S06.E08: Chapter 73

[Athena]

Quote

Claire tries to tarnish Frank's legacy. Doug provokes Claire by releasing excerpts from Frank's diary. A rift develops between the Shepherds.

 

[mwell345]

I don’t think anymore are coming.  This is it.  I thought it was awful, and quite frankly, I,m glad it’s over if this is the best they can do.  (And I was willing to give them a pass on some of it because they had to change horses in midstream).  

 

Too much time time on the brother and sister and nephew who I didn’t care about and really were not needed.  Why not only introduce, but center the plot around, new characters?  And other parts of it just didn’t make sense. I also have never been a fan of the Stamper character, he bores me.

 

Overall...blah.  The season Trailer was better. 

[Duke Silver]

I was seriously supposed to give a shit about the adoption drama of a character that had about 15 minutes of screen time over a single "season"?  'K

[mwell345]

1 hour ago, Duke Silver said:

I was seriously supposed to give a shit about the adoption drama of a character that had about 15 minutes of screen time over a single "season"?  'K

Yes!  What was the point of that whole thing anyway?  He turned out to be the housekeeper’s son.  Was there more to it that I missed because I really did doze off  periodically.

 

(I ended up only caring about the dog.  I was really worried about him and  relieved he survived.)

[Penman61]

Well, that was shit:

• Shitty abrupt ending with multiple story lines left dangling and no sense of closure.  This didn't feel like a season finale, let alone a series finale.  Hope those Pakistanis don't get a nuke!
• Shit characterization and lack of motivation: What does President Hale want to accomplish, exactly?  
• Shitty hand dealt when you lose your personally appalling and criminal lead actor who also happens to be the only source of charisma in the cast; glad the actors and crew didn't lose jobs/income through no fault of their own, but...the loss was palpable.
• Shit decision to keep narrative focus on Francis, because thinking of Francis makes me think of K*vin Sp*cey, and that...
• Shitastic nonsense with the adoption-whatever storyline.

This show always got more prestige cred than it had actually earned, but was a shitterific shitacular ending.  'Twill live in ignominy.

[Michichick]

Wow, that was disappointing. Not sad that Doug got killed, but I really wanted Claire to at least lose the Presidency. Blah.

[PsychoDrone]

That was a complete and utter waste of time.  It was clear the writers had NO idea what to do when they lost Kevin Spacey.  The most important plot points happened off-screen.  I felt like I came in on the middle of a movie, but no real explanation was given about prior events.  The Shepards are who again?  The show reached the pinnacle of stupidity when it was revealed that Claire was pregnant.  PREGNANT, REALLY?!?!?!  This from a woman that went to great lengths, i.e. three abortions and one while married, to NOT have children.  Plus, how old was she?  Arguably, it was possible, but seriously?!?!  Finally, what was resolved?  Where's the closure?  Better to not have put out the season.  The show lost its way last season and this sealed it completely.  Well, it's over and I won't have to waste anymore time on it.

Edited November 4, 2018 by PsychoDrone

[DoubleUTeeEff]

10 hours ago, Penman61 said:

Shitty abrupt ending with multiple story lines left dangling and no sense of closure.  This didn't feel like a season finale, let alone a series finale.  Hope those Pakistanis don't get a nuke!

Luckily, no they won't since Claire found out who among the military staff was planning to assassinate her. That was the deal she made with them.

6 hours ago, PsychoDrone said:

The show reached the pinnacle of stupidity when it was revealed that Claire was pregnant.  PREGNANT, REALLY?!?!?!  This from a woman that went to great lengths, i.e. three abortions and one while married, to NOT have children. 

To be fair, she needed to have a child in order to get back in Francis' will. HOW and WHY she got pregnant is a mystery. Was the father really Tom Yates? Maybe Claire was the one who was eight steps ahead and knew what Francis was up to regarding the will and had to make an end run around him. I missed it if the show told us that or not.

I'm a million percent agreed that this did not feel like a series ending. I wanted at least a postscript with Claire and her daughter, maybe named after her mother. Something Hale though. I did like that the person least suspected of killing Francis was the one who killed him. I spent the whole season wondering if it was Claire or what and so it surprised me that it turned out to be Doug. I guess we are to believe that Francis was really at the end of his rope if he was planning to kill Claire himself.

I didn't mind that they introduced new characters. This show has always done that and well in my opinion. Plus, we knew from the end of last season that Francis was working with some monied people. Obviously they had to be introduced. Since this season was only 8 episodes, we didn't really get the new characters fleshed out like in the past so it was a fail--mainly all the stuff with the son. The brother and sister team were interesting enough.

I did not like how much time was spent on Frank Underwood. I didn't mind that he was acknowledged but I would have preferred a time jump or something so we could get past him and focus more on Claire and her ambitions. Less murder and more political machinations.

At the end of it all, I was basically left thinking what the hell? That's it? I don't think they did right by Claire's character. They paid lip service to her but nothing was really about her. It was all about Frank.

[dmc]

I had to actually check to make sure there wasn’t more season coming because this did not feel like an end episode 

[Roseanna]

7 hours ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

Luckily, no they won't since Claire found out who among the military staff was planning to assassinate her. That was the deal she made with them.

To be fair, she needed to have a child in order to get back in Francis' will. HOW and WHY she got pregnant is a mystery. Was the father really Tom Yates? Maybe Claire was the one who was eight steps ahead and knew what Francis was up to regarding the will and had to make an end run around him. I missed it if the show told us that or not.

Yes, they haven't slept together for ages. And after she became a President and refused to pardon him, it was unlikely they would have gone to bed together.

Maybe she had Frank's sperm in freezer and used it after he died.

