It's been a wild weekend for me and, I'm sure, many others, who have been binging on the fourth season of Netflix's critically acclaimed series House of Cards. After a 53 week wait, the fourth season landed on March 4, and boy, it was a truly outstanding season.
With the Season 3 finale leaving an incredible cliffhanger for fans to ponder over for a whole year - Claire deciding she was leaving Frank - the new season was always going to focus heavily on the relationship between the presidential couple. In the season's first half, Frank and Claire pushed each other to the limit, with both undermining each other on multiple occasions while refusing to fall in line with the other.
I can't force you to see reason, but I will not allow you to become dangerous.
>> Frank Underwood - Chapter 41
This caused significant problems for both Underwoods as the main plot that lasted the full season revolved around the impending 2016 elections. The Underwood's relationship - or lack thereof - became an area of vulnerability, but thanks to an assassination attempt on Frank and the assisted death of Claire's mother, the latter half of the season saw the couple arguably more united and closer than ever as they sailed through the Democratic nominations process side by side, with Claire gaining the vice presidential nomination alongside her husband's presidential one.
Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright have both collected Emmy Awards for their performances as Frank and Claire in House of Cards, and it's a certainty that both will be nominated for next year's gongs. Wright in particular was incredible in a season which demanded more variety from her character than any of its predecessors - furthermore she directed four of the season's episodes, more than any other from the team of six directors the season employed. Spacey played a president who was out of action for about three episodes, but returned from the brink of death with more vengeance than ever, handling crises which closely resemble real world political challenges being worked through today. The way he manipulated even his closest allies right through the season was epic to watch.
Let's address those real world challenges now. House of Cards' fourth season was much more noticeably cut in half, with the two primary subplots dealing with different issues. In the early episodes when Claire and Frank were butting heads, Frank's reputation was tarnished when a Ku Klux Klan banner indicating the racist extremist organization's support for him was hung on a billboard, and again when a photo of his father participating in the KKK decades earlier was circulated by Claire's team. In the season's second half, Frank had to manage a hostage situation with ties to Islam on American soil. Transcending both, an oil crisis stung the American people requiring negotiations with Russia and China to resolve, and Frank narrowly survived an assassination attempt. Frank didn't miss a beat when addressing the audience while standing between two other presidents who had encountered assassination attempts:
All 3 of us took bullets. Well I know why we're smiling. We survived.
>> Frank Underwood - Chapter 46
I thought all of the subplots the season included were pretty impressive. Even for a non-American like myself they were all pretty easy to follow which added to the enjoyment factor significantly. They were well written and well thought out, but most importantly they were all designed to play into the Underwood's strengths, making for some fantastic and intense moments.
The fourth season paid homage to the past seasons too. Several characters from the series' first two season made spectacular returns. Lucas Goodwin was more prominent in Season 4's first half. The season opened with him in prison, and followed him as he earned a place in the Witness Protection Program. Laying low and working odd jobs, Lucas couldn't resist trying to avenge his good friend Zoe Barnes' death, culminating in him bluffing his way into meeting presidential hopeful Heather Dunbar, and ultimately shooting at Frank while he was meeting opposition supporters. Frank's long time bodyguard, Edward Meechum, died in that attempt, but not before killing Lucas in Chapter 43.
Seen throughout Frank's time in hospital were many spectacularly choreographed hallucinations. Zoe Barnes and Peter Russo, both victims of Frank's in Season 1 returned to haunt Frank while he lay awaiting a liver transplant. A civil war re-enactor seen in Season 2 also returned. Though not directly attributed to Frank's hospital stay, the other flash scenes depicting the Underwoods physically assaulting one another were also brilliantly done. I've seen dream sequences and hallucinations many times on television shows but nothing remotely like what went down in this season of House of Cards. Zoe dressed as Claire was definitely the highlight for me here.
