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Television
by Alison Willmore
Fri Feb 01 11:42:45 EST 2013
5 Comments
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'House of Cards' Review: Why David Fincher's First TV Series is Tailor-Made for Binge-Watching

Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright in 'House of Cards' Melinda Sue Gordon/Netflix
Today, Netflix dropped all 13 episodes of the initial season of its first major original series, "House of Cards," online for its subscribers -- a political drama from Beau Willimon, David Fincher and Kevin Spacey, who plays the lead role of Representative Frank Underwood, House Majority Whip and consummate political animal. It's a bold business move for the company, a direct challenge to cable networks like HBO who've built their brand around quality programming -- why go to the linear channels trickling out content when you can watch a hopefully equivalent series online, from the same place many people these days are going for their TV anyway?

It's also, hype aside, a genuine glimpse of a possible future for the medium. Giving up half of the serialized aspect of a serialized show is a gamble, one that threatens to do away with the anticipation and the months-long conversation that for some is the very nature of TV. But a growing share of the audience cutting the cord and going cable-free, and with shows like "The Wire" finding much larger followings on DVD or streaming years after their original broadcast run is over, maybe the idea of spacing episodes out over weeks is a structural remnant of a release pattern that, like LP-dictated albums for music, is no longer that relevant or necessary. If binge-watching is how TV is being consumed, why not make a show with that in mind?

Certainly "House of Cards" is not guided by an obligation to dazzle out of the gate in the way a traditional TV show would, nor to have its installments stand entirely alone as neatly formed episodes. Netflix offered the first two episodes, which were directed by Fincher with a gorgeously premium sheen that the subsequent chapters copy, to press to cover weeks ago, but they felt, to this writer, like the first 20 minutes of a movie, promising but with no pull and no sense of whatever whole would be unveiled. They were impossible, for me, to write about, all scene-setting, and were they released in a traditional fashion they'd be indicative of a show I'd be intrigued but ambivalent about, a chilly, cynical and possibly soulless take on D.C. more interesting for who's working on it than for what's actually on screen.

READ MORE: 'House of Cards' Showrunner Beau Willimon on Netflix, Ideal Politicians and Working With David Fincher

I've watched six episodes now -- the first two, from Fincher, are followed by two directed by James Foley ("Glengarry Glen Ross") and then two directed by, oddly Joel Schumacher -- and approaching its halfway point "House of Cards" looks less like an experiment and more like a very good series, coming close to a great one. Like "Deadwood" and other initially forbiddingly dense series, "House of Cards" might just be a "needs three episodes" situation, but it's also in even less of a hurry than the (mainly) HBO sagas that it's similar to. "House of Cards" was guaranteed two 13-episode seasons off the bat, and it uses the luxury of that runtime to ease the audience into Underwood's world, into his place as an extremely pragmatic politician with no apparent personal loyalties to anyone but his wife Claire (Robin Wright), his Lady Macbeth.

Underwood is more of an Iago
Well, Underwood is more of an Iago -- "House of Cards" starts with him being told by the president (Michael Gill) he just helped elect that he wouldn't be given the position of Secretary of State he'd been promised. He's needed in the House, he's told, and he agrees like a good soldier, while inside already planning his revenge. Spacey is his best dead-eyed, velvety voiced self as Underwood, a South Carolinan who came up from poverty to become a ruthlessly self-motivated bastard who's generally great at what he does.

READ MORE: Where to Watch the First Episode of David Fincher's 'House of Cards' for Free Online

And while he treats people like strategic tokens, he shows his true face to us in fourth-wall breaking asides to the camera in which he drops the bullshit and explains freely what's on his mind. It's at first at coy device, though it becomes less so as the series goes in its machinations from D.C. abstracts to grounded details, ones involving the Teachers Union, a powerful oil lobbyist and former colleague named Remy (Mahershala Ali), Claire's water nonprofit and an ambitious blogger named Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) who develops a mutually beneficial relationship with Underwood.

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TAGS: Television, TV Reviews, House Of Cards, David Fincher, Beau Willimon, Netflix, Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, James Foley, Corey Stoll, Kate Mara

5 Comments

  • Phairgrrl | Tue Feb 05 12:37:53 EST 2013Reply

    As per usual in this age and for this site, a recappy article rife with misspellings and sorely lacking real insight. Please try and post something more incisive. Your subject matter and readership deserve it.

  • CJ | Mon Feb 04 10:11:06 EST 2013Reply

    Wow. No mention whatsoever of the previous "House of Cards" trilogy, and the many, many similarities and borrowings (including characters amd key bits of dialogue)? And "playright" for playwright? I think I'll be checking in elsewhere, thank you.

  • Dan75 | Mon Feb 04 08:49:23 EST 2013Reply

    Netflix is turning its back on their DVD customer base again only offering this series to their streaming customers. It's ironic that Netflix publicly criticizes HBO and other cable and broadcast networks that they don't allow customers to watch series they way they want. Then don't offer their own customers the option to watch it the way they want. I understand streaming is the future and DVDs are going out, but Netflix is still a DVD service company that is not offering a portion of their customers their original programing.

  • Jodie Mahon | Sun Feb 03 20:57:23 EST 2013Reply

    couple of misspellings in your article....like..."playrights" for instance...one who writes plays.....

  • magicdancer | Fri Feb 01 18:10:22 EST 2013Reply

    I subscribe to Netflix, but for DVDs only. Since this show will be streaming, do you know if that means it will be available ONLY to their streaming customers, not ALL Netflix customers?

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