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Doronin posted:I finally finished season 2, so I can read this thread without risk. That was some of the most addicting TV I've seen in a long while, and I normally don't get into political dramas. I think he was saying he wanted to know what led up to the circumstance that had Frank get passed over, not stuff that happened after. He wanted backstory. They basically went, "Hey, Frank. Yada yada yada, and that's why you can't be Secretary." The reason about them needing him in the senate or house or whatever was really just an excuse. Drifter fucked around with this message at 21:50 on May 5, 2014 |
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May 5, 2014 21:48
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| # ? May 14, 2024 22:24 |
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Wasn't it because Tusk
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May 6, 2014 00:14
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Jerusalem posted:Wasn't it because Tusk I think so, but whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!?!
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May 6, 2014 02:01
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Drifter posted:I think so, but whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?!?! It's been awhile since I watched but I vaguely recall it being something about Tusk (probably quite rightly) thinking that Walker wasn't strong enough to keep the party in line, and that Frank's low profile was a sign of a willingness to stay behind the scenes, so he would be better suited to Walker's (really Tusk's) administration if he remained where he was.
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May 6, 2014 02:17
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Started watching because Netflix was begging me and handed me a free month at the recommendation of Debate & Discussion and the new CoD trailer. Watching Season 2, Episode 1 right now.  Holy. loving. poo poo. Rating it 5 stars. That's all.
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May 6, 2014 09:14
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Happy Noodle Boy posted:Not really related, but either the Call of Duty guys really really liked House of Card or this is a great preview for Season 3. Well gently caress, now I want to actually play a CoD game. 
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May 6, 2014 20:13
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Zwabu posted:No, my point is that Pres. Walker and his Chief of Staff seemed to take the whole matter of going back on their promise to Frank to make him SoS a lot more lightly than would seem appropriate, it was basically "well we need you a lot more in the House, so are you on the team or not, can we count on you?" Not that the event itself wasn't a big deal, as it catalyzed the entire plot. It's a scenario as well where Walker is throwing power around. I like to read it that nobody likes Frank. Period. He's a "man of the party" but nobody likes him at all, and most everyone who has interactions with him in the show rarely demonstrates any amount of actual fondness for him. He's very, very good at being a whip though, and Walker knows THAT. Walker seems to have surrounded himself, as any sensible President does, with people whom he liked or had good relationships with. Frank wasn't ever really part of that team. Tusk may have had his reasons to eliminate Frank, but I think it was a matter of Walker needing to show that he's willing to throw some weight around, and keeping Frank in the trenches was meant to intimidate him a bit. Remember, you work for ME, Frank, and I can end you in a second. Unfortunately, Walker is incompetant...and Frank only works for Frank.
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May 6, 2014 20:26
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BottledBodhisvata posted:It's a scenario as well where Walker is throwing power around. I like to read it that nobody likes Frank. Period. He's a "man of the party" but nobody likes him at all, and most everyone who has interactions with him in the show rarely demonstrates any amount of actual fondness for him. He's very, very good at being a whip though, and Walker knows THAT. Walker seems to have surrounded himself, as any sensible President does, with people whom he liked or had good relationships with. Frank wasn't ever really part of that team. Tusk may have had his reasons to eliminate Frank, but I think it was a matter of Walker needing to show that he's willing to throw some weight around, and keeping Frank in the trenches was meant to intimidate him a bit. Remember, you work for ME, Frank, and I can end you in a second. Unfortunately, Walker is incompetant...and Frank only works for Frank. I definitely concur with the idea that probably nobody actually likes Frank, and it fits in with my own personal theory that Frank got as far as he did by making everybody think he's an unassuming country bumpkin who happens to be a drat good legislator. A lot of the plot makes more sense if you assume that everybody thinks that Frank is kinda stupid, and it fits with how his plans work out. He usually manages to make it look like he bungled his way into success, like with the education bill leaking, Russo falling off the wagon, and the entire half of the second season, where he makes the president look like an idiot and nearly compromises the entire administration.