Returning very much alive in the second half was Tom Hammerschmidt, played by the excellent Boris McGiver. Hammerschmidt and Lucas Goodwin met separately with Janine Skorsky - another prominent character from the first season, and began a crusade of his own to reveal the truth behind how the Underwoods rose to power and ultimately to the White House. It's one of the best examples of full circle storytelling I've ever seen, and it will continue through Season 5 as well. Hammerschmidt began searching for proof that Frank was involved with Zoe Barnes by poring over Secret Service travel logs, eventually earning his own team back at his former workplace, the Washington Herald. As of the Season 4 finale he is the Underwood's biggest threat, with his article having just gone to print.
Frank's long time aide and Chief of Staff Doug Stamper had a more subdued season than in Season 3 where he ended up murdering Rachel Posner, a haunt from Season 1 and 2. The brilliant Michael Kelly's character locked horns with Seth Grayson, the White House Press Secretary on numerous occasions, with added friction introduced in the form of LeAnn Harvey, who started as Claire's campaign manager early in the season, and ending up with authority similar to Doug and Seth by the season's midpoint. Neve Campbell was an excellent addition to the cast here.
In his biggest moment of the season, Doug manipulated the organ donor transplant list to allow Frank to get a donor liver before another gravely ill family man named Anthony Moretti. It worked, but his actions plagued Doug's conscience for the rest of the season, resulting in him gifting a sizable donation to the family's memorial trust and later befriending widow Laura Moretti.
Netflix has been promoting the fourth season of its flagship series in a way that lines up with the impending election in the US right now, but surprisingly, by the finale the election is still 3 weeks away. #FU2016 will have to continue into 2017 which will be a bit unusual. Chapter 47 saw the more formal introduction of Republican Governor William Conway and wife Hannah, along with their two young children. Conway and eventual running mate, four star General Brockhurst made a concerted effort to ensure their previous military experience counted for something. The young family couldn't be more different to the Underwoods, and they immediately leveraged their youth to appeal to their voters by sharing private photos and videos of themselves and their children and steering clear of owning a flashy home.
This was a neat way of sending a political message by the showrunners themselves but it wasn't long until the fun and games kicked off. It was the Conways who initially enlisted author Thomas Yates to produce material which would do political damage to the Underwoods, but that backfired in some ways later on when Yates became Claire's close confidant and Frank's speechwriter. Yates later supported Claire with her mother's death, and became a source of sexual pleasure for Claire with Frank's approval later on. A brilliant scene showing Frank, Claire and Thomas having breakfast the morning after one of those nights was great to watch, especially because none of the characters spoke.
Conway ended up having a much more to do with Frank than he would have liked, with the ICO storyline placing the pair in the same room several times. Two ICO members took a family hostage on US soil and asked to speak to Conway only. The Conway family moved into the White House where Claire got to know Hannah quite closely, but Frank and William Conway spent time in the Situation Room conversing with the kidnappers.
The political games refused to die down despite the kidnapping situation, with a heartfelt speech by Conway to the kidnappers resonating with the public upon its release online. Frank upped the political ante and earned the release of two of the three Millers that were held hostage, but a spectacular showdown in the season finale resulted in the remaining hostage's throat slit live online, with Frank neglecting to block its circulation in order to use it as springboard for public support in declaring war on ICO at home and abroad. The war, kicking off just three weeks out from the election, is the Underwood's way of drowning out the impending uproar from the article by Bob Hammerschmidt and throwing the campaign by the Conways off.
Before that, though, there were a few more fantastic storylines worth touching on. Another prominent issue the showrunners managed to include was government surveillance. This was initially sparked by the Conways, who had close ties to a search engine which could feed real time analytics to them, allowing for a much more targeted campaign. Frank's natural response was to employ the NSA for the same reasons, with the ICO threat acting as a smokescreen. While looking for additional terrorists the Underwoods could also track the population, though fortunately the technology is yet to play a significant role in the outcome of the election.
We are willing to go one step farther than everyone else.
>> Claire Underwood - Chapter 46
Second was Claire's attempt to pass gun reform legislation. While more minor than the NSA subplot, it was another interesting political stance which stirred up trouble. It was eventually dropped as a compromise but Hannah Conway noted that she and her husband supported it later in the season when it had run its course - a very anti-Republican stance.
