I did enjoy this season and found it engaging and bingeable like last season, but it was definitely the weakest of the three seasons.
I find the problem is that the second season was so great that they raised the stakes too high with Frank being the veep. The minute Frank walked over to the president's desk, stared into the camera for a long time and knocked on it twice had me immediately wanting the next season.
Frank being president was fun to watch but it didn't really feel like we were watching someone who has just backstabbed his way to the president's chair. It felt like a president being hounded constantly and so generic. We didn't get the sense that we were watching a dangerous man who could get away with anything now that he's president. I was looking forward to watching Frank get his arse kicked at every turn but they made him seem easily neutered. I get that a president immediately becomes an easy target for criticism once he is elected but it just didn't feel like we were watching Frank Underwood. The biggest waste of an opportunity was with Heather Dunbar being as loudmouth as she was, Frank didn't go crazy and start digging up dirt on her. Part of what makes Frank so fun to watch despite how despicable he was was that he and his wife were two people who wanted so badly to find out what your weakness was and exploit the hell out of it, and neither of them do that here
Speaking of which, Claire. Loved her in seasons 1 and 2 because of the fact that she was an evil bitch, but now she is just a bitch. I will say I did enjoy her flipout at Petrov but she gets all bitchy because she reads a chapter of a book that describes her and Francis as a "power couple". That made no sense. And her sexed up freakout at the hotel, what the hell was that? Her leaving frank was only just the cherry on the icing
the biggest crime was that there wasn't some big event that caused everything to skyrocket. Someone running against Frank doesn't cause things to skyrocket, neither does Claire leaving Frank. It just felt that things were't really falling apart the way they were supposed to. Just as much as it would have been a thrill to watch him get away with murder in the president's chair, it would also have been a thrill to watch him get his arse kicked in so many different ways
Series The problem with season 3... (spoilers, obviously)
I did enjoy this season and found it engaging and bingeable like last season, but it was definitely the weakest of the three seasons.
I find the problem is that the second season was so great that they raised the stakes too high with Frank being the veep. The minute Frank walked over to the president's desk, stared into the camera for a long time and knocked on it twice had me immediately wanting the next season.
Frank being president was fun to watch but it didn't really feel like we were watching someone who has just backstabbed his way to the president's chair. It felt like a president being hounded constantly and so generic. We didn't get the sense that we were watching a dangerous man who could get away with anything now that he's president. I was looking forward to watching Frank get his arse kicked at every turn but they made him seem easily neutered. I get that a president immediately becomes an easy target for criticism once he is elected but it just didn't feel like we were watching Frank Underwood. The biggest waste of an opportunity was with Heather Dunbar being as loudmouth as she was, Frank didn't go crazy and start digging up dirt on her. Part of what makes Frank so fun to watch despite how despicable he was was that he and his wife were two people who wanted so badly to find out what your weakness was and exploit the hell out of it, and neither of them do that here
Speaking of which, Claire. Loved her in seasons 1 and 2 because of the fact that she was an evil bitch, but now she is just a bitch. I will say I did enjoy her flipout at Petrov but she gets all bitchy because she reads a chapter of a book that describes her and Francis as a "power couple". That made no sense. And her sexed up freakout at the hotel, what the hell was that? Her leaving frank was only just the cherry on the icing
the biggest crime was that there wasn't some big event that caused everything to skyrocket. Someone running against Frank doesn't cause things to skyrocket, neither does Claire leaving Frank. It just felt that things were't really falling apart the way they were supposed to. Just as much as it would have been a thrill to watch him get away with murder in the president's chair, it would also have been a thrill to watch him get his arse kicked in so many different ways