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So uh, the final season of House of Cards is out now

Braaier

Braaier

Banned
Oct 29, 2017
13,237
Just googled the ending and of course the showrunner and writers are defending it.

"There are questions, no doubt about it," writer Frank Pugliese told the Hollywood trade publication. "How is she going to get away with this? Now that she's done with this last piece, will she really move on? But that's left up to the audience and their imagination."
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Left up to the imagination? Fuck off. Are they trying to pull a Sopranos ending? The Sopranos didn't leave all these plot lines out there never resolved. Fuck off with leave it to our imagination. Such a copout bullshit answer.

And I didn't realize it but they tried to make this thing go full circle:

This is from the beginnning of the first episode:
"There are two types of pain," he says, breaking the fourth wall. "The sort of pain that makes you strong. Or useless pain. The sort of pain that's only suffering. I have no patience for useless things. Moments like this require someone who will act. Do the unpleasant thing, the necessary thing. There. No more pain."
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Claire's last words: no more pain. Is this supposed to be clever? They really wanted to get this to be full circle. How can we fit in "There. No more pain" to be the last spoken line? Yeah let's have Claire kill Doug and say those words." I mean lol, such shitty writing.

Fuck this show.
 
cheese toast

cheese toast

Member
Oct 29, 2017
727
Braaier said:
Claire's last words: no more pain. Is this supposed to be clever? They really wanted to get this to be full circle. How can we fit in "There. No more pain" to be the last spoken line? Yeah let's have Claire kill Doug and say those words." I mean lol, such shitty writing.
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Unless this was the writers' way of referring to the end of the show.

But given everything else, perhaps not.
 
brawndolicious

brawndolicious

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,918
Wait this is the final season? I thought that ending was supposed to be a cliffhanger so that everything will start off crazy in the following season.

Oh fuck this shit.
 
El Bombastico

El Bombastico

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
36,025
Braaier said:
Just googled the ending and of course the showrunner and writers are defending it.



Left up to the imagination? Fuck off. Are they trying to pull a Sopranos ending? The Sopranos didn't leave all these plot lines out there never resolved. Fuck off with leave it to our imagination. Such a copout bullshit answer.

And I didn't realize it but they tried to make this thing go full circle:

This is from the beginnning of the first episode:


Claire's last words: no more pain. Is this supposed to be clever? They really wanted to get this to be full circle. How can we fit in "There. No more pain" to be the last spoken line? Yeah let's have Claire kill Doug and say those words." I mean lol, such shitty writing.

Fuck this show.
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I would have a LOT more respect for these writers is they just up and admitted "yeah, we ran out of time and money, and our hearts weren't into it ever since Spacey turned out to be a creep. So we just slapped together some soap opera bullshit and hide behind the "ambiguous ending' nonsense other shows have used."
 
WillyFive

WillyFive

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
6,976
A catastrophe of writing.

- Obviously, the first mistake was stretching a three season show into something that was to land forever, only to then be caught with a child predator as the main actor and having to end it quick.
- Even then, the watered down show that they had could still have been tied together in a way to make a really good ending, with so many different plot threads and strong personalities to sell them.

However, everything was wasted by this season.

- They obviously had no idea what they were doing as evidenced by the characters.
- The characters had no clear motivation or goals, you could never tell what Claire was doing or trying to do or why she was doing it. Every action she made either seemed out of place, or with no clear goal or result. It was then written away the next episode later as if it never happened.
- They introduced new villains this season (why!?!) and they offered nothing to the story. Were they foils to Claire? Didn't seem that way, as they were clearly ineffectual at everything they did. The foes to the Underwoods that were set up in the past few seasons, by comparison, were useless and pointless, whose storylines didn't seem to end or be resolved.
- The season had no clear focus, there didn't seem to be an overarching plot, other than an escalation of drama.
- The season had no clear ending either, it was a cliffhanger to a season that apparently will not get made.
- Which means it wasn't actually supposed to be a cliffhanger, the writers simply didn't know what to do, so they just ended the story at a point where there was maximum drama, because usually climaxes are that.
- It turned Claire's character into nothingness, as any ambitions or goals she has had since the first season did not seem to be fought for or mattered in this season due to choices the writers made. She's President now, cause of a plotline from last season. But did she want it? What does she intend to do? The idea behind the original House of Cards story was that Mrs. Underwood was the true power and would do anything to uphold the Underwood name, killing Frank to ensure their legacy of power. But here, she goes from being a weak and stressed President in one episode, to a selfish tyrant in another, to a feminist beacon of hope in another, to someone who wants world peace in another, to someone that would kill millions in the next. She has no character here, she's only actions at this points.

