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LynneSin

(95,337 posts)
Fri Mar 18, 2016, 04:50 PM Mar 2016

Ok it's been two weeks - time to discuss Season #4 of 'House of Cards' **spoilers**

Show came out beginning of March so I figured I'd give everyone about 2 weeks to watch the show. But now I'm ready to discuss it with other HoC fans. So if you've watched the show please chime in with your thoughts and/or questions, rants and/or raves.

If you haven't watched WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM!!!!! And I put spoiler in the title so if you're waiting to watched it and still clicked on my link and some secret was spoiled - that is YOUR PROBLEM, not mine .

Anyhow....

Season #4 - wasn't sure if was going to keep watching HoC after season #3 was done. Season #3 just wasn't as good as the first 2 seasons. Frank and Claire seemed weak since Frank finagled his way into the Presidency. Yet somehow they made Season #4 one of the best ones.

The highlight of course is Claire - that woman is the most calculating, manipulative woman I have ever met. I want to be just like her when I grow up . First, I loved the casting of Ellen Burstyn as Claire's mother. I've always wondered what made Claire tick and seeing her with her mother explained just about everything! Claire wants two things - Power and that people see her as an EQUAL to her husband Frank. Yet somehow Frank managed to outshine her year after year because he was the politician and she was the 'wife of a politician'. Claire is one of the ultimate chess/poker players. Chess because she always is thinking 5 steps ahead of her opponent and that would include her husband Frank and Poker because that woman doesn't give anything away with what she is planning (like her idea of getting 'pregnant' which was really to find dirt to make a lawsuit go away from a former employee). It was interesting to see how Claire's mother thought of Frank, that he was nothing more than 'poor white trash' that was never good enough for Claire even when Frank was in the White House. BTW great casting with Neve Campbell as her campaign manager/strategist.

The assassination attempt - can I have a show of hands of who thinks the attempt was planned. Lucas somehow manages to get out of prison and no one is really notified about it. He's placed in Ohio under identity protection program that is also an early primary state. Frank makes it a point to walk out into the protesting crowds plus manages to get Lucas to meet with Heather Dunbar, Frank's primary opponent. That was TOO perfectly setup as a way to get Dunbar to drop out of the race leaving Frank with the nomination.

And the ending - WOWZA!!!! If you can't beat your opponent clean and fair then put a terrorist video out on youtube showing an American Dad getting beheaded. Almost too perfect of a setup. And the scary thing - I even wonder if that kidnapping was a setup by the Underwoods. Those terrorists were not from some foreign arab nation but were White Americans from the south. It was just a bit too perfect to be a 'lucky break' for the Underwoods.

That is my first round of discussions - thoughts anyone?

18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Ok it's been two weeks - time to discuss Season #4 of 'House of Cards' **spoilers** (Original Post) LynneSin Mar 2016 OP
Agree that Frank may have staged his own shooting, stopbush Mar 2016 #1
***********SPOILER ALERT************ Gomez163 Mar 2016 #2
One thought and I'll leave it at that. sarge43 Mar 2016 #3
I wanted to ask the question mainstreetonce Mar 2016 #4
They're certainly capable of it. n/t sarge43 Mar 2016 #5
Maybe. He did order them to be killed and not taken alive. ohnoyoudidnt Mar 2016 #11
I wondered about the assassination attempt NV Whino Mar 2016 #6
Agree sarge43 Mar 2016 #7
Frank knows how to play the long game too however.... LynneSin Mar 2016 #12
Where do I find the British series? TIA. madinmaryland Mar 2016 #8
It's on Netflix sarge43 Mar 2016 #9
My wife found it. Will watch it soon. Unfortunately not tonight, as she as this zombie shit madinmaryland Mar 2016 #10
What got me was the last scene WolverineDG Mar 2016 #13
*****SPOILER***** MuttLikeMe Mar 2016 #14
I didn't notice that the first time around LynneSin Mar 2016 #15
That's what makes it so great! WolverineDG Mar 2016 #16
I binge-watched the entire series... cynatnite Mar 2016 #17
I'm about halfway through. Initech Mar 2016 #18

stopbush

(24,378 posts)
1. Agree that Frank may have staged his own shooting,
Fri Mar 18, 2016, 05:10 PM
Mar 2016

except that there's no reason for the shooter to have gone along with it. Now, was he actually shot by his SS man? Was it all fake? I mean, we're watching a TV show where all the wounds and blood are fake, so why not have that be the premise in the show? Were all three of then not really shot/killed? Could be.

The ending? You know, there are things going on in this series that strain credulity, going back to Season One. Frank kills the up and coming Congressman by asphyxiating him in his car. He then wipes down the steering wheel etc so as not to leave any fingerprints. Er, wouldn't the first thing the crime lab noticed be that everything was wiped down? Doesn't that indicate it wasn't a suicide?

And Frank's climb up the ladder to the POTUS spot was also unbelievable.

