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*** All links to wallpaper backgrounds are in photo descriptions***
For the House of Cards Fanatic…
House of Cards Will Return FEBRUARY 25th, 2015
The first online-TV series to be nominated for both Primetime Emmy awards (9) & Golden Globe awards (4) will return to Netflix Wednesday February 25th, 2015. The perfect time of winter to stay warm & vedge-out in front of the TV .
Season 2 House of Cards aired last Valentine’s Day (February 14th~ like I need to verify the date for sweethearts & House of Card lovers) & was finished by over half a million people by the weekend. One of my girlfriends finished in two days. I try to practice a little more self control & watch 3 episodes a week if I can help it. That gives me about three weeks of enjoyment before I have to wait another year.
If you haven’t finished House of Cards Season 1 & 2 there is still plenty of time to catch up before it premiers in 4k resolution!
….Who knows maybe you’ll be finished within a week
Works Cited:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/12/1/7313505/house-of-cards-season-3-premiere-date
http://www.christianpost.com/news/house-of-cards-season-3-release-date-cast-spoilers-is-doug-stamper-dead-rumors-of-early-2015-premiere-125974/
Interesting Facts about House of Cards Cast
Kevin Spacey was co-valedictorian at Chatsworth High School class in 1977 along with actress Mare Winningham. The friends were seen at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in 1996.
He stars in one of my favorite films American Beauty.
Random quote: “It’s a great thing when you realize you still have the ability to surprise yourself.”
Robin Wright became a model at age 14 after being spotted rollerskating by a photographer; worked in France and Japan before quitting the business and deciding to be an actor. She married actor Sean Penn & their wedding was attended by Marlon Brando, Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, and the best man was producer Art Linson (Fast Times at Ridgemont High).
Random quote: “If you’re happy, if you’re feeling good, then nothing else matters.”
Kate Mara (Zoe Barnes)
Rooney Mara, who played the titular role in The Girl WIth The Dragon Tattoo is Kate’s sister.
Her great-grandfathers founded the New York Giants & the Pittsburgh Steelers. She’s football royalty on both sides of her family. She said, “We dressed up for Giant’s games like we were dressing up for church.”
She played Heath Ledger’s daughter in Brokeback Mountain.
Random Quote: “I never take anything for granted.”
Michael Kelly (Doug Stamper) went to Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina (struck me as cool because it’s closer to home)
Random Quote: In the beginning I aspired just to make a comfortable living in acting. I still feel the same- it’s just that my standards have gone up so my comfort level is higher, as well.
Corey Stoll (Peter Russo) was also popular in The Bourne Legacy in 2012
Random Quote: “I can walk down the street & no one knows who I am.”
Kristin Connolly starred in The Cabin in the Woods (2012), The Happening (2008), & Revolutionary Road (2008).
Sakina Jaffrey graduated from Vassar College in 1984. She studied Mandarin Chinese at the college, originally planning to be a translator before she became an actress
Michel Gill is a first generation American born in Manhattan on April 16,1960 to parents who narrowly survived the Holocaust.
Random Quote: “Less past, more future!”
You may recoginize Reg E. Cathey (Freddy) from the popular film American Psycho (2000).
Works Cited:
http://www.crushable.com/2012/02/02/entertainment/kate-mara-house-of-cards-5-facts-133/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/26/kevin-spacey-birthday-fun-facts_n_3654009.html
http://www.funtrivia.com/en/subtopics/Robin-Wright-Penns-Movies-178583.html
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1015684/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Empire Underwood ~ The Powerhouse Couple
In a show who’s relationships are brash, bold declarations, a viewer can’t help but be captivated by the Underwood’s. Their love is far from traditional & their marriage is very thought provoking, very unusual. They have a close successful partnership of equality~ a companionship marriage. Some may even wonder if they Underwoods have a personality disorder, a fatal attraction where a couple is attracted to one another because their is something in their personality patterns that are complimentary. They respect one another’s goal, and understand one another on another level.