I will say though, Claire's visual design as President is amazing, that hair style and dress, quite excellent. But the writing, not only was it a nonsensical season, it made no sense in the context of the rest of the show.
 

Deleted member 12224

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
6,113
The lack of courage to give the Underwoods, Frank or Claire, comeuppance for their murderous treasonous behavior was there through six seasons but holy fuck did they shout it at you in the final scene.

A waste of wonderful performances by Wright and others. Awful fucking season and series ending.
 

Fuu

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,361
Holy shit.

I was still defending this show when no one else was because even when it was at its weakest in the writing department I still found a lot to appreciate: acting, production design, soundtrack, concepts, aesthetics — all of that continued to be great. I knew this season was going to be gasping for air and I still managed to enjoy it for the most part. It was all over the place, but I was like fuck it let's do it.

But what the fuck at this ending. Even having Claire cackling and going nuclear while giving birth in the oval office would have been better than this.

Some of it can be blamed on the Spacey situation, and I usually give writers leeway when it comes to these things, but that's some cowardly shit of the highest order.

Awful, awful finale.
 
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Doctoglethorpe

Doctoglethorpe

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,214
Build up a house of cards for five seasons. Replace the whole deck at the last minute and chop off the finger that was about to tip them over. Fin. What a non-climax.

I kinda unashamedly loved how ridiculous this season got. Seemed pretty self aware. But man that ending. I was like "this is a fakeout, it's not... oh wow it's really over, okay then."
 
captive

captive

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,990
Houston
finished this the other night.

feels like they had a script for like 10 or 11 episodes and netflix said nah, do it in 8. i'm left indifferent. the show went off the rails a while ago. This season could have been good, even without spacey, but everything felt rushed, half baked and obviously no resolution to anything.
 
Dreezy

Dreezy

Member
Oct 27, 2017
846
I actually enjoyed the ride but what the fuck at the ending... bad enough to ruin the whole shit.
 
AuthenticM

AuthenticM

Son Altesse Sérénissime
The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
30,014
So is that ending supposed to mean that Claire is just as bad as Frank was? Is it some "both sides" bullshit?
 

Deleted member 8561

user requested account closure
Banned
Oct 26, 2017
11,284
Your show is based on the idea that everything collapses eventually. It's named "House of Cards", there is no room for interpretation.
 
Cipher Peon

Cipher Peon

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,791
Finished watching it today.

Throughout the entire season I had thought "it's not great but it's not THAT bad"

And then I got to the ending. Woof.
What a waste.
 
Mr. Wonderful

Mr. Wonderful

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,290
Caspah said:
I read that before, and just re-read it. Which part gives the ending to the original?
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WillyFive said:
The idea behind the original House of Cards story was that Mrs. Underwood was the true power and would do anything to uphold the Underwood name, killing Frank to ensure their legacy of power.
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Mrs. Underwood shoots her husband.

So having put a little more thought into it, I'm now actually starting to wonder if they re-wrote what was supposed to be Frank's part of the story into Doug's character, and that's why this season sucked?

In other words, it would have ended with Frank and Claire struggling, not Doug, and Claire at the end quoting one of Frank's own famous lines after he dies. That way, the series would have ended 1. Similar to the original, and in the direction the series has been leading us. and 2. with the main character climatically being killed off, instead of a supporting character.
 
Brazil

Brazil

Actual Brazilian
Member
Oct 24, 2017
18,403
São Paulo, Brazil
Mr. Wonderful said:
Mrs. Underwood shoots her husband.

So having put a little more thought into it, I'm now actually starting to wonder if they re-wrote what was supposed to be Frank's part of the story into Doug's character, and that's why this season sucked?

In other words, it would have ended with Frank and Claire struggling, not Doug, and Claire at the end quoting one of Frank's own famous lines after he dies. That way, the series would have ended 1. Similar to the original, and in the direction the series has been leading us. and 2. with the main character climatically being killed off, instead of a supporting character.
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That seems very likely.
 
Green Tentacle

Green Tentacle

Member
Oct 28, 2017
862
United States
So I finally got around to starting the final season. Got about 5 minutes into it until Claire finds the source of the noise in the wall.

I think I'm out! I was pretty burned out on the show by the end of the previous season, and I think I just don't care enough to watch the rest.
 
WillyFive

WillyFive

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
6,976
Mr. Wonderful said:
Mrs. Underwood shoots her husband.

So having put a little more thought into it, I'm now actually starting to wonder if they re-wrote what was supposed to be Frank's part of the story into Doug's character, and that's why this season sucked?