Well, it is fiction, after all. But the leaps the series has taken on the believability front always make my eyes roll.

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
3. One thought and I'll leave it at that.
Fri Mar 18, 2016, 06:53 PM
Mar 2016

Watch the British HoC ending and I think you'll see how this will play out - Claire finally does get the power she craves.

mainstreetonce

(4,178 posts)
4. I wanted to ask the question
Fri Mar 18, 2016, 06:59 PM
Mar 2016

About did the Underwoods set up the terrorists?

Is that what Frank is saying in the very last line?

Possible for this show I think. Does Doug know about the set up?

ohnoyoudidnt

(1,858 posts)
11. Maybe. He did order them to be killed and not taken alive.
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 08:04 PM
Mar 2016

But I would have expected a few more hints that they were behind it. Maybe I missed something else.

NV Whino

(20,886 posts)
6. I wondered about the assassination attempt
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 12:33 PM
Mar 2016

It just went a bit farther than Frank had planned. I also wondered about the kidnapping and terrorists. I put nothing past these two. Claire is so deliciously evil.

And, having seen the original British series, I have a good idea where season 5 is going.

The British series is well worth the watch, by the way.

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
7. Agree
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 03:52 PM
Mar 2016

If Claire becomes VP, Frank better watch his back. She has nerves of steel and plays a long game. Frank makes it up as he goes along and that will destroy him.

The British series is an insightful contrast/compare.

LynneSin

(95,337 posts)
12. Frank knows how to play the long game too however....
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:11 PM
Mar 2016

He has a serious weakness when it comes to Claire. Think about it - he had breakfast in the White House with Claire's lover who had just spent the night there. Who does that stuff? And those that do that stuff probably aren't the leader of the free world.

Claire is Frank's 'Achilles Heel'. Frank's long plan goes as far as Claire and then it's stopped dead cold in it's track. Frank tried to get around her with forcing Claire out of that house race in Texas but in the end she already had her next move planned.

If anyone did a setup with the Lucas and the assassination it was Claire. Remember Meacham was already a seriously pawn in the craziness that Frank and Claire did. When Meacham died from the assassination attempt, Thomas Yates was the replacement for Meacham - that next sucker who will do the bidding to make things happen for the Underwoods.

sarge43

(28,939 posts)
9. It's on Netflix
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 06:56 PM
Mar 2016

The details of the British political system might be a bit difficult to follow, but other than that, it's riveting.

madinmaryland

(64,920 posts)
10. My wife found it. Will watch it soon. Unfortunately not tonight, as she as this zombie shit
Sun Mar 20, 2016, 07:11 PM
Mar 2016

that she has to watch.

Ugh.

WolverineDG

(22,298 posts)
13. What got me was the last scene
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 12:45 PM
Mar 2016

where Frank is talking to the audience & then you see Claire turn her head & break the fourth wall too. Has she been playing us all this time too?

MuttLikeMe

(279 posts)
14. *****SPOILER*****
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 04:07 PM
Mar 2016

When everyone else around them recoiled in horror when the dad got beheaded, and they didn't even FLINCH (after all, they've both killed too, so...)

that was badass though. I agree with the OP too that the Underwoods planned everything.

LynneSin

(95,337 posts)
15. I didn't notice that the first time around
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 05:12 PM
Mar 2016

I'm rewatching season #4 with one episode a night and almost to the last episode so now I will watch it.

Claire is so fricking awesome. Probably one of the best parts ever written for an actress!

WolverineDG

(22,298 posts)
16. That's what makes it so great!
Wed Mar 23, 2016, 11:48 PM
Mar 2016

It was a very subtle move, staged like other scenes we've seen where Frank is talking to the audience with the other person in the room not being aware he's speaking.

cynatnite

(31,011 posts)
17. I binge-watched the entire series...
Thu Mar 24, 2016, 12:33 AM
Mar 2016

I put off watching this for a while. Not sure why, just didn't.

Finally started on it and I was completely hooked.

This is Shakespeare on crack with Frank Underwood as the modern JR Ewing.

I loved Frank breaking the fourth wall on occasion. It was fantastic. What kept me staying with it is the hope that he gets nailed for killing Zoe and Russo. Then Claire started getting more of my attention. I do love her. I love her strength, courage and her strong will despite all the machinations on her part.

Both of them are fascinating as hell, but I do want to see it all come crashing down on Frank in particular. He strikes me as a guy that wants to brag about everything he did to get the presidency. I think it eats away at him that he can't just tell the entire world and call everyone suckers for not seeing it.

Can't wait for the next season!

Initech

(99,915 posts)
18. I'm about halfway through.
Thu Mar 24, 2016, 01:10 AM
Mar 2016

Last night I watched the episode where Frank is getting the transplant surgery. Holy crap that scene with him having a 3 way with Russo and Zoe... I think has given me nightmares for a week.

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