House of Cards: Season 1 (2013)

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

What I liked:

• Kevin Spacey breaking the fourth wall. Not always easy, but it feels like we are a part of all that is going on, that he is trusting us with information, giving us an inside look of how things get done, and how he operates. You sort of feel like his diary/confidante when watching.
• Francis being from the South. That accent was just fantastic. He exudes class and good manners, meanwhile he is a sly scoundrel.
• David Fincher directing a few episodes. Nice to see him and Spacey together again on a project.
• Francis and Claire’s relationship. It is bizarre, but I could not picture either one of them permanently being with anyone else, they are so well suited.
• Francis’s power in his home town. It is amazing that he is powerful and respected all over, but watching him play on his own home turf is highly entertaining.
• The consistency of Freddy, his rib joint, and Francis seeking refuge there.
• The theme song. It just sounds dangerous, political, the whole shebang.
• Every action has a reaction. Watching the ripple effects are fascinating.
• Doug Stamper and his sobriety, as well as his decent side, which does not make an appearance too often, but it ultimately very rewarding when it does.
• The show’s pacing. Everything is deliberate, everything has a time and a place and a reason.

What I didn’t like:

• Kate Mara. Yes, I might be unpopular with this, but she just irrationally irritates the shit out of me (Abbi, you totally need to patent that phrase :P). She is not a convincing actress, I find her wooden, and her just being on screen grates on my nerves.
• How quickly everyone seemed to be linking everything back to Francis by the end of it, it just didn’t sit well with  me. He is cautious, nobody suspects anything, and next thing the last few episodes everything is like “Oh, your source is Underwood” and “So you were sleeping with Underwood” and all these things, with zero build up to it.

Rating:

House of Cards is the perfect example of a solid series. I was pretty taken with this, though I am a big fan of politics, games, and schemes. Also, Kevin Spacey is my mother’s favourite actor, so I grew up watching a lot of Spacey, and I really like his work. Seeing him in a television series? I thought that this was just going to be amazing, seeing him for longer periods of time, really getting in with his character. That Southern accent threw me when he first opened his mouth, I had not seen that coming, but it works for his character on so many levels. House of Cards is also incredibly well shot. The camera work is deliberate, and it’s always cool when Spacey chats with the camera. Breaking the fourth wall is not usually easy, and is more often than not jarring, but it just works so well here. It feels like he is taking you into his confidence, and you feel privileged to be privy to the information he is sharing. It is also impressive that David Fincher worked on the show, too, always nice to see it all. I found the relationship between Francis and Claire to be very strange. They love each other, but take other lovers either because they feel like it or it can further something for them, and they are okay with that.The underhanded wheeling and dealing was fascinating, too, and the title of the show totally makes sense when you see how it is being put together. I thought Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper was brilliant, and I had a lot of fun watching his character, he had a lot of depth and what not to bring to the screen, even if he wasn’t on as often as I would have liked. I would highly recommend looking into House of Cards if you haven’t seen it yet – tightly written, phenomenally acted, great pace, this show is definitely the one to grab your atttention!