House Of Cards - Season Two

Politics imitates art: For his role as House Majority Whip Francis Underwood in "House of Cards," Kevin Spacey shadowed Rep. Kevin McCarthy, Tea Party-Calif., who was just elected as House Republican Majority Leader to replace ousted Eric Cantor. The actor called the politician "very generous" for showing him around Capitol Hill, and Underwood's fictional office is modeled after McCarthy's.

Season Two, episode 14, ends with a humdinger -- birthday candles and other lights being snuffed -- after Underwood is quietly sworn in as Vice President. Molly Parker joins the cast as war veteran Jackie Sharp, a California Congresswoman and Underwood's successor as House Majority Whip. Gerald McRaney as billionaire businessman and Presidential confidante Raymond Tusk is part of a Chinese business storyline, and cyber espionage, entitlements and government shutdowns also cross from reality into the series' scripts. Real world pundits making cameos include Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Ashleigh Banfield, Sean Hannity and Kelly O'Donnell.

Special DVD features include "Politics for the Sake of Politics," "Two Houses," "Line of Succession," and "Table Read." In "Direct Address," Spacey says playing Richard III (who also employs conspiratorial audience commentary) for ten months in 12 cities worldwide helped him better understand Underwood's need for the device. He notes that Underwood is talking "to YOU, not himself," and viewers can "naughtily cherish that they're in the know."

Other interviewees note that the "complete access to the person's mind in the moment is delicious and insightful" and that "the audience is implicated by association." One says "it's Ferris Bueller!" and another interprets Underwood's direct address motivation as, "This is how I'm fucking people up, and I have zero remorse."

The four-disc set contains all 13 chapters of Season Two, episodes 14-26, and the first one ends with the newly anointed Veep receiving birthday cuff links from a sycophant. They are monogrammed, and aptly sum up Underwood's take on politics: "F. U."

"House of Cards: The Complete Second Season"
DVD Set
$24.99
http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/House_of_Cards/70178217?locale=en-US