User Reviews

"Chapter 13" signals the end of 'House of Cards' first season. A more than solid first season that may have had an understandable slight finding its feet feel, and the show got even better (as well as unfortunately much worse in a complete 180 decline), but with all the episodes ranging between good to outstanding. Most being either very good or great. The weakest being for me "Chapter 8" and the best "Chapter 11".

And it is a great end and a more than worthy conclusion to a consistently solid first season, one that makes one excited for what is to come. It may not quite be one of those going out with a huge bang sort of episodes, for early on 'House of Cards' wasn't that kind of show, but it is one that continues to make the characters compelling and the storytelling equally so and at least feels like a season ending. In a way "Chapter 13" is a sort of setting things up and putting them into place episode, but at the same time it still feels like things are moving forward rather than stationary or back to where the show started.

Everything is done brilliantly here, with no contrivances or over-convenience and while deliberate the pace feels just right. Maybe the very end could have been slightly more rounded off and in terms of being interesting Zoe in the first season was sort of yo-yoing and her material isn't as meaty here. Found that there was a little more intensity and emotion here than in the previous episode, also directed by Allen Coulter.

Directed very well by him that has to be said. Same in "Chapter 13". It may not be the best-directed episode of the season, or of the show, but Coulter still acquits himself very well, all the directors did (yes even Joel Schumacher, who for many is something of a dread name). Maybe not as cinematic as some of the previous or even the succeeding episodes or as dimensional, but the episode was clearly directed by somebody with a sure hand and that knew what he was doing.

Visually, as ever "Chapter 13" looks slick and stylish, with lots of atmosphere and no trouble with cohesion, so there is nothing to complain about on that front. The music knew when to have presence and when to tone things down to let the dialogue and characters properly speak, with again some very clever sound quality.

Once again, there is plenty of sharpness, bite and probing thought in the writing. Can never get enough of the writing for Frank and every bit as much his blistering exchanges with Tusk, but oddly enough one of the standout lines for me came from Gillian. Her chemistry with Claire is not quite as edge of the seat as in "Chapter 12", the episode where one properly takes notice of the character, but there is plenty of tension. All the characters are written compellingly as is how the character interaction is done, and expectedly there are great performances all round with Kevin Spacey being a clear consistent standout throughout Seasons 1-5.

In conclusion, a solid first season gets a more than worthy conclusion. 9/10

I've finished the first season, took me a little more than a week but I'm glad I took it slow! This is a slow burn show after all. Man it was great, the writing, soundtrack, acting, cinematography, I genuinely can't wait to start season 2!

Now I'm not going to condemn how I had expected the season to end about the way it ends up doing because after all, this is still a series centred mainly on politics and just two episodes ago, I got hit by something I wasn't at all seeing coming. However, the end to House of Cards' first season disappoints on more levels than its predictability and with those, being about politics doesn't count as an excuse.

For one, although writer Beau Willimon attempts to conceal this by stretching the time of Frank searching for a solution to his predicament out as long as possible, his protagonist once again succeeds in his endeavour with eyebrow-raising simplicity. Raymond Tusk had just been introduced as an astute and articulate counterpart to Frank in the last chapter and what now? The latter is just telling him that he won't find another candidate for the vice-presidency as loyal him, which leads him to conform to every single one of Frank's demands and ending up having achieved quite about nothing tangible. In addition to the historically verifiable fact that his plan is as well-conceived as Hitler's concerning the invasion of the Soviet Union in the midst of the Russian Winter, Tusk also relies on the promise of a dubious politician he first met just a couple of days ago and – though I might take away a bit of dialogue Frank himself wanted to use in one of those occasions in which he addresses the audience directly – most of the time, broken promises are of more harm to the one who doesn't receive what he's been promised than the one who doesn't deliver.

