House Of Cards - Season Six

It's over, and thankfully so. The Netflix series "House of Cards" ends not with a bang, but with a whisper, star and producer Robin Wright's omnipresent vocal effect.

The sixth and final season attempts to wrap up the loose ends from the real world – Kevin Spacey being fired from the series due to allegations of sexual assault – and from Beau Willimon's fictitious White House. Former POTUS Frank Underwood is gone and his Lady Macbeth takes over.

The eight episodes are amorphous, blending into one another with endless sotto voce commentary and not much else. Guest stars Diane Lane and Greg Kinnear (as the Mercer-like Shepherd siblings) and Patricia Clarkson match power plays alongside Wright's Commander-in-Chief Claire Underwood Hale but to little effect or interest. Hardly anybody has a spouse nor anything resembling a typical political family. The entire affair feels like a skeleton crew, perhaps appropriate for the eventual body count.

The drama in our actual lives eclipses the small world of the series, although there are nods to reality: Conservative propaganda outlet Beltway media sounds a lot like Sinclair, and yet still tamer. There's talk of the 25th amendment, removing the President for mental infirmity, which goes nowhere in either sphere. There's also the Russian collusion, where the leaders they're more like old college drinking buddies than adversaries. Attempts at blanket feminism are comical. Plus Syria and the Supreme Court, but many fewer issues than what we're grappling with on the daily.

The scripts attempt to illuminate our constitutional crises but fall flat. There are few redeeming qualities and a sameness that lulls. Even Wright's costumes, while crisp, are repetitive with their white buttoned cuffs, much like her terse, bland delivery. Co-star Michael Kelly's scorned aide Doug Stamper is equally wound up and dull. They are all hollow people, in a hollow world.

"House of Cards: The Complete Sixth Season"
Blu-ray Set
$34.04
https://www.netflix.com/title/70178217