Saving the damsels in distress

Lucius Malfoy… excuse me, Jason Isaacs stars in this fast-paced mystery drama about a former cop-present detective who has a penchant for finding lost people, especially girls.

The mysteries are intriguing and the chase by the lone detective are rewarding. The stories are intertwined and flow into each other and sometimes we have to follow three cases at once. From finding a girl who went missing 20 years ago to aiding a crime novelist in his who gets embroiled in an accident, Scottish detective Jackson Brodie is the unlucky detective, who is always at the right place at the wrong time and loves his old American country songs.

What I liked about the series was that it did not try to be more than what it is. There is the mystery that is tackled and sometimes we are made privy to Brodie’s internal struggle as he continues to deal with the drowning of his sister when he was a child. Comparing this to Wallander, I found Case Histories to be a better drama in terms of pace, storyline and action. Wallander mostly took place inside the mind but Case Histories takes you where you want to be.

The failings of House of Cards

House of Cards is a political drama about a Congressman Frank Underwood who has a promised Secretary of State post taken away from him. The story charts how he follows through on his thwarted ambitions. A man of means, Underwood shows you all the dirt and is of course not afraid to get his hands dirty in the process.

House of cards starts off strongly. The first 5 episodes are enough to convince you that it is a must-watch series. There are sneaky machinations, string-pulling, corruption trails, revenge plots, and some political absurdities along the way.

But the excitement soon fizzles as you realize that it is the same thing happening all over again. Deceit and lies are served as the main course but the dishes become monotonous as you keep being served.

What I like about the series are the small pauses where the fourth wall breaks and the Underwood addresses us with what he really thinks; sometimes it becomes a welcome break from all the lies he spews and churns.

House of Cards falls bit by bit as the ambitions of Francis Underwood (played by the gracefully ageing Kevin Spacey) rise. The series fails to capture the characters and their development; Underwood’s wife Claire becomes small in comparison to her husband’s goals and aims and she often becomes a casualty of her husband’s plans. The growth of other characters is also uneven.

The series, a strong Emmy contender, is a good series, no doubt. But I have to agree with Alan Sepinwall, who says that the show might have been “a mid-tier drama for HBO or Showtime.” I started to lose interest mid-way and it is only Kevin Spacey who has manages to deliver a strong performance through out the 13 episodes.