[mwell345]

9 hours ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

I did not like how much time was spent on Frank Underwood. I didn't mind that he was acknowledged but I would have preferred a time jump or something so we could get past him and focus more on Claire and her ambitions. Less murder and more political machinations.

This.  I would have liked the same -maybe open with a funeral scene, and then....."1 year later. " Too much  time was spent on Frank.  And the big reveal - that it was Doug -was clearly done for shock purposes only, because it makes no sense in the history of the show.  No sense at all.  Doug killed Frank - why, because Frank was going to kill Claire (which is also unrealistic), and undo his so-called legacy?   Again, I may have missed something my mind kept wandering.  They should have had Frank die in his sleep, let that be then end of him. 

It just seemed that after Spacey was canned, the writers just threw a bunch of ideas together and included everything but the kitchen sink. I get that his exit threw a wrench in their plans, but this was pitiful because it was all over the place.  They should have narrowed their focus.

[PBSLover]

11 hours ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

Maybe Claire was the one who was eight steps ahead and knew what Francis was up to regarding the will and had to make an end run around him. I missed it if the show told us that or not.

She didn’t know. At least that is how it came across.

[PBSLover]

I agree with everyone.

In addition, and I hate writing this because I love her, but did Diane Lane forget how to act? She gave a self-conscious, over-the-top at times performance. I didn’t really get character.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

She didn’t know. At least that is how it came across.

I agree, I don't think she knew. I also don't think it was Frank's baby and wonder how she expected to keep that a secret. There were already whisperings that Frank didn't swing her way, plus Mark knew she was having an affair with Tom, didn't he?

It bothered me seeing people sit in a fancy conference room calmly discussing how they're going to assassinate the president. Even worse was them trying to kill the unborn baby after having made such a big deal about Claire's legal abortions.

Claire killing Doug right in the Oval Office? Come on. How would she survive that politically unless it was covered up? Yeesh, thank goodness this mess is over. It's sad to me that it went out in such a poor way.

[sgallimo]

39 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

I agree, I don't think she knew. I also don't think it was Frank's baby and wonder how she expected to keep that a secret. There were already whisperings that Frank didn't swing her way, plus Mark knew she was having an affair with Tom, didn't he?

I can't go check right now, but wasn't there a really short scene where we had an overhead shot of Claire in a room with another women who said something along the lines of, "Of course, your age is a concern"?? I had assumed that was a hush hush artificial insemination deal

[PsychoDrone]

I don't believe the writers had any idea what to do once they lost Kevin Spacey.  The pregnancy-so-Claire-could-keep-everything was so tacked on.  The timing of her pregnancy and who is the father would have been a major conspiracy theory.  People would have been all over that.  She's smoking, albeit in private.  Was there ever an instance of her drinking that was seen in the public or public events?  Scratch the surface too much and the pregnancy storyline falls apart.  It just smacks too much of daytime soap opera and not serious drama.

The show should have dedicated one, maybe two, episodes to Francis' demise and never dealt with it again.  Doug being the killer was also tacked on and only done for shock value.  All the stuff Doug's been through with Francis and Doug kills him?!?! Yeah, right.  I watched that revelation with awe for the sheer stupidity of it.  More believable if Claire was the killer.

Claire mentioned feigning incompetence.  Who's feigning?  She's demonstrated it on more than one occasion.  Her disastrous run as an ambassador is the one instance that comes to mind.  She didn't show herself that great as VP either.  And, now that she's president, she's this mastermind?  Right.  She and Francis complemented each other.  On her own, she's a disaster.  Not sure in what universe it's good strategy for the world to see her as hysterical and a recluse.  Show wanted to show her "strength" by showing more of her backstory, but that was also tacked on to meet some narrative.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't have lasted.  There were TOO many people (men and women) that didn't like her and her presidency would have ended badly.  THAT should have been the series finale for HoC.

[chick binewski]

On 11/3/2018 at 7:34 PM, Penman61 said:

Shitty hand dealt when you lose your personally appalling and criminal lead actor who also happens to be the only source of charisma in the cast; glad the actors and crew didn't lose jobs/income through no fault of their own, but...the loss was palpable.

 

I was really surprised how quickly the first 4 or 5 episodes drew me in, despite the fact they chose to give Robin Wright all those talking heads. Spacey has such an incredible gift and I hate that he's apparently a really shitty guy but that doesn't make Wright any more of a presence. Part of her character is ice queen so I'm not invested when she's talking to the camera.

 

23 hours ago, PsychoDrone said:

The Shepards are who again?  The show reached the pinnacle of stupidity when it was revealed that Claire was pregnant.  PREGNANT, REALLY?!?!?!  This from a woman that went to great lengths, i.e. three abortions and one while married, to NOT have children.  Plus, how old was she?  Arguably, it was possible, but seriously?!?!  

 

 

16 hours ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

To be fair, she needed to have a child in order to get back in Francis' will. HOW and WHY she got pregnant is a mystery. Was the father really Tom Yates? Maybe Claire was the one who was eight steps ahead and knew what Francis was up to regarding the will and had to make an end run around him. I missed it if the show told us that or not.

I didn't mind that they introduced new characters. This show has always done that and well in my opinion. Plus, we knew from the end of last season that Francis was working with some monied people. Obviously they had to be introduced. Since this season was only 8 episodes, we didn't really get the new characters fleshed out like in the past so it was a fail--mainly all the stuff with the son. The brother and sister team were interesting enough.

1

 

2 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

It bothered me seeing people sit in a fancy conference room calmly discussing how they're going to assassinate the president. Even worse was them trying to kill the unborn baby after having made such a big deal about Claire's legal abortions.

