continues to murder men at the same time tells you all you have to know about Season 6, women should be rulers, men should be dead.
Then there is her immaculate conception. Frank died LONG ago, but suddenly she is pregnant with his child.
Then there are the characters that mysteriously are in DC, ah, now they are in Syria, but wait, now in Europe, and the FSB is on the hunt, but no they are in DC in the WH, now in some futuristic room dying poisoned, or being shot or …
Finally there is the audience.
I binge watched the previous 5 seasons. This one I left playing in the background hoping for redemption, while I watched something else until I realized the last episode had ended. My only thought was ‘thank god that’s over’.
4
The writing for season 6 was just bad - vague, cryptic and humorless with many things never explained at all. Hopefully, at some point we'll see a depiction of a female president that isn't negative in a major TV series. So far this season we've had a neurotic incompetent (Homeland) and a psychopathic serial murderer (House of Cards.)
1
Whatever about the unreality of the Claire / Doug thing, especially at the end, and many other aspects of this season, for me the real 'jump the shark' moment was the introduction of the Shepherds. This show has been running for five seasons without mention or intimation of their existence. Raymond Tusk was always that guy. Then, all of a sudden this trio of characters emerge as the engineers and puppetmasters of all matters political, military, media, and social in all things US and foreign. Ludicrous.
9
From these comments and the comments I've read on reddit and elsewhere - general consensus is that this series began going downhill long before Kevin Spacey was axed. The character of Claire - played so brilliantly by Robin Wright in the first 4 seasons - took a definite nosedive and became much less nuanced and much more robotic. But, as someone else here noted - her posture and wardrobe remained impeccable throughout.
4
The key to how the House of Cards Saga ends is contained in the opening credits of the final episode. There is a tiny change that reveals what happens to Claire after the final episode. It is so subtle and just pure genius!
1
@Raynetta do you mean the statue of a pregnant President Hale? I figure it was a memorial to Claire who either died before she had the baby or during childbirth. Otherwise why have a statue of her pregnant instead of after she gave birth? I couldn't figure out who the statue was of in the original opening credits. Was it Abraham Lincoln?
6
@Zee zee Great minds think alike! That's exactly what I thought.
Do not really care what happened to the Frank character and how he died, he was a major degenerate and sleaze in the series. Very glad Netflix shut down the series at Season 6!
2
What a disappointing 6th season. It is a soap opera at its worse. The writers lost their way which is too bad after five very enthralling seasons.
5
I am afraid that this final series is a major disappointment.Predictable story lines and wooden performances make this a hard watch.Many of the scenes are shot inside' cardboard ' sets reminiscent of a budget day time soap.
Yes House of Cards has always had far fetched story lines but we watched it for Kevin Stacey's twists and turns.The final cast has a very poor script to work with and many will want to forget their involvement as soon as possible.By the final episode you just want it to end and don't care how!
2
Claire Underwood is NO Frank Underwood. While I love Robin Wright in everything she has ever done, I always felt the real strength, drive and eagerness to watch every episode of "House of Cards" was because of Kevin Spacey. He added that missing, spicy ingredient. He could move a scene, a sentence, a mood with merely his eyes and facial expressions. This final season is simply flat. The spark is gone and so has the entertainment value.
7
This season of House of Cards is an affront to women. Talk about stereotypes. Claire manages to get through her first 50+ years, as seen in the first 5 seasons, as an intelligent, cunning psychopath. Now she's awash in pre-teen ballet fantasies, self-doubt, fear, hand lotion sharing and dependent on men to further her agenda. The female ex Secretary of State is reduced to casting HEXES on her enemy. Hexes! She's S of S not socialite Sally Quinn after all. This is absurd. Depressing. Must every woman's story be reduced to a bad short story from Seventeen magazine?
6
Was the final phrase, "No more pain," ever said by somebody else in the show (when murdering someone else?) It rang a bell and I can't remember.
2
@McD Of course! That was the phrase from the very beginning, when Frank kills the dog in the street.
5
@Rafael Lechado thank you both for remembering that!
