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phosdex posted:I just remembered a scene with that Davis wizard lady where I think she was taking to Claire and she randomly says something about her dad wearing striped socks and then goes back to whatever they were talking about. Hah wth. That is how you build character backstory.
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Jun 3, 2017 15:53
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i would be more forgiving of the show's tenuous grasp of real-world politics if it didn't take itself so seriously. also, i hate how every show about washington dc has to try to one-up its competition by throwing out increasingly outlandish election outcomes. every show, from scandal to veep, has become obsessed with constitutional loopholes, assassinations, electoral ties, and rigged counts.
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Jun 3, 2017 16:04
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I think it would help to realize that for at least a couple of seasons now, this show has diverted from what it was in seasons 1 and 2 and has become a soap opera. Taken on those terms, it's absolutely fine. I mean the POTUS is having gay sex in a stairwell, the VP is the WIFE of the POTUS, and she has a live-in side-piece. It's total fantasy.
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Jun 3, 2017 16:15
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precision posted:I mean the POTUS is having gay sex in a stairwell, the VP is the WIFE of the POTUS, and she has a live-in side-piece. It's total fantasy. Watching the real news nowadays does not entirely imply the fantasy part though, despite negative news covfefe.
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Jun 3, 2017 16:24
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benzine posted:That is how you build character backstory. oh job well done then.
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Jun 3, 2017 16:54
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I'm only on episode 7 or 8 (I've read synopses for the rest), but they have to wrap this poo poo up next season. It's barely entertaining as a hatewatch at this point. Was that opening scene on the Senate floor supposed to be shocking or something? Depending on the American populace being too ignorant or stupid to know how government actually works can only prop up your plotlines so much. Frank is smart enough to know that there's a standing AUMF, why would he waste a bunch of time on this Declaration of War poo poo? Even if you're ascribing to the 8th dimensional chess theory or whatever it still makes no sense. Tom was an okay character but he should've been done last season one way or another. The Conway storyline is so implausibly dumb and stretched out and Kinnaman is not good enough to make it interesting to watch. There's a shift mid-season where it feels like the writer's room noticed "oh poo poo Trump might win" and kind of flail to not be too on the nose, but honestly that might've been an more interesting direction to go in rather than just...murdering everybody? Making Claire & Frank into half-assed Machiavellis? I don't know man.
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Jun 3, 2017 17:30
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Nobnob posted:Watching the real news nowadays does not entirely imply the fantasy part though, despite negative news covfefe. covfefe is something that would have happened on a season of Veep and been funny because of how implausible it was 
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Jun 3, 2017 17:34
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I will say, though, that for a show primarily about white guys in suits just talking, everything looks incredible.
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Jun 3, 2017 21:38
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Rupert Buttermilk posted:I will say, though, that for a show primarily about white guys in suits just talking, everything looks incredible. It's a really really well-shot soap opera.
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Jun 3, 2017 22:09
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drunken officeparty posted:I just got to the beginning of episode 12. What was that, like 3 feet? What was Frank's strategy if that 3 foot fall just ended up breaking her wrist? Wouldn't there also be cameras throughout the White House?
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Jun 3, 2017 23:56
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I'd still be willing to watch Season 6 if it really was a complete Frank v Claire showdown. It would also have to be the final season. I hope they don't backpedal on Claire leaving Frank like they did with the transition of Season 3 to Season 4.
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Jun 4, 2017 01:27
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I just finished. The last episode was the worst. Every resolution to anything was terrible. And I still have no loving idea where Jane came from or what her job is supposed to be. She literally apparated out of thin air and became secretary of state but not really
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Jun 4, 2017 01:55
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drunken officeparty posted:I just finished. The last episode was the worst. Every resolution to anything was terrible. She had a meeting with the president earlier, then the military thing happened and they stayed in the same room for a while. Underwoods started to doubt her intentions and two episodes later she is the all mighty illuminati-level involved business-political person that can take care of literally everything. As such, a female version of Usher, only for foreign stuff.
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Jun 4, 2017 02:02
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I understand Usher though. Well, who he is but not why they trust him at all. Being the Doug of Conway makes sense that he is connected and stuff. She is apparently a white house ghost
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Jun 4, 2017 02:12
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Just like Usher, she is a super important character that's moving massive plotlines without having any background, history or being mentioned before at any given time. They both randomely appeared when it was necessary and none of them have any kind of character development or profile at all, it's just that they are apparently perfect at what they do. I really don't think there is anything to understand here, I hate them both and I hope they are gone or most likely dead soon. They don't make real sense, but at least Usher had some sort of introduction with the Conways.