 

 

1 hour ago, PsychoDrone said:

I don't believe the writers had any idea what to do once they lost Kevin Spacey.  The pregnancy-so-Claire-could-keep-everything was so tacked on.  The timing of her pregnancy and who is the father would have been a major conspiracy theory.  People would have been all over that.  She's smoking, albeit in private.  Was there ever an instance of her drinking that was seen in the public or public events?  Scratch the surface too much and the pregnancy storyline falls apart.  It just smacks too much of daytime soap opera and not serious drama.

The show should have dedicated one, maybe two, episodes to Francis' demise and never dealt with it again.  Doug being the killer was also tacked on and only done for shock value.  All the stuff Doug's been through with Francis and Doug kills him?!?! Yeah, right.  I watched that revelation with awe for the sheer stupidity of it.  More believable if Claire was the killer.

Claire mentioned feigning incompetence.  Who's feigning?  She's demonstrated it on more than one occasion.  Her disastrous run as an ambassador is the one instance that comes to mind.  She didn't show herself that great as VP either.  And, now that she's president, she's this mastermind?  Right.  She and Francis complemented each other.  On her own, she's a disaster.  Not sure in what universe it's good strategy for the world to see her as hysterical and a recluse.  Show wanted to show her "strength" by showing more of her backstory, but that was also tacked on to meet some narrative.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't have lasted.  There were TOO many people (men and women) that didn't like her and her presidency would have ended badly.  THAT should have been the series finale for HoC.

Frankly, I didn't really get the will stuff because the pregnancy seemed SO out of a left field filled with WTF. Claire was distancing herself from her husband but expects the country to buy that they were together when he wasn't in the WH (wasn't it super convenient that Doug left her husband's dead body there), she isn't showing at all AND she offed Tom #2 at least a few weeks prior to Frank dying...so where the hell did that kid come from??

I didn't mind the Shepards...I just wish the writers didn't keep throwing different crap at them. Kinnear seemed pretty formidable at first (no Raymond Tusk but still a powerful jerk), then everything got watered down. I think they brought in the adoption as well as the abortions to show how tenuous their definition of family (and values) really was. But it all seemed to get unthreaded and muddled pretty quickly in the end. And Duncan just made me miss Gavin. And Chestnut!

I liked the idea that Doug murdered Frank to save the "legacy"; I just didn't buy that he would do it with Claire in the WH. He said he poisoned Frank so it took some time & thought. It was one more thing tacked on at the end that probably should have been given more focus.

Again, I know the show was dealing with a lot regarding Spacey's departure, but I really disliked how they seemed to rewrite the Underwood marriage. Throughout the show their support, manipulation of others and secret-keeping almost never faltered. Claire's rewriting on the fourth wall doesn't make that go away.

I also didn't like that they framed Claire's youth with an assault and a romance. It seemed like devices to explain or adjust her in some way and it didn't work.

[Roseanna]

5 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

It bothered me seeing people sit in a fancy conference room calmly discussing how they're going to assassinate the president. 

This. Some of them would have surely broken and testified against other in orders to save himself/herself. 

[hincandenza]

15 hours ago, dmc said:

I had to actually check to make sure there wasn’t more season coming because this did not feel like an end episode 

This.  I finished it tonight, and I'm kind of in shock with this "ending".  When the 8th episode ended and they didn't show the "Next episode in 5..." button, I though "Oh, this must surely be one of those split-season things, and the rest of the final season will air in a few months".  Uh... no.  That's it, and it wasn't until your comment that I realized there aren't more coming.  She stabs Doug on the floor of the Oval Office, and that's... that.

The really weird part is, I was kind of enjoying the season, and it had a surreal vibe to it, something almost Lynchean.  It seemed like it was going to avoid Sorkin-style "inspired by real stories" narratives and go for something darker, more primal.  There were many times I thought "This is less a political thriller than it is a psychological thriller at this point; a horror movie about a malignant narcissist psychopath inhabiting the White House", as the only rational response to the real world we live in. 

Claire had basically gone completely fucking insane, and it's interesting that the show basically had no real scenes among "the public".  It was almost entirely shot indoors/on sets, and the lack of external characters seemed to echo the idea that the public itself is no longer part of the process, just a thing to be manipulated.  For much of the season it felt more like a dramatic theater performance with tinges of Shakespeare (the mad Queen, haunted by her past and her paranoia, alone, self-isolating and self-destructive), and that if things were this off-the-rails by the middle episodes, it could be building to one heck of an ending! 

Then... no.  Those weren't middle episodes- it's just over now.  Wow.

This final season shouldn't have been made, if they were going to phone it in this badly.  It was basically a "Fuck you" to whomever spent 5 seasons and 65 hours watching this series up until now.  It's not even that it ended ambiguously; we can reasonably presume Claire got away with it all, and may even as they said "end up on a coin".  That could have been a powerful message in itself, if handled right, or as a warning in a cautionary tale.  The house of cards only falls if you, the people, push; but "the people" weren't even a cameo character this season.  They could have had Claire be assassinated, or brought low, or ascend high, or something beyond Cold War style cloak-and-dagger scheming.

But they didn't really do anything; the season ended abruptly, the show felt unfinished, and there wasn't really a point, or a message, or a moral, or even a cathartic ending.  Sure, some clever sophist could craft a plausible meta-message out of all of... that... but if we have to go digging and speculating that hard, the show failed us.

 

The House of Cards never actually fell.  You had one job, writers.  One. Job!