Their marriage won’t give you the warm & fuzzes. They portray complicated and modern partnerships, and a range of power dynamics too rarely seen in the media. According to Slate, “Were the Underwoods a real political couple in actual Washington and the double-affair scandal broke, news reports would depict theirs as a marriage of cold, calculated convenience—the Clintons but worse.”
But within all of their relationships complexity, they’re in sync and have deep intimacy. They make it look admirable. Working in tandem, Claire schemes, lies, and hustles to help him achieve his political goals; not just for him, she does the same with her international non profit, The Clearwater Initiative. I believe their relationship is functional because she wouldn’t do anything for Francis that she wouldn’t first do for herself.
In Claire’s interview with CNN in Season 2 she explains why she loves him, “He didn’t put me on some pedestal.” Claire says, “He knew I didn’t want to be adored or coddled.” Claire is complex. And again in Season 1, “You know what Francis said to me when he proposed? I remember his exact words. He said, ‘Claire if all you want is happiness, say no. I’m not going to give you a couple of kids and count the days until retirement. I promise you freedom from that. I promise you you’ll never be bored.’ You know, he was the only man—and there were a lot of others who proposed—who understood me.”
I think how Claire feels can be summed up by the quote, “I have no fear of commitment, only of containment.”
Robin Wright describes the Underwood’s marriage herself: “They’re both leaders and the ends justify the means. They will do whatever it takes to get ahead, they have each other’s back, and they have a mutual respect for one another as a husband and wife and man and woman. They’re a team.” Claire and Francis operate as a single lethal unit.
They fill the holes in their relationship with a common understanding. Claire says early on, “We have never avoided each other,” but that is not the same as the more common, “We tell each other everything.”
An affair isn’t the ultimate betrayal under the terms of the Underwood’s marriage, but upsetting their delicate balance between separate and apart does. In Season 1, Frank needs Claire’s help to get his Watershed Act passed, but helping him would mean sacrificing the top priority of her nonprofit, which is getting a shipment of water filters out of Sudan. The only time their marriage appears to be in a crisis is when one souse’s goals are often at odds with the other’s. Claire responds, “So what you’re saying is that my goals are secondary?” Frank loses his temper, “I will not be lectured to the moment I walk in the door!” His mistake here is to assume that his crisis succeeds hers, assuming that when things get serious Claire will become willingly subsumed into his urgent needs~ basically that she will revert to becoming a political wife.
Claire retaliates by committing an even bigger Underwood marital sin, which is to violate the presumption of shared interests by stabbing Frank in the back. At Francis’ request, she agrees to meet with a pair of wavering congressmen to get their support for the watershed bill, and then encourages them to vote against it. Francis was putting his goal above hers, so she did the same to him, only better. She was craftier.
Perhaps my favorite display of their love is their nightly cigarette by the window.
Francis Underwood: I know what I have to do.
Claire Underwood: Good.
Francis Underwood: We’ll have a lot of nights like this- Making plans, very little sleep.
Claire Underwood: I expected that. It doesn’t worry me.
“We’ll have many nights like this, making plans, little sleep.”
http://www.wtop.com/541/3211995/Netflix-original-series-House-of-Cards-could-change-TV#ixzz3I1GL8VO0
Season 3 Spoilers
Filming has begun!
House of Cards Season 3 will push limits. How corrupt the Underwood’s get? In an interview with Kevin Spacey he stated that Willimon and producer David Fincher ,”desire to see just how dark that well is and how deep does it go. We have miles to go before we sleep.” Eerie.
Season 2 went back and forth with China a lot. Season 3 will involve Russia. There will be a new Russian character. Could he bring down Frank Underwood? They even tried to film scenes in Russia at the U.N. Security Council Chambers, but were denied because the chamber must be available at all times in case of an emergency meeting.
The story line for this upcoming season will be based around patent reform. This makes viewers (me) want to fall asleep, but I’m sure we will be very entertained to say the least.