I was into it for the first 3 or 4 seasons then could not tolerate the laughable direction of the main characters; I was enjoying the second tier actors more at this point. Bottom line, Claire has fabulous posture, and abhorrent taste in lovers, but HOC is nothing without Kevin Spacey. HE is the reason to watch.
7
I am only in to the end of the third episode (didn't read the article). And I have to say I have a hard time believing Claire Underwood would be so obsequious to the Shepherds. But I'm leaving open the option that she's playing out of Sun Tzu's classic work.
The fundamental problem with this overly-bloated, daytime TV saga, besides the greed of the producers that Claudia U. mentions, is that, compared to the magnificently paced and tempered English original, America has an elected president, while Britain has a parliamentary gov't. That means that it's entirely possible to plot and scheme your way up to the top of your party, which, if it wins, makes you the PM. Most of the past several years of American HoCs is so implausible because of the very nature of our balanced Constitution and our political parties.
8
House of Cards is nothing without Kevin Spacey. I have been a big fan of the series; after watching the first episode, I didn't bother with the rest and deleted it from my queue.
Kevin Spacey is the best actor we have; his fans want him back to work.
8
@AIM - He's okay, and he was good in this role. But he's gone along with James Wood and the whole lot of bigots, predators, and bullies.
6
@Eric: I am not justifying being a bigot, or sex predator or bully...but if you eliminate all artists who are not saints and "politically correct"....you can kiss most great artists goodbye. Ever read biographies about Michelangelo? Leonardo di Vinci? Van Gogh? and about zillion others? I am hard pressed to think of an artist who was NOT a randy goat!
Remember throwing out the baby with the bathwater is not always a great idea.
2
Putting aside Kevin-Spacey-off-camera for just a moment, I can't help but think this show was another example of American producers eschewing quality for greed. The original British series had a fantastic Richard III-meets-Lady-Macbeth air to it-- it was definitely Shakespearean. And it was made in an era when Britain seemed dedicated to a cohesive narrative arc-- a beginning, middle and end-- and then the series finished permanently. The first season of the U.S. incarnation was made fascinating by injecting an American sensibility and Spacey's towering talent into the mix. But then... as usual... it became all about churning out season after season to squeeze out every last dime. Had they kept it to the length of the original and treated it as a mini-series, they could have ended on a quality note, (and killed off Underwood in a manner more fitting to his Shakespeare villain status.) But as usual, American's don't know when to say when.
14
@Claudia U.: you really nailed THAT. Yes, Americans don't know when to quit, which is why EVERYTHING -- at least, anything remotely successful -- gets sequels and prequels and endless "volumes". It is why "A Song of Ice and Fire" (Game of Thrones) is in its 7th 1500 page volume with no end in sight. It is why there are NINE Star Wars films, plus cartoons and adjacent stories (like Rogue One) and you just KNOW there will be more.
It is why the nauseating "Connors" show even exists, or had the audacity to kill off the PROTAGONIST.
If you can squeeze a dollar out of it, Hollywood would make it again. And again. And again.
11
I’m about two-thirds through this season, and I have no idea why I keep watching this badly written, poorly-acted debacle. This is a case study of a show that went on a season too long. And although I think Spacey was rightly jettisoned, I think the show lacks a certain bite without him in it.
11
@FlipFlop: I guess mine is a minority opinion -- short of breaking the law (like Weinstein) -- I don't really give a rat's patoot about an actor's personal sex life.
Kevin Spacey was one of our finest actors, and the first couple seasons of "House of Cards" are very good. I also love Robin Wright in this role, but I don't think her CHARACTER is strong enough to be the protagonist....sure, you could have had an interesting show starring Wright as the first female POTUS but that is not THIS show.
Honestly when a show's STAR either dies or is incapacitated in some way (even by scandal)....it's time to pull the plug.
4
The show is much better with one of the Underwood’s written out
For some reason, US show runners do not want to write out lead characters, unlike European shows (Bodyguard, The Bridge, MI5 for example)
2
@Paul Very true, but there are some MI5 characters this Yankee misses and wishes hadn't had to go.