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May 6, 2014 20:37
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DStecks posted:I definitely concur with the idea that probably nobody actually likes Frank, and it fits in with my own personal theory that Frank got as far as he did by making everybody think he's an unassuming country bumpkin who happens to be a drat good legislator. A lot of the plot makes more sense if you assume that everybody thinks that Frank is kinda stupid, and it fits with how his plans work out. He usually manages to make it look like he bungled his way into success, like with the education bill leaking, Russo falling off the wagon, and the entire half of the second season, where he makes the president look like an idiot and nearly compromises the entire administration. This is even more the case in the UK version, where Urquhart plays up his stupidity and even his age when dealing with people around him. He's very naturally doddering and kind of wide-eyed in response to things, even though he's actually so utterly vile and sinister that every time he smiles, a cancer cell is born. Frank plays the everyman role, Urquhart definitely plays the dolt...all the way up to the point when the Prime Minister gives him his job and THANKS HIM for taking it. After that, he goes full Thatcher...and actually then proves himself to be rather incompetent.
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May 6, 2014 20:52
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So, uh, is Stamper dead? I mean I know she whacked him in the head with a rock and that's not good for anyone, but I'm thinking unconsciousness/concussion, not death, right? As to whether he wakes up and is able to get to civilization before he's eaten by wolves... I really enjoyed season 2. The final episode after Frank is sworn in and he knocks his hand on the desk in the Oval Office while staring directly at the camera, it actually gave me goosebumps.
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May 6, 2014 21:01
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The Midniter posted:So, uh, is Stamper dead? I mean I know she whacked him in the head with a rock and that's not good for anyone, but I'm thinking unconsciousness/concussion, not death, right? As to whether he wakes up and is able to get to civilization before he's eaten by wolves... He's just pining.
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May 6, 2014 21:05
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The Midniter posted:So, uh, is Stamper dead? I mean I know she whacked him in the head with a rock and that's not good for anyone, but I'm thinking unconsciousness/concussion, not death, right? As to whether he wakes up and is able to get to civilization before he's eaten by wolves... He looked dead as gently caress to me. Usually people in a coma don't have open, glazed over eyes.
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May 6, 2014 21:19
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He dead.
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May 6, 2014 21:24
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I think he just got the alcoholism knocked out of him. He'll be alright and ready to go for season 3, guys.
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May 7, 2014 05:36
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Zwabu posted:No, my point is that Pres. Walker and his Chief of Staff seemed to take the whole matter of going back on their promise to Frank to make him SoS a lot more lightly than would seem appropriate, it was basically "well we need you a lot more in the House, so are you on the team or not, can we count on you?" Not that the event itself wasn't a big deal, as it catalyzed the entire plot. Oh, I see what you mean now. You're right, the way it was acted out came off really blase, which even struck me on the first episode.
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May 7, 2014 16:59
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Doronin posted:Oh, I see what you mean now. You're right, the way it was acted out came off really blase, which even struck me on the first episode. It makes a little more sense if you accept the theory that everybody thinks Frank is a simple country bumpkin, who probably wouldn't be hurt that much by the betrayal.
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May 7, 2014 17:42
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DStecks posted:It makes a little more sense if you accept the theory that everybody thinks Frank is a simple country bumpkin, who probably wouldn't be hurt that much by the betrayal. But I can't imagine anyone who's a DC insider thinking this. If he's been Whip for that long, he definitely has a reputation for being a hardass who is anything but simple.
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May 7, 2014 23:29
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Xealot posted:But I can't imagine anyone who's a DC insider thinking this. If he's been Whip for that long, he definitely has a reputation for being a hardass who is anything but simple. He's also the guy who has come across as ruthlessly pragmatic to all the insiders, the one who tells them to put aside their own vanity and self-interest and do what is good for the party (and he'll make sure they're taken care of for their "loyalty"). So it's not too surprising that Walker or Vasquez thought that he would be equally pragmatic himself and accept the decision to keep him where he was because they "needed" him there.
