House of Cards season 6 - what did you think of it?
So I've just finished watching the new season. I had low expectations going in, given how the writers had to cut out their main character at the eleventh hour, but I still can't help but feel disappointed.
Soo many plot threads left open. No repercussions for any of the shit that went down over the last 5 years. The good journalist ends up dead, Claire Underwood commits murder literally in the oval office while secret service is right outside the door and then... nothing. That's it. That's what we get for series a finale. I mean, what?
I've also been quite pissed off how they tried to turn Claire into a feminist icon. Claire is a monster. She is at least as bad as Frank. She wanted to literally start a nuclear war to deflect attention away from herself.
Don't get me wrong, having a feminist message is ok. It's good. It's even timely. But not with Claire fucking Underwood for fucks sake! In the first episode where that female soldier asks her if she even has a plan so that more soldiers won't end up dead, Claire snarks at her with "you wouldn't ask me that if I was a man". Really? This fresh recruit, this soldier who you will be sending to her death is asking you - someone who never held any public office before - whether you have a plan and your response is fuck patriarchy?
How about that scene where she fires her entire cabinet and fills it with an all-female cast? Forget about real life, it's not even realistic in the show's world. Remember how hard Frank had to fight, how many people he had to cross, bribe and even murder just to replace a single seat in earlier seasons? Where was the senate? Did everyone else just roll over; how come nobody fought her on this? It felt like the writers really, really wanted to play out their deepest, guilty-pleasure Hillary 2016 fantasies out on the show and the script suffered for it.
If they just left things at the last season's finale where Claire looked into the camera with "my turn!" it would have been a much more powerful moment, certainly better than this disorganized, directionless mess we got.
So yeah, that's where I'm at. How about you?
I stopped watching the show a while ago but I was curious enough to watch the first episode of this new season.
Questioning the commander in chief like that is massively inappropriate for a solider to do in that situation . The presentation of the solider shows that she lost her cool when talking to Claire and "lashed" out by asking for a plan. I think it's fair to think that a part of what happened was the solider feeling less required to show respect because Claire is a woman.
That being said. The entire situation and dialogue are unrealistic and rely on artificial and superficial gender controversy for substance. So overall I suppose I agree with the sentiment. It's just exploiting identity politics for entertainment. The fact that it bothered you is a sign of the tactic working.
It's best to resist getting drawn into things like this that don't present a fair and realistic interpretation while trying to engage real issues.
Worked for me with lost. To bad it didn't work here. I was curious about this thread, since I stopped after a season and a half when it came out. But it looks like I can skip the final season on this one.
True, but I can understand her (the soldier's) frustration. Here is an unelected president with no credentials to her name who not only wants to send you to war, but expects you to smile while she shakes your hand for politicial points.
I guess, maybe. If the soldier was a man I would be much more inclined to agree with you here.
True. It doesn't help that I wrote all of this immediately after finishing the season, so I was still a bit agitated.
Definitely. TV drama is most effective when both sides have points to make.
I'm not offended or disagreeing with that point alone but doesn't that perspective assume that men are more likely than woman to behave unprofessionally for sexist reasons in that situation to a point of relevance? An explanation could a more subtle form of sexism where the solider felt more entitled to deviate from the protocol and expectations for behavior because they are both women.
I hear you. No judgment there. I personally love getting mad at trivial TV drama and then discussing it. Thinking about why it's inaccurate or biasing after is a good way to not get swept up into a real issue that you haven't explored enough. (Not that you're doing that at all, I just mean for everyone in general)
As a man who was in the military (not US) for several years, I think that's a valid assumption. At least in my experience.
Fair enough then. That's probably true in the U.S. as well.
My take is simple - House of Cards will be joining Dexter in my server's bit-bucket to make room for better media in the future. Always a shame when a show goes down in flames like this. Losing key cast is hard enough, but when the writing flounders this badly that's the end. At least Netflix tried to finish it out - most networks wouldn't have bothered.
So it goes.
I went in with zero expectations and was still disappointed. I get removing Frank was a major hit to the story but there is so much wrong with the story that has nothing to do with Frank.
Is it worth starting with this season? Never got into it and I really don't want to start a new tv show with loads of season already out.
This season was the last one and is just 8 episodes. You won't understand anything if you haven't seen the previous 5 seasons. The show is one big story, there are no self contained episodes you can pick and choose.
Yeah fair enough, maybe when I'm feeling brave enough to coming a week to binging it.