I watched only half of the first episode and got fed up with Doug Stamper, quite possibly the most boring character on earth. After seeing the totally wooden, militaristic and robotic performance of Claire as President - I defiantly skipped to the last episode. Why torture myself? And it was utterly anti-climatic. They should’ve ended it all at season 4, which was by far the best season of all.
11
Thanks so much for the warning that the article contains spoilers, when the title sort of gives it all away...
1
@Jon Blackman The title didn't give away anything that wasn't common knowledge. So if you didn't know that they would be killing off Frank Underwood - you must live on a desert island that doesn't have news outlets. You really weren't aware that Kevin Spacey was written out of the show?
1
I loved the symbolism in the 6th season of the this show, especially:
1) the double-thump sound that Francis used to make by pounding the top of his desk after a victory; the same sound haunts Claire in the form of a bird trapped in the walls of the bedroom. It immediately recalls Poe’s “The Telltale Heart,” all about living with guilt, and connects Francis with bird imagery throughout the season. When Claire releases the bird on the front steps of the White House, she thinks she’s exorcising Francis from her administration. Not so.
2) I couldn’t contain my delight when Claire sits down to watch a movie, and the first notes of Mia Farrow singing the lullaby from “Rosemary’s Baby” start to play. You’ll remember that the plot of that masterpiece concerns a young, innocent woman being raped and impregnated by the devil. Gee, do you think maybe Claire’s baby is the spawn of Satan? And is it an accident that “Rosemary’s Baby” was the first American film directed by Roman Polanski, who later had to flee the country after being convicted of sexual misconduct? I'm looking at you, Francis Underwood.
13
@gregory910, let’s not forget that Mia Farrow is one of Roman Polanski’s big supporters and defenders. Farrow is all about forgiveness and freedom and innocence for Polanski. Would that Woody were so lucky. Mia Farrow is a hypocrite, and Ronan Farrow is Frank Sinatra’s son, not Woody’s.
3
@gregory910: Robin Wright is gorgeous and a fine actress, but sorry -- she's about 52 and there is no way her character could be young enough to be pregnant "by accident". It would be miraculous if she could get pregnant by really persistent IVF and maybe a donor egg, but naturally? at 52? uh....no.
7
@Concerned Citizen
Thank you! I was searching for someone to make that comment. Annette says to her, “ain’t fifty nifty?”. Were we supposed to conveniently forget her age? AND I remember scenes with her “cooling off” with a refrigerator door opened, many seasons ago. I interrupted that as MENOPAUSE (or was she just undecided on food?). C’mon people! I felt insulted by the writers; we do pay attention you know!
4
Claire Underwood 2020
5
@Lissa
LOL
You have jokes.
You do realize at the end of Season 6 she is about to launch a nuclear strike on Russian troops.
That is not the president this world needs.
Season 6: Boring
6
The operative word in this whole review is "accused." As in: Spacey was "accused of sexual assault." I can't get past that word. The rest doesn't matter. If a person can lose his or her entire career based on an accusation alone, then America has come to reflect the fictional Frank Underwood.
7
@lhc, that’s the whole problem with #metoo. Look what the Democrats tried to do to Kavanaugh, destroy him at the last minute with an uncorroborated decades old accusation. Innocent until proven guilty is too old school for these people.
Although, in the case of Spacey, it seems that rumors based on actions had been swirling around him for years unbeknownest to the rest of us. He announced he was going to get professional “help”. Still, I think it was pretty rotten for them to delete him from a finished in-the-can film and reshoot all his scenes with a new actor. Maybe one day we will be allowed to see the “original version” and see what true talent can produce.
2
The slightly campy and horror-ish melodrama in this season's episodes were a welcome relief with our very real and crazy political drama unfolding everyday in our own eyes and ears. Robin Wright was brilliant and scary at every turn, and I loved not knowing what was coming next with her, even though her asides to us were letting us know that she had a plan. I was very pleased that the writers ended the show with the 2 of them trying to erase each other and Frank at the same time--forever. Fast moving, well done, and leaving us to our imaginations as to the future of the characters made my 2 day binge worth it. Did I miss seeing Frank (Spacey) finish the show? Of course, he was a brilliant character and actor. His misstep was what was on all of our minds, but bravo to the rest of them to give it a go!
