Having laid to rest the long-standing charge that House of Cards was too absurd to be taken seriously as "prestige television", the Netflix caper has rediscovered its cocksure strut.
Cards is still what it has always been: a melodrama about power-thirsty creeps. But the thrill has waned, its characters' machinations blunted by having actually attained power.
It sometimes seems as if the series' showrunner is an episode of Morning Joe that has somehow gained sentience and really likes poorly framed wide shots.
The lunacy of real-world politics and the Donald Trump presidency have not made House of Cards dull; repetitive plotting, too many one-dimensional characters and an increasingly broad and hammy lead performance have made House of Cards dull.
Even with the thick miasma of dread and vague impending doom that hangs over the season, the show still excels at providing viewers with laugh-out-loud moments that one just doesn't see coming.
