What I love about HOC is the believability of the story line. For me, that goes a long ways. While I do agree Breaking Bad was a very good show (compared to modern television), I found Jesse's character extremely annoying. I find melodrama very uncreative as a conduit to move a story line. I would rather have smaller, more insignificant story arcs that support the overall plot than run-away major story arcs that eventually jump the shark.
Nine pages of people going on and on about how great it is, then someone asks "is it good, should I watch it?" All of the reviews are glowing, it wins awards... it isn't a tough sell. If you haven't made up your mind to watch it yet - someone saying "yeah, it's good" will change it? Well, let's be honest - House of Cards realism is off the scales too. They do just enough to make it plausible and I like that they do enough research to follow the protocol and procedures of the government, but it is far from believable. Examples: Spoiler They were able to find that Doug went to Kansas City, but didn't check his passport to see he went to China too? His, "I paid cash" excuse was ridiculous considering all flight data is tracked and stored. Doug's story line with Rachel is pretty outlandish, why wouldn't she run? Or go public? The internet could easily save her as it did Snowden. The same goes for Janine and Lucas. Once Zoe goes down, just leak everything you have online - no sources needed - let the world know and them do the digging. The FBI sting with Lucas, he would have never gotten real actual servers that were in use. They could have easily taken him in to a cage in a DMZ and/or that was off the grid. The President resigns, and no one does any real digging in to Underwood's role in it? The President doesn't make Frank take the fall? The Special Prosecutor would have never been able to ask questions to the therapist / spiritual adviser. Period. Raymond Tusk takes the fall out of pride and doesn't give up Frank in the process? Why - he had nothing to lose to out Frank too. He would have never been there, or wouldn't have said a word. He pleads the 5th and sits there. Even if Raymond Tusk did spill the beans, why would he not out Frank? Same goes for Xander Feng, his asylum is rescinded and he would have chirped like a bird outing Frank and Doug's travels. Underwood has been complicit and even directly responsible for several murders? It is Washington, DC and there was only one camera in the subway station? I've been in the DC subway, and it is immaculate because there are police and cameras everywhere. Zoe deletes the text messages from her phone, which doesn't do a damn thing. Phone records would have been pulled. Lobbyists having direct contact with congressmen? Remy wouldn't get within ten feet of a congressional office. All of those meetings are backdoor only. I could go on, but you get my point. While I can easily look over these sorts of things as it is entertainment, I do know they were there. Sure, Breaking Bad also had it's plot holes - but for the most part was pretty accurate, probably with the exception of the dealings with Mexican cartels members. He would have never lived through that. They would have kidnapped him and his family, and been done with it.
Responses: Spoiler They were able to find that Doug went to Kansas City, but didn't check his passport to see he went to China too? His, "I paid cash" excuse was ridiculous considering all flight data is tracked and stored. Watch again, they did know he went to China after the Kansas City trip and mentioned it. I don't believe you are correct. Frank was never connected directly to Xander Feng. Had his chief of staff gone to Kansas City and then China the special prosecutor could have easy charged him with perjury. Doug was busted only for going to Kansas City because they caught him on tape. Unless I'm missing something (possible). The FBI sting with Lucas, he would have never gotten real actual servers that were in use. They could have easily taken him in to a cage in a DMZ and/or that was off the grid. The hacker guy was working for them. They didn't think he'd really try to hack them, I guess. A data center would have never complied with that request to have access to a customer's production environment - regardless of if an informant was working with them or not. Most co-location data centers are built like Fort Knox, and they take security extremely seriously. I've been in probably 40 of them in my life in all shapes and sizes, and all of them are a pain to get in and out of. This also brings up the point that AT&T wouldn't be hosting their services in a co-location facility to begin with. They own some of the largest data centers in the world and would have no use for a co-location. The President resigns, and no one does any real digging in to Underwood's role in it? The President doesn't make Frank take the fall? Why would any dig into that? The only people who really knew he was actively wanting it was the Secretary of State and the guy who was previously nominated for SoS. Because he just went from a representative, to the Vice President to the President in a matter of months (I think the timeline was about a year total). He would have been vetted before even being approved to the Vice Presidency, and then again during the entire fiasco. The way he comes away clean is pretty far fetched across the board. The Special Prosecutor would have never been able to ask questions to the therapist / spiritual adviser. Period. They waived their rights. And they can ask all they want. That part is not against the law. He doesn't have to answer of course. The Attorney General would have probably stepped in, and a challenge would have been made to the Supreme Court - or, the religious right would have had a field day. Legally, discussions between a man and wife, a therapist and a doctor are all confidential and protected by law. So the fact that they pressed was outlandish. I realize Frank nudged him to waive his rights, but it just would have never happened - and it probably would have never gotten to that point to begin with. Same goes for Xander Feng, his asylum is rescinded and he would have chirped like a bird outing Frank and Doug's travels. Chirped to whom? The federal marshals who were taking him back to China? Throughout the show Feng was very meticulous and calculating. I have no doubt that a real Feng would have a backup plan. A, "oh you're going to screw me, well I'm going to screw you." He would have pulled a Raymond Tusk, and people would have listened because what he was saying contradicted sworn testimony from the soon to be President. Feng was being sent to his execution, he would have chirped to anyone and everyone who would listen. Including reporters who no doubt got word of his extradition. Underwood has been complicit and even directly responsible for several murders? It is Washington, DC and there was only one camera in the subway station? I've been in the DC subway, and it is immaculate because there are police and cameras everywhere. He was behind the construction barrier. It's plausible at least. There would have been 10 more cameras between the tracks and the exit he takes topside. My biggest complaint about this entire scenario however was her simply deleting her text messages and that being the end of it. They do so well on the "tech" side of the story elsewhere, and then just take the easy way out in this regards. I think they could have gotten rid of a lot of the fluff stuff, like the rape bill, Freddy's son and Lucas and focused on how he'd get around these details. I think it would be much more entertaining then. Long story short, I love the show but there are plenty of plot holes. I find far fewer in Breaking Bad, simply because Vince Gilligan made it a point to try to fill as many plot holes as possible... he's even admitted as much.
