House of Cards

[Repost From Old Site]
So last night, my gorgeous wife and I started watching the first Netflix Original Series; House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright (I didn't know who that was at first, but she played Jenny in Forrest Gump, and she was The Princess Bride).  It's a more-or-less color-by-numbers political drama, with some very junior mistakes in the writing, and nothing too surprising plot-wise (at least in the first four episodes), but more on that later.  It's meaty enough to keep us watching, and the acting is definitely up to par with some of the best TV series out these days.
Which brings me to my main point.  This new entertainment delivery system is awesome.  Netflix streaming is now available for almost every device out there, even most new TVs.  I have it on my freaking phone now.  It's still under $10/month for streaming only, and that's a small price to pay for the absolute control you get.  Its very encouraging to see big names like Kevin Spacey and David Fincher (who directed the first two episodes) getting attached to a project that's taking advantage of a totally untried format, because that means the format will probably succeed.  Which means, that though House of Cards has its flaws, it's big enough to set a precedent for well-financed, talent-rich series to continue coming out on Netflix exclusively, and ultimately, they're bound to come up with a masterpiece.  When that happens, we subscribers will be able to enjoy it for dirt-cheap prices without all the baggage that comes along with regular television.
There's no commercials on Netflix.  No stopping and starting of the drama.  Even if you have DVR, you still have to deal with the inconvenience of TV, and if you watch shows on major networks, there are no guarantees that your favorite show won't be knocked out of it's regular time slot for a long-running sports game or breaking news.  Another great advantage is the fact that the series can come out a season at a time, rather than one episode a week.  If you're like me (and most Netflix users, apparently) you like to devour your shows marathon-style, so that you don't spend each week wondering what's going to happen, or worse, forgetting what happened last episode.
When we're really into a series, it becomes all we watch until there is no more of that series.  The Netflix original takes advantage of that watching habit.  A good drama series is really like a long movie, and it sucks to have to watch it tiny bit by tiny bit.  I know with The Walking Dead, I spend the first few minutes of every episode trying to re-orient myself to what's going on, and just when I'm getting settled in, it's over.  If this new format continues to produce quality output, that won't be so, at least for some shows.  I know the audience will agree with me on this one, and hopefully that will mean Netflix will soon be able to compete with networks like AMC, HBO and Showtime.
House of Cards, specifically, falls prey to a few flaws, however.  The most obvious of these is Spacey's first person narration to the camera.  While I recognize this as a valid stylistic choice (After all the technique was used to great effect by Shakespeare in Richard III), I feel that the writers of House of Cards fall into the novice trap of using this narration as exposition in disguise; that is, explaining to the audience what's going on, who is who, and what the relationships between characters and events are.  It panders to the audience a little, as if the writers were afraid we wouldn't catch on.  They needn't have been, for two reasons: one, the skillful acting and generally well conceived plot make tings obvious enough; and two, the relationships and events are familiar to most viewers, drawing upon the usual archetypes of political drama.  So the narrative technique is really just propping up already strong writing, which has the unintentional effect of making it look weaker than it really is.  I sincerely hope the writers grow in confidence as seasons progress.  The first person narrative technique is useful, but generally used best when a story focuses on a single character and their point of view.  House of Cards shuffles through many points of view, giving Spacey's well-delivered monologues a much more artificial feel.  Because we don't spend all our time focusing on Spacey's character, the narration's flaw becomes all the more obvious; the writers are really just using him to explain the story.
Another closely related flaw is that the dialogue often sacrifices realism for wit.  The characters banter back and forth in perfect rhythm; hammering out clever turns of phrase without a moment's pause.  I'm willing to suspend my disbelief in this case - after all, politicians are wordy people - but again, it gives the writing a feel of being weaker than it really is. Character are easier to empathize with when they're realistic, and realistic character often find themselves at a loss for words, or speak out of turn, or misunderstand one another.  House of Cards  lacks this authenticity, and it puts us at a remove from the characters, even if we want to love them.  It even makes hating the evil ones harder, which means the writers are really selling themselves short.  The characters are compelling, and if they talked like normal people we'd know it.
All in all, however, the fact that Netflix has produced a big-budget, talent-boasting original series is a huge leap forward in the entertainment world.  I look forward to the next Netflix original series, and dearly hope that the big networks catch on to this format, so that in the future everyone will have absolute control of their entertainment lineup.  I'm convinced commercials are the only reason TV makes you stupider, after all, no one ever told you that going to the movies makes you dumb.   Anything that lets you do away with the trash is good in my book.

[Addendum]
In the weeks since this post, my wife and I finished House of Cards. My original assessment stands, the story telling is sloppy, and made to look weak by being propped up with obstrusive narrative technique, but the actual content of the plot is juicy enough to keep you watching, even if it's not original.
SPOILER ALERT!
There was one episode where we find out Spacey's character had a gay fling in college.  The entire episode is spent with him rabble-rousing with his old college buddies, reliving old times.  I suppose the intent here was to give the character a human face, to try and make the audience feel sympathy for him.  the only problem is...
WE DON'T WANT TO!
It's an anti-hero story!  to try and make us sympathize with an anti-hero is to ruin the fun of such stories. we want to feel good about rooting for the bad guy, that's what makes them so damn great.  This episode not only stopped the story dead in it's tracks to tell us something about the character that has no bearing whatsoever on the plot, but it also damaged the cold, ruthless image of him we have, and from there on out, his character loses clout.
I wil say, however, that his toadie Doug Stamper is probably the best character in the show.  He's the one who gets his hands dirty on Frank's behalf, and he's probably the best goon character I've come across in a while.
We will, of course, watch season two.  but they better step their fucking game up, or I'm out after that.