Never in the history of television has a show resembled a large pack of cards held high and strong for most of its run crash to the loudest of thuds to utter destruction in the way 'House of Cards' did in its final season, and especially its final episode. Have said more than once about considering it the worst final episode for any show, yes worse than those for 'Game of Thrones' (hold that show in very high regard on the most part) and (from memory) 'Dexter', and still stand by that opinion.
'Game of Thrones' final episode "The Iron Throne" may have made me truly mad and induced an over an hour long phone conversation with my brother talking about what went wrong, but it didn't make me want to throw something out of the window or make me want to punch the wall in the way 'House of Cards' "Chapter 73" did. And no it is not just that Frank isn't in it, like the whole of Season 6 there is much more to the problem than that. Couldn't even appreciate Michael Kelly's valiant effort in the acting stakes because of how badly Doug is practically character assassinated (far more complex than the one-dimensional psycho he was reduced to in the last two episodes).
Didn't even find the photography all that special here, it's not bad but it doesn't stand out, and the editing doesn't have the tautness it usually does. The music is ham-fisted and while that the episode was directed by Robin Wright herself sounded promising on paper, having been impressed by most of her previous directing efforts for the show, this is quite pedestrian work from her.
The script manages to be the worst of the whole of Season 6, and of 'House of Cards', and dialogue-wise Season 6 was very poorly written to put it politely. So that took a bit of doing. The sharpness? The bite? The complexity? The thoughtfulness? None present here, replaced by fatigue, convolution, cheese, absurdity and contrivance. Only Kelly is halfway compelling here, wasted by Doug's simplistic character writing and the out of character and eventually cowardly way he behaves (also felt that he over-egged it at the end). Wright is both wooden and over the top, Claire lacking gravitas as a lead and not capable of making decisions that have any logic. Everybody else looks disconencted.
From start to finish, the story is both drawn out and tries to have too many ideas and does nothing with any of them. It all lacks cohesion and there is nothing illuminating or interesting here. The episode is almost single-handedly ruined by the ending, which is to me one of the worst and most insulting ever endings for anything to exist and a disgrace to the 'House of Cards' name. Too melodramatic, too illogical and too anti-climactic, that doesn't make sense and destroys Doug's character. The big revelation is an intelligence-insulting slap in the face and then the whole episode, and season and show, ends with almost everything unresolved.
Concluding, don't use the word abomination a lot but that is the perfect way to sum up this season and show finale that betrayed every character, theme, event, basically everything 'House of Cards' stood for. 1/10
'Game of Thrones' final episode "The Iron Throne" may have made me truly mad and induced an over an hour long phone conversation with my brother talking about what went wrong, but it didn't make me want to throw something out of the window or make me want to punch the wall in the way 'House of Cards' "Chapter 73" did. And no it is not just that Frank isn't in it, like the whole of Season 6 there is much more to the problem than that. Couldn't even appreciate Michael Kelly's valiant effort in the acting stakes because of how badly Doug is practically character assassinated (far more complex than the one-dimensional psycho he was reduced to in the last two episodes).
Didn't even find the photography all that special here, it's not bad but it doesn't stand out, and the editing doesn't have the tautness it usually does. The music is ham-fisted and while that the episode was directed by Robin Wright herself sounded promising on paper, having been impressed by most of her previous directing efforts for the show, this is quite pedestrian work from her.
The script manages to be the worst of the whole of Season 6, and of 'House of Cards', and dialogue-wise Season 6 was very poorly written to put it politely. So that took a bit of doing. The sharpness? The bite? The complexity? The thoughtfulness? None present here, replaced by fatigue, convolution, cheese, absurdity and contrivance. Only Kelly is halfway compelling here, wasted by Doug's simplistic character writing and the out of character and eventually cowardly way he behaves (also felt that he over-egged it at the end). Wright is both wooden and over the top, Claire lacking gravitas as a lead and not capable of making decisions that have any logic. Everybody else looks disconencted.
From start to finish, the story is both drawn out and tries to have too many ideas and does nothing with any of them. It all lacks cohesion and there is nothing illuminating or interesting here. The episode is almost single-handedly ruined by the ending, which is to me one of the worst and most insulting ever endings for anything to exist and a disgrace to the 'House of Cards' name. Too melodramatic, too illogical and too anti-climactic, that doesn't make sense and destroys Doug's character. The big revelation is an intelligence-insulting slap in the face and then the whole episode, and season and show, ends with almost everything unresolved.
Concluding, don't use the word abomination a lot but that is the perfect way to sum up this season and show finale that betrayed every character, theme, event, basically everything 'House of Cards' stood for. 1/10