3
House of Cards S6 feels forced. Without Kevin Spacey's menacing portrayal of Frank Underwood there is no point to the show. Robin Wright's performance as Claire Underwood is brilliant. The two actors together were captivating to watch.
Reality in the US and abroad surpasses even the craziest scenarios in House of Cards. We know where the bodies are buried in the show.
4
@Lorraine Not really. We haven't had presidents who murdered people with their own hands or another one who drops a nuclear bomb as a fabrication to deflect attention from her personal issues.
@Grunt
Well, she wasn't threatening to drop the bomb, per se, she was threatening to make her threat public. That is, she was threatening to make a huge public scare, (thus driving the stock-market into chaos) if those within the white-house would not ferret out the rat.
As a side-note, it was an assassination plot she was trying to upend. I'm not sure I would categorize an assassination plot (i.e. treason) as "personal issues". Lol. But hey to each their own! In your defense, though, the plot got really murky and confusing by then, my husband didn't catch that part of it either - that the threat was financial, not nuclear. At least that's how it seemed to me. No one in the Situation Room was panicked, nor would anyone deliver the rat, until she started spelling it out for them that she was intending to pummel the stock-market.
With that being said, Yeah No Prez has killed someone with his bare hands to my knowledge. :P
For anyone who has enjoyed the original British series "House of Cards," this last installment of its American derivation affords the inevitable parting comparison. The most immediate observation is that the American version ran at least two seasons too long. The British version was able in three 4-episode seasons to make its points with political commentary, satire, drama, and--yes--comedy with greater economy of screenplay, characters, style and nuance than the Underwood saga.
Foregoing any comparison at all with the British version, the American series simply began meandering after its third season. The show felt self-induldent with too many characters whose story lines marginally contributed--if at all--to any driving message or story enhancement.
Fortuitously, a plot line in season five that led to Claire's ascendance opened a plausible exit-stage-left for Frank, taking timely advantage of Spacey's dismissal to propel the story of a woman who arrives at the Oval Office with a playbook like Machiavelli meets Richard III.
But apart from providing a vehicle for Robin Wright to showcase her brilliant talent--she once again emerges as THE reason to watch--this last season concludes as a poor, distant echo of its British cousin. In blending "All the Presidents Men" with "Godfather I," this story of a dark, dystopian DC leaves an unsatisfying--almost ham-handed--ending as the payoff for the six years of devotion it demanded.
7
A season that should never been filmed. 6 years of the same is just too much. It was great the first two seasons, but the best way to kill a series is milking its success to the point nobody really cares to watch it.
10
@Panos: I totally agree. I just loved the first season....second season pretty good....third season starting to go off the rails. After that, it became nonsense.
2
This season'e subplot concerning Frank's death was one of the better parts of the show. I thought that most of the other subplots were whackadoo.
3
The first 2 seasons of House of Cards where pretty fascinating. By the middle of season three I couldn’t stay with it. I think the 2015-16 political season in our country helped kill my interest. When real life politics became worse than a fictional TV show I turned it off. Kevin Spacey’s demise didn’t help it either.
14
The final moments were a message to American voters: the President is getting away with murder in the White House. Claire’s look into the camera challenges Americans: what are you going to do about it? Robin Wright is captivating. It was powerful to see how time and time again Claire’s character is challenged and judged in ways that a male President never would be. Also it was a warning to not assume that a woman would handle Presidential power any differently than a man.
19
I find it very telling that the season with a woman at the center is the one that is most harshly judged, with the reviewer and people who comment on the review focusing more on an actor who is no longer there, slower pacing and what Wright wore. Wright, as the President, is underestimated at every turn, and Wright as an actor is treated in the same fashion. It is also telling that the season with a woman at the center of it is the shortest one. I wanted more. This story is more important now than ever.
