Thanks to this thread, I began watching House of Cards two nights ago. Now, at the end of episode 4, I’m firmly hooked.
I can already see the Spacey is one manipulating sumb****, but is he pure evil by the end of the season? Any redeeming qualities at all?
All I can say is keep watching…
They are. They just signed deals with Disney and Time Warner.
I just started watching this and I think it’s excellent, but though I’m a fan of Kevin Spacey and think he is very good in this role, he can’t touch Ian Richardson for charm, humor or sheer gleeful reptilian malevolence.
Agreed. Moreover, I’m not fond of the way that the villains have been toned down from the original. Underwood is a lot more sympathetic than Urqhart was, and the same holds true for his wife; in the original, she was basically Lady Macbeth without that pesky remorse business. And Doug Stamper - Stamper, of all people! - is now within spitting distance of being a decent man. (Yes, he does some horrible things, but he’s clearly conflicted about them, while the original Stamper was a monster).
I felt like the pacing was a problem here as well - most of Lady Underwood’s scenes felt like padding, as did the trip to the Sentinel.
I agree with this. It lacks a … Shakespearean feel. But it’s clearly geared toward a more modern and American audience, which is I think the whole reason that Mrs. Underwood has a job rather than just being a curled up lizard in the background like in the original.
OTOH, the American version has much hotter women. So it’s a trade off . 
I’m only on episode 5 or 6, but I find it surprising to see Underwood characterized here as “sympathetic” to any degree, however small. This makes me very curious to watch the original to see how much worse Urqhart could have been. I can’t see any reason to be sympathetic to Underwood whatsoever–the guy’s pure evil.
I don’t have Netflix – in the BBC original, Urquhart is always telling himself that his crimes are for the greater good of the country. Does Spacey’s character do that?
Pretty bad – but not a patch on his wife. Lady Macbeth, she is!
[ACTORS: :eek: EEEEOOOOAAAUGGHHHG! Hot potato, off your drawers, Puck will make amends!]
Glamys thou art, and Cawdor, and shalt be
What thou art promis’d: yet doe I feare thy Nature,
It is too full o’th’ Milke of humane kindnesse,
To catch the neerest way. Thou would’st be great,
Art not without Ambition, but without
The illnesse should attend it. What thou would’st highly,
That would’st thou holily: would’st not play false,
And yet would’st wrongly winne.
Thould’st haue, great Glamys, that which cryes,
Thus thou must doe, if thou haue it;
And that which rather thou do’st feare to doe,
Then wishest should be vndone. High thee hither,
That I may powre my Spirits in thine Eare,
And chastise with the valour of my Tongue
All that impeides thee from the Golden Round,
Which Fate and Metaphysicall ayde doth seeme
To haue thee crown’d withall.
La. Was the hope drunke,
Wherein you drest your selfe? Hath it slept since?
And wakes it now to looke so greene, and pale,
At what it did so freely? From this time,
Such I account thy loue. Art thou affear’d
To be the same in thine owne Act, and Valour,
As thou art in desire? Would’st thou haue that
Which thou esteem’st the Ornament of Life,
And liue a Coward in thine owne Esteeme?
Letting I dare not, wait vpon I would,
Like the poore Cat i’th’ Addage
Macb. Prythee peace:
I dare do all that may become a man,
Who dares do more, is none
La. What Beast was’t then
That made you breake this enterprize to me?
When you durst do it, then you were a man:
And to be more then what you were, you would
Be so much more the man. Nor time, nor place
Did then adhere, and yet you would make both:
They haue made themselues, and that their fitnesse now
Do’s vnmake you. I haue giuen Sucke, and know
How tender 'tis to loue the Babe that milkes me,
I would, while it was smyling in my Face,
Haue pluckt my Nipple from his Bonelesse Gummes,
And dasht the Braines out, had I so sworne
As you haue done to this
Macb. If we should faile?
Lady. We faile?
But screw your courage to the sticking place,
And wee’le not fayle: when Duncan is asleepe,
(Whereto the rather shall his dayes hard Iourney
Soundly inuite him) his two Chamberlaines
Will I with Wine, and Wassell, so conuince,
That Memorie, the Warder of the Braine,
Shall be a Fume, and the Receit of Reason
A Lymbeck onely: when in Swinish sleepe,
Their drenched Natures lyes as in a Death,
What cannot you and I performe vpon
Th’ vnguarded Duncan? What not put vpon
His spungie Officers? who shall beare the guilt
Of our great quell
Macb. Bring forth Men-Children onely:
For thy vndaunted Mettle should compose
Nothing but Males. Will it not be receiu’d,
When we haue mark’d with blood those sleepie two
Of his owne Chamber, and vs’d their very Daggers,
That they haue don’t?
Lady. Who dares receiue it other,
As we shall make our Griefes and Clamor rore,
Vpon his Death?
Macb. I am settled, and bend vp
Each corporall Agent to this terrible Feat.
Away, and mock the time with fairest show,
False Face must hide what the false Heart doth know.
I thought that he came off as ambitious but as possessing of certain standards, until about episode four or five, when…
…he slept with Zoe. After noting she was drunk. Until that point, I could forgive his ambition and his screwing over of other politicians; after all, politics is a dirty game, and to a certain extent those who enter it are aware that it is. Even checking her out in the first episode I could forgive as being human. But the drunk hooking up was just…skeeve. It removed whatever little bit of sympathy and respect I had for him.
