Season three of House of Cards starts with Frank having successfully maneuvered his way into the Presidency after either killing or framing and/or sabotaging anyone who could stand in his way or take him down. Doug is recovering from the blow to the head he took when Rachel knocked him out and ran off at the end of season two, and there is friction between Frank and Claire that boils over by the season's end. The big political theme this season is Frank's America Works (or "AmWorks") program, which he initiates in an effort to show that his administration is making progress in helping the American people, and Claire becomes UN ambassador trying to amass power of her own. We also see some of the potential candidates to run against Frank, whom he of course tries to undermine in one way or the other.
For those who get the blu-ray set, the show looks and sounds great in HD as it always has. The packaging is still awful, using the tight pockets to store the discs in that make them extremely hard to remove. For extras, there are two behind-the-scenes features, one that is generally about the season, and the second is about Doug's particular storyline.
Overall, the season is great and the series continues to be wonderful. While the acting is great all around, the standouts this season are really Michael Kelly (playing Doug Stamper) and Rachel Brosnahan (playing Rachel Posner). Their storyline is dark and crazy and they both do a great job. Robin Wright also knocks it out of the park with her ever-expanding role in the series. Of course, Spacy is a catch-22 these days. His portrayal of Frank is awesome, but it is hard to separate the allegations against him personally from his work on the show. But, if you can put that aside, his portrayal of this character is probably his best acting work ever. The series continues to be one that you hope is entirely fictional in its portrayal of the Washington political scene, but fear that more of it is true than it should be. I think it is still one of the best dramas ever, and definitely worth the time to watch.
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