“The road to power is paved with casualties,” Frank Underwood said as last season of House of Cards came to an end.
There were, in fact, many casualties and the road eventually led to presidency. My hope for the season is that without these key characters, the show can find a way to keep a balance of good and evil.
The show was accidentally released a few weeks early. But soon after realizing the mistake the show was pulled and Netflix later jested about the mishap with a tweet saying:
This is Washington. There’s always a leak. All 13 episodes will launch February 27.
— House of Cards (@HouseofCards) February 11, 2015
After patiently waiting, those working at Netflix made sure of releasing the series meticulously on time, Feb. 27 as the clock struck midnight.
In the first episode of the series, we focus almost entirely on Doug Stamper and the fact that he’s alive. He is recovering from a severe brain injury, caused from his skull being bludgeoned by the rock-wielding Rachel. He is anxious, almost desperate, to get back to being Frank’s devoted slave.
However, with his mood swings and an eerie sense of unpredictability, Frank may decide that Doug is no longer of use to him.
Doug’s tendencies in the first episode bring back a familiar plot, involving the Chief of Staff defying his sobriety, paying for prostitutes and popping Percocet. The episode realistically and emotionally depicts how medical trauma like this can lead some into a dark pit of depression and addiction, or for some they fall back into previous undesirable tendencies.
For Peter Russo, battling sobriety, an addiction to cocaine and the bad habit of sleeping with hookers ended in tragedy Frank, like a shark smelling blood, maneuvered the weak man like a puppet. If this is any precedent for season three, perhaps Doug will follow suit. As someone who will wait hand and foot for the President he doesn’t seem to have the strength to recover from more than just his brain injury.
When we aren’t watching Doug suffer, we see Frank’s wife Claire unsatisfied with standing in the background as the first lady. She has decided that she wants to be an ambassador to the United Nations – it’s casual. She puts her pants on, tells Frank that he is going to help her achieve her desire and to his apparent dismay he agrees. The power-hungry couple leave the episode holding hands – as if shaking after a business deal.
The dynamic has changed, as we see Frank less kiss-ass and more harshly demanding. After all, he’s the President now.
Somehow this Frank is a little less satisfying and a little less manipulative. Will we see any of the old Frank we used to love – one who plots murder and has sex with journalists? I have a feeling that the new professional and callous Frank, who speaks about campaign finance reform to the dismay of snoozing Netflix watchers, is going to disappoint.
Episode one was more political than most episodes – while it is a political drama, I think it’s safe to say most watch the show for the drama. Viewers may be tempted to binge-watch purely in the hopes of seeing improvement, new characters and finding traces of the Frank we loved to hate.
