House of Cards (Season 4)

By: Robert Murphy

When you're in politics, there is no room for the weak. Frank (Kevin Spacey) and Claire Underwood (Robin Wright) both know this and together they have brought everything and everyone that has stood before them to their knees. But, what happens when their skills are now used against one another as the end of House of Card's third season left viewers watching Claire walk out on Frank to pursue her own goals. These two won't let one another go quietly though and what follows is a series of events that leaves their entire dark history crashing down around them. 

After the events of last season things had felt somewhat restrained compared to the level of intensity brought forth in the shows first season. Season four of House of Cards brings viewers back to the nail biting grittiness of it's roots as the Underwood campaign becomes a battle like no other. Frank, of course, has always been the shows leading man and it has always been known that Claire may be just as formidable as he is when you get down to it. This latest season however sets out to prove this fact in it's first half, Claire may not have all the leverage of the Presidency at her disposal but she proves that Frank's overwhelming power and his goals for a second term can all be used against him. Spacey and Wright have always been fantastic together since day one of the series but as everything is stripped away and they battle it out, a whole new intensity is brought forth.

What's more was a whole new cast of characters enters the fray as Frank and Claire set up their pieces on the board for battle. Ellen Burstyn joins the show as Claire's ailing mother who absolutely despises Frank but might despise her daughter just as much. There's also Neve Campbell who plays a political consultant to Claire as she runs for some sort of office of her own. These are just to name a few but where it all comes together is when the show mixes the old with the new. As I said this a season where the past comes back and the massive amount of bones, tears and blood that have made the Underwood's path to success a reality will start to unravel. The interesting part is it's a story that was thought to be all wrapped up and done with but it slowly creeps up on the Underwood's bit by bit when the formerly silent Tom (Boris McIver) returns to find the answers hidden away in the Underwood's closet.

Some more returning cast members do not have as much going on though along the way. In the efforts to bring up the past I believe a bit too much comes out of the wood work and not enough is done with those who use to be major players. Remy and Jackie in particular are merely used when the story feels the need for it. Even the surprising turn up of Ramond Tusk doesn't prove to be an overall powerful thing and really he is only used as a puppet for the Underwood's tug of war early on in the first half of this latest season. And normally it wouldn't be so bothersome if these people didn't use to be key players in the larger story that was happening before. It isn't to say that all the former cast suffer from this especially when Tom (Paul Sparks) makes his return into the Underwood's inner circle or the ever loyal Doug (Michael Kelly) tries to hold the crumbling Underwood party together, but more use could have been pulled out of some of these other former cast members.

When the dust finally settles in the halfway stretch for the fourth season, Frank and Claire finally come to terms with a true adversary in their campaign for re-election. Heather Dunbar (Elizabeth Marvel) never truly posed much of a threat in my mind when it came to Frank and that was because she, and similarly the third season as a whole, were too restrained to fight back. This all changes when the Republican favorite William Conway (Joel Kinnaman) and his full on campaign against Frank as an American golden boy, a former soldier, loving father and husband comes into play. It's the whole nine yards, but with a twist. The golden boy has just as much valor as Frank and he has his own more modern approach to taking the presidency. Conway is a master at using new forms of technology such as Instagram, web broadcasting and some of the more controversial methods such as site monitoring to fuel his apparent narcissism and goals to take the presidency. 

This overall makes a potent combination for the season as a whole as it starts out with Frank and Claire batting it out with one another and them coming back stronger than they ever had before. The crippling reality though is that despite their best efforts there was an unknown force bubbling under the surface waiting and building up everything that it needed to take down the Underwood's. It's a powerful blow and mixes wonderfully with all the topics that this season had going for it, including an ISIS type terror group dubbed ICO. 

The biggest surprise for this latest season is how much of a whole story feels to have come out of everything that unfolds here. Since the first season of the show, Frank and Claire have steam rolled over everything in their path and nothing has put them in their place. They've silenced everyone that's attempted to stop them, but now seeing the past come back to haunt them makes things feel like the road may eventually come to end for the Underwoods. That being said a fifth season has already been renewed for the series that will still undoubtedly prove to bring even more of a darker side of the Underwood's out into the open. Especially with the spine tingling finale viewers are sent off with. 

Good:

- Frank and Claire Underwood, better than ever

- Story coming full circle with all the Underwood's have done

- New cast and old mix together wonderfully

- Conways making true adversaries for the presidency

Bad:

- Some old favorites like Remy, Jackie and Tusk feel under used

Scully Rating: 8.9 out of 10