What else reflects our current administration?
Well, aside from the fearmongering, war on terror, and election tampering, there’s phone tapping and surveillance, mentions of travel bans, Wikileaks dumps and questioning the country’s intelligence – “Everybody trusts the FBI,” which rings with a certain resonance, just one day before former FBI director James Comey testifies before Congress about potential presidential obstruction of justice (oh yeah, there’s a lot of obstruction on ‘HOC’ too). The most forceful connections to modern day politics, intentional or not, are leaks inside of the White House and perhaps as a glimpse into the future that some want to see, impeachment proceedings against the President. Let’s just say it’s overstuffed with references to Trump. It’s like they hacked into the future during the writing of the show and downloaded our present day constitutional crisis into their writer’s room.
About the only thing that’s missing is the war on truth, the administration’s attack on the media and “alternative facts.” That end of the spectrum, the media, isn’t quite involved other than leaks to the press. The only way the show could be more relevant is if Kellyanne Conway or Sean Spicer were consulting. The show is definitely trolling Trump.
What’s the best part of season five?
Well, the introduction of two characters and the actors that play them certainly helps. An impressive Campbell Scott plays Mark Usher, a top-level, conniving Republican strategist working on Conway’s campaign who switches teams near the end when the Republican Governor begins to unravel from the pressure. Patricia Clarkson is introduced as Jane Davis, a high-ranking Secretary Of International Commerce official and a party agnostic strategist with her own agenda helping Claire Underwood’s chances. Both of them are cunning, always playing both sides, but are ultimately incredibly influential on the hill which helps the Underwoods.
Neve Campbell as LeAnn Harvey, the Texas-based political consultant and Underwood campaign manager in season four steps up in a larger role in season five and she’s also terrific. Her political capital grows this season and she becomes an integral element of the storyline. Again, Michael Kelly is amazing, arguably the best actor on the show and the cast is routinely solid — the quality of actors on “House Of Cards” has never been an issue. It only gets better this season. Robin Wright directs many of the episodes including the finale and does a terrific job. Daniel Minahan (“Game Of Thrones“) and Polish cinema auteur Agnieszka Holland also handle some impressive episodes. There’s plenty of shocking twist and turns, but the show manages to pull most of them off.
Anything else?
Well, I think many believed Joel Kinnaman as Governor Conway, was totally miscast and the worst part of season four, but he improves in season five especially as his character’s arc falls apart, so we should give him credit there.
What’s the worst part of season five?
You know how I broke down the A, B, C storyline formula of “Bloodline” and essentially cut its execution to shreds? “House Of Cards” is an example of how you can employ familiar formulas and credulity-testing writing, but if you do so in a compelling, credible manner, you can pull off the twists and turns if you’re not manipulating the audience too much. Suspension of disbelief bends a few times, but crucially, it never breaks. Most importantly, “House Of Cards” never fails to engage.
It’s not all perfect. There’s another murder that seems far-fetched on paper and even unbelievable if I say it out loud. There’s also, erm… someone pushed down a flight of stairs, but uh, but during the show, when I was knee deep in the binge-watching, it totally worked and doubled down on the idea that the Underwoods were committed to their by-any-means-necessary scheme to retain political supremacy.
I’d also like to add that the show is also feeling the absence of former White House Chief of Staff Remy Danton (Mahershala Ali in a terrific role that helped get him where he is today), Heather Dunbar (Elizabeth Marvel), a defeated Democratic presidential candidate, and Jackie” Sharp (Molly Parker), another would-be Democratic presidential contender vanquished by Frank. All of them were written off the show for various reasons that I won’t go into here, suffice to say Frank screwed all of them over in one way or another. Their names are mentioned as potential candidates who could testify against Frank should it come to that.
The verdict?
If you’ve stuck with “House Of Cards” so far, you should definitely continue. If you dropped it during season three, or as early as the beginning of season two, I’d recommend you turn elsewhere. Not because it isn’t worth catching up on, but in the era of PeakTV when there are so many compelling and essential alternatives, you could probably watch something more vital. Essential shows of the last few months that come to mind are “I Love Dick,” “Masters of None” and “Dear White People.” I mean, I hear “The Americans” is amazing, but five seasons deep and with so much to watch, I think I may never catch up with it.
But if you’re a political junkie, you might even be able to dive right in and be ok, simply because you can kind of glean enough from the interwebs if need be and if you’re reading Politico, The Hill, The Times and the Post every day like I am, this show is for you. [B]
