Is there anything more disappointing than your favorite tv show taking a nosedive in quality as it comes to an end? You find an enthralling new television show that you watch over the course of years. You read rumors about the direction the plot will take in the next season and join an internet forum or two dedicated to the show so you can discuss these rumors. You attempt to proselytize the show to anyone that will listen to you. You do all these things just to watch something you loved fall apart before your very eyes, but you’ve come too far to give up now. Like a car crash you can’t look away as it crashes and burns.
Netflix’s House of Cards was the first show that I watched fall off the rails in real-time. If you ask any HoC fan they’ll likely say the first two seasons are masterpieces, the third and fourth seasons are pretty decent, and the fifth and sixth seasons are some of the worst pieces of media they’ve ever seen. Most fans agree on exactly what went wrong with Netflix’s first original series, and it centers around the entire premise of the show. From the series premiere Frank Underwood sets out to take over Washington, trampling over anyone and anything that gets in his way, but where does the show go when Frank accomplishes this task? What happens when ruthless pragmatism turns your once-compelling main character into a two-dimensional shell that lacks depth or nuance? Unsurprisingly these questions are asked at the end of season 2 when Frank finally becomes President and the show loses focus on what originally made it so great. Frank and his wife Claire become entirely consumed with the pursuit of power and lose their direction as characters because of it, but before that they were real characters with complex emotions, as we see in the episode S1 E8 “Chapter 8”.
The episode centers on Frank’s former military school dedicating a new library in his honor after a sizable donation from a lobbying group Frank works with. The night before the dedication Frank is surprised by the arrival of three old choir mates from his days as a cadet at the academy. Frank spends the rest of the night gallivanting with his choral comrades and for the first time we see Frank truly happy. Until now every interaction Frank has had has been a means to an end with Frank single-mindedly focused on getting whatever he needed from whoever he needed it, but not here. Here Frank is happy to relive his glory days, going so far as to drunkenly break into the soon-to-be-demolished old library just like they did as students. It’s inside this library that we really see a different side to Frank emerge. While talking to one of his friends, Tim, Frank admits that the library is a “sham”, nothing more than the product of a phone call to a deep-pocketed lobbying group. He readily accepts that the building will eventually be torn down and the whole process is meaningless, but the two of them turn their conversation instead to each other. They discuss the deep bond they shared and what happened to it, with Tim simply stating that they went their separate ways after school. Frank claims that they were more than brothers and from the look on his face we know he means it with every fiber of his heart and soul. We don’t need him to turn directly into the camera and give one of his fourth-wall-breaking monologues about everything that happened between them. We just know that for a few brief years they meant everything to each other.
The episode comes to a close with Frank giving a speech at the actual dedication of the library the next day. Every speech Frank has given in the series until now has been sure-fire, confident, and charismatic. This time Frank gives less of a speech and more of a meandering monologue on life. Frank ponders the temporary nature of all things, be they brick or bond. He eventually comes to the conclusion that the beauty of what we build exists for however long it lasts, and we should cherish it while we can. When all is said and done Frank and Tim reconvene and Tim offers Frank the opportunity to visit his home. As the episode closes Frank takes one last longing look at the program he got from the dedication ceremony and for one brief moment maybe reconsiders all the plans he’s put into motion. Maybe he actually considers visiting Tim and reconnecting with someone that once meant so much to him. Maybe he reconsiders his whole life. Maybe he does, but ultimately he tosses the pamphlet away and leaves it all behind.
Matthew Daugherty is a young writer from Northeast Ohio. He is primarily a fiction writer, but enjoys the occasional foray into pop culture and media criticism. He can be found Tweeting into the void at @mdaugherty1221.