Still, he acquired presidency in an entirely different manner. There's barely anything really unexpected/really clever he's doing to keep his office.
The pace was the strongest aspect of the first 2 seasons for me. If it went with the speed of Breaking Bad, Frank would have been somewhere around whip by the end of season 2. If they wanted to show a weak Frank, I'd have much preferred seeing him lose something big for once. Like the general elections, or at least the primaries. There are plenty of ways to crawl back from there that aren't any less realistic than how he acquired presidency.
Good point on him probs getting cocky in the very end, but what made him suddenly get so cocky there? Overall through the season he actually seemed less confident, at least definitely less bold than before. Like how easily he gave in to Petrov, or to the congress over the AmWorks funds.
The season wasn't very consistent on the big scale. The previous 2 had their inconsistencies as well, but those made them super exciting to watch. This time it felt like most of the inconsistencies were either there to prevent the show from having to present new concepts, or to just increase drama.
deletedover 9 years
~Spoiler~
ya, but re-election is how he retains his power so obviously it's his primary goal. especially because clearly it's not an easy one.
But yes, the season did go in a very different direction than the first 2. But if this season was a "more of the same" season, I would have had a serious problem with it. The show needs to have a weak frank season so when he actually gains his footing, it's much more tremendous and climatic.
But ya, Frank did make a lot of missteps this season he wouldnt have made the first 2. I think that's more him getting cocky than the shows writers forgetting who he is. He became an addict for power this season. (and also those cigs....addiction was the theme of the season) and he needs to learn to control to control his addictions again like he had them controlled in the first 2 seasons.
-In the first 2 seasons, Frank is all about how "money isn't real power, politics is real power", and uses very creative and novel ways to seize it. He cared very little about popularity or democracy. Then he becomes "The most powerful man in the free world", and instead of expanding his power by either increasing the US's influence in the world, or increasing the president's influence within the US, he suddenly begins to stick to the rules an awful lot tighter than before, and constraints every single one of his actions by either what helps his re-election or his wife’s political career the most. For someone who becomes president the way he did, there are certainly much more creative ways of gaining/keeping power than just fighting for a mostly clear re-election from such a desperate position.
-In the first 2 seasons, Frank is a near-perfect manipulator, with a truly exceptional grasp on how to control people. In the 3rd he alienates almost every one of his allies for very short-sighted benefits, at best. It COULD all be part of a greater plan, but I seriously doubt the writers can (or intend to) pull that off.
-The pace. By the end of the first season, Frank becomes VP. By the end of the second, he becomes president. By the end of the third… he wins a primary election in a single state. Fine, if we couldn't see him actually using his freshly seized power, watching him win his first full-term could have passed as 'keeping up with the pace'. Becoming presidential nominee would have been a huge slow-down already, but this… put the whole show completely off and turned it into a relationships-focused soap opera with a few extras.
It was predictable that Season 3 would be less thrilling than the previous 2, it's a lot easier to do a remake, they already had a working prototype and some grasp on what works well and what doesn't. Season 1 and 2 are overall the best consecutive 26 episodes of any show IMO (individually topped only by Breaking Bad S5 E1-8 and Hannibal S2 for me). They kept the same budget, same timeframe, and tried to create another 13 episodes without having the same foundations.
It didn't just become less thrilling, unfortunately. The characters were out of place, their actions, motivations and moral struggles often made no sense after all the !@#$ they went through previously, and the subject of the whole show majorly changed.
deletedover 9 years
This season was excellent! The last 3 episodes were perfect
Ok I just finished it. I agree that the ending was pretty predictable, which is why I think it should have been moved up a little. The season had some truly great moments, really, but it lacked a great ending.
It's a good setup for the next season though, which is why I'll definitely be watching that, but yeah waiting this long for 13 episodes to come out and having the last one kind of be a dud is honestly a little disappointing. The Doug story line was a real pain later on, to be honest.
It's funny because this pace is somewhat a consequence of them following the American presidential races year-by-year like this.
deletedover 9 years
I finished the season. this post won't have any spoilers. just my opinion on the season as a whole.
I thought it was more fast paced than season 2. I dont think underwood becoming president is a conclusion at all, especially the way this season played it.
also there was a scene in the last episode that really struck me more than most scenes of....that topic....normally strike me.
I do agree with calvin though, the ending was predictable and makes me feel like I just watched a setup-season when they end it like that. they should have ended this season with something else and started next season with that.
I have another thing I want to say about the ending, but I cant say it without saying it. so I'll keep it to myself
deletedover 9 years
im done w/ this show
i think underwood getting the presidency was the equivalent of jim and pam getting together on the office. it was the natural conclusion to what was going on but once it happened the show lost all direction and became wholly uniniteresting, especially considering all of their wasted opportunities with doug this season
deletedover 9 years
well then.. i finished it. the ending was really predictable.
the only thing i've liked this season so far is doug's storyline. i wanna know where that's going because it seems exciting. it sucks watching frank lose so much though.
deletedover 9 years
Re election in and of itself doesn't feel interesting because there's nothing especially behind the scenes about it that also fits with the scope of the show, but at the same time having Frank lose and then go into some other aspect of government work would be the shark jumping moment. I love how pulpy and self aware the show is but that's a bit too far
deletedover 9 years
It's got the same issue that Dexter had; a lot of the suspense comes from the fact that they could ultimately fail but them actually failing would make the show uninteresting
deletedover 9 years
that's the thing though, it just doesn't feel like the underwoods have anywhere to go until maybe a re-election campaign
deletedover 9 years
i think HoC is just inevitably a peaks and valleys type of show; it's always struggled to support storylines outside of the main plotline and the supporting cast has never been strong enough to carry sideplots on their own. if you're invested in the underwoods and the central narrative, you'll like it, and if either one of those things doesn't resonate you'll get really bored
i'm just a bill yes i'm only a bill and i'm sitting here on capitol hill
deletedover 9 years
i'm on episode 8 and it feels like the show is falling flat. this is a lot different from the last two seasons, it's harder to get attached to the arc of passing a bill. maybe it'll pick up
