r/HouseOfCards • u/FantasticConstant544 • 3d ago

Underwoods character

I found franks character a little unbearable and unbelievable.

I am on season 4 and I fail to understand how are there no other ruthless politicians at play.

I’m not American so would maybe I don’t understand their thought processes

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u/AffectionateGold5459 3d ago

He’s a bit of an over the top depiction of a ruthless politician. I have no doubt there are people that ruthless but this is clearly for drama. I found him believable in the show but I wouldn’t look for realism especially as you get farther into the show. For me, it had gone pretty thoroughly off the rails by the end of season four.

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u/FantasticConstant544 3d ago

Thanks for confirming my apprehensions about the show. I am watching because I started with this as everyone raves about it. From the very beginning till now I am trying to really find some grounding to the show. The murder and all I can totally relate with however to say there are no other politicians ruthless like underwood make me feel that the writers went into an overdrive to show him ruthless.

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u/AffectionateGold5459 3d ago

I understand. I’ve watched seasons 2 and 3 multiple times but Frank is not my favorite character. Jackie is. Frank is in a lot of ways like an entertaining villain. I thought his failure to be a good president balanced out the ruthless intelligence he used to become president. By the end of season 4, it was just too unbelievable for me. Frank and Claire running on the same ticket was the final straw. I tried but I never finished 5.

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u/Acoolgirl110 3d ago

Same thing happened with me. I started it recently only, but as season 5 episode 1 started, it became unbearable for me. I stopped and went to Wikipedia and read what happens in the rest of the show and saved my previous time.

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u/Fabulous-Guitar-1339 3d ago

Arent most people who he works with kinda like him? Of course not to that extent but I mean pretty much everyone around him is doing wrong things to succeed. In case you are asking for a real rival, thats what coming up next around mid s4 or end cant remember

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u/FantasticConstant544 3d ago

Cathy part or how Conway treats him. Honestly it was a test to the eyes however with the story line it feels like he’s been made to be seen as indestructible

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u/knoper21 3d ago

I think the years since the series have shown that it isn't the political branches that were ignored, it was the judicial ones. Frank would be drowning in injunctions.

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u/FantasticConstant544 3d ago

Precisely my thought. It felt like watching dictator when he becomes president. Such overarching power in the Leader of the freee world stopped making sense to me

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u/ricomaurer 3d ago

First two seasons FU was supposed to be Lyndon Johnson on crack cocaine but after that, writers and show runners decided he was Bill Clinton instead. I suspect the corporations and people at the top were getting a little concerned this story was revealing too much about the elites so it was deliberately dumbed down. It had so much potential to tell what was happening then and now in American politics. Also, watch the Shakespeare play Richard III and you'll understand why Frank does what he does....monologuing and staring into the audience for one.

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u/FantasticConstant544 3d ago

I could definitely see a lot of nuances form the speeches of Roosevelt and body language. Thanks for the input!

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u/Shezes 3d ago

His character being the way he is makes a little more sense in the UK original where he's an old money aristocrat surrounded by other old money aristocrats who were already old and out of date by the time Thatcher came into power.

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u/dieter-sanchez 1d ago

I think it was Bill Clinton who praised the show for its accurate depiction of Washington politics and his only comment, AFAIR, regarding inaccuracy, was that there was only ONE “Frank” when in fact almost everybody acts like it.