I haven’t decided yet if I like Netflix’s model of dropping an entire series in your lap all at once and giving you the option of whether to binge or not to binge. Call me old fashioned, but I still really like appointment television where everyone gathers around a single hour or half hour and either talks about it on social media as it happens or the next day with friends or coworkers who saw the same thing. With shows like House of Cards or Orange is the New Black, there’s an orgy of attention the weekend the series premieres, but then it drops off dramatically. Picking up a show in the weeks following its debut, the buzz is diffused and sporadic. Sure it’s great to be in control of our own viewing and moving on to the next episode whenever you feel like it, but if you don’t do it right away, you might be doing it all alone. Of course, if you don’t care about the social component of watching TV, then this is the way to go.
Me? I couldn’t help myself and motored through the entire second season of House of Cards over the course of about 72 hours. The question now is how to write about it. Should I go episode by episode for those who haven’t started or haven’t finished? By then it seems like those who binge watched will have moved on to something else. I don’t know, but in the interest of surfing the buzz while it’s fresh, here for now is my look back at the first season and a spoiler-free overview and opinion of season two.