[dmc]

26 minutes ago, hincandenza said:

This.  I finished it tonight, and I'm kind of in shock with this "ending".  When the 8th episode ended and they didn't show the "Next episode in 5..." button, I though "Oh, this must surely be one of those split-season things, and the rest of the final season will air in a few months".  Uh... no.  That's it, and it wasn't until your comment that I realized there aren't more coming.  She stabs Doug on the floor of the Oval Office, and that's... that.

The really weird part is, I was kind of enjoying the season, and it had a surreal vibe to it, something almost Lynchean.  It seemed like it was going to avoid Sorkin-style "inspired by real stories" narratives and go for something darker, more primal.  There were many times I thought "This is less a political thriller than it is a psychological thriller at this point; a horror movie about a malignant narcissist psychopath inhabiting the White House", as the only rational response to the real world we live in. 

Claire had basically gone completely fucking insane, and it's interesting that the show basically had no real scenes among "the public".  It was almost entirely shot indoors/on sets, and the lack of external characters seemed to echo the idea that the public itself is no longer part of the process, just a thing to be manipulated.  For much of the season it felt more like a dramatic theater performance with tinges of Shakespeare (the mad Queen, haunted by her past and her paranoia, alone, self-isolating and self-destructive), and that if things were this off-the-rails by the middle episodes, it could be building to one heck of an ending! 

Then... no.  Those weren't middle episodes- it's just over now.  Wow.

This final season shouldn't have been made, if they were going to phone it in this badly.  It was basically a "Fuck you" to whomever spent 5 seasons and 65 hours watching this series up until now.  It's not even that it ended ambiguously; we can reasonably presume Claire got away with it all, and may even as they said "end up on a coin".  That could have been a powerful message in itself, if handled right, or as a warning in a cautionary tale.  The house of cards only falls if you, the people, push; but "the people" weren't even a cameo character this season.  They could have had Claire be assassinated, or brought low, or ascend high, or something beyond Cold War style cloak-and-dagger scheming.

But they didn't really do anything; the season ended abruptly, the show felt unfinished, and there wasn't really a point, or a message, or a moral, or even a cathartic ending.  Sure, some clever sophist could craft a plausible meta-message out of all of... that... but if we have to go digging and speculating that hard, the show failed us.

 

The House of Cards never actually fell.  You had one job, writers.  One. Job!

Exactly I was like...did they split the season? Agreed I was also enjoying it until the...I don’t even want to say end because that wasn’t an ending it was just a stopping point

[dmc]

Also I just thought of this BUT Claire was going through menopause the first season...it why she kept standing in front of the refrigerator and Frank asks her if she wants to talk about it and she says no...so how did the baby happen

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

I can't go check right now, but wasn't there a really short scene where we had an overhead shot of Claire in a room with another women who said something along the lines of, "Of course, your age is a concern"?? I had assumed that was a hush hush artificial insemination deal

At her age that wouldn't have been a one and done effort though, would it? Unless there were repeated visits that we weren't shown, she probably stood a better chance of getting pregnant the natural way. I figured that scene was a secret visit to an OB to confirm her pregnancy. Plus, getting artificially inseminated--unless Frank had sperm stored somewhere--would still mean that she'd have to go to some effort to cover up the baby's paternity. I don't see that being possible given how hard so many enemies were coming at her.

[chick binewski]

5 hours ago, dmc said:

Also I just thought of this BUT Claire was going through menopause the first season...it why she kept standing in front of the refrigerator and Frank asks her if she wants to talk about it and she says no...so how did the baby happen

Ack. Between this and the question of paternity I don't know what the writers were thinking with the stunt pregnancy. 

I watched an old episode of The Office last week where Michael was in an improv class. Every scene, he'd act out pulling a gun and shooting everyone. That's kind of what Claire's last few episodes reminded me of. In previous seasons there was no shying away from murder. But someone standing outside the Oval Office having just been destroyed by Frank (most times not even realizing it at first) could be equally devastating in showing the ruthlessness of the Underwoods. It was certainly more interesting to watch. I'm still trying to dissect the Cathy Durant assassination-rescue-assassination plot. 

Now, Doug knew he wasn't coming home bc he thought he would be killed for (not) assassinating the president? If so, why leave Janine the Rachel Posner coordinates (nvm why he dug her up again in the first place) and the gf's picture and phone # in a home that would be immediately taken over by agents? And giving Claire the list of people who wanted her dead (answer: Everyone)? Was that an envelope Doug intended to leave when he found Claire's body? I was so flummoxed by the content of the finale I'm only now going back to the choreography and I have confusion.

[dmc]

1 minute ago, chick binewski said:

Ack. Between this and the question of paternity I don't know what the writers were thinking with the stunt pregnancy. 

I watched an old episode of The Office last week where Michael was in an improv class. Every scene, he'd act out pulling a gun and shooting everyone. That's kind of what Claire's last few episodes reminded me of. In previous seasons there was no shying away from murder. But someone standing outside the Oval Office having just been destroyed by Frank (most times not even realizing it at first) could be equally devastating in showing the ruthlessness of the Underwoods. It was certainly more interesting to watch. I'm still trying to dissect the Cathy Durant assassination-rescue-assassination plot. 

Now, Doug knew he wasn't coming home bc he thought he would be killed for (not) assassinating the president? If so, why leave Janine the Rachel Posner coordinates (nvm why he dug her up again in the first place) and the gf's picture and phone # in a home that would be immediately taken over by agents? And giving Claire the list of people who wanted her dead (answer: Everyone)? Was that an envelope Doug intended to leave when he found Claire's body? I was so flummoxed by the content of the finale I'm only now going back to the choreography and I have confusion.

Paternity has to be that dead guy Tom Yates unless it's a sperm donor...because she and Frank have only had sex twice in the whole show.  

