This has been a problem since the very beginning of House of Cards - Frank Underwood has never been given an opponent who can match him. Frank Underwood's character almost exists within a void because the show has yet to create someone with the sufficient ruthlessness and political shrewdness to prove a worthy adversary. Roger Ebert once said, "Each film is only as good as its villain." and while he was referring to film, this is still an applicable idea to TV drama. A powerful antagonist is always needed to provide dramatic tension and stakes over the course of the season in serialized TV drama. And let me just say, that tension has never been House of Cards' strong suit. The strength of the conflicts Breaking Bad thrusts Walter White into is that he is always in over his head. Even when he has gone too far to the dark side to be fully sympathetic, Walter White remains an underdog. Because of this, his conflicts remain compelling and rife with tension. From Tuco Salamanca to Gus Fring, the rogues Gallery of Breaking Bad (of which Heisenberg remains an aspiring member until the very end) always feels like a clear and present threat, and Walter must often think on his feet in order to prevail. There is tension in panic and desperation that scheming on its own can never quite match.
Self-evidently a man who writes for the Internet, Robert also writes films, plays, teleplays, and short stories when he's not working on a movie set somewhere. He lives somewhere behind the Hollywood sign.
