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House of Cards Season 3 (Spoilers)

S

SoAnyway

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May 10, 2011
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I'm two episodes in and it's great so far.

I thought things would be easy for Frank now that he's president but no so much. It seems that this season is going to be an uphill battle for him.

One thing I was surprised about (spoilers)..... Stamper lives!
 
SoAnyway said:
I'm two episodes in and it's great so far.

I thought things would be easy for Frank now that he's president but no so much. It seems that this season is going to be an uphill battle for him.

One thing I was surprised about (spoilers)..... Stamper lives!
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I think there is a lower quality of acting this season. Claire Underwood never was really good but she's a bit worse now.

Also, I mentioned on another thread, there is some annoying Microsoft and Samsung blatant advertising.
 
He's totally going to still run for POTUS. I mean, if this show is all about him, then him not being POTUS doesn't make much sense.
 
I thought the first two episodes were a slog and mostly boring. I stopped last night and watched something else after those two.

3 and 4 things finally get better. Hope it keeps trending upward, as it's still not quite Season 1 or 2 level. Good, even very good, but not great. But it's improving.
 
Just finished season 3. It definitely starts to turn itself around in episode 3 and starts going full steam ahead in episode 4.

There's a lot of weird writing in this season. The whole hurricane story/op-ed, the shocking quickness with how a certain character totally disappears and another story line so extensively covered just wraps itself up in an aside... all culminating in an abrupt ending not quite expected.

The seasons can probably be ranked in numerical order - 1 then 2 then 3, but 3 sure brings in some aspects worth consideration. I'm glad to be finished without seeing a single spoiler.
 
Its obvious, to me anyways, that Claire wants the chair. I was waiting at some point for her to say she was running for president. I thought that was the direction they were going towards, like how everyone loves her, and how she helps Francis.

I thought it was the most boring of the three seasons, and it took a while to really get going, but I still loved it. Im interested to see what happens in season 4.
 
The.316 said:
Its obvious, to me anyways, that Claire wants the chair. I was waiting at some point for her to say she was running for president. I thought that was the direction they were going towards, like how everyone loves her, and how she helps Francis.

I thought it was the most boring of the three seasons, and it took a while to really get going, but I still loved it. Im interested to see what happens in season 4.
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Yeah I think she'll switch to the republican side and run against him. He'll then reveal he has a copy of the journal.

I think some of the politics was too poorly thought out. The Amworks proposal was just a very easy way to make him look as far right as possible in a left wing government. The debate between Dunbar, Underwood and Sharp was weak and too obvious.

The story of Doug was boring even though probably necessary.

Quite dissapointed in this season as I think some of the acting was poor and they probably tried to make it more edgy than the other two seasons but failed. Frank didn't talk to the camera enough.
 
fitshaced said:
Yeah I think she'll switch to the republican side and run against him. He'll then reveal he has a copy of the journal.

I think some of the politics was too poorly thought out. The Amworks proposal was just a very easy way to make him look as far right as possible in a left wing government. The debate between Dunbar, Underwood and Sharp was weak and too obvious.

The story of Doug was boring even though probably necessary.

Quite dissapointed in this season as I think some of the acting was poor and they probably tried to make it more edgy than the other two seasons but failed. Frank didn't talk to the camera enough.
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I don't buy that Claire/journal thing one bit, but can we talk about how Mendoza just up and vanished after the first third of the season featured him so prominently? I've been too lazy to Google if he had a contract dispute, another commitment, or worse, but it was sloppy.

Along that same vein, the UN peacekeeping resolution drama lasted ages and then all of a sudden was mentioned in passing as having been pushed through! Like what the hell? Those bits really peeved me.

The Doug story line seemed like a poor Walter White and mostly useless. I busted out laughing when he puked on his own floor and then tried cleaning it up with his walking stick and paper towels.
 
malman89 said:
I don't buy that Claire/journal thing one bit, but can we talk about how Mendoza just up and vanished after the first third of the season featured him so prominently? I've been too lazy to Google if he had a contract dispute, another commitment, or worse, but it was sloppy.

Along that same vein, the UN peacekeeping resolution drama lasted ages and then all of a sudden was mentioned in passing as having been pushed through! Like what the hell? Those bits really peeved me.

The Doug story line seemed like a poor Walter White and mostly useless. I busted out laughing when he puked on his own floor and then tried cleaning it up with his walking stick and paper towels.
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Yeah possibly some contract issue that got rid of him. But they did make reference that he was pushed into the closet to be pulled out at another time. Who knows? The scene where the gay rights campaigner who's husband killed himself sending Claire tulips was left without an explanation.

The 'assault' scene was ridiculous. Francis Underwood is obviously a very bad person but Claire showed herself to be a complete nutcase. She seems to be far too unbalanced for someone who got where she did. She took the moral higher ground more often than her fair share.

I will obviously watch season 4 but with less enthusiasm. I hope they don't string this along more than they should. Next season should be the last one.
 
I finished the season last night and I thought it was good.

I expected this season to be rather predictable but I was really surprised at how many twists and turns this season had. Moreover, I am even more surprised at how the characters seemed to break their mold.

A couple things....... (Major spoilers if you haven't finished)







As much as I believe that hacktivists can actually do good in the world by helping keep governments accountable, Gavin really messed things up for himself which eventually led to Stamper killing Rachel. Why oh why didn't he just stay quiet after leaving the country? Everyone thought she was dead and she practically disappeared.

What will Claire be up to now? She left Frank at the end but will she come back or decide to run for president as the Republican nominee against Frank?
 
fitshaced said:
Yeah possibly some contract issue that got rid of him. But they did make reference that he was pushed into the closet to be pulled out at another time. Who knows? The scene where the gay rights campaigner who's husband killed himself sending Claire tulips was left without an explanation.

