House of Cards is an American Adaptation of a British series of the same name that aired in the late 1980s/early 1990s. The American version aired on Netflix from 2013 to 2018. Throughout the series' run, it starred Kevin Spacy, Robin Wright, and Michael Kelley in the leading roles and included many great stars in main and recurring roles from season to season. The 13-episode first season was released on Netflix in February 2013.
In the show, Kevin Spacy plays Francis ("Frank") Underwood, who is the Democratic whip in the US House of Representatives. When a promise by the newly elected President to make Frank Secretary of State is reneged on, Frank decides (along with his wife Claire, played by Robin Wright) to get revenge and maneuver his way into gaining more power. Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper, Frank's Chief of Staff who does much of Frank's dirty work. The series had a wonderful supporting cast in the first season (some of whom have gone on to become A-listers themselves), including Kate Mara as Zoe Barnes, an ambitious young journalist working for the Washington Herald, Corey Stoll as Peter Russo, a U.S. Congressman from Pennsylvania, Rachel Brosnahan as Rachel Posner, a DC prostitute, and Mahershala Ali as Remy Danton, a powerful lobbyist.
The series is definitely rooted in some reality (probably even more than it should be), detailing the kinds of back-room dealing and phoniness that have become a staple of how things operate in Washington. Spacey, who, of course, has now pretty much been blacklisted because of his behavior, including on the House of Cards set, did a great job with the character of Frank, playing him as both ruthless and willing to do anything to get ahead, yet also vulnerable at times. Wright does a great job as the equally ruthless Claire Underwood, who is basically in a marriage of convenience with Frank.
There are no extras for those who get the DVD or Blu-Ray set, just the episodes spread over three discs. The packaging is god-awful, with each disc jammed very tightly into a slipcase, so you definitely risk scratching the discs as you take them out.
Overall, the series is very good. For those who have even a little inside inkling of congressional politics, it is a little too eerily accurate, even if it is fictional. If you have seen the BBC series, this does borrow heavily from the first season of that series but adapts them a lot to fit not only the US political system but to just draw out some of the story arcs. It is a very dark series that is mostly a drama but does have some dark comedy included here and there. Even though many of the characters have little or no redeeming values, you still get invested in them, if nothing else to see how their arcs will turn out, and the writers do a great job weaving the various plot threads together in a limited number of episodes.
There are no extras for those who get the DVD or Blu-Ray set, just the episodes spread over three discs. The packaging is god-awful, with each disc jammed very tightly into a slipcase, so you definitely risk scratching the discs as you take them out.
Overall, the series is very good. For those who have even a little inside inkling of congressional politics, it is a little too eerily accurate, even if it is fictional. If you have seen the BBC series, this does borrow heavily from the first season of that series but adapts them a lot to fit not only the US political system but to just draw out some of the story arcs. It is a very dark series that is mostly a drama but does have some dark comedy included here and there. Even though many of the characters have little or no redeeming values, you still get invested in them, if nothing else to see how their arcs will turn out, and the writers do a great job weaving the various plot threads together in a limited number of episodes.
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