That being said, Kevin Spacey is good at making him one charismatic motherfucker regardless of how you feel about the character.
I’ve now seen an episode which I think does try to drum up of sympathy for the character. So now I know what you guys are talking about.
In other news, it has been my least favorite episode. Sympathy is boring. 
Only true if we’re comparing the American version to the first BBC “House of Cards” series only - which I don’t think is fair, since it’s only one-third the length of the American remake. It makes more sense to compare the American series to the entire “House of Cards” trilogy from the BBC. And the second series in the trilogy, “To Play the King,” had the lovely Kitty Aldridge as nearly-amoral political consultant Sarah Harding.
Watching it now. Just started episode 3. So far, I really enjoy it.
I have to say, though, I disagree with the producers. More and more people may be consuming shows all at once, but the question is what do people prefer? I’d argue that a good number of people prefer having episodes spaced out by some length of time, be it a day or a week.
For instance, I never watched BSG in its original run and caught it on Sci-Fi (or…SyFy…whatevs) at two episodes a week. I got through the entire series in about half a year and found that to be a good pace.
I never watched Angel or Buffy in their original runs either but caught them once a day in syndication. Even that allowed for a check through TWoP or even here if I wanted to see what others thought.
That’s the key. We watch old shows in order to catch up to the current season or because we know they’re done and in the past and there’s no reason not to watch them all at once if given the option. But what we lose doing that is a sense of community.
Think about it. What else do you do besides watch the show? You want to see what others think about the show. You want to see if you missed something. You want to work together to solve the mystery of how this week’s cliffhanger will be resolved. All that goes out the window when you can just press “play” on the next episode without a break.
Look at this thread. Supposedly this is a fantastic series, but what’s going on here? I’m going to be post #52 in a 13 episode series. Why? Because how do you comment on 13 episodes at once? I’ve hesitated even reading this whole thread because I don’t want to get spoiled. That wouldn’t be the case if this were solely a thread on episodes 1 and 2 that I’ve seen. But why would you do that when everyone already has 13 episodes in front of them?
I’m just saying I think there’s something to be said for letting momentum build outside the episodes themselves. But all this is rightfully a topic for another thread.
I am a TV binger. Some shows lend themselves to this type of watching. HoC does because it is more of a miniseries. There are several story arcs that flow through the whole show.
Longer running series’ have a more of a " lets see what the gang gets into this week" type feel. One arc every ep with an occasional multi ep story (like the 3 billion police procedurals currently running on TV.)
These type of TV shows don’t lend themselves to binging.
Also the production, writing, acting is high level stuff. I rarely watch any regular TV because most shows are too cliched and poorly written.
Okay, I just watched episode 11. We have now entered the world of utter predictability. There was nothing in this episode that wasn’t formulaic, predictable pap. I won’t spoil anything, but I’m hoping the writers have simply taken temporary leave of their senses.
Having a sense that something is going to happen and then it does is one thing, but to have it occur rapid-fire with every scene, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, like this episode, takes me right out of the show. The only thing I didn’t see ahead was Underwood’s personal angling.
Oh, well. They can’t all be great. On to episode 12.
I watched the whole thing this weekend. Overall, I loved it. A couple of the episodes were kind of ‘meh’–I didn’t care for the one where he goes back to his old academy and gets drunk with his buddies. Mostly, though, it was great! Spacey is terrific and all of the supporting players are really good as well.
I haven’t read through the thread yet, but apparently season 2 is already in development. I’ll be looking forward to it, and I’ll probably rewatch season 1 at some point. I’m sure there are some things I missed the first time.
I was thinkig this as well–releasing them all that once means that a single wave of articles will be written about the show–and that’s it. Whereas releasing them once a week means articles will be written about the show for weeks. That seems like a fairly important thing.
I’m just watched episode 10 and I am now calcified in my belief that the original was miles better, both in casting and in plot, which in the British version was a freight train. In the remake there are whole episodes (the ‘Riflemen’ one, for instance) that are just plain dull, full of speeches, clinking glassware and padding that doesn’t advance anything. In fact, nothing really noteworthy happens until Russo’s downfall in the episode I just watched and that storyline was eons in the making. I’ll finish the series and I really did enjoy parts of it, but it isn’t nearly as much fun. 
Done with episode 13. Not bad. House of Cards is definitely an appropriate title for this series.
Looking forward to season 2.
Not quite done yet, think we’re on episode 10 or 11, but the one thing that sold me on the series more than anything else:
(minor-ish spoiler)
When Underwood sleeps with Zoe, then goes home and talks to his wife, they discuss the fact that he’s having an affair and they both acknowledge that it’s only to get something out of it. It’s a combination of the disregard for the rules (/rules of society) that’s underlying everything the Underwoods do in the show, but also reinforces the commitment the two have to each other and their mutual goals.
It’s like the writers have shown how much they love each other - by showing an extra-marital affair and alluding to the fact both Underwoods have had more. That’s just some really solid storytelling, not something you often see on TV and stood out for me.
That said, while I’m not 100% sure how they’re going to monetize it either, I 100% salute Netflix for trying something new with how they released this all at once.
TV has been on a “new episode every week or so” format for so long, it’s gratifying to see them consciously decide to try something different and see how it goes. It might not work out and next year season 2 will be on a weekly basis, but I, personally hope not, because my wife and I love to binge on series on Netflix, it’s why we have a subscription.