DVD/TV Series Review: House of Cards: Season 5

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior seasons, but no major season five giveaways+++

The fifth season of House of Cards starts out during the campaign with Frank running for re-election with Claire running to be his Vice President. Their opponent is Will Conway, the republican governor of New York, played by Joel Kinnaman (best known for the series The Killing and the Suicide Squad movies). The season has a mix of storylines that mimic some real-world events and things that would ultimately become prophetic given t***p's attempt to steal the 2020 election a few years later. Thankfully, the dipshits who tried to steal the real election were not as competent as the characters in the show. The plot lines include a war against the show's fictional terrorist group ICO, as well as a storyline that involved Russia and their Putin-Like President, Victor Petrov, played by Lars Mikkelsen. Boris McGiver, who plays Tom Hammerschmidt, the editor of the Washington Herald starts looking into Zoe Barnes' death, which starts bringing heat back on Frank. The season ends setting up what was clearly supposed to be the original season six storyline of Frank versus Claire, but when Kevin Spacey was fired from the show, that ended up being totally abandoned, so the cliffhanger-ish ending to the season never really gets played out.

For those who get the blu-ray set, the 13 episodes are spread across four discs. The A/V quality is very good, with some really nice scenic shots from DC and the surrounding area. The big con for the physical disc set is that there are no extras, and the discs are again in those very tight pockets that make them extremely hard to remove without risking scratching the discs and/or ripping the pocket. 

Overall, the series is still very good. While some of the backbiting, political maneuvering, and crimes that are portrayed in the show are dramatized for the show, I think that, unfortunately, what is depicted in the show is not always that far off from reality. The show continues to be very well-written and acted, with a strong supporting cast including Michael Kelly, Neve Campbell, Campbell Scott, Paul Sparks, and Jayne Atkinson, to name a few. 

For some, what has been revealed about Spacey's alleged behavior over the years, including while he was working on the show, may taint their perceptions of and enjoyment of the show. While Spacey is clearly the series lead, it is not just his portrayal of Frank that makes the show great, and I look at it as supporting the entire cast and crew and not just him. So, if you can separate that, and have liked the prior seasons of the show, then you will probably like this one.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: House of Cards: Season 4

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from prior seasons, but no major season four giveaways+++

Season 4 of House of Cards is really all about Frank setting things up to be re-elected, along with putting out political fires and avoiding being caught for his criminal activity. One of the big storylines this season is about who is going to replace the Vice President on the ticket. Claire and Frank, trying to bolster their reputations, bring Yates back on staff to let him finish his book and provide speech writing advice. Goodwin is out of prison and in witness protection, but is still trying to figure out what happened to Zoe, convinced she did not commit suicide, and gets closer to discovering her connection to Frank. There are also storylines involving Russia, China, and the show's fictional version of the ISIS terrorist group, that would eerily predict real-life events. One new addition to the cast is Scream's Neve Campbell being brought on as LeAnn Harvey, a political consultant Claire hires as she mulls getting into politics.

For those who get the blu-ray, the A/V quality is again very good, but the extras are non-existent. Not that prior seasons had much in the way of extras, but this, like season one, has nothing. So, really, the only reasons to get the blu-ray set is if you really prefer the physical discs over streaming or to keep a collection complete.

Overall, the season is very good. It continues to be well-written and very well-acted. Of course, watching the series now, knowing what has come out about Kevin Spacey is a little weird, and some people may avoid the show altogether. Even though he was certainly the main character, the show was about more than just him so I look at it as supporting everyone else who worked to make the show as good as it was. This season definitely sets up Claire to have a much larger role in the series and Robin Wright does a great job with that. And, Michael Kelly again shines as the very troubled and morally gray Chief of Staff, Doug Stamper. It is definitely worth watching.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: House of Cards: Season 3

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior seasons, but no major season three giveaways+++

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.

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: House of Cards: Season 2

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major season two giveaways+++

The second season of House of Cards picks up shortly after the events that ended season three, with Frank having maneuvered his way into the vice presidency, from where, unsurprisingly he keeps up the effort to take down President Walker, all while acting as an ally. Yet, he has his own loose ends from the setup and murder of Peter Russo while Zoe, with whom he was having an affair starts to piece together how crooked he is. The season has episodes that hit on several real-life themes, including entitlement reform, state-sponsored cyberespionage, money laundering in campaign finance, anthrax scares, sexual assault in the United States military, abortion, and Federal government shutdowns. Some of those would end up actually being prophetic a few years after the season aired (in 2013). But, the main plot throughout the season continued to be Frank's power grab and just how ruthlessly he would execute it.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, this season actually does have extras. There are five featurettes that range in length from four minutes to just under twenty. The longest one is basically a making-of documentary that goes through the process of producing an episode and how the series gets plotted out. The A/V quality of the Blu-Ray set is very good, with a lot of great visuals of the Washington DC area. The only negative to the set is again the horrible way in which the discs are stored in the case (in very tightly packed slip pockets). It is very hard to get the discs out without either tearing the pocket or risking scratching one of the discs.

Overall, the season is great. It is a mixed bag given the allegations that have come out against Kevin Spacey since he was fired from the series. Even so, his is not the only contribution to the series. This season, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, and Rachel Brosnahan all turned in wonderful performances, as did Sebastian Arcelus, who plays Zoe's coworker at the Washington Herald. It was absolutely one of the best dramas of its time and is still worth watching.

DVD/TV Series Review: House of Cards: Season 1

 

House of Cards is an American Adaptation of a British series of the same name that aired in the late 1980s/early 1990s. It stars Kevin Spacy as 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. The series included a wonderful supporting cast, some of whom received their big break on the show and have gone on to become A-listers themselves. They include 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, Michael Kelly as Doug Stamper, Frank's Chief of Staff who does a lot of Frank's dirty work, 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, and Wright does a great job as the equally ruthless Claire Underwood who is basically in a marriage of convenience with Frank.

For those who get the DVD set, there are no extras, 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 as to how congressional politics work, 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.