12
@GYA: Agree wholeheartedly. I'm a huge fan of Kevin Spacey, but Robin Wright does an amazing job as the first female POTUS, who appoints the first all-female Cabinet. I especially loved the short scene where she gives a speech to soldiers heading overseas and one of the female soldiers tells Claire, "I hope you know what you're doing." Claire responds, "Would you have asked me that question if I were a man?" Unlike most of the readers responding here, I actually enjoyed Season 6. It was fun watching Claire outwit and undermine the people around her just as cunningly and ruthlessly as any man, including her dead husband.
2
Frank Underwood's betrayals of friends and long-time associates were those of a fictional character. The abandonment of Kevin Spacey by friends and associates when he most needed their support and understanding is all too real. Those who worked with Spacey on House of Cards should have behaved with greater courage and integrity, and simply refused to continue with a project from which their long-time colleague -- who also happens to be one of America's great actors -- had been purged. The participants in this final season have nothing to be proud of.
10
@Morris Yes, those poor, powerful men who feel entitled to abuse others. God knows they need our sympathy and support. What about the men and boys he violated? Where is your concern for them? But being a great actor makes the abuse and entitlement acceptable?
8
@StrangeDaysIndeed
"What about the men and boys he violated?" Strong language. But on precisely what evidence, tested and verified in a legal process, do you base your condemnation of Spacey? Amidst the gossip and anonymous allegations, what is definitively known about the circumstances of the alleged incidents? The denunciation that cost Kevin Spacey his career concerned an encounter that allegedly occurred nearly 35 years ago, when the actor was only 24 years old. I suspect that in years to come, Mr. Spacey's co-stars will look back on their failure to oppose his removal with regret and shame.
5
@Morris
For one, this accusation that he assualted an 18-year old in 2016:
https://deadline.com/2017/11/kevin-spacey-sexual-assault-allegation-nantucket-former-tv-anchor-heather-unruh-1202204150/
This list of 15 accusers:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2017/11/07/kevin-spacey-scandal-complete-list-13-accusers/835739001/
3
Disappointing, soporific, and useless Season 6. Good Claire clothes, though.
16
@Gigi Anders: I mean seriously -- no matter how good or bad the series is by this season -- isn't Robin Wright just amazing? great actress, and just stunningly beautiful. She looks so fabulous as POTUS, that I think all future female potential candidates are furiously scribbling notes and taking screen shots! She just encapsulates power AND elegance at the same time.
2
@Gigi Anders: Awesome clothes all around. Diane Lane and Patricia Clarkson are also stunning. Just the acting is a reason to watch--the women as well as Campbell Scott and Greg Kinnear.
2
As good as the Netflix version was, the original BBC production was so much better! That first Francis, addressing the camera directly never failed to make my skin crawl..he was the ultimate scary creep...and he was also absolutely gorgeous, elegant and fascinating in ways KS never achieved in the second
version. I have noticed this British version on Netflix from time to time...lucky for those who have not yet seen it. That said...WHERE is season 6 of Netflix's ? WHEN does it come out? I want to see it.
9
I was getting tired of the old House of Cards after the third episode, but did watch 4 and 5. The last episode really brought home he whole absurdity the series, but in a refreshing way. It was outlandish, unbelievable, quirky and even weird at times. All in all it was an appropriate end to an enjoyable series that perhaps was more a commentary on our actual world than we care to admit.
3
@Areader: just remember though, the American series started in 2013....meaning it was filmed in 2012 initially! (The British series is almost 30 years old!)
Who was President in 2012, and in deed, until January 2017? Do you need hints?
1
I am glad to see the end of House of Cards. I watched every season with morbid fascination and growing concern about the cynicism it fostered about democracy and government. I remembered West Wing fondly and longed for a time when Americans were entertained by interesting public policy issues being pondered by politicians who earnestly sought the best of course of action.
For me, House of Cards became a symbol of the loss of faith in our democracy. As every season seemed to get darker and more sinister, it became more difficult to separate House of Cards from the deterioration of civic discourse.
