Good day all. As that useless idiot mentioned earlier this week, the fourth season of the Netflix adaption of House of Cards was released late last week. Yes, I did binge watch all 13 hours, but I did not turn the Anger Central office entertainment room into an EPA Superfund site.
The Netflix series, House of Cards is based on a British series by the same name, which itself, was based on a trilogy of novels by Michael Dobbs, titled “House of Cards,” “To Play the King,” and “The Final Cut.” The books were turned into a series that spanned several years revolving around a truly evil, greedy and ambitious member of Parliament, Francis Urquhart. The series was run, first in Great Britain and later on PBS in the United States back in the 1990’s.
A few years ago, Netflix acquired the rights and with Kevin Spacey as the lead, created an American version. When it was released, it exploded in popularity and turned Netflix into a production powerhouse. Having seen the original version, I was intrigued to see what Spacey and Netflix came up with. The original version was based on the British system of government, and I wasn’t to sure how it would translate into the American system.
While you can see where they struggled a bit, trying to convert to the American system, they managed to pull it off. You could see how the American version tied in with the British version along the basic plot lines. However, in Season Three, the Netflix version diverged. (Of necessity)
In the American version Kevin Spacey plays Frank Underwood, who through one underhanded deal after another, along with a couple of murders, ends up as President of the United States. His wife, played by Robin Wright, is just as ruthless and ambitious as her husband, and eventually manages to become Ambassador to the United Nations. Her tenure is a disaster and she is forced to step down, leading to increased tension between the Underwoods. At the end of Season Three, Claire announces that she is leaving Frank just as the Primary season begins.
***SPOILER ALERT!***
This brings us to Season Four, where we see Frank and Claire working against each other. Claire, ambitious as ever, returns to her home in Texas and starts the process of running for the House of Representatives. She uses the usual Underwood method of getting rid of an opponent, in this case through bribery. Frank is not doing well in the primaries since Claire is actually more popular then he is.
Frank gets Claire to agree to help him by promising not to interfere with her candidacy. As you would expect, he promptly sabotages her bid by backing the person Claire had bribed to get out of the way. This leads to all the fun and games, where Claire is actively, if covertly working to sabotage Frank’s campaign.
While all this is going on, there is a sub-plot regarding one of Frank’s earlier victims, a former reporter Franks set up and got thrown into prison, Lucas Goodwin. Goodwin gets out and tries to get Frank’s primary opponent to help him get Frank. She turns him down, which leads to the “Big Event” of the season. Lucas shoots and critically wounds Frank and kills Frank’s bodyguard, Edward Meechum. Meechum gets a shot off and takes out Goodwin.
Frank ends up in a coma and in need of a new liver. Claire, seeing a chance to show she is just as good as Frank, manipulates the Vice President, who is now acting president, into brokering a major deal with the Russians that goes against what Frank wanted done. She pulls it off, and when Frank gets his new liver, (Through the usual methods of threats, bribery and coercion), he agrees to make Claire his Vice President.
The whole season is one bit of intrigue after another. We have Lucas Goodwin’s former editor start digging into what caused Goodwin’s fall from grace and finding some of Frank Underwood’s corrupt schemes. We see Frank and his hatchet man, Doug Stamper crushing anyone who stands in Franks way, including, if needed, Claire. The political shenanigans in House of Cards makes what the Establishment Republicans are trying to pull to keep Donald Trump from winning the nomination look amateurish by comparison.
Really, to fully “get” what’s happening, you really need to watch the series several times. For those who are political junkies, those who think the whole systems is corrupt, and for those who just love twisting and turning plot lines, then House of Cards is for you. Best of all, they have announced that there will be a fifth season. No details on what that will be about, but you can bet it will revolve around the general election and the Underwoods utterly destroying their political opponents.
Thatisall
~The Angry Webmaster~
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