I was drawn to this show by the positive word of mouth and of course the caliber of the people involved across the production. The narrative sets us inside the White House as ambitious career politician Frank Underwood seeks a higher position and, when he finds himself scuppered in his hopes by the new administration, he sets about to manipulate people and events in such a way that he can place himself ideally for advancement but also revenge. It is a show that right from the opening scene sets out its stall as being focused on ruthless characters who have multiple faces and carefully concealed motivations.
It continues this way through the first season, with plenty of turns in the narrative to engage and entertain. It is also expensively and professionally made, looking good across the board, with a sense of weighty quality about it – although perhaps too much. This sense of weight and importance doesn't help the show because it is never as thrilling as it should be, nor as taut as the games Underwood plays suggest it would be either. The show has an accessible feel to it and it wears its high-brow clothes, but in essence it is a weekly procedural, albeit one with political games rather than police investigations. The pace is surprisingly slow throughout as well; this is concealed somewhat by the sense of depth and quality, but it is concealed rather than compensated for.
As it is the show is carried along by such slickness and it benefits from it because the material is not always as compelling as it would have you believe – engaging for sure, but despite what some might say, it is possible to stop watching even when you have all the episodes at the touch of a button. The cast are part of the reason it compels and in particular Spacey very much enjoys his role and draws the viewer in well. Around him is a solid cast and mostly good characters in the shape of Wright, Kelly, Mara and others, but there are also weaker characters who perhaps should not be that way (the President for one seems the least political savvy one in the whole place).
House of Cards is a quality show; you can feel that yourself given how professionally it is made and how deep into all the corners the quality goes. That doesn't mean it is perfect though and, although engaging, I was surprised by how passive a lot of it was, with a slow pace and often lacking a real sense of tension, high stakes or danger. However, although it is not as good as it thinks it is, it is still engaging and entertaining.