An Odd Valentine: House of Cards

On Valentine's Day you will have the opportunity to watch the second season of House of Cards on Netflix with your sweetheart.  However, Congressman Francis Underwood and his wife Claire are the furthest thing from a model couple for budding love birds.  Their relationship is a strange mix of calculating power, fear of others, and self-inflicted pain.  Its what the Republicans always feared about the Clinton marriage, but in this case it is true (on TV, that is). 

In season one we saw Francis (Kevin Spacey) get passed over for the Secretary of State position, and for the rest of the season he clawed his way back to the top over a series of bodies, both alive and quite dead.  In the meantime, Claire (Robin Wright) had her own struggles keeping her non-profit afloat using questionable financial resources while stepping over a few bodies herself.  This was truly a couple forged in hell bent on power through any means necessary. 

Are there many other players here?  Of course, as with any game of chess, but you always have your eyes on the king and queen pieces.  This is the modern version of MacBeth with plenty of sex and murder to keep the crowds coming back.  It is necessarily new?  No.  But it is well done and makes Washington a much more interesting and functional place than you might believe from the daily newspaper stories.  

Netflix made a shrewd bet when it spent $100 million on the two season series, and now it has committed to a third season as well.  That suits me just fine since this is a terrific series that keeps you at the edge of your seat.  That said, I think I will watch my episodes weekly since it lasts that much longer.