N and I started watching House of Cards to distract ourselves from the tragic situation involving our respective countries.
It’s a good show but I’m not sure if we’ll continue watching me. N finds the domineering wife played by the talented Robin Wright to be so scary that he started having nightmares. I’m, of course, the exact opposite type of wife but N was born in the USSR, so he has many traumatic memories of this sort of woman.
Kevin Spacey’s tortured attempt at a South Carolinian accent is one thing I dislike about the show. Also, the hobbit-like creature cast in the part of the young reporter is annoying. But the show is good.
Clarissa's Blog 
I don’t watch a lot of tv (beyond random channel surfing) I usually watch one episode of a longer drama series followed by a sitcom every night. Usually I have two or three shows in rotation (I’m incapabe of binge watching).
Two of the shows in my rotation now (basically by chance) are the Russian Brigada (about the 90s bandit wars from the perspective of a relatively minor gang) and the second year of Borgen (about the fictional first female prime minister of Denmark).
A lot of interesting contrasts between a functional country and a wildly dysfunctional one.
What’s surprising about Borgen is how little it’s actually about a woman in a traditionally male role (it’s there a time or two but mostly in the background or not noticeable at all) and how much it’s about maintaining a semblance of ethics in a political system and maintaining a life outside work (when your job is never over).
There’s also lot’s of interesting things about how a consensus based system works
– when a politician loses his temper, pounds the table and starts shouting at a coalition meeting it’s a signal his career is over,
– when a despised (and despicable) rival faces ruin the person who should be happy doesn’t gloat but reaches out and offers him a comeback plan
Brigada of course is about the total social dysfunction of a system where the only things that count are shadowy connections and a willingness to resort to violence and where the law enforcement system and crooks are a single system (rather than the overlapping mutually dependent systems shown in the Sopranos).
And of course the roles of men and women are burlesqued and carried out to grotesque extremes.
LikeLike
Do you know the show “Bandit Petersburg”? It’s priceless. We watched it several times, and still feel like the characters are creatures from a different planet. Who needs sci-fi when you have Russian bandit shows?
LikeLike
It’s not available on the ‘service’ where I found Brigada. My favorite moment was when the wife (of four years) of the main character confides in his aunt, words along the lines of “I think they might kill people”.
The line and the aunt keeping a straight face were comedy gold.
LikeLike
You are really one of us if you enjoy Brigada. 🙂 🙂
LikeLike
I had a dream of a woman who was a hermaphrodite. She was the second of three lawyers I saw and she was a fake, a subversive performance artist, blocking the system. She entered a department store late at night and stepped on high heels all over the wrapped gifts.
LikeLike
House of Cards is good, though I think the original British version is a bit better (but much worse on the domineering wife front). I’ve read that Kevin Spacey tried to use his accent to capture the musicality of the British accents in the original. The wife character changes quite a bit as the series goes on to become less domineering, though I’m not sure I like how she changes. Unfortunately, the horrible reporter character remains awful and unlikeable.
LikeLike
“I’ve read that Kevin Spacey tried to use his accent to capture the musicality of the British accents in the original.”
– I told N from the start that this accent sounded strangely British! It’s good to know I was right.
LikeLike
I really love the show! We are on Season 2 and completely engrossed. I agree that the reporter is annoying. I didn’t think about before you said it, but she DOES seem like a Hobbit. 🙂 (And the Robin Wright character is my favorite. I’m not sure what that says about me.)
LikeLike
I love this show because it is very Shakespearean. In fact, there are several times where scenes are directly parallel to scenes from Shakespeare. In a few shows, I’ve noted quotes from Shakespeare, too. One of these days I’ll write about the show, but by the time I have some breathing room, I’m certainly going to be scooped. Oh well. It’s fascinating, though.
LikeLike
I agree. It is SO Shakespearean isn’t it?
LikeLike
What I like about the show is that finally I see at least some actors who are talented enough to play nuanced characters. Robin Wright is very gifted, and she portrays beautifully a woman who is fighting the realization that she is not the strong, assertive career-woman she likes to imagine herself but a weak and completely dependent person.
Wright is an exceptionally talented actress. I’d say she’s stealing the show from everybody else.
LikeLike
“Wright is an exceptionally talented actress. I’d say she’s stealing the show from everybody else.”
I agree!
LikeLike