 

Okay I watched the episode where Jane died like three times to see what happened...all of sudden she has a headache and bam, then Claire claims responsibility.  Cathy I believe escapes and uses contacts to get out of the country but when Doug confesses he didn't kill her, Claire tracks her down (I think).  I am still not clear how Jane died, was she poisoned???

[straightoutta]

Ugh, this show. I would like to say that the writers didn't know what to do without Francis, but I feel like they were lazy this season AND last season. Someone raises an issue, appears to be a challenger, has a different opinion or poses a threat? Just kill them off. Same this season. So boring. I was waiting for Kelsey to bite it, for one of the Shepherds (or more), the former chief of staff who confronted Claire at the wake, etc. And that ending was Lame. Probably the lamest one I've seen in any season finale. At least the dog made it out alive.

Question - when I saw those coordinates at the end, under the heading "Janine," (on the table in Doug's apartment), I really thought that's where her body would be. But are those the coordinates for where Rachel is buried?

[chick binewski]

1 hour ago, dmc said:

Paternity has to be that dead guy Tom Yates unless it's a sperm donor...because she and Frank have only had sex twice in the whole show.  

 

Okay I watched the episode where Jane died like three times to see what happened...all of sudden she has a headache and bam, then Claire claims responsibility.  Cathy I believe escapes and uses contacts to get out of the country but when Doug confesses he didn't kill her, Claire tracks her down (I think).  I am still not clear how Jane died, was she poisoned???

I thought her last encounter with Tom would have been too long ago (more so regarding any encounter with Frank!). The show seemed to expect us to take a whole lot on faith.

Jane is what confused me most about Cathy's demise. She's waiting for Cathy at her moustache-twirling corner table to tell Cathy 'sorry not sorry'. Cathy, after running from Jane, is later seen forced into a car (clearly a rescue attempt). Jane is later seen faltering at Claire's questions (because all of a sudden this international fixer is brought down by Claire's yellow bob). If Jane was the one who orchestrated Cathy's rescue, I could not keep track of what changed between the time at the restaurant and the scene with Cathy being rushed into the SUV.

And yeah, I'm guessing Jane died of plot contrivance?

[cali1981]

20 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

Claire killing Doug right in the Oval Office? Come on. How would she survive that politically unless it was covered up? Yeesh, thank goodness this mess is over. It's sad to me that it went out in such a poor way.

I'm sure that Claire would have gotten away with it.  After all Doug was known psychiatric patient and an obvious shady character.  She would have said that Doug lost it and threatened her with the letter opener (which he really did).  She would have claimed that Doug was obsessed with Frank and his legacy and was furious at her trashing him.  Her sleazebag psychiatrist would have backed her up and since there were no Secret Service agents in the Oval who could have contradicted her?

I love Greg Kinnear and especially Diane Lane but thought that they they were miscast as the Shepherds.  The characters were clearly a meld of the Koch brothers and Robert and Rebecca Mercer but x10 in the pure evil department.  Diane, who is still as radiant as ever, was good and came close at times to a deep level of maliciousness but didn't quite get there.

Edited November 5, 2018 by cali1981

[kelslamu]

This was a farce.  I'd have rather watched it with Spacey still in it.  

[Cthulhudrew]

On 11/3/2018 at 4:34 PM, Penman61 said:

• Shit characterization and lack of motivation: What does President Hale want to accomplish, exactly?  

This, more than anything else, was the crucial failing of this season. Claire has never had much of a motivation to my mind, serving only a little better than ingenue to Frank. She made some vague statements about "wanting to do good works to counter Frank's evil" but we didn't really see what those were, what lengths she would go to to do them, or anything else. About all she seemed to be interested in doing was antagonizing Stamper for some reason (presumably the macguffin that is "the Will").

They also seriously overused the Fourth Wall breaking. I was half expecting the entire cast to turn to the camera and start soliloquizing by the final episode.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

Observations, in no particular order:

* Claire's hairstyle this season was AWFUL. It didn't frame her face well and was way too flat. When you don't even enjoy the basic act of looking at the main character, that's a problem (and I never imagined Robin Wright, of all people, could be made to look unattractive).

* Stamper's arc made no sense. He was out, then he was in, then he was out, then he was in, ad nauseum.

* The Shepard son's arc made no sense. I kept waiting for the reveal that he was Claire and/or Frank's child. Otherwise, why have him in there at all?

* Claire acts like a total recluse and basket case, then somehow feels betrayed when the cabinet pulls the 25th Amendment on her? Whatever, show.

* Did anyone else notice the final episode's opening credits had a very fake-looking statue of President Hale shoehorned in?

* Speaking of which, Claire's reverting to her maiden name came out of left field. Was this just their way of crapping on Spacey a little more?

* So Durant faked her own death to...do what, exactly? Record a bunch of damning crap against the Underwoods in a way that would make it super-easy to bury? I spit on your writing.

* Just like the HBO series OZ two decades ago, HoC started as a near-perfect story with a beginning, middle and end (8 episodes for OZ, 26 for HoC). But then it became a big hit, the network backed up the Brinks truck, and the writing staff kept tacking on increasingly desperate and ridiculous plots which were only marginally saved by the show's awesome cast. The result: both series wore out their welcome long before the plug was pulled. And so it goes.

[Armchair Critic]

Kevin Spacey had a twinkle in his eye and humor when he was doing his dirty deeds.,Claire is so dry that it isn't any fun watching her.

I liked the newspaper guy but always figured he was doomed. I can't stand creepy Doug Stamper but I did find his character interesting and was surprised he lasted that long. Nice to see Diane Lane get a big part but felt she was underwritten.