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May 7, 2014 23:49
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Jerusalem posted:He's also the guy who has come across as ruthlessly pragmatic to all the insiders, the one who tells them to put aside their own vanity and self-interest and do what is good for the party (and he'll make sure they're taken care of for their "loyalty"). So it's not too surprising that Walker or Vasquez thought that he would be equally pragmatic himself and accept the decision to keep him where he was because they "needed" him there. Thinking about it like that, it seems their fatal mistake was thinking Frank had political ambitions instead of merely power ones. I'm not sure how they could have believed that of him if they'd worked with him so closely for so long though. In the whole run of the show we've never seen him bother to muster up any real passion for a cause, and convincing other people about a project's value to the public good takes a distant third to backscratching and bribery when he's negotiating with someone.
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May 8, 2014 00:07
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GameSpot has some fun with Kevin Spacey being in the new Call of Duty game 
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May 10, 2014 08:22
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Rageaholic Monkey posted:GameSpot has some fun with Kevin Spacey being in the new Call of Duty game This is incredibly well done. In a world full of lovely parodies of things, especially gaming related, this really stands out as being great.
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May 12, 2014 18:52
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UtahIsNotAState posted:I thought that was really really weird too. I think it's definitely going to come back and bite francis in the rear end because in episode 6 we see this for a brief second: Sorry to quote this all the way from February, but in that scene, that photograph is actually together with photos of Peter Russo's car in his garage. It looks more like the garage than the train station too, with the lighting. Anyway, it's been bugging me, cause if they've got a screenshot of a mysterious figure leaving the car box scene of a Congressman's suicide... Why is nobody investigating this? And if it's meant to have been covered up, how did Tom, who's sceptical at best and really only digging as a favour to Lucas, get his hands on it?
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May 13, 2014 18:27
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Haven't seen it discussed, but I liked the implied reason for Frank accepting Meechums birthday present. Frank craves power and admiration, but doesn't like to be beholden to people and has little time for those he see's as having no self-respect. We have that first birthday gift scene with instructions on how to dispose of the presents and the cards being trashed because Frank is not at all interested in having a personal fact (in this case his birthday) exploited by others in an attempt to gain favour. Meechum however isn't giving a gift to try and look good in Franks eyes. He knows Frank doesn't like birthdays but gives him the gift apologetically. When Frank takes it, it's almost as if he is doing Meechum a favour. Frank lives permanently on guard of opening himself up to exploitation, but in this case he is being a gift because the givee likes him, not his power.
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Jun 10, 2014 03:28
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Senor Tron posted:but in this case he is being a gift because the givee likes him, not his power. What exactly do you mean here? You bring up a very good point, but I think a couple areas are fuzzy. Why would Meechum want to give Frank a birthday present if not to look good in Frank's eyes as you say? Maybe it's more that Meechum wants to be acknowledged and respected by Frank because Meechum admires Frank?
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Jun 30, 2014 07:13
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zeroozero posted:What exactly do you mean here? That's exactly it: Frank views the birthday presents at his office as attempts to curry favour which can be used later, whereas Meechum's gift is a genuine expression of gratitude. Frank also has nothing to fear from Meechum using the gift as leverage, since he's so thoroughly indebted to Frank already. Presumably Frank would also accept a gift from Stamper, but he knows Frank well enough not to bother.
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Jun 30, 2014 20:50
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DStecks posted:That's exactly it: Frank views the birthday presents at his office as attempts to curry favour which can be used later, whereas Meechum's gift is a genuine expression of gratitude. Frank also has nothing to fear from Meechum using the gift as leverage, since he's so thoroughly indebted to Frank already. Presumably Frank would also accept a gift from Stamper, but he knows Frank well enough not to bother. Exactly. The gift came right after Meechum told Frank about his Secret Service Training starting soon. Everything about that gift, the sheepish comments from Meechum hoping it was not inappropriate, and even the crude wrapping which looks like it was done by Meechum, gives that gratitude vibe. Frank wore those cuff links throughout the rest of the Season, correct?
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Jun 30, 2014 21:07
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wins.
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Not to derail, but I was surprised (and glad) to see that Corey Stoll is making the jump to (what will most likely be) a pretty bankable movie. http://variety.com/2014/film/news/corey-stoll-evangeline-lilly-join-ant-man-1201269702/ quote:Corey Stoll will play the villain Yellowjacket (AKA Darren Cross) in Marvel’s “Ant-Man,” the studio announced on Saturday evening at Comic-Con. I really liked him as Russo, and was a little bummed he didn't get a redemption story in HoC.