If I believed in censorship--which I don't--I would start with shows like House of Cards.
8
Wow I think reading this article saved me watching this season. It sounds like it went from over-the-top to flat-out-crazy. I didn't finish season five because the show was no longer entertaining to me, and there were too many unbelievable or nonsensical things that happened without enough explanation. And because for whatever reason, Kevin Spacey was a little off-putting to me, even before the accusations against him were publicized. Somewhat to his credit I guess, he played a creep almost too convincingly.
I do like Robin Wright as Claire, though the story has dragged on too long and she is kind of spinning her wheels. And Doug Stamper is an interesting character too. But the show really dropped off in quality from its first couple seasons.
8
@MJ The show jumped the shark for me when Claire made the comment about the "dumb dead wife." I used to watch it faithfully but now I'll just watch to see what happens and not be disappointed it's over.
3
Thank you for the spoiler alert at the top of the article. But you put it in the headline???
Ummm, it was public knowledge. Announced a year ago when Netflix said the show would continue. There's no spoiler that Underwood was dead. Only how.
6
Thanks be that that ham sandwich, with a huge side of cheese, Kevin Spacey, is gone.
Turn off your TV's people. It rots your brain.
2
I miss Kevin Spacey.
20
I lost all interest in this show when reality became way crazier than any plot line these writers could concoct.
29
Regardless of the personal and private complexity of Kevin Spacey, he was so dynamic in House of Cards as well as every other movie and TV series he played in. He will always be a brilliant actor with incredible talent. I miss him so.
That said, I think Michael Kelly is equally brilliant in the role of Doug Stamper as well as Robin Wright. Such a deliciously dark and suspenseful series. Too bad it is coming to an end in Season 6. I too cannot wait to see the final season.
Nice write up Mr. Tallerico. And thanks for the spoiler heads up. I figure I'll find out what happens eventually, so the heck with the suspense. Nice knowing what things will unfold before hand. Sometimes suspense is greatly overrated.
17
Jesus. Where was the spoiler alert?
2
@JJ
Right under the picture it reads:
This article contains spoilers about Season 6 of “House of Cards.”
That Frank was dead was part of the marketing Netflix did for Season 6
But her's one for you. spoiler alert, season 6 was terrible.
I'm not convinced that Netflix wants people to watch Season 6. When I logged on last night, I had to search for House of Cards, even though I've watched every season. It didn't pop up in New Releases, popular or recommended titles. Somehow, I watched the last episode instead of the first, which left me confused and equally disappointed. As others have noted, something is off and it's not just the absence of Kevin Spacey. That's unfortunate.
9
The thing is that House of Cards S6, has, let say politely, a different rithm. This couses that the expectator may wait for to or three chapters to something happen.
A story with many vacums and some other forced situations liked a pregnancy that seems more a resource of the scriptwriter than a logical consequence of the hostile character Claire Undewoord.
A verty bay way to fish a so succesfull Series.
2
In the original UK series that was the inspiration for this series the character was killed at the end of the third season, which was just about right. The Americans steal the premise and run it into the ground with marketing surveys and studies and add some scientific audience manipulation (TV MSG) techniques to keep the dollars pouring in. It was getting old and too hackneyed, like overdone magician's tricks. And we end up with Hillary as president.
13
@Aristotle Gluteus Maximus: the original UK series was from 1990!!!
The US has borrowed so many ideas from the British, there's no room to list them all but obviously things like "All In the Family" and "Sanford & Son" and "The Office" all come directly from British predecessors.
I think a quarter century is a long enough to politely wait before co-opting an idea for a show.
I do think the American "House of Cards" ran on about 4 seasons too long. And continuing after Frank Underwood is dead is stupid, as is the premise that his wife could become his Vice President and then ascend to the Presidency. Just. Plain. Dumb.
1
The show died long before Frank did. An engrossing saga about a resourceful creep plotting to become president loses its motivation after he succeeds. The show wandered around aimlessly from there. And all credit to Robin Wright, but Claire was never half as interesting as was Frank.
