House Of Cards Review: 10 Spoiler-Free Reactions To Season 5

9. It Moves At A Faster Pace

Like most shows that fall under the bracket of 'prestige TV', House of Cards can often move at a fairly slow pace, especially in its more recent seasons as it's struggled with Frank having the power he once so desperately thirsted and attempts to broaden its scope beyond that single-minded pursuit.

There's a freshness to proceedings that harks back to the earlier days of the series, with new showrunners Melissa James Gibson and Frank Pugliese imbuing the series with a renewed sense of agency that comes with a behind-the-scenes change - and some changes on-screen too.

It leads to the series getting off to a faster start than we're used to, moving through the opening episodes at a more exciting pace, and while it doesn't maintain that across the whole season - there's the almost typical dip towards the end of the middle section - it does generally have a more rollicking nature that keeps your eyes glued to the screen.