House of Cards: Season 4
Ratings: 4.5/5
Creator: Beau Willimon
Executive Producers: David Fincher, Kevin Spacey, Eric Roth, Joshua Donen, Dana Brunetti, Andrew Davies, Michael Dobbs, John Melfi, Beau Willimon, David Manson, John David Coles, Robin Wright, Frank Pugliese, Melissa James Gibson
Genre: Political Drama/Political Thriller
Release Date: 4th March, 2016
Streaming Platform: Netflix
Star Cast: Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright, Kate Mara, Corey Stoll, Michael Kelly, Kristen Connolly, Sakina Jaffrey, Sandrine Holt, Constance Zimmer, Michel Gill, Sebastian Arcelus, Mahershala Ali, Boris McGiver, Nathan Darrow, Rachel Brosnahan
Plot:
They've always been a great team, but now Frank and Claire become even greater adversaries as their marriage stumbles and their ambitions are at odds. President Underwood prepares for his second State of the Union, while Claire prepares her campaign but both are at odds.
Review:
This season, Ellen Burstyn makes a grand entry as Claire Underwood’s venomous mother, Elizabeth Hale. Elizabeth is just as into blackmail and negotiations as her daughter and the rest of Washington. Elizabeth's health is in declining state, and Claire takes a break from the campaign trail to be with her.
Tom Yates (Paul Sparks), the novelist who grew close with the Underwoods in season 3, to write a book, is now back in season 4 as a speechwriter and companion to Claire. He accompanies Claire to Texas to see her mother. He's even in the room when Claire puts her mother to ‘mercy-killing’. Intense!
The husband Underwood vs wife Underwood is still going on; or rather we should say ex-husband and wife. At the start of the season, Claire had officially left Frank and was also gearing up to run for Congress. When Frank obstructs her campaign, she sets her sights on something even better: Vice President.
Frank's campaign encounters a setback when a photo of his father shaking hands with a KKK member appears on a billboard. Then, a photo of Frank shaking hands with a Civil War re-enactor is leaked, and Frank loses the primary in his home state, South Carolina. As it turns out, this was Claire's doing. As she tells him, “I can be a part of your campaign, or I can end it,” referring to the incriminating photos. He then brings her on the ticket.
The celebrated journalist and Zoe Barnes' ex-flame, Lucas Goodwin (Sebastian Arcelus) wasn’t seen since he was sent to prison in season 2. Now, at the start of season 4, he's just been released from prison and placed into witness protection.
Towards the conclusion of the season, Claire and Frank have three weeks to win the election, and they can only pull it off only by dining on the country's inordinate terror.
On the season's last episode, Will Conway and Frank try to deal with the hostage situation but fails. Jim Miller's (Sean C. Graham) throat is slit on national television. The U.S. is at war — and Frank and Claire will take full advantage of this situation.
