+NerdSync And I was disappointing to see the "smacking the keyboard = exactly the specific thing I was looking for in 2 seconds" trope in a show like House of Cards. I thought they were better than that! Rest of the season was pretty great though.
I actually liked the hacking side story.. it blended well with the main story, and for once, hacking was pretty tiresome and having a huge toll on the hacker and wasn't "CLACKITY CLACKITY CLACKITY here you go, we've hacked the Pentagon" I am also one of the people that think the show improved each and every season, but the first one get's its reputation for beig the best is just because there was nothing like it before -aside from the original House of Cards, I suppose- so we got swept away by the David Fincher-isk political drama on TV. happy new year, Ron.
SPOILERS I kind of disagree. Season 1 was SUPER slow and kind of boring at some points to me. Episodes 3 and 8 were excruciatingly slow, bad filler episodes. While I have no problem with fillers, they have to be interesting, and both were wasted on boring stories exploring Frank instead of SHOWING who he is to us by driving the main political plot - EP3 at least tried, 8 was just 50mins of BS I didn't care about with his college friends. The most interesting parts of the season were with Frank using Zoe to manipulate people with the news, while she went on her own quest which threatened to jeopardize everything everyone had been working for. While I understand that this is a political show driven by dialogue, it felt like most of what happened in season one was really no big deal because we knew Frank would find a way to fix it or punish someone for it to get some leverage eventually. And anything really MAJOR and interesting took Frank/Claire/Someone about 3-4 episodes of manipulating everyone in congress or elsewhere to happen. But all that changed in season 2. Because Frank no longer had to work on manipulating the entire congress to make something relevant happen, it took less time for him to do so and things really started moving and awesome twists were happening at nearly every episode. Stakes also were much higher like you said, now that Frank is vice-president and the stabbing / backstabbing were no longer national affairs, but international. Tusk was an incredible addition to the show, someone who Frank had to deal with directly instead of doing favors and manipulating dozens of people to get anything done. Every time they got back at each other with a greater blow I was left at the edge of my seat. I also felt Claire was more important in this season because she and Frank worked more like a team. Her own story arc was better and more connected to his here than before. I liked the Deep Web arc and the others just as much as the Claire/Russo arcs in season 1, they all felt like at any moment with the right information someone could jeopardize everything because of the things Frank did and kept things tied to season 1. I also really liked the Freddy episode and didn't feel like it was out of place at all, it served it's purpose of showing that shit still happens to innocent people because of Frank, even close to him, and explored his character well. The only side-story I didn't like and thought was bad was the whole Stamper thing with the girl, even though it kinda paid off at the end - it still didn't slow the show down to how season 1 was to me. In short, I thought season two was far greater and better paced than season one, by miles away.
+Kaique Wow, what a great comment! Personally I liked the pacing of season 1, it was slow, but I felt that it was the right pace for the story. I actually liked the college episode in S1 because of the insight it gave into Frank's character :) Season 2 was still great, though. Just like season 3 is great, but I don't think it's as good as season 2.
+Binge Watchers Thanks! :D Guess I'm not that patient with excess of dialogue, I prefer action. Like how EP8 took almost it's entirety exploring Frank and I thought was boring, but the quick scene where he and Claire have a threesome was AMAZING to me and served the same purpose in a matter of seconds. Oh well, opinions! By the way, are you gonna review season 3 any time soon? I just started it and eh, the first episode was weak but I have hopes for it still. Cheers from Brazil, love the vids!
Hey Ron, I haven't seen season 3 yet. I may wait until near season 4 to watch it. Just because I heard it was so different and from what I have read it sounds like it stops at a cliffhanger which feels like a half way point to me. I was waiting for this change in pace though as it felt very much like season 1 and 2 is about his empire being built, and the rest of the show about it crashing down. Okay, moving on to season 2, my favourite side story was probably Freddy's, I liked him allot in the first season and to see him being put through the mill just killed me.
Yeah, that hacking side story was super out of place. Wasn't a big fan.
+NerdSync And I was disappointing to see the "smacking the keyboard = exactly the specific thing I was looking for in 2 seconds" trope in a show like House of Cards. I thought they were better than that! Rest of the season was pretty great though.
