We've been watching the show since it premiered almost 2 weeks ago, and yes it is quite something that Netflix has put the entire season online to be viewed in a giant chunk, or pieced out slowly. It is on-demand tv, and it is revolutionary in a world of serialized shows that people make appointments to watch, ie The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, et al.
But that's not what I want to write about.
I want to write about how I don't like the show.
Both The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad feature lead characters who are being called "anti-heroes," because they do reprehensible things and the audience roots for them. However, both Rick on The Walking Dead and Walter on Breaking Bad are presented as men who are forced to choose to protect themselves and their families from certain death. Their reprehensible acts, therefore, are justified.
Frank on House of Cards, on the other hand, is just a fucking asshole. He is never in any physical danger, or even metaphorical danger. He is acting out of spite, a thirst for revenge, and the rush he gets from fucking people. Good people. Frank does not transform into someone doing reprehensible things over time; he is presented to the audience as a smug, crafty fucker who seemingly never loses. Even when he experiences setbacks, he is victorious by the end of the episode. He is an admirable craftsman, sure, and an alpha male whose sheer force of will even the President respects.
But I don't.
Fuck House of Cards. I don't care if I'm programmed as an unimaginative, lunkhead American who wants all his entertainment to be rosy happiness. Fuck Frank Underwood, and fuck the reality of slimy political scheming it purports to depict. If this is what passes for entertainment, watching an asshole destroy his opponents, I'm not interested. I want struggle. I want Frank to lose, for real. I want Frank to meet his match. Until I hear that this Machiavellian chump discovers there are limits to being a dirty piece of shit, I'll pass on your little television show.
Richard III dies in the end, by the way. Iago is also eventually tortured to death. I can only hope the same happens to the fictional, useless fuckwit Frank Underwood.
I guess I should point out that I stopped watching House of Cards after episode 6. I read ahead to see what transpires over the rest of the season, and was unimpressed. I won't be back.
