Jackson Ball reviews the fourth episode of House of Cards Season 3 …
If there’s one aspect you can criticise about the early episodes we’ve seen so far in season three, it’s that they are not playing to the show’s strengths. Episode four hopes to change that though…
Warning! Spoilers Ahead – You have been warned!
Speaking of strengths, I think it’s fair to say that House of Cards is rarely better when Frank (Kevin Spacey) and Clare (Robin Wright) are back-to-back, fighting the world for political power. They are ruthless, political predators, so let us see them hunt. Luckily though, ‘Chapter 30’ does just that.
New faces mean new rivals for the Underwoods; rivals that cause angst for both the president and first lady. Frank comes face-to-face with Heather Dunbar (Elizabeth Marvel), a highly-regarded lawyer in Washington, as she seeks the president’s counsel in regards to the realities of a recent drone strike. It’s clear that Frank is looking to add Dubar to his ever-expanding collection of political pawns, but something appears to be amiss here; Dunbar isn’t exactly defiant of him, but there’s a strong indication that she isn’t about to roll over lightly. We’ll have to keep an eye on this one.
Clare also has her hands full as America’s UN Ambassador, as she butts heads with her Russian counterpart over the movement of US troops in the Middle East. Although this is merely a subplot in the grand scheme of things, its feels like a bit of a damp one. After the brilliant confrontation between Frank and the Russian president in the previous episode, this all feels a bit anticlimactic.
Another great strength of the show that this episode indulges is that Kevin Spacey is an unbelievable talent. I know this goes without saying at this point (The guy has two Oscars for goodness sake!), but it really can’t be overstated how much Spacey raises the material he is given. A classic example features in this episode: in a scene where Frank comes face to face with a stature of Jesus Christ in a church.
After declaring that he isn’t ‘buying’ what the deity is ‘selling’, he spits in the face of the statue. The symbolism there is so heavy-handed, I would really call it symbolism; he is literally spitting in the face of a higher power that himself. As Frank begins to wipe the spit off, the statue crashes to the ground, shattering to pieces (again, subtlety goes out the window). Frank proceeds to pick up a fragmented piece of the statue – Jesus’ ear – before turning to camera and delivering the line: ‘Well, I’ve got God’s ear now”. Looking back at it now, I can’t help but cringe, but at the time of watching I was completely satisfied with the line, such was Spacey’s delivery and charm.
I can understand the difficulty of a third season, just as I can understand the decision to combat that difficulty by ‘trying something new’. It’s a well-judged decision, as audiences are surely expected something a little different from the first two seasons. Having said that though, you don’t want to stray too far from what it is that made those audiences fall the show in the first place. That’s why the vast majority of an episode needs to be firing on all cylinders: playing to the shows strengths.
Jackson Ball – follow me on Twitter
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszH_jfuJoo8HCG1-lGjvfH2F&v=SMekjOsexHs&feature=player_embedded
Originally published March 7, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