*There* *are* *no* *good* *guys*
Except Walker
I actually liked the hacking side story.. it blended well with the main story, and for once, hacking was pretty tiresome and having a huge toll on the hacker and wasn't "CLACKITY CLACKITY CLACKITY here you go, we've hacked the Pentagon"
I am also one of the people that think the show improved each and every season, but the first one get's its reputation for beig the best is just because there was nothing like it before -aside from the original House of Cards, I suppose- so we got swept away by the David Fincher-isk political drama on TV.
happy new year, Ron.
SPOILERS
I kind of disagree. Season 1 was SUPER slow and kind of boring at some points to me. Episodes 3 and 8 were excruciatingly slow, bad filler episodes. While I have no problem with fillers, they have to be interesting, and both were wasted on boring stories exploring Frank instead of SHOWING who he is to us by driving the main political plot - EP3 at least tried, 8 was just 50mins of BS I didn't care about with his college friends. The most interesting parts of the season were with Frank using Zoe to manipulate people with the news, while she went on her own quest which threatened to jeopardize everything everyone had been working for. While I understand that this is a political show driven by dialogue, it felt like most of what happened in season one was really no big deal because we knew Frank would find a way to fix it or punish someone for it to get some leverage eventually. And anything really MAJOR and interesting took Frank/Claire/Someone about 3-4 episodes of manipulating everyone in congress or elsewhere to happen.
But all that changed in season 2. Because Frank no longer had to work on manipulating the entire congress to make something relevant happen, it took less time for him to do so and things really started moving and awesome twists were happening at nearly every episode. Stakes also were much higher like you said, now that Frank is vice-president and the stabbing / backstabbing were no longer national affairs, but international. Tusk was an incredible addition to the show, someone who Frank had to deal with directly instead of doing favors and manipulating dozens of people to get anything done. Every time they got back at each other with a greater blow I was left at the edge of my seat. I also felt Claire was more important in this season because she and Frank worked more like a team. Her own story arc was better and more connected to his here than before.
I liked the Deep Web arc and the others just as much as the Claire/Russo arcs in season 1, they all felt like at any moment with the right information someone could jeopardize everything because of the things Frank did and kept things tied to season 1. I also really liked the Freddy episode and didn't feel like it was out of place at all, it served it's purpose of showing that shit still happens to innocent people because of Frank, even close to him, and explored his character well. The only side-story I didn't like and thought was bad was the whole Stamper thing with the girl, even though it kinda paid off at the end - it still didn't slow the show down to how season 1 was to me.
In short, I thought season two was far greater and better paced than season one, by miles away.
+Kaique Wow, what a great comment! Personally I liked the pacing of season 1, it was slow, but I felt that it was the right pace for the story. I actually liked the college episode in S1 because of the insight it gave into Frank's character :) Season 2 was still great, though. Just like season 3 is great, but I don't think it's as good as season 2.
+Binge Watchers Thanks! :D
Guess I'm not that patient with excess of dialogue, I prefer action. Like how EP8 took almost it's entirety exploring Frank and I thought was boring, but the quick scene where he and Claire have a threesome was AMAZING to me and served the same purpose in a matter of seconds. Oh well, opinions!
By the way, are you gonna review season 3 any time soon? I just started it and eh, the first episode was weak but I have hopes for it still.
Cheers from Brazil, love the vids!
Kaique Thanks :) Yeah season 3 review is going up tomorrow!
Hey Ron, I haven't seen season 3 yet. I may wait until near season 4 to watch it. Just because I heard it was so different and from what I have read it sounds like it stops at a cliffhanger which feels like a half way point to me. I was waiting for this change in pace though as it felt very much like season 1 and 2 is about his empire being built, and the rest of the show about it crashing down. Okay, moving on to season 2, my favourite side story was probably Freddy's, I liked him allot in the first season and to see him being put through the mill just killed me.
Looking forward to the livestream man!
I binged watched the first 3 seasons the day they came out. Now I'm planning to binge watch them again before the 4th season comes out :D
+Jazid Contreras I'm planning the same but I just found out I'll be on a flight that day! I'll find a way :)
Doug stampler is my all time fav character @bingewatchers
He's such a great character!
Hello from the future! I cannot watch the live stream though (the link sadly doesn't work)...
I'm gonna start season two right now :D
Hi (from the future)
¡Hola en este futuro!
Sabado 10th 2023
I am watching season 2 right now
besides frank, 2nd best claire
We all know frank underwood is a bad guy, so why are we rooting for him. Kevin spacey is too good of an actor.
Just finished S2 and I find it more exciting than S1. My fav character is Jackie.