House of Cards (Season 3)

[Dukefrukem]

We can move this when we have a 2015 TV section.

http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/e3ae1d3748c0f45821f0c9636879cd 51/201173375/house-of-cards-season-3-teaser_thumbnail.jpg

[Dukefrukem]

http://media.aintitcool.com/media/uploads/2015/merrick/houseofcardsseason3poster_larg e.jpg

[number8]

Haha, Netflix put up the season by mistake. I'm watching the first ep now.

[Dukefrukem]

So good.

[Dukefrukem]

Credits to Episode 3 were great.

[Irish]

Christ this show is ridiculous.

Got about half way (?) through this season and tapped out. I just don't care anymore. The show has lost its raison d'être. What's Frank supposed to be about now? Good governance?

Zzzzzzz.

[Dukefrukem]

I liked the debates. I thought they were actually really well done with the fewest amount of cuts/edits.

But basically I agree Irish, there was very little at stake here compared to the first two seasons and Michael Kelly's character went nowhere.

[number8]

This is the only season I can wholeheartedly call good.

[Dukefrukem]

I liked all three seasons, but Spacey's charm and 4th wall breaking are what makes this fun for me. I did not care for the "conflicts" in season 3 compared to the first two seasons. And some of the decision making in season 3 is baffling.

[number8]

I wish they would drop that device, but I suppose they're stuck with it now. I made this complaint back when season one came out. The fourth wall breaking worked really well in the original BBC series because the tone is lighter and the pace is faster, and there's a vague sense of paternal condescension in the way Ian Richardson deliver exposition to the audience, where he often comes across like an otherworldly presence gliding over all and toying with characters in a dollhouse.

But here, with its Fincherian atmosphere and attempts to make Underwood a real human, I don't think it fits at all. In this season, especially, there's only one instance ("What are you looking at?") where it feels like fourth wall breaking. All the other ones are written like a film noir voiceover, which is a stylistic device that would fit this show a hell of a lot more.

[Dukefrukem]

There was one more similar to your example above, but I can't remember off hand. I do feel like they cut back on it a lot.

I wonder when/if they are going to announce Season 4.

[number8]

Anyway, I think I can understand why the fans who think Frank Underwood is the reason to watch the show would be disappointed with this season. I'm more ambivalent towards him, though, and this season gave me a lot more things to care about.

- Claire Underwood and Doug Stamper are hugely more interesting characters to me, and this season gave them both very satisfying arcs that build on the second season's attempt to drag them out of Frank's shadow. The ending for both of them in the final episode? Love it. Made me want to watch the fourth season immediately, which is something the finales of the previous two didn't do (which I think is saying a lot since the season 2 ending for Stamper was as cliffhanger as this show ever got).

- I appreciated the meta commentary with the biographer telling Frank that he spent a long time figuring out what the hell Frank's story is all about until he realized that it's really about his marriage with Claire. And, you know, I agree.

- The writing is a lot tighter. I read a review that described the first season as the Doritos equivalent of television where you're compelled to finish the whole bag even though you know it's crappy empty calorie. That's exactly how I felt. That I was just watching Frank Underwood run into one political problem after another, manipulate it into his way, and then shit ends. The season two arcs were more compelling, but it's still handled the exact same way, mostly coasting on Spacey carrying the whole thing. So I like that this season managed to make all the disparate elements--the marriage, Stamper's downward spiral, the biographer, Claire's ambassadorship, anti-gay Russia, the primary election, and even the ludicrously silly AmWorks plan--feed one another and then come together cohesively in that finale. It feels planned, it feels organic, and it's more satisfying to me than DoritosTV.

[number8]

There was one more similar to your example above, but I can't remember off hand. I do feel like they cut back on it a lot.

They did. I'm pretty sure the writers are smart enough to realize that it doesn't really work with their show anymore so they had a hard time figuring out when to play that card, but they're not brave enough to just drop it. I kept thinking that some of the more memorable ones ("I'd push him down the stairs and light his broken body on fire just to watch it burn, if it wouldn't start a World War") would be so much more powerful if we just hear it and see Frank staring at Petrov, rather than have Spacey turn to the camera first.

[Barty]

Let's also give a shout out to Lars Mikkelsen for his portrayal of Petrov. Probably one of the more fun and fascinating characters on this show, and a nice foil to Underwood.

[Lucky]

Agreed that this season is easily the best. Contained quite a few self-contained episodes while still contributing to a worthwhile grand arc.

[Morris Schæffer]

Wow this is not worse than 1 and 2 as some of my mates have said, but better. It feels like it's actually about politics now while still being completely engrossing, entertaining and relevant.

That said, I'm only halfway through it, but episode 6 was among the best of the entire show so far.