Sorry, season 2. Edited my post, thanks.
The only bad thing about this series (and the Netflix format in general) is that you can’t talk about anything because people watch the series at different paces. Maybe I just watched episode 3 of the new season, but others zipped through the whole thing, and still others only watched the first episode. Nothing is safe to talk about! Frustrating.
We just need a thread for each episode ;-)
I agree though. But on the other hand, its pretty damn awesome not having to wait a whole week between each episode.
Holy shit Molly Parker’s orgasm might be the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.
Samarium is actually a real thing – Samarium - Wikipedia – used in nuclear reactor fuel rods. It is, in fact, found in its largest quantities in China.
And the US is the second-largest producer. And the US electric grid is 20% nuclear. Yet this shortage is causing everything to go crazy.
Perhaps it is an alternate reality where those things are not the case. :)
Speaking of politics…
http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/local/mrc-letter-to-gov-martin-omalley/808/
Great…now he’s most likely driving himself crazy wondering if unobtanium is real.
Just finished watching season 2. The first season and the first few episodes of the second season are some of the most electrifying television I have ever watched. The rest of the second season I found somewhat lacking for the reasons in the spoiler tags.
Season2
[spoiler] Part of the appeal of season 1 was how the 5th estate interacted with the government, and how it evolved into Zoe Janine and Lucas investigating the death of Russo and the links to Underwood. After the death of Zoe and the silencing of Lucas and Janine, all we were left with for the rest of the season was Frank and Claire manipulating everyone. There was no real suspense left, as it was always clear what they were doing in terms of both their short and long term goals and everyone was always so easily duped and used. Sure they had the new journalist (Ayla Sayyad) but she was just more of a prop to advance the story as opposed to an interesting character.
That said, really loved the acting and high production values and looking forward to next season.
[/spoiler]
Do it like this, except spell spoiler right:
[spioler=“this part matters”] test [/spioler]
you have to do {spoiler=SEASON 2 SPOILERS} stuff goes in here {/spoiler}
It’s not very intuitive.
Thanks much appreciated.
I binge watched Season 2. It was good.
Unfortunately, Season 3 won’t be out for at least another year! (Feb 2015). Will I even give a hoot about the series 12 months from now???
My take:
Season2
[spoiler] I was very happy to see the whole Lucas storyline disappear. It was fine the first season when it started, but it forced Frank into becoming a base thug instead of a distanced and utterly corrupt politician too many times towards the end of season 1/the beginning of season 2. I much prefer the battle of wills between Tusk and Frank during the latter half of this season. I was actually quite disappointed when they showed the hacker (aka Blofeld Jr. and his amazing Gerbil/Cat) again after Lucas’ storyline was seemingly resolved. I want that crap out of the story completely.
And while a case could be made that the three way between Claire, Frank and Edward was simply an expression of intimate trust between them during a difficult time, I have to wonder if the show isn’t doing the LGBT community a disservice by once again portraying an immoral character as having homosexual tendencies?
Anyway, much prefer the second half of season 2 to the first, as mentioned. Can’t wait to see Doug implode. And I want a spin off series with Freddie just ordering gangsters out of his way in that voice that sounds like he’s fully capable of handing your ass to you without breaking a sweat (Christ that actor can be intimidating…he steals every scene he’s in. I’ll miss him a great deal. :( ).[/spoiler]
I thought S2 was better than S1.
Reporters
I figured Lucas was done when Zoe bought it, since she was much smarter than Lucas and still was easily outplayed and killed. I was pleased when that turned out to be the case for Lucas. The new reporter is interesting because she is aware of the stakes and how to protect herself.
Meechum
I found the whole Meechum sexy time plot very strange.
Freddy
The whole thing with Freddy’s gangster son seemed very rushed. I understand why they wanted to show the people around Frank and Tusk as collateral damage, even those not in politics or power, and it was a good chance to show Tusk taking a petty swipe at Frank, but they didn’t really lay the groundwork for it. They wanted a scene and the wrote in just enough to make it happen.
Credulity
The president seemed like a total rube. Frank played him too easily. The plotting in season one was more sophisticated.
Stamper
I’m glad he’s dead. The Stamper/Rachel plot was tedious and eventually unwatchable.
World Well or whatever it is
Did the writers just decide they didn’t feel like exploring the whole World Well/lawsuit angle? That was cleaned up in tremendously lazy fashion almost immediately. It seemed like they were setting that up to be more and lost interest between seasons.
Christina/Pennsylvania
I guess she was technically in this season, although just as a wedge for Claire. Wasn’t she trying to convince Dead Drunky Congressman’s buddy to run for office at the end of the first season? What happened with that?
Wow. Why even watch the show if you hated everyone?
I thought it was absolutely fantastic. I thought the three way was a little strange, and I’m not sure what it added to the story, but I have no idea how it could be a rube against the LGBT community. That is looking way too far into it.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the way Frank wormed his way out of the situation with a completely positive perception from everyone. Tusk is in prison, Lucas is locked up, the president doesn’t suspect him, and he has Jacky and the Secretary of State on his side. Really good story, honestly. I was sad seeing Doug die though, I liked him. Frank’s job will probably be much harder without Doug to do the scum work.
It’s not a binary choice of either you love it or you hate it. You can find faults with things you enjoy.
So I finally got done with the second season and while I have a feeling I may watch future seasons for noise while I do something else, I don’t quite get the insane love for the show. I can’t tell if the people behind the show know that it’s all a bit of bullshit and the intensely serious gravitas is meant more for laughs, but I kind of wish this were more of a pure comedy. Maybe it’s just that the very real incompetence we face every day in the nation’s capital makes the incredibly complex (and very serious!) parries and ripostes in House of Cards feel so far removed from anything possible that it’s hard for me to suspend my disbelief. And sometimes it feels like the only thing keeping the story together are characters willing to buy into the Machiavellian bullshit without any indication of a wink or an “okay, I’ll play along with this made up power trip…”
Watching all the machinations driving the plots reminds me of a Dennis Miller joke about people who think the LAPD set up a conspiracy to frame OJ Simpson back in the day when they couldn’t even thin traffic after a Dodgers game. I feel like I’ve spent the last few years watching elected officials run junk first into doorknobs as a display of their competence. The illusion that I think House of Cards relies on to work at all for me has been long shattered. In a comedy, I could probably buy it more.
edit: I think I have similar feelings about Game of Thrones as well. Watching everyone very seriously plot for a big metal chair while taking for granted that the audience will just assume the big metal chair is worth it for its own sake without really selling me on why I should watch characters go in narrative circles around said chair kind of sums up my reactions to GoT at times. I guess it’s back to The Bachelor and The Voice if I want to watch something of true unabashed quality.