How realistic is House of Cards, in terms of how Underwood gains power?

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There are parts that are interesting and there are parts that are purely plot-driven and have no basis in reality.

The major arcs of the story are extremely contrived and nobody could actually grab the brass ring in exactly the way Underwood does. You find realism not in the macro, but in the micro.

This is true of all fictional media by the way. There’s big flashy crazy events that have huge consequences, these things are always contrived to fit audience expectations because otherwise the audience loses interest. The big flashy things by definition are never realistic.

But the things that truly sustain audience attention, are the parts where the executive producers and production assistants and show runners and writers really make the bones of their careers, these things are as realistic as they can possibly make them. Because that’s what they are doing it all for.

In the first episode of the recent series, when Underwood goes in front of Congress to demand that they issue a declaration of war, that scene gave me real chills. The grandstanding, the hootin and hollerin, the sheer artistry of that scene, recalling political events throughout history where one strong leader is trying to cow the weak but resilient into submission, thrilled me to the very bone.

The little rhetorical tricks employed, the group cheers and reactions, the naked displays of power and the acceptance or defiance of, and the realization that there will be consequences, no matter which way the individual chooses, that there’s really no moral, upstanding path to follow; this is why I watch House of Cards.

It’s a political drama, there’s dragon slaying and magic and heroics on display just like any superhero movie, where plot and spectacle take the front seat and realism takes the rear, but even in those moments, the skill of the storytellers can shine through and little moments can make all the difference, like the moment Frank shares with Claire just before she goes off to see her lover.

Nobody watches The Sopranos expecting to see a truly realistic depiction of the New Jersey mob. They wanna see guys getting whacked, crazy, messed up antics, dirty banter. If you don’t deliver that, in spades, you’re just not serving your audience. They’re not expecting every little thing to be realistic.

But they do want to feel like they’re in on a very special club that has a window into a world that no one else can truly understand except for the insider. The Sopranos made you feel like a Paulie or a Christopher. House of Cards makes you feel like a Remy or a Zoe.

That’s why you watch it. Not because you want to reach for the brass ring yourself. But because power, in all its forms and incarnations, utterly fascinates you.