House of Cards: Season 3

So the truth is, I think the reason it took me so long to get into House of Cards was not only because I realized it was as dry as a piece of toast, but I also heard the seasons got progressively worse. I didn’t hear too many complaints about the 2^nd season, but I definitely didn’t hear praises about it. But more importantly, I heard that the show really slows down when it comes to the 3^rd season. So me, having watched the first season and not really being incredibly impressed with it, wasn’t incredibly invested in watching 2 more seasons if the show was only going to get worse as it went along.

But like I’ve said, this has been a journey towards the 4^th season. Suddenly, there was something that I was looking forward to and something to drive on towards. Luckily, I think the second season is probably just as, if not better, than the first season. And the third season… well…

What I will say about the end of the second season is that the ending had finality about it. There are a couple of loose ends and cliff hangers, but overall, while I wanted to see what was going to happen next, the show probably could have ended there.

The 2^nd season ends with the culmination of Frank throwing the Walker administration into international and domestic controversy. Underwood manipulates the relationship between the President and the First Lady, starts a trade war with China, and puts Raymond Tusk on the verge of criminal charges. While he finds himself brushing with controversy himself, Frank is able to manipulate the President into resigning, and takes the Presidency for himself.

Along the way his wife Claire (played by Robin Wright) finds herself at the brunt of controversy but is able to come out as a strong and likable figure, important to Underwood’s image.

Doug Stamper (played by Michael Kelly) finds himself tormented by Rachel Posner, the prostitute they have been hiding away due to her involvement with Peter Russo and his death in the first season but when he finally decides to dispose of her, she escapes and beats him almost to death.

The great thing about the second season as how streamlined it was. It was focused on Underwood and everything seemed poignant and moving towards his rise to power.

The third season started off on a creative, but very different foot. Something I noticed from the get go was the fact that there seemed to be a lot less Frank Underwood to begin with. The first episode focused a lot on Doug Stamper and his recovery from the attack made on him by Rachel Posner at the end of the second season. The focus of the show started off centering on more characters than just Frank. And that’s not really a bad thing, it was just very different.

I mentioned in the review of season 2 that Claire takes a larger part in that season, but she takes an even larger part in this season. The difference though is that in the 2^nd season, you got to know Claire as a public figure. In this season, you got to know her more as a more in-depth character. In the 2^nd season you figured out more about her past, but in this season you figured out more about her

ambitions. Clare thrives in this season and unlike other seasons where you wondered where her mind totally was, this season you got to figure out her motivations and suddenly it made the things that happened around her all the more meaningful because we understood what it meant to her.

Doug Stamper becomes a larger character in this one because he’s suddenly out of the loop while he’s recovering from his injuries. He falls off the bandwagon and becomes an alcoholic again. I was always a fan of Michael Kelly before this show, this made me see him as a phenomenal actor. You cared for his character and what’s more, you figured out that Frank Underwood cared for his character. When everyone, including the guy you are supposed to know is a bad guy cares for this character, you really care for this character a lot. And what’s more is that his arc was really flushed out in this season. And it was flushed out well!

This season continued to flush out more characters you thought were already flushed out pretty well, like Molly Parker as Jackie Sharp, and Mahershala Ali as Remy Danton, especially in their new roles as being closer to Underwood in one way or another. Where some shows have their character’s motivations change from season to season, all the primary characters really seemed to stay exactly where they left off and if they did change, it was because Frank screwed them over, or there was a really good reason as to why they were the way they were.

On top of that, there are characters from the 2^nd season that were barely mentioned that are brought to the forefront. One of them being Heather Dunbar (played by Elizabeth Marvel) who decides to run for President when the Democrats all but force Frank not to run for office himself, she is a strong character and a great foil for Frank. The hilarious part about her character is that if you didn’t already spend 2 seasons with Frank, you’d be rooting for her. Overall, she should be the “good guy” in this entire saga, but she’s not. She’s unlikeable, and you don’t want her to win against your best judgment. 

And then there is the President of Russia, Viktor Petrov (played by Lars Mikkelsen). And the great part about this character is that he is Vladimir Putin. I’m not saying he’s like Vladimir Putin or he’s based off of him, he IS Vladimir Putin. Yes he has a different name, but this is the President of Russia who is former KGB, is a total badass, and doesn’t give two shits about the politics of the United States. He IS Vladimir Putin. That becomes a big part of the season, but I will talk about the structure of the season in a little bit.

