“The best thing about people is that they stack so neatly”
- Frank Underwood
Official description from Netflix: Betrayed by the White House, Congressman Frank Underwood embarks on a ruthless rise to power. Blackmail, seduction and ambition are his weapons.
Info on imdb
House of Cards is a political drama set in the White House, which depicts the rise to power of scheming and duplicitous husband-and-wife team Francis and Claire Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright respectively). I think most of us have wondered whether the leaders of the free world are psychopaths; this series takes that premise and turns it into entertainment.
Is it just entertainment? Well, that’s what makes this show so interesting. The 2013-2018 American production is based on the much older British BBC series of the same name, which is in turn based on the novels of Michael Dobbs who had a hand in the development and production of both shows (you can watch the much older BBC version on ABC iview, for comparison purposes). Author Michael Dobbs is Margaret Thatcher’s former Chief of Staff. He wrote the novels after an acrimonious falling-out with the Iron Lady which led to his resignation. Dobbs wouldn’t be pressed on what parts of House of Cards might be true, only revealing that “most of the stuff I put into House of Cards was material from events I'd either seen, or participated in, or done, or watched other people do.”
It would seem a bad day at work was the initial inspiration for House of Cards. We all have those; times when we feel disrespected and unappreciated, and that our tireless efforts are taken for granted. But we don’t do what Francis Underwood does, even though we might dream about it.
HoC starts with our protagonist irate and aghast after being denied a promised promotion to Secretary of State. "The nature of promises, Linda, is that they remain immune to changing circumstances!", he sarcastically replies to presidential Senior Advisor Linda Vasquez after she delivers the unwelcome news.
The series’ premise unwinds as he enacts a convoluted scheme of retribution, displacing his enemies to ascend to the highest rungs of power. His wife Claire, CEO of a Non-Profit called the Clean Water Initiative, assists him while cultivating political ambitions of her own. Along the way, various characters are used as pawns in the gambit. Initially charmed by the apparent largesse of the Underwoods, and flattered to be admitted to the coterie, the good times inevitably come to a sordid end when their utility is exhausted, or they begin to chafe at the Underwood’s rather extreme demands.
House of Cards is uneven in places, but overall, a brilliant series. If you are a fan of the performances of Kevin Spacey, you definitely shouldn’t miss this show, as it is mainly his vehicle, although Robin Wright as Claire Underwood is also excellent, as are all of the supporting cast. You might even want to tune in simply because this is the last time we get to see Spacey in a major role designed to showcase his talents; this was the show that brought him down, as it was sexual assault allegations by members of the production that led to his disgrace and the end of his career. He is missing from the final season for this reason. Retrospective knowledge of those incidents, for me, led to a kind of icky viewing experience during scenes depicting sexual relations between Spacey and a much younger female character in Season 1 (Kate Mara as reporter Zoe Barnes), which almost (unfairly) led me to stop watching. Spacey as Frank Underwood produces an almost hypnotic character; from a poor Southern family based in Gaffney, son of a violent alcoholic, possessed of no innate advantages but his own gritty determination and a superlative understanding of congress and political processes, we kind of want to root for him - except that he is a really dreadful person. It turns out that once he gets a chance to exercise them, his policy ideas aren't entirely terrible. There is an element of Shakespearean tragedy here as we wonder whether in another world, in which he eschewed the dark path and succeeded on his own merits, he might have been a remarkable leader. But that isn't the world we live in, which is kind of the point the show seems to be making. Instead, politics and society inhabit the realm of artifice, where "what it looks like" is almost always more important than "what it is". In this world, fakery, deceit and the path of least resistance wins most of the time, and it's people like Frank Underwood who have got what it takes.
Aside from the drawcard of Spacey, House of Cards has those qualities that to me tend to really set a series apart and make me want to keep watching: nuanced and fascinating characters (my favourite is Frank Underwood’s frighteningly loyal Chief of Staff and right hand, Doug Stamper), intelligent writing, fast moving and complicated plotting that still manages to make sense, and story arcs capable of drawing one in at the emotional level. The fate of hapless congressman Peter Russo, one of Underwood’s pawns, in Season 1 is one example. Other highlights of this series for me included Lars Mikkelson as Russian President Victor Petrov, a seeming stand-in for Vladimir Putin, in Season 3. Underwood and Petrov have a complex relationship, underlined by Frank’s envy that Petrov can accomplish things in a dictatorship that he cannot in a democracy: “Revolution sneaks up on you,” Petrov says, “One step at a time. I don’t take chances, even with the smallest of steps”.
There are plenty of shocks delivered as we are made witness to the depravity and corruption of life behind the scenes of the White House. House of Cards offers an engrossing live action demonstration of how political events often have so little to do with their outer meanings and stated purposes. While the public is given ideology and party platitudes, the realities are endlessly shaped by shifting alliances and conflicts forged in service of individual and corporate interest. There are timely allusions to fake news, false flag events, election tampering and social media engineering of the populace. Even though the detail of the scenarios is undoubtedly fictional, the contemporary resonance of so much that goes on in this show makes for some rather uncomfortable viewing.
About the author: OJ Modjeska is a true crime author who reads a lot of books and watches a lot of movies and TV shows. Bestselling titles include "Gone: Catastrophe in Paradise" and the "Murder by Increments" series. Currently seeking representation to option my books for the screen.
