I first encountered House of Cards in an illness-fuelled delirium. I am unsure why I thought an intense drama that demands a reasonable level of political awareness would be ideal viewing, but like any series, I’d heard it was amazing, and I have a deep and profound love for television. Thus, armed with hours to kill, I plunged into the world of Frank and Claire Underwood, unaware of the behavioural mind-fuck I was about to embark on.
Everyone is horrible in House of Cards. I don’t mean a kind of “the Mayor of London is backing Brexit and undermining your political prowess” kind of horrible, more like “I might have to publically humiliate, shame and maybe murder you if you interrupt my rise to power” kind of horrible. People are perpetually manipulating. No one can be trusted, not even the people you think might actually be okay. Lying is a given and killing people becomes as normalised as a press conference. To any rational human being, the behaviours the show exhibits are borderline sociopathic.
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