And a finale including a pregnancy, a nuclear attack, and an assassination attempt makes it very hard to continue suspending disbelief.
24
As a big fan of this show I was looking forward to the final season but the first show was a bore and the second was not much better. The reality of the current presidency has more drama. I quit watching midway through the third.
10
As a fan of the show (up until this final season), I was very disappointed at the S6 premiere I watched last night. It lacked pacing, was not anywhere nearly as exciting to view as the other season premieres, and it wasn't just because Kevin Spacey was no longer in it.
I would pay to watch Robin Wright read the phone book, she is that compelling a performer. But the writing and directing was somehow off. Yikes, Doug Stamper's soliloquy in the psychiatrist's office put me to sleep!
I will continue to watch hoping it gets better, but what a shame that Spacey is not available to be the "ghost" sitting next to Claire as she rides in "the Beast," offering advice and/or a counterpoint to whatever she is dealing with.
I think the show has lost more than just Kevin Spacey.
12
Without reading the authors name, this article makes quite clear that this is a male view on this show - as if this had not been a story about the couple. How can it be, that the brilliant actress Robin Wright who gives this series its elegance and spark, is just described as “wife” and on the sideline? The success of this show is hugely down to her part, too - both of them. Yet officially, male critics overstep her. #hertoo
42
The main character, Frank Underwood, was portrayed magnificently by Kevin Spacey. A gifted actor that carried the series to the end. Regardless of the allegations against him, one can't deny his very strong acting career.
46
@AliceHdM I respectfully concur! I'm eager to watch the new season, but I'm afraid she's only only half as good without him.
1
@AliceHdM
Ditto on your assessment. I thought your comment nailed it.
Kevin Spacey IS a gifted actor who has always portrayed every character magnificently!!!
4
@Joachim Kübler I watched it to the end and it was boring as hell compared to the previous seasons. I changed the plus thumb to a minus thumb due to the final season. They should have just cancelled. And in the slow paced telling of the "who killed Frank" subplot, I missed that it was Doug. By then, I had watched a dozen or more could-have-would-have characters come and go with little character development. I am only sorry that I stayed to the end... and I did fall asleep a couple of times. I must have missed Doug's confession.
2
The final season does not disappoint. I binged. I am a huge fan of the original and was concerned how well this would hold up. They are quite similar. They basically differed in time period and slightly in culture. The themes were the same. I kept worrying about how they were going to kill Frank. It had to be just right. It was. The last two minutes blew me away. The same "feel" as the original series. Bravo!!!!
14
Don't know if the writers/producers were thinking of the original BBC production of this story when deciding how to get rid of Francis (Urquhart in the BBC series), but in the original, Francis' wife plots his assasination by a sniper put in place by his bodyguard. The assasination is made to look like it was done by terrorists/enemies of the state. It preserves Francis' reputation and covers up his many crimes, all while leaving his widow (Elizabeth in the original) the lucky beneficiary of a very generous pension obtained by nefarious means.
The ever loyal bodyguard in the original gets to live and goes on to work for the new Prime Minister, as opposed to Doug being killed/silenced by Claire, who no doubt could claim self-defense in this version. I've actually never watched the US version of this show, but in the BBC version it's quite obvious by the end that the wife (Elizabeth/Claire) is by far the more evil of the two, and it has been she who has been manipulating Francis for years with an outsized malevolent ambition big enough for both of them.
25
@Ann, I love the BBC show...short, to the point, not dragged out over an many seasons, as the American one would have been had Spacey’s past not (rightfully) come back to haunt him. In fact, the three BBC seasons were made years apart from one another, each intended to be freestanding. It’s great storytelling that doesn’t overstay its welcome. When you look for it on Netflix, search for House of Cards Trilogy—or you won’t find all 3 seasons.
13
Can’t wait to see it! Best show ever. Can Williams carry the show now that Spacey is out? Netflix owes a lot of it’s success to this show. $100 Million seemed like a lot, but looks like a great deal now.
4