There will be three new characters! There hasn’t been much information released, but the network reveled that one character will be a, “Dr. Buzard, a doctor in her 40s who is described as ‘very smart.'” Another opposition for the Underwoods to walk over?
Will Meechum’s (Underwood’s extremely loyal driver & bodyguard) character develop? Besides shocking viewers and having a threesome with Frank and Claire out of nowhere in Season 2…. Who is he anyway? The fact that the show has kept him under wraps & his character mysterious may lead to something bigger in Season 3. I would personally like to see his character evolve. When Nathan Darrow was interviewed by Entertainment Weekly about his roll in the upcoming season he responded, “I don’t think it would be helpful to me, nor the consumers of the story [ to reveal it. ] On his character, “One can always remember that there’s plenty of people walking on this earth that don’t know why they’re doing what they’re doing.” They always say those who talk the least & listen most are the most intelligent. I think the reason Meechum’s character has laid low & remained stoic will be revealed this season.
Rachel Posner:
The season finale of Season Two left Doug Stamper (played by Michael Kelly) left in the middle of a back country road with Rachel Posner (played by Rachel Brosnahan) running. Not good for the Underwood’s as she is full of their corrupt secrets such as Peter Russo’s murder in Season 1. She was playing coy when she told Entertainment Weekly, “I have no clue what is happening with the third season. Rachel should come back. there’s a lot of loose ends. It’s interesting if Rachel came back because she’s one of the bigger threats to Frank now. She’s still the missing link, and people are discovering she exists. ”
Duh. Why would they have that scene in the season finale if to not have her appear again? She’s playing dumb. If we dive into this, Rachel has “no idea” what is going on with Season 3. That’s because she may not appear in this next season at all. I think this is a good indicator that Rachel is going to appear in Season 4 with a major plot twist and already knows it. At one point or another, she is going to be a major glitch in the Underwood’s scheme. It’s just a matter of when.
Zoe Barnes (played by Kate Mara) wants to come back so bad! But I don’t see that as a possibility. Mara shared some ideas how her character could come back, “I’ve beens ort of lobbying to bring me back as a different character, just tive me some prosthetics. I would do that. “ How can you come back when you’re dead if not as a new character or a ghost. This isn’t American Horror Story where each season has a new plot with reappearing actors as different characters. But we’d love to see you come back too…
Is Doug dead?! I would say so. According to Latin Times, “the show has never been one to mislead viewers with fake deaths and dream sequences, which would support the fact that Doug is dead.” But Brosnahan revealed in an interview, “I don’t think we know that he’s dead yet. It cuts so quickly. I don’t think we can say for sure that Stamper is dead.” I think we can assume so. We last saw his face in daylight, bloody, motionless, and with his eyes wide open. House of Cards wouldn’t stoop that low. Doug’s reckoning would make Rachel less of a threat, and I don’t think that’s going to happen. They have enough drama without that desperate plot twist. Rachel may be trying to further cover up what her character Rachel is going to reappear. Maybe he could go with Zoe’s ghost idea.
Will Claire die? In the original House of Cards British series Frank’s character is killed off in the finale. Makes us wonder if Netflix will follow the original series. Let’s hope not, because then the show is already ruined. But if Frank doesn’t die in the end, I have a hunch Claire will. It will be interesting to see where the cards fall…
The show may not end after Season 3!! Rick Cleveland stated that as along as lead actors Spacey & Wright who play Frank and Claire Underwood, agree to continue reprising their roles, then Netflix will continue their story.
This show is amazing & growing in popularity. They’d be stupid not to.
http://www.latintimes.com/house-cards-season-3-air-date-will-frank-die-saving-his-legacy-plus-18-spoilers-271991
Season 3 Premier Date & Speculations
There is no set release date for Season 3, but it is safe to say that House of Cards Season 3 will premier on Netflix’s online streaming platform February 2015; right around the time of Season 1 & 2 premier dates. (Noo, so far away)
With season 3 is less than six months away, it has viewers wondering the fate of their favorite characters. ( I’ve wondered since I jumped off the couch ten seconds after credits came on.)
