TV Series Review: House of Cards (Season 1)

House of Cards (Netflix)

This is probably the series that put Netflix on our series radars (along with Orange is the New Black). Being a political series, I was very interested to watch it and the episodes lived to the hype but did not offer much else. Somehow, I ended up being a bit disappointed at the end of this season, even though I want to keep watching it. I feel that season 1 was just a warm-up and I hope that's true.

We have this very charismatic characters, Frank Underwood, who actually looks at you, something unusual and probably the best selling point of this series. All we need is a look from him (when he's talking to the President or when someone is upsetting him) to feel like we belong to his family.

And speaking of family, in series like Scandal, Frank and Claire would be considered the bag guys, the villains of an episode or two. But here, I didn't have an opinion on them during the first 5 episodes and then I thought that it didn't really matter, because they are the main characters and at the end of the day we will be rooting for them, no matter how bad they might be to other people.

The highlight of this badness is Peter Russo. This congressman is chosen by Frank to run for Governor of his State, but his past eventually takes the best of him. This, of course, because of Frank. Peter is not a bad person, he just didn't have an easy life and made bad decisions. Frank makes him believe that he can overcome this, but he is also the one who takes the final blow.

The consequences are not shown during this season, except for the fact that Zoe Barnes and her other two journalist friends are trying to figure out what really happened. A storyline that was left open for season 2.

On the other side of the partnership, we have Claire, CEO of the CWI. She is faced with so many bumps in the road but her face does not let it show. However, Gillian, when faced with the hypocrisy, decides to take action and now Claire has to face a lawsuit. Another storyline that will surely be developed during season 2.

So, in the end, this first season offered a good introduction to Frank and Claire's story, but it did not have the development the first episode promised. On the other hand, the good cinematography, the great actors, and some captivating storylines made season 2 even more promising.