House of Cards Season 4: Balance in storytelling
When Heather Dunbar says in the middle of this season “a president is not just a president, it’s also the people who work for him.” It’s an important real world consideration but also a good way to think about this show. Frank Underwood wouldn’t have got anywhere without his trusty staff, and neither would have the series in general. The way every plot twists and relates with other plots is what gives House of Cards all the vitality that many politic TV dramas lack. And this 4th season is a living proof of that, focusing much more on other characters, without forgetting about The President.
I had low expectations for season 4 because season 3 was already becoming stale, even if it was slower than other TV shows. Season 5 is the point where many series go big or go home, but you can always see it coming on the previous seasons. However, Netflix has breath life into House of Cards once more, and it felt alive as its younger brother season 1. And not thanks to Frank, who looked clearly older than anyone else. A smart decision on production, seeing how all United States presidents age pretty poorly.
One of the foundations of this season is the way it recovers many old plants and characters who had a bigger focus on the first seasons. Lucas Goldwin’s plot was becoming a real mess with the hacker plot, but the creators found a way to bring it back and give it a meaningful end, and we heard again the names of Zoe Barnes and Peter Russo. We also see repetition in Doug’s aggressive obsessive personality. Freddy has his 15 minutes of glory, even if it’s only to push the plot further, and so does Jackie, Remy, former president Garret and Raymond Tusk. Even the Civil War recreator that Frank met in the past comes back to haunt him, in one of his hallucinations.
There are also new characters with such power and strength, one wonders how was there a show before they existed. Conway’s family is a perfect portrait on how media focused politics is, and their overly cheesy use of their online personas is just another layer on top of an already hard to decipher family. Underwood’s new head of campaign LeAnn strikes just as hard and feeds the already childish tension inside the White House staff, with Doug and Seth chocking on their own egos and interests.
This season also portraits some dream sequences that clearly mark its tone and direction, becoming the most lyrical or openly expressive this show has ever been. The trauma after being shot mixed with the ammonia in his brain gives Frank terrible nightmares that expose his deepest fears. He sees his grandfather’s recreation shooting him, a representation at the same time of his hatred to his roots and his shame and fear of his weakness. His dreams about Claire’s rowing machine also highlight his weakness, both physical and in his relationship with his wife. Peter Russo and Zoey Barnes also appear to remind him how intimidating his emotional and sexual manipulation are. Probably the most powerful is the first one we see, Frank fighting mercilessly with Claire, a fight for power that has always been buried for way too long. A fight that Claire seems to have more will to win.
Claire is a force that keeps fighting for spotlight in this show, and it is never clear what her ways or intentions are. Much like Frank, she’s never transparent to the world. The main difference is we have an open windows to Frank’s mind throughout the series, we now what he thinks because he tells us straight. But we never know exactly what does she think, and sometimes it seems she doesn’t have it clear either. She has affairs with other men, frequently demands equality to his husband but gets cold feet immediately after, and keeps changing her objective. She’s as strong and as ruthless as Frank, and that’s why her position in their plan wasn’t pleasing for her. His despotic attitude pushed her away at the end of season 3, and she’s got time to think about her desires. Season 4 shows a reborn Claire, one that steals all the protagonism even before The President gets shot, directly attacking his campaign to remind him that he needs her, maybe more than she needs him. By the end of the season, the Underwoods are at the peak of their game, not as the power couple they advertised themselves as, but as two titans that fight together. Barely quoting the last titan in television: “We don’t submit to terror. We make the terror”. At the very last shot of the season, Claire states her new position by looking directly into the camera. She acknowledges the audience, just as Frank does.
If it were possible to describe with only one word House of Cards, it could be “balance”. Power is the main energy that flows in this show, and no one ever has to much or too little. The more powerful Frank gets, the bigger enemies he has, and the lest he can control them. In a similar way, the producers balance the information in the show, to not give too much away but keep the audience attention. They also control how we get the information, and make sure every player in the game has a meaningful part. Season 4 recovers the balance season 3 might had lost, and it seems it has finally found a balance between Claire and Frank. We’re at that peak in any monster movie where the evil force seems to be in control and there seems to be no way to stop it. Except this time, we are the monster.