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Jun 4, 2017 02:28
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drunken officeparty posted:I understand Usher though. Well, who he is but not why they trust him at all. Being the Doug of Conway makes sense that he is connected and stuff. She is apparently a white house ghost Usher seems way more powerful than Doug.
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Jun 4, 2017 05:49
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I had to laugh when they had a loving camp out at the Bohemian Grove.
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Jun 4, 2017 06:21
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"I like dirt, and rocks" - Frank Underwood
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Jun 4, 2017 13:53
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Solkanar512 posted:I had to laugh when they had a loving camp out at the Bohemian Grove. That whole sequence was the best part of the season. You can tell Spacey was really having fun there.
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Jun 4, 2017 14:51
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I was so irked early on that it seemed like Claire wasn't going to break the fourth wall like the end of last season alluded to. When she finally does in episode 11 it is pretty great and then, of course, the one at the end. Those were two bright spots in an otherwise dismal season.
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Jun 4, 2017 16:16
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Christ I'm catching up now having not watched for a few seasons and just got the Monument Valley episode in season 3. I swear every season has one moment of completely egregious video game product placement. Does it at least get more subtle in seasons 4 and 5?
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Jun 4, 2017 23:09
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Steve2911 posted:Christ I'm catching up now having not watched for a few seasons and just got the Monument Valley episode in season 3. I swear every season has one moment of completely egregious video game product placement. No not at all.
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Jun 4, 2017 23:30
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Proposition Joe posted:No not at all. The Gear VR placement this season was particularly bad. "It's like you're there!"
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Jun 5, 2017 00:09
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drunken officeparty posted:I just finished. The last episode was the worst. Every resolution to anything was terrible. She's intelligence community deep state who operates from a commerce bureaucracy position that gives her lots of access and career security with a low profile. She breaks cover/appears at the time she does because of the pseudo-coup, which the intelligence community is aware of mostly because of the military's intentional mishandling of the terrorist strike. It's a premise with lots of potential that they then have the characters react with baffling nonchalance to and completely fumble through the latter half of the season. We just binged the season and ugh, I hope next season is the last.
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Jun 5, 2017 06:14
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gmq posted:The Gear VR placement this season was particularly bad. "It's like you're there!" As someone not invested in VR or know anything about it other than the name "oculus" I didn't think it was overt at all. The VR headset/scene just looked like the same VR headset in every other picture I've seen and the only reason I know it's a specific one is just cause you mentioned it in your post. If anything I would have just assumed it was an oculus, in the same sense that "Kleenex" is just a generic name for tissue nowadays.
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Jun 5, 2017 08:47
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Is there any reason to not watch this on 1.5x in the background
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Jun 5, 2017 20:23
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Do people actually still wear turtlenecks? What's his name again? I think I'd like his character if he didn't wear a drat turtleneck. Desperately trying to finish these last four episodes here.
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Jun 5, 2017 21:58
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I like that they intimated Conway had real problems to work through if he became president but then he didn't and instead disappeared and we never found out what happened. Great storytelling.
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Jun 6, 2017 00:01
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Its still the same problem in my opinion. Watching Frank and Clair claw their way to the top was what hooked me. Watching them swat at flies for the next 30 episodes just isn't doing it. Frank's the president, he could have kept on clawing on the world stage, there's so many interesting plots you could write as he strong arms and back stabs his allies and enemies on the sovereign state level. There's so much poo poo Frank could stir up. Herv fucked around with this message at 01:29 on Jun 6, 2017 |
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Jun 6, 2017 01:26
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Yeah, to me it kinda felt like they got cold feet. They built up a bunch of potential international crises with not-ISIS and the Russian blackmail and then got scared of actually writing an war/martial law plotline and went with the old twenty-internal-scandals-at-once stuff that they've done before. Didn't last season end with Claire cutting off ties with Francis, too?
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Jun 6, 2017 02:49
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Herv posted:Its still the same problem in my opinion. Watching Frank and Clair claw their way to the top was what hooked me. Watching them swat at flies for the next 30 episodes just isn't doing it. Yeah, I really like this idea, I think it would've worked a lot better than having Frank constantly being on the defensive when he became President from forces within his own country. The only problem with this idea is that America is already king poo poo on the world stage so he doesn't really have a lot upward clawing to do vs other countries. On the other hand Frank as president of a lovely little third world country, wheeling and dealing his country's way to the top of international influence and power hierarchy would've been a really fun alternative history story to watch. But even with that problem I still think this idea would've been better than what we ended up getting.