There are a few speculations for Season 3:
Who will be killed off? There is running speculation that Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) or his wife Claire Underwood (Robin Wright). I don’t believe it..
In the European version of House of Cards, Frank Urquhart (British Frank) was killed by his wife Elizabeth (British Claire) to protect his legacy….Something we can definitely see Claire Underwood doing.
Frank’s loyal, yet emotionless body guard that has been with him since he was House Whip could try assassinate the now President. Considering how intimate and personal his relationship is with the Underwoods, this is a viable.
President Underwood~ he has viewers wondering…is there more than one way he can go now?
Episodes 3 & 4
According to Hillary Busis on Entertainment weekly, “House of Cards is made for binge watching.” I like/dislike that it’s on Netflix. I have the opportunity to watch it as fast as I’d like to, but have no moderation. When I first started watching House of Cards I didn’t intend on doing a synopsis, so as a writer it makes it a little more difficult to direct hour by hour. Like many others, I proved incapable of saving more for later, I finished Season One in a week (for good reason). My recaps are a bit dicey.
In the third to fourth episode Frank Underwood is dealing with an education bill. Viewers unfortunately watch Frank and Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez doing a lot of collective bargaining.
Back at The Herold Zoe gets promoted to White House Correspondent, but doesn’t have much interest in climbing that ladder. Frank sees her job offer as a total turnoff, which aids her disinterest. (Rookie move letting a man’s opinion dictate a life decision).
Zoe Barne’s character is one of the most well developed in House of Cards. She is young and extremely hungry, almost desperately. She’s constantly texting & typing extremely fast, almost as if she’s doing so without thinking. Some of her decisions (which will evolve in later episodes) make it hard for a viewer to root for her. Zoe states that “she deserves to be heard,” but neglects to check her facts and who they’re coming from.
Barnes is doing all of this to get the dirty inside track to skip ahead in her career, yet then doesn’t care about the promotion? This move would be badass had she not made this career decision because of Frank’s opinion. You could say she isn’t seeing the big picture and how she is being manipulated. Why turn down the most coveted job opportunity for reporters when you can work for Slugline!
Tom, the Herald’s editor-in-chief, calls Zoe “an ungrateful, self-entitled little cunt.” Mistake…to her credit, Zoe tweets his invective with the chilling warning. “These days, when you’re talking to one person, you’re talking to a thousand.”
Claire Underwood is laying off left and right at CWII. Remy (Frank’s former press secretary) is now a lobbyist for the natural gas company San Corp. He tells Claire if will give CWII $1.5 million and ask nothing in return. Frank is skeptical. Of all people, The Underwoods know that kindness comes with a cost. Claire refuses Remy’s money. CWII is Claire’s baby. She should be thankful for her husband’s advice, but there is a sense that Claire feels that Frank is overstepping.
Enter Adam…a sensitive wondering photographer from her past. When Frank disappoints Claire, she falls back on Adam. “I found her in a village. She died shortly after this photo was taken. ” This isn’t your round trip ticket buyer. It is evident Claire will always have nostalgia for her relationship with Adam. He tells her, “There are no mistakes.”
Adam is a completely different person than Frank. While Claire & Franks relationship shows no signs of intimacy and romance, her relationship with Adam does. He gives her something Frank can’t…or won’t. But claire respects her relationship with Frank more. She states in an episode, “I found someone I could love more than a week.” (Poor Adam lasts about that long.)
Peter Russo, current druggy/ alcoholic is chosen by Frank to become a representative ( a chess piece). He is sent to his home town in Philadelphia to speak with his people, promising them he won’t close the ship yard if they vote for him. Frank & Doug (Frank’s worthless Chief of Staff) begin moving people around. They’re going to close the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Bye 22,00 jobs! Russo reacts to this news by coming home shitfaced (surprise) and his girl friend/secretary Christina quits & dumps him. Poor guy..
