The growing prevalence of Internet series is hard to ignore.
This uptick in online entertainment has been reflected through the recent decision of Netflix, the video-streaming behemoth, to expand their company into the world of production. The neo-network’s opening series is the 13-episode remake of a British TV series, House of Cards.
The series is immediately gripping. Its hard-to-ignore quality leaves viewers watching them one after the other, in what has come to be dubbed a ‘Netflix binge.’
Kevin Spacey plays Congressman and Democratic Majority Whip Francis Underwood. When the series begins, Frank (as Underwood is often called) is waiting to hear from the president on whether or not he will be the Secretary of State for the newly elected administration. Underwood soon discovers that he’s not the presidents pick for the position, as he presumed he would be. This betrayal quickly proves to be the driving force for the series.
“I have zero tolerance for betrayal, which they will soon indelibly learn.”
His wife and nearly unshakeable counterpart, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), heads an environmental conservation agency. The proximity of her work and Frank’s proves to be both beneficial and significantly messy.
Though complex, their relationship is the only constant in the virtual sea of changing politics.
On the surface, House of Cards is a story of the tangled lives of politicians, lobbyists, journalists, and special interest groups within D.C. As the series develops, though, the story quickly morphs into a portrayal of the depths and edges of modern humanity.
House of Cards successfully explores what place primitivism has in a world filled with pocket computers and excessive political correctness.