March 2nd: Blowing the House Down

If all of your coworkers looked particularly exhausted on Friday, they were probably binge-watching the new season of House of Cards. The Netflix political drama dropped it’s 13 episode third season at midnight on Friday morning, causing fans everywhere to insist on just one more episode before bed. Ok, maybe two more.

It took me three tries to get through the first two seasons. My first attempt, I didn’t make it past the pilot. My second attempt, I got to episode 4. Finally, I decided to buck-up and get through the 26 episode series that had so thoroughly captivated my friends.

My first reaction to the show was that it was a poor-man’s West Wing. Any time I would say that, I would get in trouble, because the shows are “so different.” Well, for the well-trained West Wing eye, you can tell that there are several instances throughout HoC that attempt to mimic, reference, or downright rip from the great Sorkin masterpiece. Long monologues in a church, a sequence with an egg standing on end, and a government stoppage are just a few instances where Frank Underwood attempts to stand next to Josiah Bartlett, and comes up looking small.

Now, I will admit: it has only been a long weekend, and I’m already halfway through the third season. I get it: the concept of watching a show marathon-style is incredibly engaging, and Netflix has itself a very interesting business model built around a weekend launch. The characters are interesting, the plot is definitely intricate, and any show like this is a boon for a political junkie. Yet the show, as a whole, demonstrates that just because there is huge hype does not mean that the show is particularly well done.

The third season comes with challenges that one would not expect of a show of House of Card’s caliber. The first episode focused far too much on a secondary character, rather than on Frank and Claire. The strength and determination that was so characteristic of Frank early on in the show seems to be replaced by a sense of his constantly feeling overwhelmed. His usual attitude of political savvy has been replaced by a man who is constantly reacting, rather than plotting. While I was never in love with the Frank of the first two seasons, I much prefer him to the Frank of the third, who appears to be a drastic departure from what so many cherished about the show to begin with.

I will, of course, admit that I have not finished the season. For those who have, you may be chuckling to yourself, knowing that I will soon eat my words. If, somewhere in all of this, there is a giant “GOTCHA” twist that I didn’t see coming, I will have to return to the blogging world to give my mea culpa for jumping the gun on writing a review. But, at this point, the show’s writers appear to have taken too long a hiatus.

This is one of the biggest risks of taking a full year between releases. Because of the nature of Netflix’s full-season drop model, there is a lot of time between when a binge viewer sees the characters from the end of one season to the start of the next. The challenge that comes with this is the continuity of character development and driving certain story lines. In that regard, the show has done it’s viewers a great disservice, as the characters have seemingly changed in the “six months” of TV time between the last episode of season 2 and the first of season 3.

House of Cards has always been in the business of creating drama, rather than telling a compelling story. In the coming episodes, there is plenty of drama left to unfold. Let’s hope the story can keep up. So far, it hasn’t.

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January 29th: The Big Cheese

During the Andrew Jackson administration, the story goes, a large block of cheese was wheeled into the White House. The purpose was to allow for all of those who were hungry to come and join the staff and cabinet of the highest office of the United States and share some food and discuss matters that would important to them.

This tradition was brought into common knowledge when it was featured on the West Wing, Aaron Sorkin’s masterful television show detailing the workplace environment of those working at the White House. In the show, the Chief of Staff brought back this tradition, or at least the part of getting some face-time with the leadership of the government. Throughout the seven seasons of the show, the White  House staff was visited by a wide variety of people with interests ranging from wildlife conservation to astrological concerns and even cartography issues. While many were ridiculous proposals and somewhat outlandish, all received the time and attention of those with some degree of power to act on the shared knowledge.

In a Youtube video that brought Bradley Whitford and Josh Molina together alongside Jay Carney, the White House Press Secretary, the White House announced their intentions to make this tradition come to life. For the first time, the White House has been accepting videos today to be answered by government officials. This will offer the opportunity for citizens, the day after Barack Obama’s State of the Union, to reflect on ways that their government can best serve them.

While the day in the West Wing was often thought of as “Crackpot Day” because of the prevalence of rather crazy ideas, this is an incredible opportunity for the government to be transparent and include the people in their deliberation. A government run for the people must have an idea about what the citizens deem important, and this gives all Americans the opportunity to have the ear of the leadership of our country.

The Obama administration won the presidency in 2008 because of their ability to understand the internet and social media, and how to use these tools to speak to an audience larger than any public appearance. This is yet another example of that understanding.

As is almost always the case, the State of the Union shed light on an incredible number of issues that are important not only to the Obama administration, but the country as a whole. Everything from the education system, the middle class, and international politics were called center stage to the forefront of the mind of all Americans. As incredible as it is that television has allowed all of the American citizens to get into the room for this address, there is an issue with translating those powerful words into powerful action. This year, more so than any in recent memory, the government looks incapable of making the kind of changes that Obama calls for.

This is where Big Block of Cheese Day comes into play. The American public gets to put the important questions to the government and get answers about not simply beautifully written words, but the actual actions that will be taken to make them a reality. Through this one day of internet communication, the Obama administration has the opportunity to use social media tools to communicate with its constituency in ways never done before.