House of Cards (2013)

:

Season 5
  • Network: Netflix
  • Series Premiere Date: Feb 1, 2013
Season #: 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
User Score
6.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 222 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 121 out of 222
  2. Mixed: 47 out of 222
  3. Negative: 54 out of 222
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User Reviews

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  1. wakeboardjake
    Jun 1, 2017
    2
    It hurts me to give a negative review to a show I've loved for years. But this season was distasteful and wretchedly boring. Couple good instances get muddied with overdrawn monologues that seemingly go forever with no real point. And the ending... wow... well in my opinion it lacked everything that characterized this show for it's four past seasons. So disappointing...
  2. NotAmerican
    May 31, 2017
    2
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I wrote that rapidly, I hope you appreciate nonetheless.

    A FEW SPOILERS! Nothing big.

    If you thought season 3 and 4 were disastrous, season 5 will make you want to commit seppuku.
    Where to start is the real question... The plot perhaps, or the characters, or the general story ? I don't know. It feels to me nothing was executed correctly. And it probably wasn't planned correctly either by the looks of it.

    Let's get this stuff done quickly. Destroying this monstruosity will not be a grave problem. We'll start with the orchestra of characters, and I do not say this lightly; there are way too many characters. Half of them female replicates of the male characters. By which I mean, if there's a male that plays both sides, you are bound to find a female that plays both sides. I don't remember their names even though I watched the 13 episodes today. They are terribly boring. I found myself carving things in the corner of my keyboard with a swiss knife for 3/4 of an episode.

    Let's jump on the plot. Oh dear lord, what an epic failure. If you asked me to resume that trainwreck to you, I wouldn't know where to start. There also it looks as if they tried to fit 3 seasons into one. There is 4 presidential swearing-ins in this season just so you get an estimation of size of the crash.

    There's at least a dozen sub-plots, for 13 episodes mind you, and 3-4 main plots. Plots that end nowhere. Conway, the Republican just disappears into thin air. The old journalist investigates Zoe Barnes to no avail. The audience already knowing what happened to Zoe and it renders this plot useless and not interesting to watch. And it's that for the entire season. There's no end. Frankly, I don't even know how long the 13 episode last in the story's timeline.. 4 months, 2 years. I have no clue.

    One part that particularly irritated me was the irrealistic portrayal of international affairs. I am willing to accept the incredible armor plot around Francis becoming President so easily, but seriously, in the portrayal of international politics, there is no reason to write it with this level of retardation. Maybe they should've spared a dollar in costume and hired a geopolitician to reinforce the international politics aspect of things. Seriously, to me, it seems the writers filled their script with stuff they heard on CNN. By the way, real news people doing interviews with fake characters for TV is a growing, and worrying trend.

    Next step: the cynicism. I won't waste a lot of lines on the portrayal of the "Russian president who isn't Vladimir Putin because he has a beard now." One more caricature and he would be eating caviar while sleeping with whores in a bath filled with vodka. Francis or Claire, or Putin with a beard don't do things because they believe in them - NO ! - they do things because it serves their sociopathic egos. Only american pessimism can create such flawed characters. There's no point in watching a show where everyone is Machiavelli. All they want is the big chair and they're willing to do anything to get the big chair, so what happens ? They all do the same things.

    Gynocracy. Do I need to say more ? It's her turn, now, boys! Let Claire be the sociopathic President, it's only fair ! One thing came constantly to mind: "Go back to the Kitchen." How Francis is capable of **** his way to the presidency and how he becomes a literal cuckold gay man once he's finally at the top is beyond me. They finally transfer at the end of season 5. Claire becomes the main character and frankly, I couldn't care less.
    Breaking Bad with Skyler making the meth. That's how it feels now.    … Expand
  3. max1c
    Jun 1, 2017
    3
    I have never been more disappointed in anything this much in my life. This was literally the worst thing I have watched in my life. Specifically the ending. This show used to be the epitome of beautiful writing, acting, composition, and elegance. Now, it is all ruined.
  4. NikolayG
    Jun 9, 2017
    0
    Horrendous. A great show comes crashing down in Season 5. It goes in too many directions, unfocused - there's this leak and that leak; threads start only to be dropped - there's the opposing candidate whose story just gets dropped - and then, in the final episode, the BIG secret comes out and it is so preposterously stupid that it absolutely destroys the show, it goes against character soHorrendous. A great show comes crashing down in Season 5. It goes in too many directions, unfocused - there's this leak and that leak; threads start only to be dropped - there's the opposing candidate whose story just gets dropped - and then, in the final episode, the BIG secret comes out and it is so preposterously stupid that it absolutely destroys the show, it goes against character so completely that you can't believe in Frank Underwood as a character any longer. What a waste of time!

