House of Cards Really Messed Me Up

House of Cards. I'm jumping straight into it. What. The. Fuck.

You glorious bastards.

"A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him."

Okay, so if you haven't heard of House of Cards (what rock have you been living under?), it's a political drama Netflix original series all about dramatic politicians. The meat of the show lies in the characters so that's what I'll be focussing on today. Kevin Spacey is our main character, Francis Underwood, with Robin Wright playing alongside him as his wife, Claire. They are both unspeakably evil. Not in a kind of "they do bad things in order to achieve ultimately good goals", nope. Evil, straight up.

He has eyes that look straight into your dark, dark soul.

There's an almost Shakespearian quality to the show, as Francis often turns to the camera and addresses the audience directly - offering insights into his evil plans, snarky comments on other people in the room and various quips about the President. This effect can be awfully disconcerting. There is a lot about Francis that makes me unspeakably uncomfortable - which I suppose is the desired effect; he's a very interesting character, that for one cannot be disputed with. I found that as someone watching the show, I didn't really find myself rooting for him. I felt that his reason for seeking revenge was a little weak considering the lengths with which he is going to in order to get what he wants - although that is purely down to personal opinion, there will be people out there that totally agree with the degree of his reaction. I found myself internally screaming at characters that were interacting with him to run away as fast as their little politician legs will carry them. Nonetheless, I did find him very fascinating to watch and did look forward to the next step in whichever diabolical plan he was currently cultivating. Spacey's acting is, of course, excellent and provides a very watch-able character. He is ruthlessly evil, charming and charismatic, he is smug and he messes up. It was very interesting to watch when one of his plans don't exactly go off without a hitch and to watch him scramble to pick up the pieces before it's too late. 

I want someone to paint me!

Robin Wright is an absolutely joy to watch as Claire Underwood. Claire is the head of the non-profit organisation CWI (Clean Water Initiative). The two are a total power couple. She is a very elegant woman who moves in a very deliberate fashion and is given some of the most gorgeous dialogue. Where Francis talks a lot throughout an episode, verbally battling with various opponents, turning to camera and talking some more - in comparison, Claire's speech is limited, but when she is granted the opportunity to speak, it is a wonder. Don't get me wrong though, she is very present in the show and her scenes are in no way infrequent. It's just that she presents herself as a figure who responds to her surroundings through her body language initially before eventually stringing together a wonderfully spoken sentence. She too is evil in her own way, despite being the head of a charity. She is Francis' guidance and his rock and the two are clearly made for each other. 

Look at those luscious locks flowing gently in the wind.

The third and final character I'm going to discuss briefly is Zoe Barnes, played by Kate Mara. I'm limiting my analysis to these three because there are so, so, so many characters that I could talk about for days and I'm determined to keep this review to a respectable length. Zoe is an ambitious journalist who strikes up a deal with the Devil himself, Francis. This deal tests her moral integrity, her personal resolve and professional ethics. I get the feeling that perhaps a lot of viewers might not like Zoe, but I for one really liked her character. She doesn't let herself get stepped on, she knows what she wants and won't stop until she gets it and is generally pretty badass at times. I think her journalistic success goes to her head as the series develops, which does change her character (probably for the worse) and although I can identify that what she is doing is kind of crappy or annoying or whatever, in a show where 99.9% of the characters are the bad guys, she acts as a little oasis in the harsh desert of evil - a little arrogance or annoyingness I can deal with. Her profession as a journalist also opens up an interesting dialogue regarding traditional journalism versus online media - are newspapers a dying artform, will everything be online within the next few years and are newspaper companies unwilling to adapt and so on and so forth?

I'll stick in a quick thing about the style of the programme too, because my god, it looks stunning. With executive producers like David Fincher (Fight Club), Beau Willimon (The Ides of March) and Eric Roth (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), it's clear to see where the visual aesthetic has been derived from. 

I wouldn't mind this as a poster actually...

So to refer back to the title of this review, yes. House of Cards messed me up. I can't really go into any detail without severe spoilers and this is a show I'm just not willing to spoil for anyone, so you'll have to trust me with just a few character references to go on (eh? eh?!). If, however, you are craving something that will literally make you sit with your mouth open for the rest of an episode, audibly shout "WHAT?!" and generally not know how to not be watching episode after episode like those television-junkie hobos in Videodrome, then go for it.