Meanwhile Zoey throws down a few glasses of wine before pacing around and calling her favorite source. Frank comes over late night and so begins Zoe and Frank’s affair. It gets a couple levels of weird as Frank takes on the roll of seducer and daddy. Asking her “Are you cared for? Do you have an older man that cares for you?” I can’t see through all of the awkwardness to tell whether I saw this coming or not. Does she really do this because she thinks she’ll get more information? Or is she dumb enough to think that physical power gets her closer to actual power? We’ll see…
http://www.vulture.com/2014/02/house-of-cards-season-one-recap-episodes-4-5-6.html
Claire Underwood is a Badass
TV used to have just your basic good your bad , your light and dark. In the last 15 years it has grown in complexity. It has developed a new character~ one that walks the fine line between hero and villain: anti-hero.
The anti-hero roll plays the protagonist roll, the one who we should despise for his immoral deeds, yet can’t help but root for and admire. The male anti-hero, which has always been dominated by men, has become more prevalent while his female counterpart remains widely non-existent on screen. Most female characters fall into a more recent archetype of the antihero’s good wife. The one whose sole purpose seems to be reinstating morality in her corrupt husband. The disapproving & good wife is usually calming ~ a voice of reason, and essentially a party pooper. (The Betty to your Don Draper)
There have been a few female anti-hero contenders like Olivia Pope in Scandal, but none come close to one. House of Card’s Claire Underwood introduces a new dynamic: the female anti-hero. She walks the fine line between hero and villain, and makes it look oh so good.
Claire isn’t just in her husband’s corner, but is an equally strong-willed ruthless symbol of power. She’s an equal to her knock-down husband & even more pitiless. She doesn’t wait for Frank to climb the walls of power-hungry Washington, she helps him.
Claire doesn’t partake in antisocial character like her husband and also doesn’t engage in very reckless or impulsive outbursts. She is much more restrained & guarded than Frank. She rarely shows emotion- fake smiles, an empty laugh.
She is a high-profile political “good wife” in public, but behind the scenes Claire Underwood, is a leading female anti-hero. She plots & schemes to further Frank’s career, but doesn’t ever allow it to interrupt hers. Between partaking in nude photo shoots, Claire shows up to fire her whole staff from her non-profit (CWI), telling one “I am willing to let your child wither and die inside of you if that’s what is required.” She doesn’t allow anyone to make decisions for her. Claire Underwood is mysterious, ruling, and somewhat admiringly out of her mind.
Coercive, powerful, & sinister.
A few favorite quotes:
“Well, you can’t worry about what other people think, right?”
“Seduce him. Give him your heart. Cut it out and put it in his fucking hands.”
“No, what I chose was a man I could love more than a week.”
“Is there a spider I can trap?”
“Behind every great man is a woman with blood on her hands.”
“She lost. But she played to win.”
“I will bury you.”
“Am I the sort of enemy you really want to make?”
Frank loves this woman “more than he loves blood.” She is one of the most compelling (and controversial) characters in the House of Cards Series. Thanks to Claire Underwood, we don’t have to cheer on one merciless anti-hero, but a couple who champions side by side.
Works Cited:
http://blogs.indiewire.com/criticwire/year-in-tv-2013-scandal-antihero
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/05/house-of-cards-tv-antihero-archetype_n_4899440.html
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/02/feminism-depravity-and-power-in-em-house-of-cards-em/283960/
House of Cards: Season 1, Ep 1
Within the first few minutes of the first episode of a show, you can tell a lot about a character. In House of Cards, Frank Underwood kills a dog that has been hit by a car, with his first lines explaining why.
“There are two kinds of pain,” he tells us as he breaks through the fourth wall. “The sort of pain that makes you strong, or useless pain. The sort of pain that’s only suffering. I have no patience for useless things.”
From the get go he is powerful, ruthless, & manipulative.
