House of Cards’ third season was surrounded by buzz but after its release it divided both the fans and the critics.
If you haven’t seen the third season of House of Cards and don’t want any spoilers we suggest you stop reading now. If you have and want to hear our thoughts on the fourth season then keep reading.
During the third season of House of Cards, Frank (Kevin Spacey) began his run as President and his experience was anything but easy. With his own party doubting his abilities and threats of opposition coming from Heather Dunbar (Elizabeth Marvel) and Jackie Sharp (Molly Parker), Frank found out that being President didn’t actually mean he’d be untouchable.
Much of the season saw Frank trying to push through his jobs initiative America Works whilst dealing with an unhappy party and an even unhappier wife. Claire (Robin Wright) manipulated Frank into giving her support to become the U.N. Ambassador but by the season’s end she’d lost that job, and seemingly the motivation to support Frank any more.
The season ended with Claire announcing that she was leaving Frank and with her own political ambitions clear, it looks like it could be a power struggle when the Underwoods return for a fourth season.
Ahead of the show’s 2016 return, we’ve put together a list of the 10 things we’d like to see in season four.
1. Claire vs Frank. All the signs seem to be pointing that way don’t they? Claire’s frustration with her lack of power and influence as the First Lady was a driving factor in her unhappiness during season 3. The Underwoods relationship is more platonic than it’s ever been and that clearly isn’t enough for Claire any more. We’re expecting a lot of dirty laundry to be aired as Claire makes a move against Frank.
2. Frank to get a real comeuppance. Frank has manipulated his way to the White House and he continually ignores his party to push his own agenda. He may be a clever politician but someone needs to serve him his comeuppance. If our first wish comes true then we suspect Claire could be her husband’s downfall but if it doesn’t then the team-up of Heather and Jackie could well be.
3. Frank to try and repair his marriage. In some ways you may think this goes against the first two points we’ve made but if you think about it there’s no way Frank will continue to be President without Claire by his side. At some point in the new season the two will have to come together for one reason or another and we can’t imagine Frank wants someone with so much ammunition to use against him as an enemy.
4. Heather to use Claire’s lies against her. Hands up who was disappointed when Heather decided not to use Claire’s journal against her? She may not be in possession of it any more but the fact she has the knowledge is more than enough to lay down a few blackmail threats isn’t it?
5. More Kate Baldwin (Kim Dickens). We know that Dickens is part of the main cast for Fear The Walking Dead, which could end her role on House of Cards if they conflict, but we liked the feisty reporter. She was more interesting than Ayla (Mozhan Marno) and has the potential to be as good as Zoe Barnes (Kate Mara) was.
6. Thomas Yates (Paul Sparks). The writer is seemingly the only person to see the Underwoods’ marriage for what it truly is. He also had a little spark with Frank there for a while and we were a bit disappointed when that led to nothing. He’s got plenty of material to cause a scandal in season 4.
7. Jackie and Remy’s (Mahershala Ali) affair to be exposed. We all knew that it was going to happen and Jackie’s protestations about being married etc would eventually fall to the wayside. We like these two characters together so more screentime would be a bonus.
8. A little less focus on Doug (Michael Kelly). This pains us to say as Doug was one of our favourite characters in the first two seasons but his behaviour and actions in season 3 became tedious. Too much time was spent on the Rachel (Rachel Brosnahan) storyline. We don’t even want him to be punished for killing her. We just want no mention of Rachel ever again.
9. The return of Janine (Constance Zimmer) and Lucas (Sebastian Arcelus). Both were silenced in different ways during season 2 when they got too close to exposing Frank and we think it’s time for them to come back. Lucas was in prison last we saw him and Janine trying to get her life back together.
10. More Meechum (Nathan Darrow). We’re so intrigued by Meechum and think that he deserves to get more screentime and character development. Since the infamous threesome in season two, we’ve been eager to learn more about him and how he’s come to have the relationship he does with the Underwoods.
House of Cards will return for a fourth season on Netflix in 2016. Leave your comments in the usual place and share your thoughts but please keep it civil and constructive.
