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It’s almost hard to believe that there was a day when, if you wanted to follow a television program, you had to be in the same place at the same time week after week. Commercials had to be endured, and missed episodes could only be filled in with a rerun and a little luck. Then came VHS, DVD, DVR, and now online streaming services like Netflix. The freedom to watch at one’s own pace benefits complex serialized dramas, including the service’s second original and exclusive series, House of Cards.
Based on a British series of the same name, this political thriller operates at premium-cable levels. Kevin Spacey plays Congressman Francis Underwood, a smooth-talker expecting to ride his association with a newly-elected president into a sweet Cabinet appointment. When he’s unexpectedly passed over, he begins a series of power plays, ruthlessly using and discarding anyone he needs to along the way.
With director David Fincher handling the opening episode, the series looks as polished as expected. There’s a brisk pace to events, punctuated by Frank’s brief asides to the viewer. This theatrical affectation isn’t always as clever as it wants to be, but it provides some needed exposition while giving Spacey some good moments.
Thrillers like this depend on quickly introducing numerous moving parts that will somehow mesh properly by the end, and that tends to mean slow-moving and exposition-heavy early episodes. In short order, we meet Frank and his wife, Claire (Robin Wright)—an equally shrewd operator whose marriage to the congressman can charitably be termed complicated—as well as ambitious young reporter Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) and self-destructive junior congressman Peter Russo (Corey Stoll). Frank’s political and personal maneuvers drive the plot, but the way in which the other three characters get caught up in those maneuvers gives the series its shape. Of the three, the Russo subplot proves the most compelling, and it also includes the season’s biggest and darkest twist.
That, unfortunately, is where the stream-as-you-will model falters a little bit. Because everyone views at their own pace, it’s a hard show to talk about for anyone who wants to avoid giving or receiving plot spoilers. One of the joys of the serial approach to television comes from the community that forms to react to individual episodes and speculate on what comes next. Add to that the fact that this model means not knowing when to expect a second season (though we know one is coming), and you have an experience that’s oddly out of step with traditional viewing habits.
In the end, that’s a light complaint to consider when it’s weighed against the overall quality of the program and the ease of access to it. House of Cards boasts a fine collection of actors, writers, and directors turning in a glossy, complex piece of mass entertainment. It’s not quite the best thing on TV, but it’s good enough to announce Netflix as a major player in the original programming game.
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