'House of Cards' season 2: take your time, then you'd be rewarded

After two weeks of binge-watching (pretty slowly, I might add), I finally finished season 2 of Netflix’s political drama, ‘House of Cards’. What took me so long? Well, beside of the fact that I do have tons other good shows I had to keep watching, part of me was kind of wanted this show to stay a bit longer. So I stalled and I stalled until I have no excuses but to watch it ‘till the last episode.

First of all, let me tell you who get lost and wind up in this blog of mine that this article contains major spoilers. So, for you who haven’t done watching the show, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. You’ve been warned.

Okay, now let’s cut to the chase. Season 2 of ‘House of Cards’ definitely brought up a much more complex and complicated plots to the audience. It takes us into the maze of schemes, political labyrinth, in which we could get lost easily if we weren’t pay attention even if it’s just for a split second.

In season 1, we knew the Underwoods were seeking a pay back to those who betrayed them after President Walker failed to make Frank the Secretary of State. He was never said it out loud, but it was clear to me as an audience that he wants to get in to the White House in his terms and make those who stand in his way suffer in the process.

Now if you think the first season was already confusing and tricky, it was nothing compare to the second one. There were a lot of political issues addressed this season, including diplomatic relationship, energy crisis, bills to be passed on, back-channeling, and some fierce battles between parties. If you do not familiar with politics phrases, then you must need some time to digest. At some points, I'd even had to re-watch some episodes with subtitles just to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

In addition to those, we also got layers and layers of schemes built by Frank. God, this man is a snake. You won’t realize he’s manipulating every single person in the show just to get his way even when you’re watching him doing so. He’d say one thing to someone and tells the opposite to another. It was really hard to read his intention and predicted his next moves. But once you passed all of those, it instantly becomes clear on how they’re intertwined and it's totally worth your attention.

Not only the scale of the storyline was larger, the second season also involving more characters to build conflicts on the show. You’d not only see politicians, bureaucrats, and government staffs, but also businessmen, journalists, FBI agents, and even a hacker whose life tangling in one another to make the story even richer than it already has. They come and go, of course, but their roles were vital at some points.

Despite of all the complicated plots and the extra efforts to keep up with the storyline, I’d really like to give some appreciation to the characters development in this series. The regular characters were getting stronger and bolder this season. Even Francis and Claire Underwood who already had a remarkable personality, were capable to charmed the audience even more.

In the beginning of this season, we’d see Frank finally get his dirty fingers on Vice President’s chair of The United States. And at the time, I predicted he would successfully replace President Walker by the end of the season. And I was right after all.

His journey to get to that point, of course extremely evil and ruthless. We’ve already saw what Frank was capable of to get everything he desired (kill Peter Russo, for instance), yet in this season, he proved to be capable to lower his humanity once again (or twice) to keep him on the track. You wouldn’t have to wait long enough to see my point. Simply watch the first episode and bam! The next thing you know, he pushed Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) in the subway when a train passed by.

He also proved to be a skillful lobbyist as he was capable to drive everyone to go on his direction. Of course, the show's already displayed that point on previous season, but this time, his magic was tested when he face so many situations in which required him to give a top-notch skill of persuasion. Sometimes it was almost impossible for him to do all those things and yet still managed to get away with it.

Not only Frank, his equally relentless wife, Claire was upgrading her game as well. She went from a supportive wife (sometimes even demanding) to a powerful, manipulative machine who’s smart enough to use everything and everyone as tools to get what she wants. Clearly, Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright successfully brought their A-game to make these characters feel so alive.

The last good thing I'd like to highlight from the second season was the surprise casualties. I thought I've seen it all when Zoe gone, but no. On the season finale, I had to drop my jaw when Rachel Posner (Rachel Brosnahan) finally decided to smash Doug Stamper's (Michael Kelly) head with a rock in the most impulsive way possible. And that means we've lost two of our main characters in this season. Geez, this show had lost its regulars faster than 'The Walking Dead'.

The downside of this season for me was the Underwoods seem to have no rival figure to match their subtlety. On season one, there was always Zoe, and then Janine Skorsky (Constance Zimmer) and Lucas Goodwin (Sebastian Arcelus) to represent the good side. But then, Zoe gone on the first episode, Janine got cold feet and head back to her hometown, whilst Lucas went to jail. After him, we got nothing.

I’ve already love ‘House of Cards’ as it is, but let’s be honest, a show like this always gets more appealing when it has a good and a bad side to fight against each other. Even a show like ‘Breaking Bad’ which basically centralized its story on one single evil character, had a protagonist figure who has been in the show from the beginning.

And that’s exactly what this series needed. The protagonist also needs to stay longer, not just come and go in between episodes because the audience need some time to invest in the character and root for them. In that case, I hope the hacker, Gavin Orsay (Jimmi Simpson) will stay and becomes our anti-hero for the next season. Or that journalist from The Washington Telegraph, Ayla Sayyad (Mozhan Marno). She could be a potential enemy as well.

So, to sum up the whole new season of ‘House of Cards’, I would say the show still managed to be the only political drama that stands out among other series these days. There’s a lot to be expected on the next season already and as a fan, I’d be waiting patiently to see how the most evil man in America rule the whole country and put them all under his feet. It’d be damn catastrophic.