Review: House of Cards ‘Chapter 4’ – Water Under The Bridge

With each episode, House of Cards appears to get shallower, embracing the inexplicable and rejecting opportunities to develop its characters further. ‘Chapter 4’ continues the down slide in quality from the pilot – and about three quarters of the way through, drops of the table and becomes the predictable, paper-thin slog we really hoped it wouldn’t. With nine episodes left, there’s plenty of time to turn it around, but ‘Chapter 4’ is not a step in the right direction.

Once again, ‘Chapter 4’ is about Frank executing a political maneuver under everybody’s nose, anticipating every move and coming through on all his promises to appease the President (his ultimate target). House of Cards inherently assumes this makes him an interesting character – which it doesn’t, because the show presents him with limp adversaries and colleagues who aren’t as much interacting with Frank, as they are being subliminally controlled by him.

Outside of his inherent hubris, there just isn’t anything interesting or unique about Frank and his position in the government – a problem his affair with Zoey only compounds. There’s nothing to suggest to us that Frank is unsatisfied with his life or his marriage, and we’re simply supposed to believe he’d be tempted by a few suggestive texts and phone calls to potentially throw away his master plan over a 20-something blogger who is clinging to him for her career. Would a person like Frank be unable to see the situation he’s putting himself in while he spends his days dangling similar shit over Russo’s head? It seems contradictory to Frank’s character, a contrived way to throw some kind of wrench in what’s to come later this season.

I also found Claire’s presence throughout the episode quite odd: all her material was concerned with fleshing out the back story of the show more, throwing out random index card-worthy facts that will undoubtedly play into the events in the last half of the season. Claire’s got menopause, Claire had an affair once (but can’t do it again, when prompted by Adam the photographer), Claire doesn’t know if she can follow through with her part of the master plan (which means firing everyone and refusing money from the oil collective casting a shadow over Frank).

I’m not only disappointed in the predictable flaws in the Underwood marriage – is it too much to ask for one good power couple on TV? – but the way it all plays out in ‘Chapter 4’ worries me for the show’s future. Everything feels so stock and expected with these characters – from Claire and Frank’s affairs right down to Russo’s subplot, where he does what he’s told and comes out the fool for it (losing Christina as a girlfriend and secretary in the process). The pieces for a great drama are all here – I’m just not sure this show knows how to connect them in any interesting or unique ways.

Grade: C

Other thoughts/observations:

– Zoey wants to advance her career, but ends up sacrificing it to sleep with a senator and do whatever it is she wants to do. Like every other character, she has no concrete motivations except broad concepts.

– the PS Vita ad is really distracting – sticks out worse than when an Apple logo is front and center in a shot, with Claire’s eyes barely poking out from above her Macbook screen hogging up the entire frame.

– we’ve been looking for the connection between Claire gutting her foundation and Frank’s plan, and we got it when Remy shows up to her office. CWI (Claire’s non-profit) has always received funding from Sancorp (oil giant), who in turn get some political capital to use on Frank. Her gutting her staff is by Frank’s request, as he tries to separate himself from any political obligations.

– Frank’s infallibility isn’t a very well-developed trait: everything just bounces off him without hesitation. It makes him a very uninteresting character to watch, because he predicts every reaction and circumvents any detractions wordlessly, without so much as a sweat. It makes his character extremely boring and robotic, no matter how showboat-y Spacey’s performance might be.

– anybody who thinks a fridge should move out of the way for them, deserves to get hit with the fridge.

– why has Claire been furrowing her eyebrows and contemplating silently? MENOPAUSE!!!

– a small crack is shown in the Underwood marriage over the non-profit funding, although it proves to be a pretty weak one compared to all the lifeless extra-marital material.

– even I have a hard time believing there is a congressman who shows his dick to people in the bathroom to express his power. C’mon now.