Darkness without Light: House of Cards Season 5

Frank and Claire Underwood's scheming in Season 5 begins to feel meaningless. The viewer is left wondering why they should still care.

"With all the foolishness and indecision in your lives, why not a man like me?"

Season 5 brings the return of Netflix's first original series, House of Cards, into our living rooms and bedrooms. The show continues to chart the political rise and schemings of Frank (Kevin Spacey) and Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), though this season felt tired and un-anchored the closer I got to the final episode.

Perhaps the best example of this is a speech by President Underwood announcing his resignation to Congress in the second last episode of the season. It starts off strong - Spacey's monologues have always been a high point of the American version of House of Cards. However, by the end he is going on about the, "end of the age of reason." Spacey's saucy humor (it's in the smile) and steely aggression are both evident - yet something feels off.

It probably has to do with the departure of Beau Willimon, the writer at the helm for House of Cards first four seasons. Without his writing, I sometimes found myself wondering why I should care about the characters. Frank and Claire's plotting, Doug Stamper's (Michael Kelly) covering his boss's evil tracks, and a host of supporting characters sometimes left me shrugging and saying, "Meh..."

The dramatic tension evident in the first four seasons is noticeably missing from large parts of Season 5. Another reason for this is because at five seasons, House of Cards has clearly outlived the Shakespearean frame it was built upon. Our anti-hero's journey was supposed to fall into three distinct stages. 

First Stage: coveting power from afar and scheming how to obtain it. We saw this in Seasons 1 & 2 when Frank and Claire worked to pull the rug out from underneath President Garrett Walker (Michel Gill).

Second Stage: Obtaining power. This happened in Season 3 when Frank Underwood assumed the Presidency. Here the character's weaknesses start to become apparent as they deal with the burden of power. "Uneasy lies the head that wears the Crown," as Shakespeare would have put it.

Third Stage: The Fall from Grace where the protagonist loses their power. This third and final stage has been delayed, by necessity, from the series long run. Instead of being dragged down, Frank and Claire just keep on winning. 

In the current season, there is no better example of this than when the Underwoods take down Governor Will Conway (Joel Kinnaman). As Frank's Republican rival for President, he has the election yanked from underneath his feet when Frank orchestrates the closures of key polling stations. Having his prize stolen works a number on the Governor's mind, causing him to lose mental stability. Eventually, leaks of the Governor's private meltdowns make their way to the Underwoods - who then use this evidence to finish what they started.

I hope House of Cards can finish strong on its Sixth Season. If the show goes on for too much longer, more viewers will be left wondering why they should still care.

***

Fiction vs. Reality

Perhaps the problem is that House of Cards can no longer compete with the grim reality of the world. I'm not just referring to Donald Trump's presidency when I write this. For too long in the developed world we've had so much (materially) and given each other so little in terms of human warmth and love. In this way House of Cards no longer feels like a fictional show, but one that is in lock step with the place we wake up in every morning.

A personal note to end this blog entry - I will be finishing a second draft of my fictional novel of short stories over the fall. It is my intention to share excerpts of the first chapter of that book here on my blog when it is ready to publish. The book will be darkly humorous with a moral core. More or less my version of Larry Kramer's Faggots.

I look forward to sharing it with all of you. Until next time.

Beyond Marriage: House of Cards Season 4

Underwood and Underwood for the win. Season 4 sees Frank and Claire maneuver to become running mates on the eve of a U.S. Presidential election.

"Beyond Marriage" 

House of Cards stormed back into our imaginations with the launch of a fourth season on March 4. It's no coincidence that four years marks the series length so far because it's also the span of a single Presidential term in office. For those who felt Season 3 ended with a whimper instead of a bang, you won't be disappointed with the new episodes. Season 4 of Netflix's political drama has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster at Canada's Wonderland.

The drama begins where we left off — with our protagonists (antiheroes?) squaring off against each other. Frank (Kevin Spacey) is in the midst of a tightly contested re-election campaign. His wife, the formidable Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), has left Frank to jumpstart her own political career, away from her powerful spouse's shadow.

Seeing them crisscross the United States while trying to out-network and outsmart each other is great fun to watch. As is the return of Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) Frank's conflicted, emotionally troubled Chief of Staff. His character walks a fine balancing line — though he has done horrible things, you can't bring yourself to hate him. As the season progresses we see the effect of some of Stamper's decisions on his moral and spiritual well-being (or lack thereof).

