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House of Cards (Netflix / Kevin Spacey) - SEASON 4 out!


Liontamer
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I loved the BBC series with the late Ian Richardson as Francis Urquhart. Now we hopefully get to see Kevin Spacey kick ass as Frank Underwood. In both versions, FU is the creme de la creme of douchey, scheming, underhanded politicians, and if the American version is ANYTHING like the British one, it will be awesome.

Netflix is the exclusive home of show, and they've released ALL 13 episodes of season 1 TODAY. This release style may eventually blow up the television model, given the way things are going.

Ars Technica has a good overview up, and I just gave props to showrunner Beau Willimon on the Tweeter as a show of support. With Kevin Spacey on board, I can't WAIT to see what kind of evil stuff he's up to here, and I know he's gonna be great.

Gotta give a big recommendation to check this show out, and definitely hit the BBC trilogy as well on Netflix if you have time.

 

 

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It's good. I was listening to it as my roommate watched. Besides the "You were my best friend then you changed!" cliche dialogue, the characters have a ton of personality.

But I really, really want to know how they monetize this. It seems like they're trying to turn Netflix into the premiere platform and taking a financial hit to do it. However the on-demand model is already available on TV so... eh?

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Just finished episode 3. Love how Kevin Spacey kicks everyone's ass without ever lifting a finger. Also like how everyone on the show so far has way more than one-dimension, and usually not in a predictable manner.

One other criticism though, the opening titles at start of every show feels way too much like the "Walking Dead's" credits. Strange as though it may sound.

Anyway, pretty cool how Netflix might've finally scored with an original series (ok, a sort of remake, but still) that could hang with the big boys on cable.

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Watched the first two episodes w/ Anna yesterday and this morning... we're digging it. The fourth wall exposition works ONLY because it's Spacey, who's reprising the Southern accent he rocked in Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil. As with Fallout 3, I almost feel obliged to stick with it JUST because it's DC and I live 30 minutes away from & am familiar with a lot of the sights & sounds. That alone wouldn't be enough, but the show seems to have a lot of depth; I'm interested in seeing where they take his wife's (Princess Buttercup!) NPO subplot, and how it links into everything else, for instance.

As far as "mature" themes go, the hype seemed to suggest a lot of risque stuff that even HBO or Showtime (!!) might not be cool with, but so far it seems more like an AMC show that happens to have some F-bombs and boobies. Not really a problem for me, just seemed kinda silly to focus on that angle with the PR, based on what I've seen thus far.

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As far as "mature" themes go, the hype seemed to suggest a lot of risque stuff that even HBO or Showtime (!!) might not be cool with, but so far it seems more like an AMC show that happens to have some F-bombs and boobies. Not really a problem for me, just seemed kinda silly to focus on that angle with the PR, based on what I've seen thus far.

I hope that's all hype. I just finished the 4th episode and the series still kind of plays like slightly more risque version of Mad Men, as you have described.

If suddenly it veered off into gratuitous and/or excessive amounts of nudity or inexplicable gore (not that I anticipate gore), that being too much for HBO or Showtime would suggest, it would kind of ruin what has been so far, an adult, but dignified, perhaps, even classy production. I pray it avoids falling into the typical cliches and TV trappings that usually snare series of similar aspirations.

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I'm 5 eps in, and loving it like I knew I would. Dave mentioned enjoying the breaking of the 4th wall, which was carried over well from the BBC version. It works well there too.

I will say though, in episode 5, they showed Democrats working unified messaging on TV to perfection, when that's just total bullshit. :lol: Much to my chagrin, only Republicans effectively utilize Frank Luntz-style obfuscation language to that degree of unity and repetition. It's a not a huge complaint, I just got a kick out of it.

I've got Jeff Beal's theme on repeat for the weekend

http://www.youtuberepeater.com/watch?v=DbWcdaeYrsI

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My wife and I started watching it last weekend and we both love it. We're about 7-8 episodes in and it's still going strong. There is a surprising about of depth to each of the characters (Kevin Spacey is fantastic) and the plot is really interesting too. I think the 4th Wall tactic works great here too; it provides an additional amount of insight that you normally wouldn't get from a TV show.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Dat Bump.

I'm about 10 episodes in and I'm loving it. The adult content almost always has some sort of importance in characterization or plot development (it's not just in there to be in there) and the story evolves along with the characters.

It's dynamic, interesting, and has Kevin Spacey being Kevin Spacey. Why WOULDN'T you watch this?

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  • 11 months later...

I won't spoil.

Just curious if anyone else finished season 2. I enjoyed the first season more. It seemed to almost borderline campiness toward the end. I'm looking forward to see how/if season 3 closes everything up. I hope it doesn't drag on and on greedily and unnecessarily (*cough cough* "LOST" / "Alias" / "Prison Break *cough cough*).

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Can't wait for Season 3. Loved Season 2! I'm a fan of the original House of Cards, so the big "ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOMG" moment that opened Season 2 wasn't a total shock if you knew that version (just the way it was done was :-o). I didn't think it dragged out, though The Lady got tired of the subplot with the Chief of Staff. I enjoy political shows, so I got a kick out of everything.

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  • 1 year later...

BUMP! I'm staying away from social media so I don't get spoiled. I know the original UK series, so there's some major plot points I'm fairly sure they'll hit, but just like the U.S. version's season 2 demonstrated, even if you know the British version's plot, you don't know how this version will get there.

GET HYPE! Here's Sesame Street's House of Bricks to tide you over.

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Either the forum is broken or I haven't been here enough.. I had to use the "search" function to find this thread because I knew it had existed from waaay back.. Just now starting on season 3 right NOW. I think I remember where season 2 left off. Let's gooooo

WOW it has a Season 2 recap when you hit play Season 3

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The season was good and I definitely followed along but I thought it was weaker than previous seasons.. it seemed a little like a rehash. Now instead of trying to get the Presidency, he's trying to............. keep the Presidency. And be the President while making a lot of decisions and having events that closely mirror real world. As a result I felt like it seemed more like a documentary than a political thriller and got a little bored. I do like a lot of the implications they made by having Kevin Spacey's administration go through all these motions of the Obama administration, thought it was interesting. Also liked the "You are entitled to nothing" bit, wonder how many people would actually vote for him if he ran with that IRL.

All in all pretty uneventful, feels like a parody of Scandal and stuff. Especially at the very end. A lot of the time watching this show I remember thinking "Scandal did it"

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  • 1 year later...

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