House of Cards - a Netflix original show

[black aspirin]

If you haven't watched it, DO.  Kevin Spacey plays a Congressman who is also the majority whip and has his sights set on the Presidency.  He's absolutely ruthless and conniving, and totally owns this role.  My girlfriend and I are totally hooked.  Do yourself a favor and start watching.  I'll be shocked if anyone says they don't like it.

[amadkins]

Concur. Only three episodes in and digging it.

[retardgroove]

I read this and fired up the Netflix last night. Digging it also.

[MadJohnShaft]

It got better, not sure the 'breaking the 4th wall' thing works or is necessary but they tried really hard to make it fun, and sexy Robin Wright is in it....

[VOLVO)))]

I actually thought that aspect of it was really awesome, it shows that he is "actually"  in control. I usually hate the Southern Cracker type anti-hero, but holy fuck does Kevin Spacey do it right, and make it likable. I binge watched the whole season in a day. It only gets better. I know Frank is supposed to be a scumbag politician, but I really like him.

Favorite quote: "He is one of the many men who made the mistake of choosing money over power."

This show was 10/10 for me. Massive budget made it all perfect.

[peoplething]

The wife and I just finished it over the weekend. She loved it.  Overall, I dug it. I know I did because I actually watched about two thirds of the episodes. Usually I become ambivalent with 'TV' shows after about three minutes.

Walking Dead and Game of Thrones are glaring exceptions to this, and even then I had to force myself to continue watching the second half season of WD.

I saw this on NPR a bit ago, the link is to a supplemental transcript - couldn't find the official column.

"The success of House of Cards is no accident. Netflix executives knew exactly what their millions of customers were watching; they knew precisely how popular the works of Fincher were, and how many of their customers were fans of Kevin Spacey, and how many people were streaming the British House of Cards. Sifting through that mountain of data, Netflix executives were able to predict that House of Cards would be just what Netflix viewers would want to watch."

http://m.npr.org/news/Books/173176488

[MadJohnShaft]

Yep, Lillehammer wasn't enough but this is....I think it's a big win

[fallen]

Great show. People from the Wire showing up in the cast was just a bonus.

[strangelight]

fucking ridiculous when he (spoiler alert for the rest of this post)....


.... kills that congressman. LOL. and the vice presidency? really? homeland did that shit too. got too big in scope. would've been a million times more interesting to see kevin spacey's character go from mid-to-upper level important congressman to the house whip. that rise would've been awesome and realistic. but i have a hard fucking time believing a US congressman is gonna murder anyone himself. no one is gonna get their hands that fucking dirty.

so dumb. so so dumb. ruined this whole show for me. might watch the last two episodes as a total hate watch, but i doubt it. i mean. come the fuck on.

i am, however, glad they had a "this guy's actually gay" episode, because kevin spacey does not play a convincing straight man to me.

[VOLVO)))]

Watch the show this is based off of. In the other, he kills a low level member of parliament by poisoning his cocaine, and liquoring him up for the drive home. They stayed true to the original. Both rule.  The '90 British version is way dirtier. His wife is also the most heartless fucking woman I have ever witnessed on screen.

There are very subtle differences, obviously due to the difference in governmental systems.


Also, Russo was my ideal politician, fucked up a bunch in his life, but had enough heart to keep trying to do right.

[strangelight]

the guy who only ever sponsored one bill to pad his resume at the directions of an egomaniacal murderer is your ideal politician?

show was flirting with "this is fucking stupid" for a while, but killing russo put that shit way over the top.

[VOLVO)))]

Aside from that, his character. He was flawed. Not evil. I like that dude.

[strangelight]

oh yeah, i liked him as a character. the audience gets a lot of pathos for a guy that is clearly struggling with his demons (does this mean you've changed your stance on drug addicts who hurt their kids? because coke benders with hookers couldn't have been awesome for his two kids).

it was a bit weird for the show to set peter up as this sympathetic character and then have the main protagonist kill him. are we not supposed to want frank to succeed anymore? that was a pretty quick 180. yes, breaking bad is doing the same thing (turning the hero into the villain) but that was a slow-burn over 5 seasons, 11 episodes in or whatever.

i also like that remy is the only lobbyist in DC. i also also like what a total bitch robin wright is. not even sympathetic in her sympathetic moments. dat body, tho.

[VOLVO)))]

Well, see the whole british series is 12 (maybe 15) episodes total. He killed Russo (O'niel) within the first three episodes. The 12 episodes spans like 12 years. Urquhart ends up Prime minister by episode 4, or something.

So, the Underwood saga is waaaayyy behind. Frank has killed one person, whereas Urquhart was like four or five people deep by the point Frank kills Russo. Frank takes a lot more shit from people, compared to Urquhart.

Also, Stamper seems to be a semi good dude, (though working for a shithead,) whereas British (Tim) Stamper is an evil bastard to begin with.

Robin Wright looks like a a disaster relief worker compared to the British wife.

Not a lot of fluff in that one.

Russo seemed to be more than the drugs. He also kept it pretty well concealed from his children (until it was leaked.) dunno why, got a soft spot for him.

[strangelight]

i like russo. i'm just surprised you do too.

and that... that plot is just ridiculous and schlocky. that's a shame. can't you do political intrigue with high stakes that doesn't turn into some serial killer shit?

and stamper seems like a fairly evil dick to me. well, not evil, but pretty damn bad. fucking the hooker after paying her her hush money? i mean, i guess he took care of her, but he used her again to break peter's sobriety.

[VOLVO)))]

I mean, if somebody wants something, they're going to get as dirty as they have to. I know it seems totally farfetched, but it's pretty juicy, nonetheless. I really like the Frank takes care of his bbq man, that's totally legit. I don't know, I guess Frank is kind of an anti-hero. Strangely, I find myself rooting for him, whereas I didn't root for Urquhart at all. I thought he was an irritatingly coy shithead. I like Frank. Don't know why.

I'm trying not to spoil it for you, if you want to watch the British version.

[deleted account]

just finished season one, two drops on Valentine's Day?  so SunnO))), will watching the British series end up spoiling the next season(s)?

[MadJohnShaft]

So

[VOLVO)))]

Shit, i didn't see your post, Priest!

It will. I'm sure, ultimately, it will end the same way. There's some serious difference, but the idea is the same.


Have you started it yet, Shaft? How is it so far?

[retardgroove]

[spoiler]he's now the president[/spoiler]

[black aspirin]

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.  Season 2, Episode 1.  My mind is blown.

[MadJohnShaft]

Yah.  We were trying to watch it Saturday night and kept timing out.  We are 5 in to the new season - it's excellent. 

The talking to the camera schtick is done as a surprise in S2ep1 - I think it worked

[VOLVO)))]

Goddamn it, man! Just watched the first episode. What a beast.

[MadJohnShaft]

Season Two done. That was pretty good, with a few mis-steps I thought were ridiculous (the threesome)

[black]

As usual, late to this party (don't have the cable/satellite, amazon prime and netflix for me).
Fucking great show.