House of Cards (2013)

There's pleasure in every frame here--from terrific new cast additions (Molly Parker, David Glennon) to richer D.C. subplots. It all works, and it is all addictive.

There aren’t many protagonists here, but that’s not the point; you don’t watch House of Cards for its uplifting message, but rather to see how much more Spacey, Wright, Kelly et al. can plumb the depths of emotional depravity.

My complaints about the new season revolve around that 1 percent [that is unrealistic]. The show is better as a human drama than a political procedural, thank God.

Not everything meshes perfectly. But far more often than not, House of Cards remains an absorbing tale of high-level government dysfunction populated by double-dealers who hold their aces under the table.

Everyone's ruthlessly cynical machinations can take on a wearying predictability if devoured hour after hour without a break.

Matching last year's blistering pace is a dizzying challenge for Netflix, but this is the team that can get them off to a flying start.

This is not just a fun escape, it’s a clever puzzle.

But it's Claire, and the Underwood marriage, that makes "House of Cards" more than just a better-than-average addition to the genre of Antihero Drama Being Used to Establish a New Fiefdom in the Television Landscape (see also "Nip/Tuck," "Dexter," "Mad Men," "Vikings" and "Klondike").

Frank Underwood may see himself as a man of action, but the odd explosion of violence notwithstanding, House of Cards is primarily a character study, one that can begin to feel a little stale after prolonged exposure. So maybe it's best to treat it like a box of chocolates. A piece (or three) at a time? Still delicious.

The episode just dives back into the fast-moving plot, which may take some forgetful viewers a little time to catch up. Molly Parker plays Frank's hand-picked replacement, and at first her character seems like a convenient, controllable choice. But episode by episode, she begins to emerge as a power broker in her own right who might someday be capable of turning on Frank.

While House of Cards has always explored both the personal and political sides of life in Washington, D.C., my early sense is that, in Season Two, it’s gotten better at both.

House of Cards is “Scandal” for naysayers and misanthropes, and that’s actually quite cheering.

House of Cards, like “The West Wing,” has soap and melodrama in its DNA. It also moves at a surprisingly deliberate pace, often seeming to linger on a scene just so it won’t clutter itself up by bringing in too many subplots. Still, the second season maintains the tension of the first season, and the “Bad Boys at Work” sign is still up. Let the binging begin.

The first four episodes fly by in a blur of cheeky maxims, convoluted plot twists, and storylines about the deep Web.

In its second season, House of Cards is just like its main character: clever, ruthless, a bit too self-satisfied and surprisingly powerful.

House of Cards is pretty much the same show it settled into less than midway through its first run. It's entertaining and cruises along with a strong pulse.

Even if House of Cards is a cartoonish depiction of American politics, it's also a juicy, pulpy, entertaining thriller, and can easily be enjoyed on that level.

Sure, the show’s “politics” feel ripped from a Politico comment section, and yes, the show’s plot doesn’t really go anywhere until the final handful of episodes. But the season also tosses an incredible number of balls in the air and manages to keep juggling them, which is impressive in and of itself.

The Underwoods have no worthy opponents.... Kate Mara's Zoe and her more interesting colleague Janine Skorsky (Constance Zimmer) are an okay team, but their muckraking efforts are now led by Washington Herald editor Lucas (Sebastian Arcelus), who unfortunately looks like a boy in need of a nap (or a hug).... My money is on rising politico Jacqueline Sharp, played with throbbing edge by Deadwood alum Molly Parker.

The fourth hour immediately went on my list of the year's best drama episodes; at least half of it is eye-rollingly silly, but the other half is magnificent. Just when you think the Underwoods can be written off as comic strip political cousins of the Macbeths, they do or say something that's genuinely moving, and that makes you realize they have hearts after all, even though they're probably tiny and ice-cold, and only beat for one another.

Francis needs a stronger nemesis, if not for the sake of justice then for the sake of excitement. And House of Cards would be a greater show if it had characters who were people more than game pieces. Still, on its limited terms, it’s absorbing to watch as a story of, in Underwood’s preferred metaphor, the climb up Washington’s “food chain,” one with two kinds of creature: hogs at the trough, and hogs to the slaughter.

Dense and smart, Cards is still partially skating by on reputation--and for Netflix’s purposes, that’s good enough.

For now, apart from the Underwoods, it's underwhelming. [17 Feb 2014, p.43]