‘House of Cards’ Resumes Production, With Diane Lane and Greg Kinnear

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Veech, Feb 1, 2018.

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  1. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Yes.
     
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  2. Weird then that it ended on such a WTF scene -no closure.
     
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  3. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    Been a fan of this show since it debuted--just finished the final episode of the latest season last night:

    This season was ass. Sorry. That ending was terrible.

    So many dead-end plots this season: the will, the ring, Duncan Shepherd, Claire's pregnancy.

    It's too bad because the acting is just about uniformly excellent, and the show looks great as ever. But what is Claire Underwood's motivation this season for doing everything she does? Power? Revenge?

    The Russian President Petroff, such a good villain in seasons past, also comes off as toothless and non-threatening this season (he seems to become another deflated male character by the end, much like Kinnear's Bill Shepherd and Scott's Vice President character). I didn't buy the last episode twist with Doug Stamper either--made no sense.

    Show was great in its first four seasons, season 5 started to go off the rails. This was a waste of time. There's some interesting stuff here like the implications of a woman doing all the dastardly stuff as a president that Kevin Spacey's Frank Underwood was doing. But the show tries to go on without Spacey but have his specter invoked in every episode, and fumbles for that. Probably a no-win situation either way, but the series ends feeling unresolved and pointless.

    Wish they had stopped properly at Season 5.

    Season grade: D
    Series grade: B-
     
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  4. Claus LH

    Claus LH Forum Resident

    We watched the first two episodes of the last season yesterday.
    The writing feels desperate. They are having to "write backwards" to explain things we never saw; they have her doing asides to the camera (like him), but they have no flashbacks to use since Kevin is gone...a lot of patchiness in this. The basic politico-drama and intrigue trudge on, but with little gas in it. I really don't want to sit through all the episodes, but most likely I'll have to because my wife wants to see it.
     
  5. glide

    glide Forum Resident

    Location:
    NH, USA
    Being present for the commission of a crime, potentially aiding in the coverup, and not assisting with the investigation would most certainly lead to a murder charge in California. Unless you're famous.

    Point being, studios are real fickle about what they deem acceptable behavior from their actors.
     
  6. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Finished it, somewhat disappointed. What I expected was...

    ...Claire taking care of all her unfinished business and having all her enemies dispatched, something like the end of Godfather with the montage where Michael Corleone kills all the heads of all the other Mafia families. What they did in the show was a lot smaller and quieter, and I expected a little more action.

    What they did wasn't terrible, but just not what I expected and hoped for.

    BTW, I'm not buying Claire Underwood being pregnant at the age of 52 (at least, that's Robin Wright's real age). That's a pivotal plot problem for which there's no solution, since a lot of the show hangs on that.

    I agree with @Chrome_Head above that not being able to show or reference Kevin Spacey in any episode got very clunky. Not a photograph, not a news story, not a flashback... even when his "voice recording memoirs" became a plot element, we couldn't hear it on speaker. That's a problem.

    Wouldn't it be funny if they were to release the first two (completed) episodes that had Spacey in it, to see what direction the final season of the show was supposed to take?
     
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  7. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    I didn’t know they had two episodes in the can with Spacey before they reversed course. The season feels like it—it was choppy, took longer to arrive and was shorter episode-wise.

    They kind of did do exactly the Corleone-esque montage of Claire having her foes taken out: Hammerschimdt the reporter, Cathy and Jane. It reminded me of Breaking Bad when Walt had the former laundromat employees of Gus’ killed in prison.

    I thought the fact that Claire seemed to go anywhere and everywhere without a security detail present was ridiculous.
     
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  8. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Yeah, and that goes to one of my larger issues with the show since Frank got to the Presidency. House of Cards worked best when it was centered around Congress in the first two seasons, because someone like Frank, even as Whip, is very anonymous to most people outside of Washington (most people couldn't tell you who the Whip is right now in real life), which allowed him to carry out his maleficences in a believable way since it was behind the scenes.

    But with the scrutiny of the Presidency? No way. I think real life events from the past two years have shown that as President, if you engage in open corruption, the other side won't just twiddle their thumbs and let you go into the night easily. One can only imagine how the Democrats in this show would get slaughtered at the midterms.
     
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  9. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    They actually never did say if the Underwoods were Democrats or Republicans. At least... not directly.
     
  10. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    The show has been pretty clear they're Democrats.

     
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  11. Yovra

    Yovra Collector of Beatles Threads

    This was a hollow shell of a series; people you don't care about making other's people's lives difficult. Which is fine, really; the other guys are just as corrupt and evil. And with this ending there's even a possibility for a new season...
     