In other words, it would have ended with Frank and Claire struggling, not Doug, and Claire at the end quoting one of Frank's own famous lines after he dies. That way, the series would have ended 1. Similar to the original, and in the direction the series has been leading us. and 2. with the main character climatically being killed off, instead of a supporting character.
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Yeah, if that scene simply had Frank instead of Doug, it would have been a proper end to the series. But with Doug, it just seems like an abrupt coma in the middle of a bigger sentence.
 
Silentbomber

Silentbomber

Member
Oct 27, 2017
452
I just finished it... all I want to know is, how did the Shepherds get on ?.... said nobody ever. Who cares. Why did they get much screen time.

By far the worst season of HOC and a complete waste of time.

This season had promise, but they wasted so much of it. They literally could have done it all in one episode. There was no story to tell here, just a battle royale surviving characters. They needed to drop the Frank's Legacy stuff, and give added focus onto Tom Hammerschmidt's story.

Also,
Claire lives !? the series is called HOUSE OF CARDS, it's supposed to come crashing down. What a huge fuck you to the viewer.
 
Cocksman

Cocksman

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,514
This was bad. Show runners were in a tough spot but is this really the best they could do?

Show should have ended when Frank won the presidency.
 

VAD

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,513
It was a beautiful mess. I loved every shot of this show but holy shit did the writing was shit. I did not want any of you in this thread to be right but you are. I'll wait for an epilogue, even Sense8 got one.
 
Maquiladora

Maquiladora

Member
Nov 16, 2017
5,077
Probably the worst season of television I've ever had the displeasure of enduring. A catastrophic fall in quality of writing from first seasons. Absolutely fucking shit.
 
Didyme

Didyme

Member
Oct 29, 2017
167
It's called House of Cards. The promise of the show is that the two progatonists will rise, then fall. The audience legitimately expects in the end some sort of justice, literal or poetic. But one of the protagonist die off-screen and the final episode ends with the other surviving after another murder which repercussions we'll never see. It's an infuriating and extremely frustrating denial of catharsis.

I wonder if the writers have fallen in love with Wright's character and could not resolve themselves to accomplish the narrative promise.
 
Ploid 6.0

Ploid 6.0

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,440
Time to binge. Just got some time to be able, and in the mood to watch (sick). I just watched the opening and I'm hyped already. Man She's a good actor, kind of sad this is apparently the last season.

Maquiladora said:
Probably the worst season of television I've ever had the displeasure of enduring. A catastrophic fall in quality of writing from first seasons. Absolutely fucking shit.
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Ah dang. :\
 
Lotus

Lotus

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
105,640
Just finished it. It was a fucking awful season, yet admittedly I found it more enjoyable than I thought I would. Nothing made any type of sense, but the political fuckery and petty jabs had its moments. I needed my closure, especially after all the fuss over the ending, so yea.

But like all of y'all said... the ending.

Oh.

My.

God.

This fucking ending.

I thought the idea of it being worse than stuff like Dexter was hard to picture, but no, it absolutely is easily one of the worst endings I've ever seen.
 
SnatcherHunter

SnatcherHunter

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
13,476
Just finished it.
Am pretty sure HOC ending is 10 times worst than Dexter.

The writers and direction was clearly lazy. I can sense time jumps between many episodes. As if Netflix just rushed the revised script for the season. That ending couldn't have been the ending the writers intended.

That is just beyond uncreative and way too many plot holes. What a waste of time.
 

Deleted member 7156

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
783
I was bored during the first episode already, after reading people reactions here I just went to check the ending and skipped the rest of the season.

Think this is the first time I drop a series on it's last season, especially after enduring some pretty bad stuff on earlier seasons.

At least shows like Dexter were entertaining bad. House of Cards just became a bore.
 
Brian McDoogle

Brian McDoogle

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,927
Maybe it's because I stopped watching during season 4 or earlier , but with that final scene, I read all of your descriptions about what happens, but you left out...
She's pregnant when she stabs him in the Oval Office, says "no more pain" and then looks into the camera with an immediate cutaway.

Just a chef kiss to this stupidity. Almost want to watch what I missed that lead up to it, including the push down the stairs I never saw that was also spoiled for me in this thread.
 
Prinz Eugn

Prinz Eugn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,393
I thought it was messy but still kind of entertaining, but as everyone has said, that wtf ending was something else.
 
Halbrand

Halbrand

Member
Oct 27, 2017
19,615
Only on episode 2 and this is so bad, I don't know why I'm watching

It's frankly not worth it without Kevin Spacey
 
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