House of Cards - Season 1 (2013)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2013
	Creator: Beau Willimon
	Actors:  Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, American Beauty), Michel Gill, Robin Wright (The Congress)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Thriller, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: August 2016, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Francis Underwood (Spacey) has backed the right man in the race for presidency of the USA. When he is refused the position of Secretary of State he was coveting, he has to revise his plans.
Review: I had heard a lot of good things about this series, tried to start it once, was not in the mood, but this time started again and devoured the first season in ten days, rather quickly but not so quickly as to be saturated by it. The TV-series is about power, power within the American government. It is shocking how much time of the congressmen and other politicians is used to gain or retain power, rather than doing the best for the people that elected them. Fortunately the series is only a widely exaggerated view of the truth (is it?). It seems to be based if not on true events at least in the true range of possibilities offered to politicians in the USA. For example I found shocking that big companies openly finance the parties in return for favors, even though of course those favors are never agreed upon directly but through mutual relations. Kevin Spacey is the boss in the show, playing wonderfully the extremely clever and manipulative politician. His wife is played by a no-less-great Robin Wright, and I found the rules of their relationship to be unheard of in the movie world. Such excellent writing immediately gives an advantage to this series compared to others. Another particularity of the series is that Underwood constantly breaks the fourth wall (i.e. talks to the camera) in a very skillful way (not as obvious as the reality-TV style of Modern Family), which takes the audience in a special relationship with him. All of the other and many characters encountered in this first season are very believable. I like in particular the one of Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly) who is the right-arm of Underwood and seems to never sleep, doing anything required by his boss and never getting any thanks. I hope that his motivations are further developed in the next seasons. The series revolves a lot around the USA presidency so it is easy to anticipate an increasing tension over the next four seasons. Tension there is already in the first season, reaching a semi-climax in Chapter 6, and Underwood reveals his true endgame and nature in Chapter 10. Another episode to mention is Chapter 8 which takes the opportunity of a relief in tension to take place far from the Washington usual business and tell us more about the background of Underwood. It is hard to find arguments against this excellent first season. Maybe a few reaction from the characters are exaggerated or unrealistic. Anyway highly recommended.
Rating: 8 /10