POWER SHIFT
Wright’s character takes charge in ‘House of Cards’
The president is dead. Long live the president. That’s no spoiler for the sixth and final season of Netflix’s “House of Cards.” Unlike ABC after it had to deRoseanne “The Conners,” the streaming giant has made no secret that it was killing off its lead character, President Francis Underwood, after star Kevin Spacey was accused of multiple instances of sexual impropriety. Much of the season had to be rewritten, although, in a way, one could argue the tragic circumstances only pushed the story to where it had to get to eventually. In the original British miniseries, the character dies. Still, even without Spacey, Underwood’s ghost — unseen, of course — haunts the White House and the show. Was he murdered? Who is responsible? He certainly earned enough enemies to crowd the National Mall. Claire Underwood (Robin Wright, also executive producer) is president, at last fulfilling her lifelong ambition. But to do what? Is she, as one character wonders, Lady Macbeth or Macbeth? She has but one loyal confidant: You, the viewer, as she turns to the camera to deliver the kind of asides Francis used to draw us into his schemes. Claire is more measured but no less cutting. “I promised myself I wouldn’t be like him,” she swears after one sneaky move. “That was textbook Francis, wasn’t it? But he handed me over to them like a shaker of salt and now they won’t let go. This is a wound of their own making.” There’s at least one person grieving: Doug Stamper (Michael Kelly), Francis’ right-hand aide. He doesn’t trust Claire, but really, where is he going to go? What is he going to do? And so the body count of political opponents continues to grow. “Accidents.” Claire is almost immediately on the defensive as Annette (Academy Award nominee Diane Lane, “Unfaithful”) and Bill Shepherd (Academy Award nominee Greg Kinnear, “As Good as It Gets”), siblings who run an international business conglomerate that encompasses TV stations, newspapers and chemical plants, aim to force her hand on regulatory rollbacks and a Supreme Court justice nomination (the latter a stunningly prescient storyline). Annette has known Claire since childhood and trades on that familiarity. One moment she’s mocking Claire’s sex life with Francis, the next she’s challenging her to assume a ballet class position. Annette’s son Duncan (Cody Fern, “American Horror Story: Apocalypse”) has developed a news app that allows the Shepherds to tap into the phones of its users (and another canny story about how we are too trusting in our digital lives), and the company seems to be creating a crisis or two to get downloads. Washington Herald editor Tom Hammerschmidt (Boris McGiver) finds his investigation into the Underwoods’ criminal activities hampered by the changes in the newspaper industry. “We don’t write anymore. We provide feed for the trough,” he rails against the constant demand for clickbait. There is a touch, of all things, of a classic Edgar Allan Poe story in the premiere. (You’ll know it when you hear it.) In this truncated season (only eight episodes as opposed to the usual 13), Wright remains outstanding. But “House” suffers from the same problem as HBO’s “Veep.” Both started as daring satires of the highest office in our land and both have been surpassed by our current reality in which every day brings a new tweet storm of chaos. Not even Francis Underwood, living or dead, can compete with that.