Cool, thanks for the dialogue. I completely missed the thing with Doug. Now that I think about it, I remember Doug falling on that sword as him just being "eager." With that said... Spoiler Doug better not be dead. He's my favorite freaking character.
Spoiler I'm pretty sure Doug is dead. They showed him lying on the ground with his eyes open, plus the House of Cards wiki listed him as deceased (although it's not 100% official).
Spoiler I REALLY hope this isn't the end of Freddy's character. Even though Frank is the POTUS now, I hope the writers find some way to bring Freddy back in a way that makes sense. He's become one of my favorite characters, and it only took a episode of character development. I mean, they didn't kill him off (Doug), put him in jail (Lucas, Tusk), send him away (Feng), nor is he in any form of exile (POTUS Walker). All he did was walk away and use money to post bail on his son. So hopefully, he comes back. Anyway, possible threats to FU's presidency in season 3? Lucas (jail), Rachel (on the run), Ayla Sayyad and Tom (?) and...Remy? It'll be interesting to see how the writers begin Frank's downfall. That's the only way the story will be interesting, seeing as how FU is can't go anywhere but down. I'm sure they'll introduce new characters, but I'm wondering which of the S1/S2 characters they could use to dethrone FU. My only complaint this season was that, I never felt Frank was 100% in trouble / backed into a corner. Even when the special prosecutor, Tusk and the POTUS Walker all had their turns to destroy FU, it just didn't seem like Frank could lose. Spoiler Anyone have any qualms with any acting? I would like to see Robin Wright (Claire) exhibit more emotion. By my count, she raised her voice twice in the season and cried once on the stairs. I'm not saying her acting was bad (she won an Emmy for this show!) but I think the writers could have shown her as being more emotive this season. Also, is it me, or did FU not break the 4th wall all that much, compared to season 1? It's a lot of fun when he does. What ever happened to Christina Connolly? They mentioned her being really cozy with the president, and then that storyline ended. Spoiler I disagree with the first statement. I didn't feel like it was a waste at all. Freddy was a minor character, who had his character fleshed out all within one episode. From Freddy waking up with aches and pains in a crappy living situation to finding out that he and his son (!) were both criminals to a degree, was really good character development. However, the most important part was how everything changed his relationship with Frank. It showed Frank as more being more human (trying to help a friend in need and the regret afterwards after cutting Freddy off) and it showed how human Freddy was (that whole "just another customer to me" thing). The military rape bill was a way to highlight the lengths Claire would have gone to, for Frank's sake. Everything she did either made her or Frank look super good to the media. The bill really paid off in the end, imo.
I have two more episodes to watch in season 2 - and so far its has been just as good if not better than season 1 -- I am going to enjoy these last two episodes hopefully they continue onto a third season. I do believe the 'binge' viewing nature of this shows helps a lot with its fan/viewer base
I prefer to binge-view my favorite shows. However, for the ones I simply can't wait for - I watch on release date. At the moment, that is basically Game of Thrones and True Detective, and previously Breaking Bad. As examples; Homeland, Boardwalk Empire, The Walking Dead and Arrow are all ones that I binge watch. I wait a few weeks and watch 4-5 episodes at a time, or more.
My favorite moment in this show, Spoiler there was a time through the russo & zoe murders, they let a loong while pass between frank addressing the audience directly. I even kind of forgot about those little asides by the end of it. Then after he kills zoe, it's such a creepy surprise when he looks directly at us again through the mirror, and asks if we thought he forgot about us. Reminding the audience that we were kind of with him before the murders, and so long had passed since he last addressed us and especially since he had been murdering people, we could distance ourselves from him. Then suddenly he's like remember me pal? So creepy, and almost makes you feel guilty- then pans to the "F U" cufflinks on the counter pointing at us. So perfect. Yeah clair was the one mentioning the coziness, using it to manipulate the first lady and drive a wedge between her and the president. She plants a seed by noticing it out loud in front of the first lady, reminds her that christina has a track record of sleeping with bosses, then prods christina to be more assertive with the first lady. Tells her to approach her and exactly what to say under the guise of helping her confidence- let her know "if there's anything I can do...", which the first lady later notes to the president is a common tactic with women trying to get with their bosses, against their wives. Then later while discussing his marital problems with underwood, the president mentions that after accepting linda's resignation, he finally sent christina off like his wife had been asking him to do. Also it was just good to get christina out of there anyway because of what she could connect with russo, though that wasn't outright mentioned by anyone as a motivation- no need I guess, the old meddling reporters were out of the picture too for the most part, the new reporter wasn't so much pursuing that part of the story, and christina never was interested in cooperating with the reporters anyway. Just another angle that neatly ties up. I just loved so much about this series. The only really poorly done stuff imo, very few instances, was the appearances & debates on "real" news shows, way too heavy handed, also kevin spacey's wildly fluctuating accent. Got a little more stable by the middle of the second season, but he's too good for that. Still, so awesome overall.
That was another little thing that bothered me, I couldn't take that guy seriously, kept hearing the theme song in my head.