[DrSpaceman73]

On ‎11‎/‎3‎/‎2018 at 11:32 AM, Ivydoom said:

So was this the final episode or are more coming because this didn't feel like an ending at all. If this was it, I'm just going to pretend this season never happened.

I felt the exact same way

What a waste of a final season.

They just kind of left everything about the Sheperd's undecided and unsaid.

So much stuff just wasted time and effort this season. 

Quote

The House of Cards never actually fell.  You had one job, writers.  One. Job!

Again, felt the exact same way. 

The only thing compelling about a "House of Cards" is you know it can only go so far before it all falls down

Here that never happened.

And mostly because everyone else who fought the Underwood's was always too weak or stupid to do anything about them

I was expecting an ending where someone was watching the whole thing where she stabbed Doug.  Hidden Camera.  I mean its the Oval Office.  No security cameras in there?  But no, it just ended

[Armchair Critic]

If Bill Shepherd (Greg Kinnear's character) was so into family why wasn't he married with kids?

Edited November 6, 2018 by Armchair Critic

[tomsmom]

The worst part of Claire’s pregnancy to me was the ridiculous statue of her in the last episodes opening credits. So stupid.

[Penman61]

2 hours ago, tomsmom said:

The worst part of Claire’s pregnancy to me was the ridiculous statue of her in the last episodes opening credits. So stupid.

I missed that so just rewatched those credits to see it...and WTF?!  How does that even make sense, unless it's letting us know that Claire got away with it all and became a statue-worthy figure?!?  

Edited November 6, 2018 by Penman61

[Chaos Theory]

Ok I know a lot of people are going to hate this but I thought it was a clever ending.  Claire getting out from under the thumb of everyone who ever done her harm.  Whoever caused her pain.  Those were her final words...not to Doug but to herself and us in away.  “There no more pain.”

 

Also the baby thing made sense because Claire played the odds and she played to all the things that both people fear and want in a woman in power.   One of the huge controversies was her abortion so bringing a child to term would show her as a mother and show that her marriage to Frank has remained solid to the end.  It would also show those who care the optics.

As for the rest....I loved the idea of Claire forming a cabinet and government based around women and how scared the men around her looked. 

I know this seasons and finale will piss off a lot of prople....I didn’t miss Frank at all.

[alexvillage]

Serious question: Does anyone know if the producers HAD TO film this season? As in a contractual thing? 

After watching this I am convinced that they should just let it go with Kevin Spacey. What was the point of this mess? Too much Doug, Claire does not know how to break the fourth wall, characters that have nothing to say and yet have most of the air time. The writing was poor, as if they wanted to go for something new, different, shocking, but ended up with plain Meh

[teddysmom]

On 11/4/2018 at 5:33 PM, PBSLover said:

I agree with everyone.

In addition, and I hate writing this because I love her, but did Diane Lane forget how to act? She gave a self-conscious, over-the-top at times performance. I didn’t really get character.

The last few episodes, to make Annette seem more evil they decided, "let's turn the black eyeliner and red lipstick up to 11".   OMFG she had a scene with the son and it looked like she had on off black sheer stockings and open toed shoes.   Her wardrobe was atrocious. 

Speaking of that, do they have a board somehow attached to Robin Wright's back inside her clothing so that she stands so straight? It's almost  unrealistic how beyond perfect her posture is.  I don't know about you, but I always loll around watching a movie in 4 inch heels.   When I'm totally depressed laying on the couch crying, I wear a starched white blouse and black skinny pants.  Even the Bartletts wore sweats and pajamas for God's sake. 

I was watching the last 2 episodes yesterday and thought, I have no fucking idea what is going on here. How many people can one person kill and get away with it? How did they explain Jane's death?  From a migraine? On the set of Battlestar Gallactica? WTF was that thing she was in? 

Why do people agree to meet with Claire to confront her?  I know the last three people who talked to Claire are dead, but I'm sure I'll be okay. 

If they were trying to make that last scene when she turns to the camera Shakespearean, EPIC FAIL. 

5 hours ago, alexvillage said:

After watching this I am convinced that they should just let it go with Kevin Spacey. What was the point of this mess? Too much Doug, Claire does not know how to break the fourth wall, characters that have nothing to say and yet have most of the air time. The writing was poor, as if they wanted to go for something new, different, shocking, but ended up with plain Meh

Yeah I kinda felt like they just said "Fuck it , who cares?" We've made a shit ton of money from Netflix let's just slap something stupid together. We know no one is going to watch. 

Edited November 8, 2018 by teddysmom

[islandgal140]

On 11/5/2018 at 2:52 PM, chick binewski said:

I watched an old episode of The Office last week where Michael was in an improv class. Every scene, he'd act out pulling a gun and shooting everyone. That's kind of what Claire's last few episodes reminded me of. 

I love that you brought up Michael Scott from The Office. I thought of him too but in a different context. I was thinking that this season might as well have been penned by him a la Threat Level Midnight and it probably would have been more cohesive and entertaining. 

This show should have ended 2 seasons ago. 

Doug - for someone who has been at the foot of the master for decades, he is/was shit at this. Nothing he did made any sense. Why the hell did he give Clair the list of the people who wanted her dead? 

Clair basically hasn't been shown to have any real powerful allies so I don't even know how she is getting away with a quarter of the shit she is. She meets some dude in the shadowy stairwell and I have no idea who he is. 

I have come to the conclusion that Clair or maybe even the series itself is the embodiment of that riddle to test whether a person is a psychopath:

While at her own mother's funeral, a woman meets a guy she doesn't know. She thinks this guy is amazing — her dream man — and is pretty sure he could be the love of her life. However, she never asked for his name or number and afterwards could not find anyone who knows who he was. A few days later the girl kills her own sister.