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Jun 6, 2017 02:51
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I'm an american yet I want Petrov to nuke the U.S. I don't even know what he sounds like in real life but he makes a great Putin charicature. I hoped for a brief second some nuke shenanigans would happen in the scene where Claire goes into the nuclear football at night but it just went nowhere and was never mentioned.
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Jun 6, 2017 03:17
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What I never understood throughout this entire season is why Francis or Claire or anyone else never thought to just bug that loving stairwell they all always secretly meet in.
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Jun 6, 2017 05:12
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Not to go all meta here, but as a watcher of both shows i noticed a distinct tone shift between this and the fargo thread, even though both shows feature a comparable amount of "stupid poo poo", and neither have been very good lately. Why is that?
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Jun 6, 2017 10:09
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If a show is too good to be true, it just needs to go on for long enough to be too good to be true. It's just like gambling where you have to stop when you're ahead, only that in this case the real winner here is Netflix and we can't control when to stop.
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Jun 6, 2017 23:56
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You either die Breaking Bad or live long enough to see yourself become Dexter.
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Jun 7, 2017 01:32
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-Blackadder- posted:You either die Breaking Bad or live long enough to see yourself become Dexter. See also: Sons of Anarchy, slightly less so, but only because there was no lumberjack aspect. Edit: because of these two shows, I understand hate-watching. In fact, the only thing that kept me going were the corresponding threads on SA, which are still some of my favourites. That being said, I now have an incredibly low tolerance for tv bullshit, though HoC s5 didn't get that bad, to me. That stair push was loving stupid, though Rupert Buttermilk fucked around with this message at 01:49 on Jun 7, 2017 |
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Jun 7, 2017 01:47
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Blind Rasputin posted:What I never understood throughout this entire season is why Francis or Claire or anyone else never thought to just bug that loving stairwell they all always secretly meet in. Because they both wanted to use it, and to be sure it wasn't bugged.
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Jun 7, 2017 03:43
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Watched all of it and I think this season was superior to the last two, HOC has always had large pills to swallow and something this season did with the slow build of political bullshit completely hooked me. Tom intimating he was Lancelot was pretty funny, but my absolute favorite was Doug's crush telling him exactly why she fucks him ... hilarious. I like the Hammerschmidt plot, towards the end he actually start stammering through a meeting trying to figure out all the moves(like the audience). I like his former assistant being a complete poo poo the whole time and then getting what he wanted/deserves. I didn't outright hate anything like most other ppl seem to, Tom's scenes were way, way more boring in previous seasons, in S5 he's basically a mirror for Claire and she definitely shows him how hosed up she is.
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Jun 7, 2017 06:54
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Finally finished the season just now. I'm kinda sad they basically ruined what made the show good. The Frank/Claire power-couple was what drew me in so deeply since most shows just nosedive into conflict between the primary couple and, welp, here we go again. What Season 3 broke, Season 4 tried to fix, and now Season 5 is breaking again. Everything that made the first two seasons fun has just disappeared. With the knowledge that the only other Netflix stuff I watch is Marvel and Bojack, it feels like Netflix has trouble making any show feel as good as it originally was after its first or second season. It's like the same poo poo that made Blacklist worse off. People come for a specific, fantastic type of plot and then two seasons later all the best writers get tired and move on to other projects while the worst writers are just happy to get paid. God there are so many things wrong with this season but still so many good things. I feel like the show has an identity crisis and isn't sure what it wants to be. It's like the rubberbandish writing that Silicon Valley had before it hit its stride this past couple seasons. If you watched the original British House of Cards, the little glances Claire gives indicates you were getting an idea for how this show would wrap up. Instead it just feels like it's going to draw out. Aside from my personal power-couple problem, I think a larger issue is that at no point does it feel like anyone is winning in this show. It used to be you'd root for the Underwoods as sneaky, conniving villains, happy for every individual win they'd get, even if it meant digging them deeper into a worse situation. Now there are so few wins and the quality of those wins is so downplayed, it just feels like everyone comes out a loser in this whole show. Claire can still end up being the big winner in the end but unless she starts talking to the camera as much as Frank does, watch me give a poo poo. Ugh I could write loving pages of stuff about how I hate/love this show but I don't even know if it's worth the effort.
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Jun 7, 2017 11:05
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