Bosses defend House of Cards
The people in charge of House of Cards have defended the show’s controversial finale amid claims it was among the worst television endings of alltime.
Netflix released the sixth and final season of its flagship original series earlier this month. By the end of that weekend numerous fans had taken to social media to criticise the last instalment and – in particular – the very last scene.
Critics were also scathing, with Vox’s chief critic Todd VanDerWerff writing: ‘‘[The finale] feels more incomplete than anything since Dexter Morgan took to the woods to become a lumberjack.’’ Others questioned why showrunners bothered with a sixth season at all.
The House of Cards bosses have now tried to explain the reasoning behind the show’s final scene.
In it, Doug Stamper confronts President Claire Underwood (now Hale) in the Oval Office. After admitting he killed Frank, Doug presses a letter opener to Claire’s neck before she uses it to fatally stab him. As he bleeds out on the carpet, Claire whispers to him: ‘‘There. No more pain.’’
Co-showrunner Melissa James Gibson recently told The Hollywood Reporter the final scene was meant to tie everything together. ‘‘There’s a full-circle element to all of this,’’ she said. ‘‘How Francis invited us in at the beginning. This is like a coda to that.’’
In the very first scene of House of Cards, Frank strangles a dying dog after it’s hit by a runaway car.
‘‘There are two types of pain,’’ he says, breaking the fourth wall. ‘‘The sort of pain that makes you strong. Or useless pain. The sort of pain that’s only suffering. I have no patience for useless things. Moments like this require someone who will act. Do the unpleasant thing, the necessary thing. There. No more pain.’’
But if reviews and social media are of any indication, there was pain. The series came to an end before revealing whether or not the president does indeed start a nuclear war, or whether, in the end, the journalists win.
‘‘There are questions, no doubt about it,’’ writer Frank Pugliese told the Hollywood Reporter.
‘‘How is she going to get away with this? Now that she’s done with this last piece, will she really move on? But that’s left up to the audience and their imagination.’’
Michael Kelly, the actor who played Stamper, admitted that many fans will be left wondering if journalist Janine Skorsky (portrayed by Constance Zimmer) finally gets her revenge.
‘‘Is Janine going to have time to get that story out before she’s taken care of?’’ he asked. ‘‘Claire is not one to let things go by the wayside. [I hope she does] what she’s been wanting to do for the last six seasons and expose the Underwoods.’’
And for those who did happen to love the finale, it turns out you can pay your respects to the show by visiting the Francis J Underwood mock tombstone in a real-life cemetery in South Carolina. Netflix has reportedly erected the headstone in Gaffney (a real place that just happens to be Underwood’s hometown in House of Cards).
Gaffney’s visitor centre has been using the TV prop to promote tourism. However, those actually hoping to visit the gravestone in person are asked to contact Oakland Cemetery staff ahead of time.
‘‘There’s a full-circle element to all of this. How Francis invited us in at the beginning. This is like a coda to that.’’ Melissa James Gibson