Question: Why did she do it?

And the answer is… The girl kills her sister in the hopes that the guy will come to the funeral and she can see him again.

If ever there was a series on Netflix that was mutton dressed up as lamb it is this damn show. Absolute dreck! I rarely use the Netflix rating season but I damn near broke my thumb and my remote pressing the thumbs down icon. 

There were some many times this season that I wanted to just stop watching. The key ones are when I started semi-rooting for Stamper, when the reporter was shot at point blank range in the back of the head and Clair's pregnancy. But, I was so close to the end and the show used to be so good that I foolishly kept watching. Stupid me!

On 11/4/2018 at 9:27 PM, PsychoDrone said:

  Not sure in what universe it's good strategy for the world to see her as hysterical and a recluse.  Show wanted to show her "strength" by showing more of her backstory, but that was also tacked on to meet some narrative.  Unfortunately, it wouldn't have lasted.  There were TOO many people (men and women) that didn't like her and her presidency would have ended badly.  THAT should have been the series finale for HoC.

This was just complete nonsense. What incensed me the most was after this stunt and firing her entire cabinet for daring to say she is incompetent, some idiot in a meeting claims she has an insanely high approval rating. Something like 70-80%. Are you freaking kidding me? I don't dislike Robyn Wright but the way she portrays Clair's character, nothing about her would make me believe that she would be embraced or like by the majority of the US population. Backroom power broker? Sure. But not as a viable presidential candidate. 

So I guess Clair won and some poor human will have her as a mother. 

Edited November 8, 2018 by islandgal140

[teddysmom]

On 11/6/2018 at 6:47 PM, Penman61 said:

The worst part of Claire’s pregnancy to me was the ridiculous statue of her in the last episodes opening credits. So stupid.

What!!?? I totally missed that & I always watch the opening credits because I love the theme music for some weird reason. 

ETA: I just ran the opening credits and saw the statue of pregnant Claire.  I am speechless. 

Are they hoping to get the series screened on Mystery Science Theater 3000?  I mean, Ed Wood would have been embarrassed by this schlock.  

Edited November 8, 2018 by teddysmom

[teddysmom]

56 minutes ago, islandgal140 said:

The key ones are when I started semi-rooting for Stamper,

Every time Tom Hammerschmidt (sp) asked Doug where Rachel was, I'd yell at the tv "On Marvelous Mrs Maisel!!!" 

[PsychoDrone]

1 hour ago, islandgal140 said:

This was just complete nonsense. What incensed me the most was after this stunt and firing her entire cabinet for daring to say she is incompetent, some idiot in a meeting claims she has an insanely high approval rating. Something like 70-80%. Are you freaking kidding me? I don't dislike Robyn Wright but the way she portrays Clair's character, nothing about her would make me believe that she would be embraced or like by the majority of the US population. Backroom power broker? Sure. But not as a viable presidential candidate.

 

That absolutely was a jaw dropping moment. 70-80% REALLY?!?!? Claire Underwood or Hale?  Her?  Is that kind of approval rating even possible anymore?  And, this show EXPECTS the viewing audience to believe that Claire had even remotely that high of an approval rating?  What had she even done to warrant such a rating, besides being pregnant?  But, then that's the only obvious thing she accomplished in the time jump.  NOTHING negative happened in that time?  There isn't enough suspension of disbelief that makes that even remotely believable.

Edited November 8, 2018 by PsychoDrone

[chick binewski]

On 11/6/2018 at 1:56 PM, Armchair Critic said:

If Bill Shepherd (Greg Kinnear's character) was so into family why wasn't he married with kids?

They seemed to want to hint at an incestuous relationship with the sister (their introduction seemed purposefully vague; the son caught his mom & uncle embracing) either to make them more distasteful or to add interest to the completely uninteresting parentage storyline.

On 11/6/2018 at 7:37 AM, DrSpaceman73 said:

The only thing compelling about a "House of Cards" is you know it can only go so far before it all falls down

Here that never happened.

 

5 hours ago, alexvillage said:

Serious question: Does anyone know if the producers HAD TO film this season? As in a contractual thing? 

After watching this I am convinced that they should just let it go with Kevin Spacey. What was the point of this mess? Too much Doug, Claire does not know how to break the fourth wall, characters that have nothing to say and yet have most of the air time. The writing was poor, as if they wanted to go for something new, different, shocking, but ended up with plain Meh

 

2 hours ago, teddysmom said:

Yeah I kinda felt like they just said "Fuck it , who cares?" We've made a shit ton of money from Netflix let's just slap something stupid together. We know no one is going to watch. 

I'm trying to be fair to the writers, especially since they had already filmed 2 episodes before giving Spacey the boot. But even now they are saying they didn't have an ending to Frank & Claire; not the details - but actually who would be victorious (so...no fallen house of cards either way, I guess). And with the show's current make-up, neither Michael Kelly nor Robin Wright knew Frank's killer until the penultimate episode was filming. For a show that relied on such meticulous, confident groundwork its first few seasons it's surprising to me they shot the remaining episodes this way. 

Kevin Spacey worked on this show as an actor and producer for over five years. Wright has already spoken about second chances and the invasive media after claiming she knew nothing about Spacey's actions. However, Joel Kinnaman said he was not shocked. At all. Gabriel Byrne, Guy Pierce and Jon Bernthal have issued stronger opinions on Spacey, I believe (although Bernthal's comments were probably the most straightforward they referred to an abusive nature in general, nothing sexual). I know it's a crappy thing to say but senior staff on this show had to know what was going on and I can't help but wonder if they were actually pissed that their hand was forced and they had to fire Spacey.    

