I have to say that the changes to the title sequence and score leave me unhappy. Beal has softened and blandified the score, and the new visual cuts are jarring and erratic.
The first season version was a hypnotic rush I could watch over and over, on a par with Carnivale and the first season of Treme. This season’s is… irritating.
Just watched the entire thing. Very good. There are only two things that kind of take me out of it, though. First, it seems that no one is capable of saying two sentences of dialog without being interrupted by someone else.
And the second and by far the most distracting thing, is Clair’s neck hole. Every since the show debuted, I can’t unsee that thing. In fact, when discussing the show with friends, I just call her “Neckhole”.
Errrrgh, this is a very different show than last season. It’s not nearly as tight, people’s motivations don’t really make all that much sense, everything’s more extreme… I think I vote no.
How odd, I only looked at this thread to post that I thought Jeff Beal’s score was fantastic. It is really understated and uses minimal instrumentation but at the end of each episode I just close my eyes ans listen to the closing piece over the credits. Every one is different but each is redolent of the episode just seen.
I don’t know how many times I listened to the end of episode 4.
Different folks, eh?
So, having just finished binging on the second season, I have to say that I expected FU to take until season 3 or 4 to become president. That was quick.
I wonder what they’ll do for the following seasons. It’s not like he can become president of the world. It seems that he’ll be playing defense against plotters who want his post and covering up his dirty work. Unless he falls and has to claw his way back up but how many times can he do that before the audience stops buying it?
Aside from FU, which character do you like most? Least?
(I’ve added this thread because the other thread is more about anticipation and doesn’t allow open discussion of spoilers)
New fan of the show. Just watched the first two episodes of season one with my girlfriend and we really like it. It’s brilliantly evil.
I just finished S02:E05 tonight. I didn’t expect Zoe to be snuffed the first episode of the season. Wow. Also wow: Claire’s live CNN interview. That general is right fucked.
Earlier discussion here: House of Cards, Season 2 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
Couldn’t agree more. The original score sounded more sinister and calculating.
question:
What Job did Jacqueline Sharp have before she became congreswoman?
something in missle command? a drone pilot?
Two threads on the new season of House of Cards merged.
We finished watching Season Two today.
My, my…things certainly moved along at a great clip, with many interesting twists and turns.
I loved the last two seconds of the last episode.
Now we just have to wait a year for the next season…hmm…a year. That’s the problem with binge viewing; you get used to just watching several shows in one sitting and when it is over, you get grumpy about waiting so long for the next season.
What is Claire getting out of all this? I’m sure it was not her goal in life to be a President’s wife and they seem to have a mixed relationship- while there is some kind of love, they seem more like allies and partners that a married couple.
I have a question…When Jackie was in the running to replace Frank as Whip, why did she have to throw her friend with the illegitimate daughter under the bus? He was helping her so why did Frank force her to turn on him. Just because?
There were two other guys running for Whip, and once they found out Jackie was running, they discussed teaming up, maybe with one dropping out of the race and giving his support to the other, after getting promised some committee. So Jackie talked to the guy who was maybe going to drop out to see what she could do instead. There were no committees or any favors he wanted from her, he just wanted her old friend to be destroyed politically, because years ago the old friend destroyed his chance of being elected at the time, and the guy is still holding a grudge about not being elected then.
I don’t remember what Jackie gets from the Whip candidate in turn for turning on her friend. Either he stays in the race so the votes are split between the two white guys, allowing her to win, or he throws his support towards her allowing her to win.
ahhh I thought it was she who had destroyed his chances and he was holding the grudge against her. That’s what I get for not rewinding.
Darn Netflix sucks you in…"the next episode will start in 10 seconds…9…8…7… Thought I was putting down roots on the sofa!
I was at a jazz festival from Friday through Sunday, so I didn’t start watching until Monday. I watched more than half of the season then (yay, Federal holidays!), a few more episodes on Tuesday night, and then the last epsiode last night.
I love this show!
Did anyone else see Kevin Spacey on the 2/18 Daily Show? It was nice to get to see him out of character for a little while.
Same here! I would have been happy with just the look on his face, but then…
Um, why not? The First Lady has a lot of power and can get a lot of things done.
Just FYI, not everyone’s Netflix has autoplay: it depends on the client you’re using. 
For example, Netflix via my Sony Blu-ray player does the autoplay thing (which I love), but Netflix via my Apple TV or my TiVo doesn’t.
Finally finished the season. It was fun! I admit I didn’t quite follow all of the China machinations, but I reckoned there are a lot of people at least as dumb as me watching, and they’d make the broad strokes clear, which they did, so I didn’t try to puzzle it out too hard.
I really adore how they present the villains as actual humans. Claire is 100% willing to manipulate, lie, and even abet murders to achieve her goals, but she also has understandable motivations and develops attachments. It honestly hurts her that the servicewoman’s life is unbearable, and she really did want to protect women in the military from going through what she did. She nurtured a relationship with the First Lady in order to fuck up her marriage and position everything for impeachment/resignation, but she also actually felt friendly and intimate with Tricia, and didn’t enjoy stabbing her in the back.
Doug Stamper is an even more impressive example. It would have been so easy to make him a two dimensional mustache-twirler. Including the scenes of him struggling with this new addiction gave it a chilling verisimilitude. But I still really, really enjoyed seeing Rachel brain him.
Agreed! I actually cheered for her.
I think Claire has been in this plan since the get-go. At one point near the end of the second season, she says, “I have done my part, now you do yours. Fix this!” She sounded like one very driven woman who wants to become First Lady with every fiber of her being.
Actually, between Frank and Claire, I would be more terrified to have Claire pissed off at me - she is the cool, calm, collected, gorgeous, subtle and smiling bitch who would have you carted off to Guantanamo Bay if you even brought her the wrong Starbucks in the morning and she was in “a mood”.
In a shameless plug, and amazing coincidence - I just recently published my novel, Fool Proof, about an evil, vindictive First Lady. I swear I wrote the book long before I ever saw Season One of House of Cards! Thus I REALLY like the character of Claire!