Then, just when you think you can see around the next curve on the track, the tone of Season 4 changes dramatically after Frank is shot at a political rally by Lucas Goodwin (Sebastian Arcelus). Goodwin, formerly an Editor at The Washington Herald was sent to jail by Frank and his associates in Season 2 for trying to uncover the crooked politician's trail of murder and lies. During the gunfire Frank takes a bullet in his liver and is left clinging to life on a Hospital bed. His bodyguard Edward Meechum (Nathan Darrow) is killed by Goodwin, though not before taking down the would be assassin.

While waiting for a liver transplant Frank enters a dream state where he is haunted by the ghosts of Peter Russo (Corey Stoll) and Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara). One moment he is in a crowded train car that's rattling along toward some unknown destination. Then he sees Zoe, her hair cut short. Perhaps the train is a reference to the subway car that Frank pushed Zoe under at the beginning of Season 2. The next moment he is together with Peter and Zoe inside the Oval Office. Claire is only just visible outside the window. Inside the dead are more real than the living, inviting the corrupt President to enter their world.

It's nail biting stuff to watch, and one of Season 4's best episodes.

Frank survives his near death experience by receiving a last minute liver transplant. Unsurprisingly, people die for Frank to get back into the game. One of those deaths weighs heavily on Doug Stamper, and is a thread that follows through the rest of this season.

To heal a rift with Claire, Frank agrees to maneuver her into place as his running mate on the Democratic ticket. This plot arc provides even more tension and genuine surprises. The Underwoods decide on an open convention to play up the theater of politics, only to have Catherine Durant (Jayne Atkinson) their Secretary of State, make a play for the Presidential nomination herself when she discovers the Underwoods have betrayed her.

In my favourite scene from Season 4, Frank uses intimidation and fear to force Durant to abandon her challenge. One-on-one he drops his southern gentleman mask to show her what lies below the pleasant surface. From there, the Underwoods' path to secure the nomination is guaranteed.  

From personal terror to fear on a large scale, the Islamic Caliphate Organization (ICO) enters the picture in the last third of the season. A stand-in for ISIS, the terrorist organization is spreading fear in the Middle East and provides a means for Republican Governor and Presidential hopeful Will Conway (Joel Kinnaman) to portray Frank as a weak and indecisive leader.

So it goes through to Season 4's logical conclusion - a hostage situation. A situation the Underwoods take advantage of to horrifying effect in the last episode. Season 4's ending feels like a punch to the gut. Frank and Claire anticipate and allow the execution of an ICO hostage to take control of the situation when Tom Hammerschmidt and The Washington Herald publish an exposé on Underwood's path to the White House.

The ending hits uncomfortably close to some of our biggest fears in the western world. The fear that tomorrow we could be next.

Frank concludes: "That's right. We don't submit to Terror; we make the Terror."

***

A small digression to end this blog. This time about two real life politicians:

Rob Ford, former Mayor of Toronto and longtime city councillor, died of a rare form of Cancer on March 22. His death is tragic, and I feel sorry for the Ford family. However, as Mayor, Rob Ford's politics held the city back. Simple slogans like: "Subways, subways, subways" and the former Mayor's view that Toronto should be run like a business didn't just miss the mark. They stopped us from evolving and moving forward. Complex problems cannot be solved by sloganeering and refusing to read briefing binders.

Which brings me to Donald Trump. The billionaire's rhetoric on the campaign trail makes all of Ford's shenanigans pale by comparison. Promises to build a wall along the U.S. / Mexico border, to deport Muslims, singling out certain ethnic groups, and the list goes on. Not only does spouting this kind of hate not solve anything, it turns people against each other.

When Marco Rubio failed to win his home state of Florida, he pulled out of the race for his party's nomination. What he said that night should be a wake up call for all American voters, regardless of who they intend to vote for.

"The politics of resentment against other people will not just leave us a fractured party. They're going to leave us a fractured nation. They're going to leave us as a nation where people literally hate each other because they have different political opinions."

Food for thought.

The Underwoods' Cold Veneer Starts to Crack in Season 3

As House of Cards enters its third season, the bloodletting Underwoods show a softer side in private.