  12. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Although... it's clear that there's a "version" of the Koch Brothers in the final season, and they're huge contributors to the political right. So you can draw some conclusions there. I think to definitely say one way or the other is tough because of the shades of gray. No question, both sides get very dirty, very quickly (at least in the show).

    And don't forget the secret "spiral staircase" corridor inbetween floors of the White House. Quite a bit went on in there, and not just smoking... :eek: And no Secret Service present.
     
  13. RK2249

    RK2249 Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Jersey
    The middle of the season episodes were decent but the plot points throughout the season were just ludicrous and over the top. And the ending sucked.. almost nothing introduced during the season was explained, let alone resolved. Awful season...what a shame.
     
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  14. Chris DeVoe

    Chris DeVoe RIP Vickie Mapes Williams (aka Equipoise)

    Suprising that security would be so lax in any area of what Harry Truman described as "the jewel of the Federal Prison system."
     
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  15. Claus LH

    Claus LH Forum Resident

    Up to episode 5 now...it ain't getting better. The show is now like a parody of the plot elements that came before, with things introduced just because they "can", not because it makes sense in terms of internal story logic.
    Some dreadful dialogue, and the acting is getting uneven in places, which was something that used to be one of the steady elements. I am bored, watching because my wife wants to finish it, and also amazed they let it slip this badly. It truly feels like they wanted to hammer home some kind of finish just to go beyond Spacey's exit, give everyone their paychecks and shut the door.
     
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  16. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    I've watched all five previous seasons. I just can't get up much enthusiasm to watch this season. Even if the reviews had been good, I've always really disliked the Claire character: Brittle and evil and unpleasant. At least the Frank character had a charming exterior to go with his evil unpleasantness.

    Fundamentally, the problem with the show all along has been that there are precious few "good" characters, and most of them have been killed or neutered.

    The fun was going to be in watching the final comeuppance of Frank and Claire. But Frank "died" and the truncated season is apparently just about how Claire expands to be every bit as evil as her new stage allows.

    And the reviews have been mostly negative.

    I think maybe I have better things to do with my viewing time.
     
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  17. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
  18. bostonscoots

    bostonscoots Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    I've not finished watching this last season yet, but House of Cards lost much its appeal once the Underwoods found their way into the White House. I thought it was more fun watching them claw and scheme their way to power than it is seeing them actually in power. As unlikeable as the Underwoods are, there was some satisfaction to be had watching them worm their way through Washington - massaging egos, jockeying for position, and amassing power for power's sake. Once in the Oval Office, I found myself wishing Jed Barlet would show up outside of the Rose Garden, light saber in hand, challenging them both to a duel.

    My hope for the end of the series was being able to watch a season or two's worth of the Underwoods unraveling - the discovery of the various murders and numerous affairs, and the eventual (and long awaited) collapse of Frank and Claire's alliance. So far, it doesn't seem likely anyone's going to pay for their crimes. What a shame.
     
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  19. Etienne Hanratty

    Etienne Hanratty Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    I understand the dissatisfaction but for me this was the most enjoyable of the last four series. It’s a pity some of the storylines weren’t resolved or explained, but I missed Freddy more than I did Kevin Spacey.
     
  20. Johnny66

    Johnny66 Laird of Boleskine

    Location:
    Australia.
    Prior seasons did have their weaker elements, but the show was always smart, high quality entertainment. Not so the final season - which is really quite dreadful. Francis and Claire Underwood were always a one/two dramatic punch, and Claire in isolation lacks that dynamic entirely (and attempting to pivot Doug Stamper into that equation just isn't successful).

    That's not to say Robin Wright's performance is poor in the final season (far from it), but the show simply flounders. Who are these new characters? Why do I care about them, or their paternity? Zzzz...
     
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  21. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Frank Underwood lives.


     
  22. Thanks. It made sense if you were paying attention to that final episode but it was incredibly poorly thought out IMHO and the season was a disappointment. I think they should have resolved it with a movie rather than another season. I heard that Kevin Spacey may be prosecuted for what he did.
     
  23. Osato

    Osato Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania
    Will be interesting to see what hair color he chose for his mugshot on January 7th.
     
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  24. Chrome_Head

    Chrome_Head Planetary Resident

    Location:
    Los Angeles, CA.
    Is he trying to get a viral campaign started to have the show and his character brought back (should he be able to avoid jail time)?
     
  25. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Or if he chooses to wear his hair at all.
     
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