The 'assault' scene was ridiculous. Francis Underwood is obviously a very bad person but Claire showed herself to be a complete nutcase. She seems to be far too unbalanced for someone who got where she did. She took the moral higher ground more often than her fair share.

I will obviously watch season 4 but with less enthusiasm. I hope they don't string this along more than they should. Next season should be the last one.
Click to expand...

rockyroad55 said:
What happened to the gay husband? That was left out fast after his partner's suicide.
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Husband was just a side act to add onto Frank's failings with Russia. Once the activist killed himself, his story line was irrelevant.

SoAnyway said:
What will Claire be up to now? She left Frank at the end but will she come back or decide to run for president as the Republican nominee against Frank?
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She's already proven multiple times to be a failure at Ambassador to the UN, so I highly, highly doubt it. President is a pretty big leap from that. Unless the HOC GOP has even less legitimate candidates than the real world GOP.
 
SoAnyway said:
I finished the season last night and I thought it was good.

I expected this season to be rather predictable but I was really surprised at how many twists and turns this season had. Moreover, I am even more surprised at how the characters seemed to break their mold.

A couple things....... (Major spoilers if you haven't finished)







As much as I believe that hacktivists can actually do good in the world by helping keep governments accountable, Gavin really messed things up for himself which eventually led to Stamper killing Rachel. Why oh why didn't he just stay quiet after leaving the country? Everyone thought she was dead and she practically disappeared.

What will Claire be up to now? She left Frank at the end but will she come back or decide to run for president as the Republican nominee against Frank?
Click to expand...

Gavin needed to free his friend.

US politics is a fickle as anything and so they can get away with her switching sides and running for the GOP. They would see it as an easy win over a president who can't keep the loyalty of his own wife. It might be a bit too obvious so next season they might just hint at it and then move in a different direction.

They need to get smarter about the political stories/tactics next season. If we're to believe that Frank Underwood is so clever, they will need to give us more than re-appropriation of funds to government jobs from FEMA, only to have the very predictable threat of a hurricane.
 
I just finished up Season 3 of HoC last night, and I'm a bit disappointed in how it turned out. I read a comment about it earlier, and the writer compared this season to melted ice cream, which I thought was pretty accurate. It's still tasty, but sloppy and disappointing.

SPOILERS AHEAD:



The ruthless, calculating, inherently evil Frank Underwood from Seasons 1 and 2 who made me cheer and cringe at the same time, now seems like a bit of a pushover. He would've done anything to get what he wanted before, but now it seems like he'll get bullied by Petrov or fold under pressure to sign a bill to undo AmWorks. What happened? Sure, he's President now, but still, it's what made the show awesome.

Doug's story was a bit boring, but probably necessary if he wasn't really meant to die at the end of Season 2. Meechum was practically nonexistent. Claire's stint as UN ambassador started out big, but fizzled out uneventfully. Ayla, Kate and Tom... I thought that would lead somewhere, especially with the report of the KIA soldier, but it ultimately did not.

Has anyone seen the BBC original House of Cards from the 90's (or read the original books)? Seasons 1 and 2 of both US and UK versions of the show follow pretty much the same template. But Season 3 of the UK version is the finale, and ends rather shockingly. And the US version seems like it's veering off in a separate direction to extend the series. Anyway, I think they should've continued with the original story, because it was a bit of a letdown.
 
I've not read most of this thread because I'm only into 2 episodes of Season 3, but what is deal with squirting 5 CCs of bourbon into your mouth? Is that Stampers way of controlling his consumption?
 
I'm now up to Season 3, episode 7 and I'm finding some of the actions of President Underwood to be far fetched and the plot to be unrealistically convienent, yet I'm still watching. The best, most tense parts of this series has been when he has been actively pursued for his wrong doings.

I'm very familiar with the DC/Baltimore area where I grew up. Some of you may find this filming location trivia of interest: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Cards_(U.S._TV_series)#Locations :)
 
Huntn said:
I'm now up to Season 3, episode 7 and I'm finding some of the actions of President Underwood to be far fetched and the plot to be unrealistically convienent, yet I'm still watching. The best, most tense parts of this series has been when he has been actively pursued for his wrong doings.

I'm very familiar with the DC/Baltimore area where I grew up. Some of you may find this filming location trivia of interest: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Cards_(U.S._TV_series)#Locations :)
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No real democrat would try to institute a plan like Underwood's, for sure.
 
Should've left it at the end of season 2. Good entertainment but season 3 was completely uncalled for. It feels like they made so little progress just so they'd have an excuse for season 4. Doug's story line was boring, and the hacker arc felt even more out of place than it did last season.

Not that I wouldn't like a 4th season, but they're getting into milking territory now.
 
Amusing thing about comments of unrealism in season 3 ignore prior season's scenes during which murder has taken place.
 
Fzang said:
Should've left it at the end of season 2. Good entertainment but season 3 was completely uncalled for. It feels like they made so little progress just so they'd have an excuse for season 4. Doug's story line was boring, and the hacker arc felt even more out of place than it did last season.

Not that I wouldn't like a 4th season, but they're getting into milking territory now.
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So the British series goes further. The rise was the beginning. There's a lot more to tell.

That being said, they can't do another season like this last one. So little was achieved.
 
FieldingMellish said:
Amusing thing about comments of unrealism in season 3 ignore prior season's scenes during which murder has taken place.
Click to expand...

The murder and being actively pursued is the hook. Those elements faded, disappeared in Season 3 removing much of the unique bite from the series, making it feel more like a grittier The West Wing. Disclaimer: I've got 3 episodes to go. I'm wondering in FU's final unraveling, if it's an old crime, the reappearance of Rachel, or something new that snags him. I'm not convinced Rachel is dead. :)
 
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