    For the past few years TV has been better than the movies, but I notice that lately that trend has come to a screeching halt. Now basically everything stinks. The only things that are done well - for what they are on their own terms - are big action or super hero movies in the theater. Dramas - political or otherwise - are basically down the toilet.    … Expand
  5. mintlo
    Jun 4, 2017
    0
    This show jumped the shark after season 2. I prefer the British version of the show - they wrapped it up nicely in 3 seasons. This show couldn't even stay good as long as Dexter did. Perhaps we'll see President Underwood move to Montana and become a lumberjack.
  6. sylvain_rivier
    Jul 7, 2017
    0
    I liked a lot the 4 first season, I cannot even finish the 5th. Boring, boring, boring. The magic is broken.
    This tv show is lasting way too much, the should have stopped before it's too late.
    I have 2-3 episodes to watch to complete 5th season, I'm not even sure I will.

    R.I.P. House of Cards
  7. dave89791
    Sep 1, 2017
    3
    Confusing, silly, boring - I should have looked here before getting into season 5 - my mistake

    Definitely the weakest season of the series - only if the next one gets good reviews here will I consider watching it

    That said, I'd still take having FU in charge than DT...
  8. kjatafoxhound
    Jun 25, 2017
    2
    La razón de ser de esta serie era ver al gran Kevin Spacey hablando a cámara y haciendo de todo para lograr más poder mientras nos contaba como se regodeaba en su crapulencia y lo listo que era.

    Primero se cargaron los monólogos a cámara casi por completo durante varias temporadas. Luego se perdieron en narrativas absurdas sin peso. Luego incluso le restaron importancia al protagonista    La razón de ser de esta serie era ver al gran Kevin Spacey hablando a cámara y haciendo de todo para lograr más poder mientras nos contaba como se regodeaba en su crapulencia y lo listo que era.

    Primero se cargaron los monólogos a cámara casi por completo durante varias temporadas.
    Luego se perdieron en narrativas absurdas sin peso. Luego incluso le restaron importancia al protagonista de la serie y pretendieron hacer un dueto (no me interesa Claire con su eterna cara de víbora malfo...) Hacia el final de esta temporada han dado otro bandazo absurdo y da la impresión de que no tienen ni idea de cómo seguir. Me temo un desenlace estúpido a más no poder.
    Mi puntuación va por traicionar los propios pilares de la serie. Me parece de muy mal gusto.    … Expand
  9. Ededed
    Nov 4, 2017
    3
    I give this a three because it was interesting at the beginning. Seasons 3 and 4 deserve a goose egg and 5 gets a 2 just because Clair seems to be able to advance her own agenda now. The British version of this show only lasted 3 seasons and the padding added to this US version pales as compared to the original. Hope they finally get to the end game in the next season because my attentionI give this a three because it was interesting at the beginning. Seasons 3 and 4 deserve a goose egg and 5 gets a 2 just because Clair seems to be able to advance her own agenda now. The British version of this show only lasted 3 seasons and the padding added to this US version pales as compared to the original. Hope they finally get to the end game in the next season because my attention to these broken and increasingly unbelievable characters will not last much longer.

    Addendum - Netflix just announced season 6 will be the last. Seems my opinion was also shared by others and they are pulling the plug (3 seasons too late).

    A day later Netflix has suspended production on this show. Maybe it’s all for the best, but it’d been nice to see their version of the end game and see if America wised up and threw these nasty people in jail. It is alleged Spacey created a toxic work environment on the set. Tired of spoiled actors who talk a pc game but are among the most perverted people on the planet. Not surprised as this has been going on for decades without any attention until now. How does it feel to be held to the same pc standard as the rest of us?    … Expand
  10. JPenguinEsq
    Jun 8, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. It was so so bad. I was looking forward to watching it for weeks. It jumped the shark about 5 times in the last few episodes with killing people off, and I was just hate-watching it by the end just to get through it..

    I agree with some of the other viewers about "what were the actors thinking?" They're intelligent - couldn't they see how lame the scripts were?

    It was so stupid.
    He pushes his Secretary of the State down the stairs....ok...so what happened to her? Did she die? Does she have a broken neck? Is she in a coma? Amnesia? A sprained ankle?

    We don't know because they just blew it off. President physically assaults his secretary of state who's about to testify against him....and they literally just leave that thread hanging and it's never brought up again.

