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Trailer Review: Season 2 of the Netflix's D.C. hit 'House of Cards'

Washington, D.C. South Carolina accents. One-liners and long stares at someone across the table. It must be 'House of Cards'.
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Kevin Spacey salutes Confederate and Union soldiers (during what I'll assume is a re-enactment) in the Season 2 trailer for Netflix's 'House of Cards'.

I had a mixed mind of House of Cards's 13-episode, binge-watched debut.

I loved it, of course. But when I first dove in, I didn't know what I was watching. Just a Washington, D.C.-set drama starring Kevin Spacey and Jenny from Forrest Gump. And Kate Mara, but I didn't want to put her first, because then I'd seem shallow.

In that sense, I enjoyed it like I enjoyed Orange is the New Black, which I thought was actually Netflix's greatest original series of 2013.

But then, when the reviews came in and Emmy noms followed, I started to wonder whether I thought it was really that great, or whether it was just great for Netflix.

Was this show actually better, right now, than Breaking Bad? No, of course not. House of Cards had intensity and it was calculated and wildly intelligent, but it never really went to the next level that Breaking Bad, at least by its fifth (and a half) season.

By Season 2 of the saga of Walter White, the then-still cancer-suffering high school chemistry teacher had truly taken the plunge to Hell, allowing his partner Jesse's girlfriend to die with an entree of her own vomit and finally selling his first real batch of Blue meth to Gus Fring.

I found myself wondering, "Would Kevin Spacey ever actually cross over by Season 2? Or will he simply narrate his misbehaviours to the camera with a put-on Carolinian accent?"

I guess now we'll know. The Season 2 trailer for House of Cards was released on Monday – January 6 – and show's new campaign will be uploaded in its entirety to Netflix on February 14, 2014.

So, Happy Valentine's Day. I hope your significant other is into it, because that's all you'll be doing after work that eve.

From the look of things, Frank Underwood's (that Spacey) rather fragile and diabolically based position in Washington hasn't changed much. He schemed his way into the Vice Presidency and now he'll have to scheme some more, all the while pleasing the pinheads around him – seriously, I know D.C. must be filled with goofy, unqualified "experts" and policymakers, but how dumb are the folks Underwood has to work with? Even Babe had to put in more work to get the sheep in their pen than Spacey did in Season 1.

The trailer was a front-to-finish presentation of the sorts of foreshadowing one-liners the series is now known for, which also make this College Humor skit so damn funny.

In one section of Season 2's trailer, this is what you hear, all from several different voices:

"He would be making a disastrous mistake!"

"I feel like I'm losing control of my own Goddamn administration..."

"Hit him again, and hit him now."

"He's a dangerous man."

"I want him obliterated."

"More than that, let's make him suffer."

Yup. Netflix is learning from its older brothers on TV. You don't need to explain anything, just lead your audience to believe they can't miss it.

And even as I read the ruse, I too am hooked.

(*Also published on White Cover Magazine...)