A Scandalous House of Cards

Spoiler Warning: Light Spoilers for House of Cards: Season 5 and Scandal: Season 7


To Ms. Olivia Pope,

I recently watched the show House of Cards, and am under the impression you would greatly appreciate the show. The show follows the character of Frank Underwood as he pushes his way through Washington politics to get the top, using any means necessary. I find this similar to your own push for power in ensuring President Mellie Grant’s gain the highest office at any cost.

The first few seasons of the show prove to be, in my opinion the most interesting, this stems from the fact that the narrative follows a more emotional storyline. Instead of seeing President Frank Underwood struggle with policy and holding on to power, we see Representative Underwood plot to hurt those who burned him and gain power as quickly and efficiently as possible. This can be done from a complex media campaign, your specialty, or through a more complex system of setting people up for failure and specific consequences. Again this can parallel the activities you took to ensure President Fitzgerald Grant won the presidency to the multiple coups and plans you created to take over the oval and B6-13.

While the story of House of Cards follows the character of Frank Underwood, for its majority, it also closely follows Claire Underwood, the first female president in the show’s fictional history (even if she starts as VP). Her character, while being secondary to her husband, also proves to have an interesting plot. This stems from her blind support of her husband in the earlier seasons, pushing him to seek revenge and accumulate power. Later, though, she changes her attitude using and manipulating Frank into accomplishing her will and giving some, albeit smaller amounts, of his power to her. This change creates Claire as a deeper character with great ambitions that culminate in her retaining the presidency. Olivia, I think you’d find this interesting. The slow steady rise in power Claire achieves is similar to Mellie’s and your own growth in power from under Fitz’s influence.

One of the main interesting aspects of House of Cards though, especially in the earlier seasons, is its unapologetic use of dark themes. Most shows, especially at the time of its release, try to target a large audience with comedy or more family friendly themes. House of Cards, though adopts themes of corruption, manipulation, among others. It shows a hidden rotten underbelly to politics that is not usually shown in political dramas. There are no gladiators in white hats saving the day. There are no patriots risking it all for the sake of the nation. All that exists, are selfish men and women clawing and fighting for each and every scrap of power and influence available. Now on whether this is realistic or not, I will leave to you, as you seem to be familiar with both sides of the argument. I do believe that this is, at least in part, what makes House of Cards different from most other political drama or TV shows for that matter.

Overall The first three seasons of House of Cards are emotional, dark stories that grab the viewer and bring them into a world of corruption and power politics. The other seasons lose some of these aspects but also add to the characterization of secondary characters in new and interesting ways. I would strongly recommend that you watch House of Cards. If not for enjoyment, then for the parallels to your own political atmosphere.