Spoiler Alert: Spoilers will be found throughout this post. So if you haven't finished Season 3 yet, wait until you have before reading this.

There is a scene in 1999's American Beauty where Kevin Spacey's character, Lester Burnham, masturbates in bed beside his wife, the bloodless materialist Carolyn Burnham. When she catches him in the act of 'saying hello to his monster' she yells, "that's disgusting!" To which he issues the pointed retort: "At least some of us still have blood pumping through our veins!"

This scene from one of Kevin Spacey's early, career defining films is a good jumping point to leap into Season 3 of Netflix's House of Cards. For the show's first two seasons Frank and Claire Underwood stopped at nothing to discredit or kill anyone who threatened Frank's rise to the Oval Office. To be such cold and evil protagonists they had to shed most recognizable human feelings — their ambition and cold as day realism matched the show's colour palette — all cold stone greys, polished marble floors, and dark shadows.

Now that Frank (Kevin Spacey) and Claire (Robin Wright) are in the White House, we get to see that they, too, have blood pumping through their veins. The Frank and Claire dynamic has always been central to the series — each driving the other, and offering a comforting shoulder when it's needed. Witness the much talked about threesome between Frank, Claire, and their Secret Service bodyguard Edward Meechum (Nathan Darrow) in Season 2. The energy and sexual tension are believable as Meechum, a trusted member of the Underwoods' inner circle, is elevated into another level of trust and confidence.

Or witness the second episode of Season 3, when Claire returns from an evening jog to find Frank in tears because he can't find political support for a re-election bid. You will see how much these two characters need each other, support each other, and give each other strength.  

This trust and confidence the Underwoods share is what starts to fall apart in Season 3. As Frank intones in the trailer, "You want to know what takes real courage? Holding it all together when the stakes are this high."

As President, Frank is confronted with all the messiness of governing — Congress wants to kill his jobs plan, America Works, because the program uses funds earmarked for FEMA (The Federal Emergency Management Agency) to a bullying Russian President, Viktor Petrov (Lars Mikkelsen), a barely disguised Vladimir Putin. Petrov's anti-gay laws cause conflict with Claire when the First Couple visits Russia to secure the release of a gay rights activist jailed for demonstrating.

If this wasn't enough pressure to cause cracks in the most solid of marriages, Claire lobbies Frank early in Season 3 to make her Ambassador to the United Nations. In keeping with his 'win at any cost' style Frank appoints her to the job when Congress and the Senate are on a recess. Claire soon learns to be careful what she wishes for when she comes up against fellow diplomats who don't take her seriously, viewing Ambassador Underwood as a mouthpiece for Frank's agenda.

Surface cracks turn into a full-blown rupture when Claire publicly denounces Petrov at a joint press conference inside the Kremlin. This after the gay rights activist hangs himself inside his cell with Claire sleeping just feet away. Of course the easiest way to cause a rift within a Power Couple would be to take some of that power away.

The ice cold looks and physical distance increases right away — Frank and Claire begin to sleep in separate bedrooms. Episode 7 brings a change with the Underwoods renewing their vows and trying to deepen the connection they share once more. It's perhaps the most moving episode of the season; when Claire snuggles up to Frank at the end of this episode you get a sense of how far each would go for the other.

Peace for the First Couple is a fleeting thing as Frank's inevitable re-election bid, ruthlessness, and unwillingness to take advice other than his own creates a new, deeper rift between them. This culminates in a monologue delivered by Frank inside the Oval Office where he vows to 'take charge' since there is only one chair in the Oval Office, and that chair belongs to him. When Claire leaves him it seems, more than anything, that lack of love isn't what makes her go, it's the lack of power she feels — with Frank as President, he makes all the decisions, including the giving of, and later taking away, of Claire's U.N. ambassadorship.

This American remake of House of Cards had a Shakespearean flavour from the beginning. Frank's undoing and fall from power are all but inevitable. Season 3 shows that fall starts with losing the person he loves most.

House of Cards Season 2 Shuffles the Deck for Net Neutrality

House of Cards recently had its' Season 2 premiere. Netflix, the company that produces the series, is under fire from Internet Service Providers (ISPs).

Frank Underwood and his wife Claire are out jogging in the night. In their black jogging suits they meld into their dark surroundings, only occasionally illuminated by lamp posts that line the path they are taking. The couple's pace speeds up as they go downhill from a crest on the path. Pausing at the bottom of this dip, the newly named Vice President of the United States smiles at his confidante. Then they're off again. Fade to black. Cue the House of Cards opening montage.

