House Of Cards Season 3 Review

If you watch House Of Cards to appreciate the ruthless and despicable behaviour of Frank and Claire Underwood, then you’ll be  disappointed with Season Three.

Although the season opens with a characteristic act of defiance as Frank urinates on his father’s grave, his typical shocking behaviour seems to end there.  Forget about murderous cover-ups, weird sex and serious acts of betrayal. When Frank says “You have to be a little human when you’re the president” it’s clear this is definitely not the Underwoods we’ve come to expect.

Instead, as President, Frank is now all about passing his ‘America Works’ program and negotiating peace in the Middle East. Meanwhile Claire seems to have miraculously developed a conscience speaking out against the Russian President and undermining the already sensitive negotiations between the two countries. Doug is a pathetic imitation of his former self recovering from a near death experience and turning to the bottle; and all the other major characters just look bored most of the time.

Frank and Claire seem to have redirected their aggression away from their opponents and towards each other.  They are definitely off their game, uncharacteristically blindsided by the Russian President feeding them false information and by Jackie Sharp’s defection.

Without the typical unscrupulous actions of the Underwoods, House Of Cards seems to have lost much of its appeal.  Hopefully next season we’ll see a return to the scheming, manipulating Underwoods, otherwise I fear the series will come perilously close to becoming just another boring White House serial.

7/10