The next scene Frank is at president- elect Garrett Walker’s election night. He breaks the fourth wall again & introduces other lead character. You now know that he has a sense of humor as he describes: “Linda Vasquez, Walker’s chief of staff.
I got her hired. She’s a woman, check, and a latina, check, but more important than that, she’s as tough as a two-dollar steak. Check, check, check.”
He then throws a “Welcome to Washington” line and the show has begun.
Frank says his time has come, and with 22 years in congress he feels that it is long overdue. Frank gets screwed over by POTUS-Elect , who goes back on the promise to nominate him for secretary of State, Frank calls out Walker’s chief of staff: “The nature of promises, Linda, is that they remain immune to changing circumstances.”
Frank’s capacity for evil is evident right away. You then see his personal life with his wife Claire Underwood and the masks they wear to the outside world. Claire’s asserts “We do things together. When you don’t involve me, we’re in free fall,” making them the most powerful couple on TV.
The first episode closes with Frank and Claire alone on a weeknight late.
Frank: I know what I have to do.
Claire: Good.
Frank: We’ll have a lot of nights like this- Making plans, very little sleep.
Claire: I expected that. It doesn’t worry me.
Frank: I better get to work.
These lines are chilling and keep you wanting to watch more.
House of Cards
House of Cards is an American Political drama produced by Beau Willimon. The entire first season premiered February 1st 2013 on Netflix and the second season aired February 4, 2014.
House of Cards is set in present-day Washington D.C. and is the story of Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey), a democrat from South Carolina’s 5th congressional district and House majority whip leader. Underwood becomes Secretary of State and his wife Claire Underwood (played by Robin Wright) assists him in his endeavor. According to IMDb, “A congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him. The series is primarily about ruthless pragmatism, power, doing bad things for the greater good.”
The first season House of Cards became the first original online web television series to receive major Emmy nominations. The show received nine Primetime Emmy Award nominations: Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for Kevin Spacey, Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for Robin Wright, and Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for David Fincher. House of Cards also earned four Golden Globe Award nominations. Wright won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. The second season receieved thirteen Primetime Emmy Award Nominations.
Here I will break down the show in thirds.
Kevin Spacey as Francis J. “Frank” Underwood- main character; is an utterly ruthless and conniving politician, he manipulates everyone around him to receive influence and prestiege to climb to the top. He commonly breaks the fourth wall. Quote: “That’s how you devour a whale Doug, one bite at a time.”
“Proximity to power deludes some into believing they wield it.”
Robin Wright as Claire Underwood- Frank Underwoods wife who runs the Clear Water Initiative, an NGO, in Season 1. She is involved in her husband’s political scheming, often lying for him. “ She is just as cold and power hungry as her husband, often setting goals to work alongside helping his and letting nothing stob her.” Ulitimately, she’s a badass. Quote: “Am I really the sort of enemy you want to make?”
Mahershala Ali as Remy Danton- lobbyist and Glendon Hill lawyer who now works for a natural gas company called SanCorp
Rachel Brosnahan as Rachel Postner- a prostitute dragged into the mix by Doug Stamper
Kate Mara as Zoe Barnes- a reporter for the Washington Herald. Has an intimate relationship with Frank Underwood. They use one another to get forward in their careers. She gets information from Underwood and he uses her to leak stories to the newspapers.
Jayne Atkinson as Catherine Durant- a Senator from Missouri who becomes Secretary of State
Gerald McRaney-Raymond Tusk- a billionaire business person with a network of influences including Remy, Frank, the President.
Molly Parker as Jacqueline Sharp- a congresswoman from California & military veteran nominated by Frank Underwood to succeed him as Majority Whip
The show also has real-life media figures such as CNN’s Candy Crowley, John King, and Soledad O’Brien; Fox News’s Sean Hannity & Dennis Miller and HBO’s Bill Maher, and MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews. It’s awesome when they make cameo appearances as themselves.
Frank Underwood has no limits.