After that agreement, we get to see a scene in the Oval Office with these two and the President at a table. Apparently, that bloke is still entirely unaware of anything that is going on anywhere expect in his always perfectly combed hair, is still under the impression that Frank knows nothing about his oh so clever idea and is also oblivious to the duo colluding behind his back. If that really is the case (and I'm fairly certain it is), I can hardly imagine how we would still see him smiling out of that nice little chair in that nice little office again at the end of the next season. Lest we forget, there's also a Zoe part going on in which she is Horatio Caine, Janine Skorsky takes on the role of Calleigh Duquesne, and Lucas Goodwin represents Eric Delko and the three of them are solving cases with ridiculous ease and lack of consequence.

I understand that these preceding paragraphs haven't exactly been the nicest things I've got off my chest since I've started reviewing this series, but still: there's appeal to chapter thirteen. When regarded rather as the construction of groundwork for the way how House of Cards will continue from this point onwards, it does do an exceedingly effective job in making me excited. Will Gillian's charges against Claire really get nationwide coverage and thereby lead Frank to step in with some situation-comforting fuddling and car engines running in closed garages or a similar measure? Will Zoe or another CSI: Miami crew member come to the same fate if they keep digging? Will Christina end up that way as well because for her utter uselessness as a character now that Peter is dead? Question upon questions with no answers handed out yet, but the series has by now established characters as three- dimensional to make such exits work out of a storytelling perspective.

Memoranda: • The huge Sancorp sign on the ground appearing as if photoshopped into the picture and the man with sunglasses walking past it had me believing in watching Fringe for a moment. • Though he had promised absolute discretion to him, Meechum has never really been used for anything of importance to Frank, something going against what I had expected from House of Cards' first season. In that case, I'm pretty sure that the second season will make use of this dependence in one way or another. • "I try not to follow the news. Too many familiar faces." – Another explanation why Rachel is one of the greatest characters in this series. • Why on earth would Beau Willimon assume that I, or anyone for that matter, would want to hear only a single word about Claire's silly nightmares? • Claire has had THREE abortions in her life? I'm all ears for more information on that subject. • Clock camera. Not as interesting as you'd expect though. • Very good final shot of Frank surpassing Claire when running next to her. When the series uses something happening on screen as a metaphor for a relationship between characters, it's always worth mentioning. • Best quote: "This town is way too incestuous." – Truer words have never been spoken, Calleigh. Sorry, I mean Janine.

I was drawn to this show by the positive word of mouth and of course the caliber of the people involved across the production. The narrative sets us inside the White House as ambitious career politician Frank Underwood seeks a higher position and, when he finds himself scuppered in his hopes by the new administration, he sets about to manipulate people and events in such a way that he can place himself ideally for advancement but also revenge. It is a show that right from the opening scene sets out its stall as being focused on ruthless characters who have multiple faces and carefully concealed motivations.

It continues this way through the first season, with plenty of turns in the narrative to engage and entertain. It is also expensively and professionally made, looking good across the board, with a sense of weighty quality about it – although perhaps too much. This sense of weight and importance doesn't help the show because it is never as thrilling as it should be, nor as taut as the games Underwood plays suggest it would be either. The show has an accessible feel to it and it wears its high-brow clothes, but in essence it is a weekly procedural, albeit one with political games rather than police investigations. The pace is surprisingly slow throughout as well; this is concealed somewhat by the sense of depth and quality, but it is concealed rather than compensated for.

As it is the show is carried along by such slickness and it benefits from it because the material is not always as compelling as it would have you believe – engaging for sure, but despite what some might say, it is possible to stop watching even when you have all the episodes at the touch of a button. The cast are part of the reason it compels and in particular Spacey very much enjoys his role and draws the viewer in well. Around him is a solid cast and mostly good characters in the shape of Wright, Kelly, Mara and others, but there are also weaker characters who perhaps should not be that way (the President for one seems the least political savvy one in the whole place).

House of Cards is a quality show; you can feel that yourself given how professionally it is made and how deep into all the corners the quality goes. That doesn't mean it is perfect though and, although engaging, I was surprised by how passive a lot of it was, with a slow pace and often lacking a real sense of tension, high stakes or danger. However, although it is not as good as it thinks it is, it is still engaging and entertaining.