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House of Cards proved to be the first original hit for the streaming video service Netflix. The political drama starring Kevin Spacey and produced by David Fincher has just released its third season for viewers to absorb as quickly or as leisurely as they’d like. While there’s still plenty of intrigue to hold attention, a continuing drift from taut political thriller to prime-time soap opera has somewhat tarnished its effectiveness.
At the close of the second season, Francis Underwood (Spacey) finally realized his lifelong ambition as he settled into the office of President of the United States. As any world leader eventually learns, maintaining such a high office can be far more difficult than gaining it. President Underwood must now deal with resentment in his own party, a belligerent Russian president (Lars Mikkelsen), and his wife Claire’s (Robin Wright) desire to be something more than just First Lady—all while trying to launch a massive domestic jobs program.
In the first two seasons, viewers became acquainted with Francis Underwood as a man who would go to any length, burn any bridge, and even commit murder in order to get what he wanted. As President of the United States, he’s reached the pinnacle of his political ambitions, but the increased scrutiny and lack of superiors to manipulate has also rendered him less effective as a schemer. Majority Whip Underwood could play political friends and enemies off each other while keeping his own machinations out of the spotlight. President Underwood doesn’t enjoy the same luxury and, as a result, becomes a less compelling character. Spacey still chews scenery with gusto, but watching him stumble through frustration after frustration makes it harder to root for him.
In place of the political skulduggery, House of Cards seems to have leaned more heavily into relationship drama. Almost every character this year has some kind of dysfunctional romantic plotline—a choice that ultimately proves less than compelling on most fronts. By this point, Francis’s relationship with Claire has bounced through several ups and downs, and focusing on their unorthodox marriage doesn’t carry the weight that it wants to.
A more effective subplot centers on Francis’s former chief of staff, Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), a brutally thorough political enforcer whose injury at the end of the second season has left him sidelined for much of the third. Kelly quietly brings to life the inner turmoil of someone who’s trying to find his way back to the only thing he know how to do well, even if it means leaving behind a chance to repair the damage to his soul.
Overall, there’s a feeling that this season serves mainly to move the pieces around the board and set up for a more focused fourth season, likely built around Francis’s struggle to win re-election. House of Cards boasts a great cast, and it’s a shame that this season gave so many of them so little to do of any consequence. House of Cards works best when it goes full steam ahead on plot, restraint be damned, without needing to slow down and try to develop nuance among its small band of over-the-top politicos. In that way, it’s much like Francis himself: by finally getting what it wants—recognition and a chance to be a meaningful character drama—it’s also lost the ability to do the sneaky, underhanded, fascinating things that made it so good in the first place.
