Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: beau willimon, house of cards, kevin pacey, netflix, Review, robin wright

House Of Cards Season 4 Review: Vampires In The White House

House of Cards lost a bit of momentum last season. I actually quite liked Season 3, with a lot of posturing, character progression and a bigger focus on international relations, but, it was certainly slower, and didn't move the story perhaps as far as it should've. It has a great ending where Claire said she was leaving Frank, with a potential of her becoming a powerful political enemy. It was a neat hook, but one that promised more from the future, rather than a cap on everything that proceeded it.

So now we get to Season 4 of a show that, while constantly excellent, has felt like it's had diminishing returns with each outing. It's a key season for the show going forward, promising a fight towards the general election, and an increasingly complicated relationship between two main characters.

Which is why I'm happy to say that Season 4 knocks it out the park. It's the best season since Season 1, using the characters at its disposal in important ways, playing them off each other, and some serious meat on the political maneuvering that was so prominent in the show when it debuted.

There are couple of key focuses in the season, not least of all the cliffhanger we were left with in Season 3. The idea of Claire vs. Frank plays out in a predictably cloak and dagger way, and it is fascinating to see such powerful figures who rely on one another butt heads. It doesn't remain the focus of the entire season though, which is for the best, because the show has a lot of fish to fry. ISIS stand in, ICO, play an increasingly large part as the series continues, with a huge focus also given to the Democratic nomination and Republican nominee for the general election, Will Conway. In fact that last string is very important, underlined by pretty great turn by Joel Kinnaman. Conway representing everything Underwood is not. A young, vibrant, happy, family man for the Instagram generation, who is a largely well meaning politician. He's a wonderful combatant for the Underwoods, and the gesturing and attacks between the two parties really creates a zip and punch the show has missed for a while. A lot happens in this season, wiping away the stalling feeling that plagued Season 3 at times.

Oh, and it should go without saying at this point, but I'll say it anyway, Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright are electric and the rest of the main cast do great work too. But you probably could have guessed that going in.

This season is a game of two halves though, with a very clear divisions between the two styles the shows has had. In the debut season, the focus was largely on Frank punching up, maneuvering himself to become the commander in chief. Arguably, this is what people liked most, because it was fun to see just how far and conniving Frank Underwood was, no matter how deranged his methods. Season 2 and 3 are different beasts though. They are more about Frank putting out fires, rather than creating them, and it lost some of that punch with Underwood playing defense. The strength of this though was that it let Claire Underwood be lifted to joint billing in the protagonist circle, putting the focus on these two's relationship more so than the political game. While not as fun to watch, it really did help build these characters and lead us to understand why they are the people they are, as well as what they were capable of.

Season 4 has the best of both worlds. The first half of the Season feels more like Season 2 and 3 with a bigger focus on the characters, and the later half feeling much more like Season 1, with more political intrigue (complete with much more of Frank talking to the camera, something largely absent from the first half). Without wanting to spoil too much, there is a very clear divide differentiating between the two structures, making this division feels like a very conscious decision, and it is one that pays off. It makes the show feel balanced, recognizing the strengths the show has had over its previous three seasons.

The tone drastically evolves in Season 4 too, building into the festering texture the show is going to adorn in the future. While it is a little too broad to say this season is 'dark', since, well the show has always been a broody, immoral nightmare, the show's aesthetic and narrative is ratcheted up to 11 in the macabre column. There is something about the colour pallet that just screams death and destruction without indulging in it, a sort of 'Gothic Modernism' hanging over the whole show. House of Cards has become very operatic in its approach and at times, the music, the image, the actor's movements, the morale compass…it feels like slowly gestating horror, with an extra dash of brood. Bram Stoker's The Clintons. In fact,  that vampiric connection is pointed out by the Conway's son at one point, something that highlights how this show has moved on from its realistic trappings, to become something much richer in its style.

House of Cards Season 4 is the shot in the arm the series needed at this point. After a meandering Season 3, this new run of episodes brings back a lot of energy to proceedings, making it one of the strongest to date. A fine return to form, that showcases the strengths of the first, second and third seasons, while cutting the chaff that made them weaker. This is what this show can be at its best, and it's well worth diving in. Frank and Claire have one of the most fascinating relationships in the pop culture sphere, creating an operatically macabre pairing to American politics. A classical horror in a Fox News world.  The point at which Season 4 leaves off promises that the show will lean into that notion even heavier going forward, and that's very exciting. Even though it will carry on without showrunner Beau Willimon, he's left things in a very solid place that promises devious tidings ahead.

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