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| Frank and Claire Underwood share equal weight on the dark poster for the 4th season of Beau Willimon's House of Cards |
House of Cards - season 4 is created by Beau Willimon (The Ides of March (2011)), based on the BBC miniseries of the same name from 1990, which in turn was based on the same-titled 1989 novel by Michael Dobbs (Winston's War (2002)).
The following season summary contains SPOILERS:
Claire Underwood (Robin Wright (The Congress (2013)) lives with her alienated mother (Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist (1973))) in Texas, while she hires LeAnn (Neve Campbell (Scream (2022))) to help her get into Congress and upwards from there. US President Frank Underwood's (Kevin Spacey (Hurlyburly (1998))) attempt to threaten them to dissuade unsurprisingly fails. Despite this the two keep up appearances to the outside as a happily married power couple.
Frank eventually obstructs Claire's plan by fully embracing her opponent in his State of the Union address.
Claire gets back at Frank with an image of his late father's Ku Klux Klan past, which she leaks, causing him some trying consequences. Rage flares up between the two again.
An embittered former editor shoots Frank twice at a university appearance, and his intimate bodyguard Meechum kills the assailant but is also himself killed in action. Right before this Claire has asked for divorce. Vice President Blythe takes over governance and immediately overturns Frank's decision concerning delivering a Russian billionaire to the Russian government, instead flying him to China!
While Claire works wonders to pacify a scandal-filled farewell letter from the editor assassin in the media, Frank's Chief of Staff Doug Stamper violently scares press secretary Seth Grayson into submission and silence on other matters.
Secretary of State Dunbar admits on TV to have met with the assassin days before his attack, - and attacks hospital-ridden Frank. A teenage suicide brings a fresh liver to Frank's body, after Stamper has pressured the Secretary of Health and Human Services into bumping him to the top of the donor list, (costing another man his life.) During the operation Claire attends G7 negotiations in Germany and makes a deal with Russian leader Petrov. Once awake again and recuperating, Francis accepts the new balance of strength in their marriage, which is now in Claire's favor.
New Republican presidential hopeful Conway (Joel Kinnaman (The Killing (2011-14))) is introduced. His data powerhouse search machine is, however, second to the services of the NSA that the Underwoods have at hand.
Stamper has to face that he cannot control Seth anyways. Claire helps her mother die with morphine and has sex with Tom, the couple's suave ghost writer confidante, who is coming back into their lives.
While campaigning for the Underwoods back on the Republican presidential ticket, Claire elaborates on their 'partnership' while carrying on her extra-marital affair behind the spotlight. Frank learns about it and encourages it, as he estimates that Tom gives her something good.
A fraught domestic ICO (a fictionalized version of ISIS) terrorist hostage situation develops with Conway communicating with the terrorist, to Frank's chagrin: "You're a pretender. And if you win you'll go from pretender to fraud", he explains to his young competitor in a typically direct exchange. While an investigative journalist's damaging article is about to come out, the FBI nears the hostage situation, while Frank pushes Conway to communicate again, this time without a manuscript.
In an incredible turn of events, both Conway and Frank talk to the terrorist, and, more incredibly still, a prisoned ICO leader is flown to Virginia to video-link with the terrorist and talk the situation down. This crazy plan backfires with fatal results. While the damaging article is still going to press, the Underwoods' NSA back channel is overtaken by CIA and FBI. Everything is seemingly disintegrating, when Claire hands her husband the solution: Fear. War. In a speech to the nation Frank announces war on ICO, as the last hostage is killed on video before all.
The 4th season is an enormous and awesome production with outstanding performances from Spacey as the President, Wright as exceptionally cold Claire, Jayne Atkinson (Free Willy (1993)) as Secretary of State Durant, Michael Kelly (Dawn of the Dead (2004)) as Stamper and Kinneman as narcissistic newcomer Conway. Burstyn is a scoop and intense as Claire's mother. SPOILER Her euthanasia death (episode 10) is the season's most shocking moment.
The phenomenal score (by Jeff Beal (Inside Game (2019))) is as bleak and gloomy as the darkest dark, which seems also to be the area which the characters inhabit. Frank's monologues return with force (episode 7), as data collection as power instrument is introduced along with Kinneman's selfie fanatic politician Conway. The race for Republican presidential nomination is over strangely fast, and these episodes (8-11) are not as strong as one would have dreamt about.
The initially intense, dramatically effective and suspenseful season-closing conflict with the ICO hostage situation ends preposterously (in episode 13) with the unbelievable inclusion of an untrustworthy ICO leader in trying to solve the situation. It is a fittingly dark and cruel end to the season, but it doesn't feel authentic.
Best episodes:
Episode 5: Chapter 44 - Written by Melissa James Gibson (All Is Bright (2013)), Laura Eason (Here and Now (2018)), Bill Kennedy (Sex Ed (2014)), Willimon; directed by Tom Shankland (Ripper Street (2012-13))
The aftermath of the assassination attempt on Frank's life has his inner circle scrambling against attacks with any means necessary on several fronts.
Episode 12: Chapter 51 - Written by Eason, Kennedy, Willimon; directed by Jakob Verbruggen (The Fall (2013, TV-series))
Conway attempts to boost himself by getting involved in a nation-absorbing domestic terrorist hostage situation, and Frank chews him up for it, while also trying to stamp out a detrimental journalistic piece that's about to emerge.
Related posts:
Beau Willimon: House of Cards - season 3 (2015, VoD) - Marital crisis in so-far best season of Presidential drama
House of Cards - season 2 (2014, VoD) - More ruthless power plays from Willimon and Co.
House of Cards - season 1 (2013, VoD) - Mean streaks at the sausage factory
The Ides of March (2011) - Clooney's political thriller looks at the cynical downside of modern politics (screenwriter; based on his play)
Watch a trailer for the season here
Cost: Uncertain but reportedly around 55 mil. $
Box office: None - TV-series
= Uncertain, but considered a hit
[House of Cards - season 4 was released in full on 4 March on Netflix and runs approximately 663 minutes (13 episodes of around 51 minutes each). Shooting took place from June 2015 - ?. The fourth season reportedly cost 55 mil. $ to produce. Netflix regrettably do not report viewership numbers. The season was nominated for 13 Emmys. IMDb's users have rated the TV-series in at #111 on the site's TV Top 250, sitting between The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017) and Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (2022). House of Cards returned with season 5 in 2017, also Willimon's return as writer; the 4th season was his last as executive producer though. In 2016 Spacey also appeared in Elvis & Nixon, Nine Lives and Tom Odell: Here I Am (music video); Wright did not appear elsewhere that year. House of Cards - season 4 is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
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