Will ‘Underwood 2018’ AKA Season 6 even happen?
Bigger, bolder, darker and more ferocious – but it doesn’t quite hit the spot.
The fifth season of Netflix’s original series House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright is almost everything fans of the show wanted – almost everything.
Following almost immediately after Season 4’s explosive finale, iconic antihero President Underwood continues to face off against his formidable young opponent, the Republican candidate Will Conway (played by Suicide Squad’s Joel Kinnaman) in the presidential election, and focuses on Underwood’s struggle to hold on to the power he craves in the face of wavering public support and the inevitability of loss. Bursting with passion and energy that the series has been flowing with under the guide of series creator and showrunner Beau Willimon, the season premiere episode sets a course for a season that should shock audiences with many twists and entertainingly sinister subplots – but ultimately the latter half of the season fails to mount the overwhelming narrative strength the first three seasons enjoyed.
Since Willimon’s departure from the series supplemented with the advent of new writers for the series, it seems that the legend of the powerful Underwood dynasty that the Season 5 trailer virtually promised audiences is not something we can really expect to see. Instead, the writers take the series in a completely different direction, with many little frustrations scattered out among the episodes that ultimately build up to a fairly dissatisfying season finale (depending on how you interpret what’s going on!).
But it’s not all bad – the violent and dark side of television that House of Cards has proven to convey through such an interesting medium (mostly thanks to the breaking of the fourth wall – it works!) is still present and alive as ever, but the downside is that a highly-acclaimed and internationally cherished series such as House of Cards that releases all its episodes in one day is something viewers always look forward to, which is why it is very easy to be disappointed with a lot that goes on towards the end of this season. But I hope there’s still more to come in Season 6!
In the meantime, if you’re looking for shows that are full of dark humor with a violent edge, I highly encourage you to check out FX’s anthology series Fargo (based on the film by the Coen Brothers) and Hulu’s The Path, which is personally my favorite TV series right now besides House of Cards.