But on top of him being ripped right out of the headlines and current events, I thought the character of Viktor Petrov was a lot of fun and it added a lot to the story. I thought the whole situation between the United States was really interesting and if anything was going to be Frank's next big challenge, it would be the rivals and powerful people in the international community, and who is a better rival than the President of Russia? 

I will talk more about the role of Frank Underwood in a little bit but the fact of the matter is, this was the natural choice for this season. It was a good choice and I liked it. 

If this show hadn’t been about Frank Underwood and been focused on him the entire time, I would say this is a solid cast of characters in a slightly darker look on the politics of today. The problem is Frank Underwood. Now don’t misunderstand me, Kevin Spacey still nails it in this season. He still makes Frank Underwood one of the best performances in his career.

The problem with Underwood in this season is that he’s gone as high as he can go.

In the first season, Frank Underwood was just a Senator from South Carolina. He was in leadership but he seemed to be almost unknown. It was his ambition and his striving for power that made him an interesting character. It was also the plans he made to amass that power and go from that position as Senator to Vice President. In the second season, it was the same ploy, but it had to be done differently from the position of Vice President to President.

The third season put Frank Underwood as the most powerful man in the free world. Where does he go from there? Manipulating to maintain power is a little bit different from manipulating to gain power. And on top of it all, Frank actually has to do his job. In the past everything seemed to be working towards the goal of putting Frank in the Oval Office. Now it seems like Frank is actually making decisions as the President of the United States. Of course it’s for a legacy and to have his name remembered, however, that seems at least a little bit more honorable. He actually needs to do what the President does, and regardless of what the motivations for it is, some of it kind of puts Frank in the right.

In a sense, Season 3 of House of Cards is basically a much darker season of The West Wing with Frank Underwood instead of Josiah Bartlet.

Now you could make a more philosophical argument that while you could make the justification of the earlier seasons that he’s just an evil man who knows the loopholes of power, this one is more pointing out the flaws in the powers of the President and he close a person in that power could be to a tyrant. It’s a stretch but it could be argued.

The point is, House of Cards is better at a show about the worst of the worst politicians in Washington. As much as we've wanted to see Frank Underwood reach this position, the result just isn't what I thought it was going to be I guess. 

Is it bad? No. I don't think so. 

Even though the policy aspects about House of Cards isn't the best part about Season 3, it does have some aspects about it. Furthermore, this season is building up to the 4th season. I have a lot of friends who have watched the 4th season all the way through and they praise it saying that a lot of what happens in Season 3 is building up to what happens in Season 4. And that's what I'm excited for. 

I think the acting in Season 3 has been fantastic as it always is and the dynamic between Frank and Claire continues to be something that both drives the show, and becomes a point of contention that you no doubt see coming to its critical mass by the end of the third season.

Without giving too many spoilers (in case you haven't watched the 3rd season yet), the relationship between Claire and Frank is fantastic.

Now this relationship has always been weird and its always been a little bit off putting. But these two have something that really works for them and works perfectly for the show.

Now that might change by the end of this season and there is a lot that happens in this season that makes these two contentious.

Its funny because in the first season of the British version, Claire's equivalent is barely in it at all. Its a real applause for Robin Wright, who even directed a couple episodes, who not only keeps up with the caliber of Kevin Spacey but sometimes outshines him, especially in this season.

Overall, this season is good. Its not great. Its good. The acting continues to be good, the drama continues to be good, but at the end of the day, it felt like a step backwards instead of a show that has continued to raise the stakes with every season.

Now, is it fair to expect this show to just continue to get better and better? I think so. We've seen it with shows like Breaking Bad, and we've seen it before. Its difficult, but House of Cards is one of those shows that has decided to distinguish itself, we expect more. So for the 4th season, I don't want to see this show turn into the darker West Wing, and lets get back to House of Cards.

But have you seen House of Cards Season 3? What did you think of it? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on this and other movies and shows on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as give me requests for movies and shows I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can also get more movie news and reviews updates coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Of course, somebody made a spoof of House of Cards using the opening sequence and music from The West Wing. Of course because this blog's Youtube connection is weird (I really have to figure it out one of these days), here is a video of Robin Wright dancing... thats cool right? Enjoy!