Scenes like this make Netflix's remake of the British House of Cards compelling television. Frank Underwood is introduced to us in Season 1 as a House Majority Whip whose job he seeks to transcend. Early on in this season we learn where Frank's values lie. He's not looking to make mountains of money. No, to Underwood power is the only Holy Grail in life.

Washington's most visible seat of power is the office of President of the United States. Unfortunately for Frank, that job is currently occupied by Garrett Walker. After Walker reneges on a promise to make Frank his Secretary of State, Underwood begins a covert campaign of lies, back channeling, backstabbing, bribery, intimidation, and every other means available to him in order to: a) Place his own people in Walker's administration so that Underwood can wield greater influence within it, and b) Undermine and humiliate that administration so Frank can propel himself further up Capitol Hill's chain of command.

The story of an ambitious man who would seek power at any cost is a story that has been told before; that doesn't diminish any of the story's power here. Comparisons to Othello and Richard 3 have been made by HOC cast members in interviews. Like Iago and Richard, Frank Underwood is a villain whose hunger for the throne knows no bounds.

Now that Seasons 1 and 2 of this dark as midnight political drama are over, the next installment of HOC will be the third act. For anyone familiar with Othello and Richard 3, you know the villain is undone in both. A position gained through deceit and carefully managed webs of lies is bound to fall like, well, a House of Cards.

 ***

There is a comparison to be made here - like the television series it created, Netflix the company is about to enter its' own third act. The one we've just witnessed has seen it become the world's most popular Internet television on demand streaming service. At the end of the second act, the company had moved from just obtaining licenses to stream television series and movies created by others, to funding its' own programs, Orange is the New Black and House of Cards being two examples.

In early January of this year the story took a twist. A ruling in the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia, struck down two key provisions of the principle of Net Neutrality. Although there are many definitions of Net Neutrality, one of the most commonly understood is that it means “non discrimination.” In theory all data packets sent from server to server on the Internet are treated in the exact same manner from the server to the client and back again. It shouldn’t matter if the consumer is watching Netflix or YouTube, searching on Google, or reading an article on the New York Times website.

The provisions struck down by the U.S. Court of Appeals are: a) that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) are prohibited from blocking high bandwidth traffic such as Skype and Netflix on their networks and b) ISPs cannot discriminate against these services by putting them into a ‘slow’ lane while giving priority to data packets from other servers.

Craig Aaron, President and CEO of Washington, D.C. based Free Press said when the ruling was released, “the biggest broadband providers will race to turn the open and vibrant Web into something that looks like cable TV. They’ll establish fast lanes for the few giant companies that can afford to pay exorbitant tolls and reserve the slow lanes for everyone else.”

Such a reality could seriously damage Netflix’s business. If the flow of data from the company’s servers to end consumers is ‘throttled’ or slowed down, customers may abandon the service. By slowing down Netflix traffic to an extent that streaming becomes impossible, broadband providers could make it prohibitively difficult for the company to continue with its’ current business model.

In February, Netflix signed a deal with American broadband provider Comcast Corp. for an undisclosed amount that would see Netflix traffic be streamed to Comcast customers at faster speeds. There had been reports that Netflix’s streaming speeds on Comcast from October 2013 to January of this year had decreased by as much as 27 per cent.

This is the issue that could really spell trouble for Netflix. To deliver their Internet streaming television service to consumers, the company must use the 'pipelines' provided by broadband companies and ISPs. If those ISPs want to throttle Netflix's content now that Net Neutrality provisions have been tossed out the window, what's to stop them?

Business articles have speculated that deals with AT&T and Verizon Wireless will be forthcoming. Every deal of this nature that Netflix makes shows they're worried about the vulnerable position they find themselves in.

This raises an important question: What is there to stop broadband providers from charging Netflix huge sums? The business relationship is a dependent one; the horse must go to water in order to drink. So too must Netflix rely on ISPs to carry large amounts of data 'downstream' to customers.

Could a buyout by one or more of the U.S. cable giants and / or ISPs be in Netflix's future? Will Frank Underwood fall hard and fast from his seat of power in the White House? Only time will tell.