Season 4 started off more than promisingly, with two very good episodes ("Chapter 40" and "Chapter 42") and an excellent one ("Chapter 41"). Then there was the episode where Season 4 hit its stride with the incredible "Chapter 43", which for me is one of the standout episodes of 'House of Cards' back when it was good to brilliant in its quality and not the quality that that disgrace of a final season Season 6, the worst final season of any show in my view, had.
"Chapter 44" is not quite up the same standard of "Chapter 43", but that would have been such a tall order and it would have been very difficult to equal or better that episode. It is still a great, excellent even, episode on its own and a more than very worthy 'House of Cards' episode, even without Frank for a vast majority of the episode. Actually consider it one of Season 4's better ones even when taking that into account or overlooking it, and the second best Season 4 episode up to this point. If anybody disagrees though that's fine.
Frank's near-total absence is noted and is deeply felt, an example of when such a strong character isn't there one can see how important they are in making it work. Having said that, there is that feeling while not leaving so huge a hole that it comes to be too much of a distraction that it ruins the episode. That may not be the case for everybody but it was respectfully for me. Not like the whole of Season 6. If this sounds like too much of a contradiction and it will look that way to some, it is down to at this point being conflicted on what my stance is on it, with Season 6 it was much more certain though as the quality was considerably lower so it was much harder to forgive.
Enough of talking about that and lets talk about what "Chapter 44" does brilliantly. And that it a lot. Standing out are the character writing and character interaction. Claire continues to have that icy demeanour, like when she talks about her coldness towards her mother and Frank (showing how strained their relationship had become at this point), and there is that master manipulator dynamic between her and Blythe, where he is like a puppet on her strings and she is the puppeteer of the action. Do agree that Doug, who is proving to be more interesting than in Season 3, and Seth have some great moments and the return of the formidable Tusk adds hugely.
Robin Wright shines like the brightest of stars here in "Chapter 44". The episode is as ever stylishly shot and edited, and the direction is particularly striking when Claire and Blythe are together. The story is never less than compelling, even when not there Frank's influence and presence is very much dominant regardless of whether he is referred to by another character or not. The dialogue is thought-provoking and has bite.
Overall, excellent even when without Frank, which sounds like a disaster but the exceptionally high quality of everything else more than compensates. 9/10
"Chapter 44" is not quite up the same standard of "Chapter 43", but that would have been such a tall order and it would have been very difficult to equal or better that episode. It is still a great, excellent even, episode on its own and a more than very worthy 'House of Cards' episode, even without Frank for a vast majority of the episode. Actually consider it one of Season 4's better ones even when taking that into account or overlooking it, and the second best Season 4 episode up to this point. If anybody disagrees though that's fine.
Frank's near-total absence is noted and is deeply felt, an example of when such a strong character isn't there one can see how important they are in making it work. Having said that, there is that feeling while not leaving so huge a hole that it comes to be too much of a distraction that it ruins the episode. That may not be the case for everybody but it was respectfully for me. Not like the whole of Season 6. If this sounds like too much of a contradiction and it will look that way to some, it is down to at this point being conflicted on what my stance is on it, with Season 6 it was much more certain though as the quality was considerably lower so it was much harder to forgive.
Enough of talking about that and lets talk about what "Chapter 44" does brilliantly. And that it a lot. Standing out are the character writing and character interaction. Claire continues to have that icy demeanour, like when she talks about her coldness towards her mother and Frank (showing how strained their relationship had become at this point), and there is that master manipulator dynamic between her and Blythe, where he is like a puppet on her strings and she is the puppeteer of the action. Do agree that Doug, who is proving to be more interesting than in Season 3, and Seth have some great moments and the return of the formidable Tusk adds hugely.
Robin Wright shines like the brightest of stars here in "Chapter 44". The episode is as ever stylishly shot and edited, and the direction is particularly striking when Claire and Blythe are together. The story is never less than compelling, even when not there Frank's influence and presence is very much dominant regardless of whether he is referred to by another character or not. The dialogue is thought-provoking and has bite.
Overall, excellent even when without Frank, which sounds like a disaster but the exceptionally high quality of everything else more than compensates. 9/10