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Jul 30, 2014 03:11
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Knight2m posted:I really liked him as Russo, and was a little bummed he didn't get a redemption story in HoC. He got half of one. 
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Jul 30, 2014 03:16
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Speaking of Russo, I'm hoping that Christina's plotline hasn't fizzled out - she was pretty much on the sideline for season 2 and really only seemed to be there to give Claire a way to wedge her way into the First Lady's confidence. She had such a large role in season 1 and proved to be pretty competent (if a little naive), and I'd be disappointed if she just disappeared from the show.
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Jul 30, 2014 03:35
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JohnSherman posted:He got half of one. Russo is one of the few fictional characters whose death legitimately bummed me out. If Frank Underwood were any other character, that would be his moral point of no return, but it's kind of moot since redemption for Frank is obviously out of the question from the first moment.
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Aug 1, 2014 05:35
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Something something, dark, gritty and realistic? Would've been a nice character profession through.
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Aug 1, 2014 09:39
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I just finished season two and... I don't really get why everyone is sad for Stamper. I mean part of it is that I never really got his character. Sure, he's loyal to Frank because he got a second chance. Fine. But he's an AA meeting-attending alcoholic who takes the whole thing very seriously. Presumably including the higher power thing. Meanwhile he certainly knows with the Russo thing that he's covering up a murder along with arranging to wreck the man's life. a) Do you know of any higher powers that agree with murder? Or covering it up? b) He knows the law and that he's getting proper hosed if he does anything the slightest bit wrong (which indeed he does). c) He knows Frank. Frank throws people away. He's been around long enough to see that. Especially when Sean comes on, he's got to see that coming. Meanwhile, he's just an unrelenting creep. Not just to Rachel, whose life he ran into the ground, and he was starting with her as a prostitute. He's weird with Frank, I mean who knows how many times he got the Meachum treatment but maybe without Claire. I dunno, I just didn't get the character at all.
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Sep 18, 2014 23:58
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Is anyone really sad for Stamper? I think it's just some people thought he was interesting as a character and maybe wanted to see more, but they agree that he was a dick.
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Sep 19, 2014 00:06
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I thought Stamper was a very intriguing character, particularly in season one. Yes, what he did to Russo was pure evil but hey, being a recovering alcoholic and a manipulative psychopath aren't mutually exclusive. Season two he got really creepy and his emotional abuse towards Rachel bothered me a lot more than what he did to gently caress over Russo, for some reason. Also, there's tons of atheists in AA who just pay lip service to the whole 'higher power' thing. I knew a guy in AA who told me Mr. T was his higher power and he had 15+ years sobriety under his belt so something was working for him.
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Sep 19, 2014 00:20
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I liked Stamper even though he was a creepy gently caress
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Sep 19, 2014 00:25
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I was sad he died as an interesting character and Franks right hand man, get shot done sorta guy. I wonder who will be replacing Franks evil henchmen.
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Sep 19, 2014 03:14
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Babygravy posted:I was sad he died as an interesting character and Franks right hand man, get shot done sorta guy. I wonder who will be replacing Franks evil henchmen. I think there's already a guy lined up. That guy that Remy hired to spy on Frank, but he turned his coat. Forgot his name.
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Sep 19, 2014 03:23
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Just finished the second season... So, with Walker resigning, he still could face jailtime, correct? I just read a few pages ago in this thread that Frank might be able to pardon him from this. Is that true? Also, the reporter that came back in the final episodes (that was with Zoe and the male editor who then went off to teach) completely caught me offguard. I figured she was just going to stick with teaching, but then when she came back as a journalist, it had been a few episodes and I thought it was just someone who looked familiar. Excited for the inevitable downfall of Mr. President in S3!
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Oct 13, 2014 19:05
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Downfall? No. This season Frank plans on becoming president of all of it.
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Oct 13, 2014 19:10
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So was the dealings with China in S2 just foreshadowing for a foreign-diplomacy centered season in which Frank becomes the undisputed master of the world? I can get behind that.
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Oct 14, 2014 06:55
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