First, a disclaimer. I don't like "Dexter" but I did rabidly follow "Sopranos." In general, I like supremely flawed anti-heroes. My issue with "Dexter" is the conceit of trying to convince people that a serial killer can be an instrument of justice in any way, shape or form. Both Dexter and Tony Soprano are sociopaths but no one is pretending Tony isn't anything else. The idea that this grand experiment of Dexter's father channeling his son's murderous urges just left me cold (so to speak.) I watched the first season with growing malaise and when it ended, so did my watching of it.
I mention this because I'm not interested in following serial killers as my focal character, especially those who purport to be "understandable." A sociopath is not someone to root for. When, at the end of "Silence of the Lambs" Hannibal Lector said to Agent Starling "I have to go. I'm having a friend for dinner," and the camera then cut to the "evil" psychologist coming off the plane, people in the theater I was in clapped and cheered. I blanched and got nauseous at the idea of it. The filmmakers had so thoroughly convinced most in the audience that Hannibal was an appropriate instrument of justice that murdering and eating this vain man of a psychologist was desirable. Like I said, I was nauseous at the thought. You are too if you think it through.
While the distinction I see between Tony Soprano and Dexter may be slim, I do see it clearly. Kevin Spacey's character in "House of Cards" who is basically a sociopath at best, and as it's turning out, a serial killer at worst is not someone I want to celebrate for more than a few hours. Sure, I'd follow him if it was a shorter subject but the idea that he can kill with impunity anyone who thwarts his political plans makes me want to turn the show off and not continue after Season Two's opening ep. Which I did. This is not some gangster who grew up on the mean streets. This is a highly accomplished man who went to the best schools, has walked the halls of power with seeming grace and distinction for decades, and has attracted men and women of power and distinction to his causes. Sure, there's the religious fanatics who do the same things to weak-willed people And yeah, I know that a higher education doesn't guarantee that someone won't grow up sick and twisted. But Frank Underwood isn't a kid. If he had these tendencies, he's always had these tendencies and they would have manifested before this.
When HoC came out I was entranced. It almost lost me when Underwood talked directly to the camera while he was putting the dog hit by a car out of its misery, but I got used to it and grew to, well not enjoy it, but at least accept it. It's true to the British series on which it's based in that sense and it's okay to know Frank Underwood through his 4th Wall exchanges.
I loved the political machinations Underwood engaged in. Loved his twisty mind. Relished his and his wife, Claire's, played by the still stunning Robin Wright, self-serving conniving ways. And of course, thoroughly enjoyed the Kate Mara character's relationship with Frank and their stumbling paths through the dark hallways of Washington with us eagerly following close behind.
This was political thriller at its best at times.
The Swedish series "Borgen" has a similar motif of peeking behind the walls of power at all the various machinations of government. This is real drama in my mind - what better? Power, sex, desperation ...all the things that Shakespeare wrote so eloquently about in the 15th and 16th centuries. Ambition writ large on the tapestries of the power-hungry worlds that we have always inhabited and been fascinated by.
And, for the first seven or so episodes, the storylines were purely that - naked ambitions. Sex used as coin and as weapon. Money. Power thwarted and recast into even more powerful weapons of greed and hubris.
Doug Stamper (actor Michael Kelly) was creepy but he wasn't a murderer. He made you disappear with a handful of cash and a veiled threat - as did most of the characters. Kate Mara used her fine mind and even finer body to hook and reel in the men she wanted for her own gains. Frank Underwood prodded and blackmailed to right the wrong he had been summarily handed in the first ep when he was passed over for VP.
All good. All fun in a dirty-little-secrets way.
Then Underwood killed Peter.
I balked at this but at least he did it almost apologetically. He closed the garage door on a running car and oh no! Peter passed away quietly. I didn't love it, but I felt like the way it was done, there'd be lots of angst in Underwood's life. It would haunt him - "out, damned spot!" He'd come close to telling Claire but wouldn't quite make it. Zoe would wonder why he couldn't finish his sexual act with her. Stamper would begin to suspect and do misguided things to cover it up. The secret would gnaw at Frank Underwood's soul, make his food tasteless, turn his wine into bitter vinegar. I imagined Peter would haunt him. Show up in window reflections, on TVs that had gone to test patterns, etc.
Yeah. Not so much.
I'm a writer and I know decisions are made all time that people don't agree with in a script or a series. One such would be the recent revelation in "The Good Wife" that they killed off a major character. Damnit! But I digress. I get that there's a vision forward and it involves making decisions that not everyone will embrace.
So, onto Season Two. Anticipating Frank Underwood walking the West Wing, twiddling with the country's temperament, ducking nosey reporters getting too close, betrayal on betrayal ahead and the guilt of the damned...oh, the joy and fun we'd have.
And then Underwood pushes Zoe Barnes in front of a train in the first episode of Season Two and that was it for me.
I am not following a fucking serial killer who is pretending to be interesting. Interesting is turning the entire House around using threats and blackmail and a twisty mind - not murder. And not by Frank Underwood. Especially since his actions over Season One and Season Two imply that he has no absolutely no conscience about this. At all.
And that Frank would be so bloody stupid as to murder in potentially full view of anyone in that subway tunnel. No. Frank simply would not do that. I will not tolerate his acting that stupidly and without regard. This is not his way. Any idiot can kill; how many can manipulate the way that Frank Underwood does? Damned few. And yet the series heads thought that this fascinating character should suddenly become a blatant, bald killer would make us embrace Frank's story even more? A major miscalculation on their part, in my opinion.
Look, Stamper's different. He'd do it. I could accept it from him. But really? The next vice-president of the United States, a man a heartbeat away from running this country, engages in the most crude form of control anyone can imagine? Are we now watching the son of Satan, Damien, from "The Omen" in a reboot?
So, HoC, goodbye. I won't be continuing on past S02E01. It was grand while it lasted but the gorgeous blonde at the bar glimpsed at a distance turned out to be a hooker with bad plastic surgery up close. This is "jumping the shark" right off the bat and for me, it's unrepairable.
Maybe someday, some American TV show will do this kind of thing without resorting to the lure of the lowest baseness. Maybe I'll even write it. I'm actually a big fan of baseness but not this low and not in political dramas of this type. Really, Hollywood, you can trust us to continue to follow a series without killing someone every ten episodes. We all understand what it means not to achieve a goal and die inside. That should be good enough for at least one television series. If you want a shining example of this watch the movie "Notes On A Scandal" or better yet "Borgen." Only one death there and it was from a heart attack after sex (Yes!)
Perhaps it was also the way that Underwood gloated about this murder that turned me off. The implication is that he is anti-Christ in nature. He challenges God in a church, then talks to the audience in such a way to imply that he is Devil incarnate. In an episode of the brilliant "West Wing" President Bartlett (Martin Sheen) called out God in a church and even put a cigarette out on the sacred house's floor to show his disdain for the so-called order in the Universe that demands a good person be killed arbitrarily. He was furious that God had taken a friend of his. This was a powerful moment in the storyline but it didn't involve smarmy and gloating faces in a mirror telling us "welcome back." Ugh. Just thinking of that moment in HoC makes me shake my head.
Death is fine; murder is okay if it's done with consequences - turning your central character into Dexter or Damien just doesn't serve anyone well at all. The murderous rages that Frank Underwood engage in make this show like the ABC adult dramas like "Revenge" and "Scandal." Good shows, well-executed certainly but melodrama levels below what I was hoping would be "House of Cards."
It all might be entertaining but it's also cheap, ugly and wholly disrespects the viewing audience.