[teddysmom]

51 minutes ago, chick binewski said:

I'm trying to be fair to the writers,

I just don't understand why they didn't wait until they could come up with feasible story lines.  It probably isn't fair to the writers but my goodness how the actors got thru those scenes w/o thinking "are you fucking kidding me? You want me to say this?" 

Rumors about Spacey have been around for YEARS. I remember the first time I heard one was way back when he first founded the theater company in London, and he was arrested for soliciting in a park in the middle of the night.  

[DrSpaceman73]

I don't really care one way or another if Spacey was on this season or not.  The whole thing with him and what happened makes no difference to me.  He should have been fired, probably sooner

But none of that really weight into how I feel about this totally crappy and useless season.  It wasn't coherent in any way.  Multiple storylines that teased and went nowhere.  What exactly was it they were doing with the app everyone signed up for?  Sheperd was dying all season, never found out if he lived or died or not.  I suppose he died eventually.  A whole big "where do you see us in 10 years" speech, no point to it.  The son that just disappeared, no idea what happened to him.   Once again anyone who goes up against Claire/Frank/The Underwoods and is in any position of power to stop them in the end just turns out to be completely lame and weak useless asswipes that just cave to their demands at the end, right down to Doug. 

NONE Of this has to do with Spacey and his allegations and his being written off the show.  Even if he wasn't written off the show, the story was nearing its end anyway and they were in a position where they could make this the last season either way, without or without him.  The whole thing this season was just a crappy half assed soap opera this season that really made little sense, had little drama to it and was barely interesting. 

[Meedis]

I co-sign that the ending was totally ridiculous.   I can't see Doug going out like that...though I totally knew the minute he lowered the scissors down that Claire would use the opportunity to stab him.

Also when Janine the reporter was shouting on the phone about Doug not meeting her and how she will get the story out herself, I totally was waiting for either a bullet to take her out or her car to explode as she was speeding off.     I'm surprised they didn't go there....LOL.

[sashayshante]

On 11/6/2018 at 2:59 AM, Sir RaiderDuck OMS said:

* The Shepard son's arc made no sense. I kept waiting for the reveal that he was Claire and/or Frank's child. Otherwise, why have him in there at all?

As I understand it, he was originally supposed to be Frank's son. Cody Fern, who plays Duncan, has referred to the Spacey allegations as a nuclear bomb that rocked the entire set and his storyline was reduced. It should have been cut all together.  As someone else here said, the guy had maybe 20 minutes of screen time, and most of it was spent skulking around wearing leather and guyliner.

As for the rumors, they all knew. Beau Willemon, the creator of the show,  was constantly on Twitter talking about how corrupt Trump was and telling everyone to resist, all the while knowing Spacey had been accused of harassment by HOC crew members and they did nothing. I first heard about Spacey's predilictions 20 years ago and I'm a nobody. They all knew and looked the other way. I'm glad the final season sucked ass.

[Athena]

On 11/8/2018 at 6:54 AM, alexvillage said:

Serious question: Does anyone know if the producers HAD TO film this season? As in a contractual thing?

I think most of us know House of Cards stopped being good awhile ago especially after Beau Willimon left as showrunner. Honestly even if Spacey had stayed, I don't think this season would have been better. S5 was stupid as well.

I think Netflix has been overvaluing this show. House of Cards did well the first season and it received a lot of critical and audience acclaim that gave Netflix legitimacy. Someone pointed out on Reddit that the Frank knocking sound is still on Netflix intros. Netflix wanted to keep this show as long as it could but the quality has diminished completely. They also probably wanted to save face and end the series after firing Spacey and the allegations of his conduct on set as well.

[DrSpaceman73]

18 hours ago, sashayshante said:

As I understand it, he was originally supposed to be Frank's son. Cody Fern, who plays Duncan, has referred to the Spacey allegations as a nuclear bomb that rocked the entire set and his storyline was reduced. It should have been cut all together.  As someone else here said, the guy had maybe 20 minutes of screen time, and most of it was spent skulking around wearing leather and guyliner.

As for the rumors, they all knew. Beau Willemon, the creator of the show,  was constantly on Twitter talking about how corrupt Trump was and telling everyone to resist, all the while knowing Spacey had been accused of harassment by HOC crew members and they did nothing. I first heard about Spacey's predilictions 20 years ago and I'm a nobody. They all knew and looked the other way. I'm glad the final season sucked ass.

Well interesting to know that he was supposed to be Frank's son. 

But even so, as I stated before, these are writers and its fiction.  I think they stopped production for awhile after the Spacey allegations.  They could have just done their job and wrote it differently.  Or really I am not sure why since Frank died and Spacey wasn't on this season they still couldn't have revealed he was supposed to be Frank's son.  Just because Spacey was gone and Frank was dead doesn't mean the story couldn't happen that way

[alexvillage]

16 hours ago, Athena said:

I think most of us know House of Cards stopped being good awhile ago especially after Beau Willimon left as showrunner. Honestly even if Spacey had stayed, I don't think this season would have been better. S5 was stupid as well.

I think Netflix has been overvaluing this show. House of Cards did well the first season and it received a lot of critical and audience acclaim that gave Netflix legitimacy. Someone pointed out on Reddit that the Frank knocking sound is still on Netflix intros. Netflix wanted to keep this show as long as it could but the quality has diminished completely. They also probably wanted to save face and end the series after firing Spacey and the allegations of his conduct on set as well.

I didn't know Willimon had left the show. I agree that the show had a big decline. I did like the first two seasons. Then it was kind of mess. I didn't like Kevin Spacey in the show either. It was something different in the first season. Then I thought he just became cartoonish.