Now I'm not going to condemn how I had expected the season to end about the way it ends up doing because after all, this is still a series centred mainly on politics and just two episodes ago, I got hit by something I wasn't at all seeing coming. However, the end to House of Cards' first season disappoints on more levels than its predictability and with those, being about politics doesn't count as an excuse.
For one, although writer Beau Willimon attempts to conceal this by stretching the time of Frank searching for a solution to his predicament out as long as possible, his protagonist once again succeeds in his endeavour with eyebrow-raising simplicity. Raymond Tusk had just been introduced as an astute and articulate counterpart to Frank in the last chapter and what now? The latter is just telling him that he won't find another candidate for the vice-presidency as loyal him, which leads him to conform to every single one of Frank's demands and ending up having achieved quite about nothing tangible. In addition to the historically verifiable fact that his plan is as well-conceived as Hitler's concerning the invasion of the Soviet Union in the midst of the Russian Winter, Tusk also relies on the promise of a dubious politician he first met just a couple of days ago and though I might take away a bit of dialogue Frank himself wanted to use in one of those occasions in which he addresses the audience directly most of the time, broken promises are of more harm to the one who doesn't receive what he's been promised than the one who doesn't deliver.
After that agreement, we get to see a scene in the Oval Office with these two and the President at a table. Apparently, that bloke is still entirely unaware of anything that is going on anywhere expect in his always perfectly combed hair, is still under the impression that Frank knows nothing about his oh so clever idea and is also oblivious to the duo colluding behind his back. If that really is the case (and I'm fairly certain it is), I can hardly imagine how we would still see him smiling out of that nice little chair in that nice little office again at the end of the next season. Lest we forget, there's also a Zoe part going on in which she is Horatio Caine, Janine Skorsky takes on the role of Calleigh Duquesne, and Lucas Goodwin represents Eric Delko and the three of them are solving cases with ridiculous ease and lack of consequence.
I understand that these preceding paragraphs haven't exactly been the nicest things I've got off my chest since I've started reviewing this series, but still: there's appeal to chapter thirteen. When regarded rather as the construction of groundwork for the way how House of Cards will continue from this point onwards, it does do an exceedingly effective job in making me excited. Will Gillian's charges against Claire really get nationwide coverage and thereby lead Frank to step in with some situation-comforting fuddling and car engines running in closed garages or a similar measure? Will Zoe or another CSI: Miami crew member come to the same fate if they keep digging? Will Christina end up that way as well because for her utter uselessness as a character now that Peter is dead? Question upon questions with no answers handed out yet, but the series has by now established characters as three-dimensional to make such exits work out of a storytelling perspective.
Memoranda:
- The huge Sancorp sign on the ground appearing as if photoshopped into the picture and the man with sunglasses walking past it had me believing in watching Fringe for a moment.
- Though he had promised absolute discretion to him, Meechum has never really been used for anything of importance to Frank, something going against what I had expected from House of Cards' first season. In that case, I'm pretty sure that the second season will make use of this dependence in one way or another.
- "I try not to follow the news. Too many familiar Another explanation why Rachel is one of the greatest characters in this series.
- Why on earth would Beau Willimon assume that I, or anyone for that matter, would want to hear only a single word about Claire's silly nightmares?
- Claire has had THREE abortions in her life? I'm all ears for more information on that subject.
- Clock camera. Not as interesting as you'd expect though.
- Very good final shot of Frank surpassing Claire when running next to her. When the series uses something happening on screen as a metaphor for a relationship between characters, it's always worth mentioning.
- Best quote: "This town is way too Truer words have never been spoken, Calleigh. Sorry, I mean Janine.
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