    Then Claire. The annoying ice queen.

    So, in the last three episodes: they kill off Tom, Lela, the secretary of state (maybe), the gay personal trainer who for some reason gets maniacally obsessed with Frank......am i missing anyone?

    It started out promising. It became almost a spoof of itself at the end it was so awful. Trying to recapture that excitement from the Zoe Barnes murder episode but failing miserably over and over and over again.

    Was so bad I could care less if it comes back for a sixth season.

    The writers did a really lazy hack job on a pretty great show...    … Expand
  11. Jgo77
    Jun 6, 2017
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I have enjoyed most of this show however season 5 was such a waste. They basically blew off the article left at the end of season 4 then wasted the first 8 episodes on Conway losing the election when that could have been solved in 1 or 2 episodes. There were also too many characters and some were just a waste of time. Also I know its tv but the show became increasingly unrealistic.… Expand
  12. Jacketrooper
    Jun 4, 2017
    0
    The show is a parody of itself now. There's nothing new or interesting happening this season you wouldn't be able to guess in seconds. Writing is like a soap opera now thanks to talented people leaving the show. HoC is mostly the **** Netflix peddles to developing countries now for some quick cash. Masses outside U.S China, Russia or Turkey loves this crap up because they cannot tell theThe show is a parody of itself now. There's nothing new or interesting happening this season you wouldn't be able to guess in seconds. Writing is like a soap opera now thanks to talented people leaving the show. HoC is mostly the **** Netflix peddles to developing countries now for some quick cash. Masses outside U.S China, Russia or Turkey loves this crap up because they cannot tell the difference of quality of material and they're the bandwagon that drives the show now: international viewers because they heard about it later and idiots.

    Watch at your own peril. You have been warned.    … Expand
  13. familyguy
    Jun 16, 2017
    2
    The worst season so far, full of loophole and unnecessary plot. Time jump just make audience more confusing about the story. A lot of scene wont have enough time to explain what Fran's plant is about. And for god sake enough with feminist already it just make the show more stupid
  14. Iserlohn14
    Jun 3, 2017
    0
    A chilling story of how a repulsive, criminal woman, whose equally vile husband is a former President, manages to lie and scheme her way into office. Thank goodness here in reality we live in a timeline that escaped this fate!
  15. Ripandread
    Feb 16, 2018
    2
    Sorry for the “thumbs down” review but “House of Cards” hasn’t been the same since Season # 3.

    What started out as an excellently written and acted show now features so many sub-plot lines that it reminds me of a cheesy soap opera. Now that Kevin Spacey has been fired from the show because of claims of inappropriate sexual misbehavior, "House of Cards" should be cancelled altogether.    Sorry for the “thumbs down” review but “House of Cards” hasn’t been the same since Season # 3.

    What started out as an excellently written and acted show now features so many sub-plot lines that it reminds me of a cheesy soap opera. Now that Kevin Spacey has been fired from the show because of claims of inappropriate sexual misbehavior, "House of Cards" should be cancelled altogether. Yet the producers plan to air another season featuring Robin Wright as the lead. Let's see how that plays out.

    It seems that when Zoe Barnes was pushed in front of a speeding train, several of the shows more creative writers went with her.

    Perhaps it is time Netflix pulls the plug on this show after Season #6.    … Expand
  16. imaroacateran
    May 10, 2022
    1
    My patience was wearing thin by the end of season 4, but season 5 made me lose what little remained. It's just the underwoods doing stupid crimes and getting in stupid fights on loop. The shock value of their criminality has long since worn off and the incompetence of their opposition is more painfully annoying with each episode.

Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Most Discussed TV Season of 2017
62
#62 Most Shared TV Season of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
60

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Slate
    Reviewed by: Katy Waldman
    Jun 1, 2017
    80
    The bleakest (yet somehow still extremely fun to watch) season of the show yet.
    Read full review
  2. Time
    Reviewed by: Daniel D'Addario
    Jun 1, 2017
    40
    Underwood isn't Nixonian or Clintonian (pick your villain); he's a flat character for whom recognition is its own reward. This may make the show a surprisingly good fit for our times. But onscreen as in life, the desire for fame alone is insufficient motivation to compel viewers to stay tuned.
    Read full review
  3. Salon
    Reviewed by: Melanie McFarland
    May 31, 2017
    40
    Five seasons in, House of Cards still trades in predictable scripting that recycles the same themes time and again. Even now we’re made to contend with an endless march of one-note side characters and expedient problem-solving via criminality, a set of moves that lost their ability to entice and shock some time ago.
    Read full review
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