Lastly comes Russia. I found this to be the most complex of the season's subplots, but one of the most impressive. Lars Mikkelsen's depiction of Russian president Viktor Petrov was outstanding, as was the way he was written into the oil crisis subplot. During Frank's hospital stay, with permission from Vice President Donald Blythe, Claire took it upon herself to negotiate with Petrov while the Secretary of State, Jayne Atkinson's Catherine Durant, sat on the sidelines, which would be detrimental to her reputation later in the season. The subplot saw the return of another prominent Season 2 character, billionaire energy mogul and birdwatcher Raymond Tusk, who helped broker a deal with the Chinese to bail out Russia and get them to produce more oil.
Remy Danton and Jackie Sharp also featured consistently, and their relationship seemed stronger than ever despite the secret getting out that they were together. The pair went on the record with Bob Hammerschmidt along with Frank's predecessor, President Garrett Walker, and appeared to be about to flee Washington before the fallout from Hammerschmidt's article gained momentum.
Though there's many more subplots and storylines I could examine, I want to move on to to other elements of the season.
Let's start with the famed 'fourth wall' pieces to camera which is a big reason why House of Cards became so famous. They've been used rather sparingly this season - I counted 21 moments, give or take maybe a couple. Only a handful were longer addresses, and a similar number were merely a couple of words or even just a glance or facial expression. The showrunners definitely adopted a 'less is more' approach with the technique, with several episodes, including the season premiere and a couple while Frank was in hospital, containing none at all. Maybe it was deliberate, and a way for Frank to be perceived as fully consumed in his role as President, but those fourth wall moments seemed to lack punch at times. They're one of the elements I most anticipate when watching House of Cards, and I thought at times we could have done with a few more. In past seasons these moments have been much more plentiful.
However, credit where it's due, the season's final scene and fourth wall moment was the most exciting yet. Frank sits at the end of the Situation Room with Claire at his side. The camera motions toward them until the others in the room are out of shot. Frank looks at the camera and says:
That's right. We don't submit to terror. We make the terror.
>> Frank Underwood - Chapter 52
At that moment, Claire looks at the camera too. Claire is right there with Frank, addressing the audience. It's a sign of utmost unity, and it ramps up my excitement for Season 5 tremendously. Just those few seconds were enough to make that scene my favorite of the season.
As usual, the stuff that goes on behind the camera in this fourth season was just superb. The writing and directing were both excellent, with the writing in particular a solid improvement on Season 3. The cinematography, editing, set design and wardrobe were all top-notch, as was the guest and supporting cast in addition to the main cast. Jeff Beall delivered an even more precise and refined score for all 13 episodes, and the awesome title sequence continued to set the mood. The production value of House of Cards is among the best in the business. Each and every camera angle is so precise and effective. It's amazing what a bit more time and a few extra dollars can accomplish in this area.
One final interesting point is the length of the episodes we saw this season. Season 4 has the shortest average length of episodes in House of Cards' history at 48.5 minutes long, making it the shortest season ever. Season 1 averaged 51 minutes per episode, Season 2 50 minutes, and Season 3 52 minutes. Season 4 included the series' shortest episode at 41 minutes long. All these numbers come from Netflix's episode page, and include the 2 minute title sequence and 3 minutes of credits. It's not a big issue when you think about it with averages, but it resulted in 33 minutes less viewing time than Season 1, and 49 minutes - a whole episode less viewing time than Season 3. It's hard to come up with a possible explanation for this but one theory I have is that because House of Cards is broadcast widely by traditional broadcasters, Netflix may be trying to keep the length of episodes down slightly to match the sweet spot for television advertising time in a standard hour-long timeslot.
That aside, how are things shaping up for Season 5? Well, the last four words Frank uttered in Chapter 52, the season finale, are a good guide for that. Under the premise of protecting the United States from terror, Frank is going to destroy ICO. The war, for which he will have considerable public support, will - he hopes - give him enough political momentum to win his first presidential election while providing enough front page news to distract the public and the press from the crimes he has been party to in the past. Whether it works or not, the stage is well and truly set for what will surely be another epic season of House of Cards in 2017.
Thanks so much for reading! I know there's tons more about Season 4 that I could have discussed but I have to draw the line somewhere. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Season 4 and theories for Season 5 so be sure to drop them in the comments below.
