Defiance and House of Cards
Jul. 24th, 2013 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marinessA Tale of Two Seasons
Summer TV viewing so far has mostly focused on watching the first seasons of Netflix's House of Cards, which was pretty good, and Syfy's Defiance, which was just ok. I'll probably get around to writing separate posts on each, but what caught me most watching them more or less simultaneously was how in many ways the shows are inverted mirrors of each other. Both focus on power, politics, manipulation and corruption (especially in House of Cards; Defiance, set in a more resource-poor location, has less to corrupt people with) ; both feature ambitious politicians willing to manipulative their wives to achieve their ends, and wives who subtly and then not so subtly rebel against this use; both seemingly feature prostitution as just one of those things, and later in the show use prostitution as another tool to manipulate and destroy various characters. Both focus on the power of secrets.
But what I found really fascinating was examining the pace of both shows. Both – I do seem to be using the word "both" a lot, I see, but I'm about to stop, and soon – both shows featured exactly 13 episodes. House of Cards starts out brilliantly, strongly, compellingly in its first few episodes before falling into a kinda dull muddle where the show isn't really sure what to do to fill in space and time especially since the prostitute isn't taking her clothes off and the corrupt congressman is Trying To Do Good and Stay Off the Bottle, before revving up to a major, taut and kinda unsatisfying conclusion that shrieks, "SUBSCRIBE TO NETFLIX so we can tell you what the hell happened!" Shorter: brilliant, compelling beginning and end and....eh middle.
Defiance was the exact opposite: it started badly, got great in the middle, and then kinda flopped into an end which has been justly criticized for a) making no sense, b) seriously making no sense, c) having a surprising and unnecessary touch of sexism, and d) did I mention, really not making any sense? I finished House of Cards immediately wanting the next season so I can find out what happens to main character Francis and if someone is going to stab him with a dagger*; I finished Defiance asking the deep question of "Huh?"
I can only assume that the Defiance writers were caught between wanting to have a cliffhanger that would get everyone to tune in next season, and the knowledge that the Syfy channel is not known for renewing shows, and therefore they ALSO had to have a major, awesome ending. This unfortunately created what can most kindly be called an Attack of the Plot Holes, which is really not something you should have in your season finale.
Anyway. The shows have some other subtle resemblances: both have elections as a main plot line (something that doesn't always work in Defiance, but more on that later). Both feature non-traditional marriages; one couple in House of Cards has a marriage that can be best described as "open,"; one woman in Defiance has two husbands, and another couple have a halfway open marriage. Defiance, which needs the ratings for this kind of thing more than House of Cards does, also has some girl on girl action; in general, it's less wary of sex than House of Cards is – or is it? House of Cards mostly seems to show sex in unflattering lights, something physically but not emotionally necessary, and something that can make a character weak, but partners also forgive, or work to forgive, sexual lapses, and towards the end, two relationships have a bit of a surprise on this front.
More subtle. The two strongest actors on Defiance, far and away, both blowing the rest of the cast out of the water, are both women playing aliens: Stephanie Leonidas, rising well above what she's been handed as Super-Special Alien/Magical Native (in fact she's the only thing that keeps that plot line from being a complete yawn) and Jaime Murray as the seductive Stahma Tarr. This massively shifts the show's dynamic, probably not in the way the show intended, just because the two are far more interesting to watch than anyone else on the show. Defiance also exists in a more or less gender equal world – the prostitutes are multiple genders and serve multiple genders, some of the leaders are women, some men. Not all of the men can deal with this.
House of Cards stars Kevin Spacey. To say that he massively outshines the rest of the cast is an understatement; most are excellent, but this is Kevin Spacey. That, too, shifts the show's dynamic, in this case, as intended.
Despite this, both end up saying somewhat similar things about gender. Oh, they pay lip service to gender equality. Defiance here (until the last episode which was kinda a "say what?") does a considerably better and more thoughtful job with this; House of Cards thinks it's being equal – and yet, over and over again, House of Cards stresses the power of men. The president is a man. The vice president is a man. The House Speaker is a man. The House Majority Leader is a man. The House Whip is a man. The corrupt lobbyist is a man. Almost everyone making the initial decision to close a Pennsylvania shipyard is a man. The two people running for governor of Pennsylvania – men. We see several cases of sexual harassment, or near sexual harassment. Oh, here and there a woman has power – the White House Chief of Staff is a woman, but given the number of times she says "Sorry, Frank, it's out of my control," her power is shown as obviously limited. Another supposedly powerful woman confesses that she is unable to do something that should be in her control, and in the last two episodes, two women journalists hint that they are terrified that men will kill them.
So given all that, surely Defiance, with its women mayors and leaders of the Earth Republic wins the gender wars hands down, right?
Not so fast.
Sure, in the first few episodes – all the way to episode eight, even -- Defiance is a model of gender equality if you don't think too hard about one of the relationships, and even in that one the woman seems to have significant power. Which makes the final episode all that much more odd as suddenly this is exposed as....not so true.
There's probably a larger statement on gender roles in today's society to be made here, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to make it. So I'll just end this by definitely recommending House of Cards, and sorta recommending Defiance -- well, if you've liked previous Syfy shows, and if you can make it through the first three cliché ridden episodes with my assurances that it does get better.
*It's a very Shakespearean sort of show, despite the American DC setting. I expect the final scene to consist of five or six bodies strewn across the Oval Office, with the Canadians arriving and declaiming "WELL THIS WAS NOT TO BE. GO BID THE SOLDIERS SHOOT" and various stunned Secret Service people saying "OK THEN." I'm only partly joking.
Summer TV viewing so far has mostly focused on watching the first seasons of Netflix's House of Cards, which was pretty good, and Syfy's Defiance, which was just ok. I'll probably get around to writing separate posts on each, but what caught me most watching them more or less simultaneously was how in many ways the shows are inverted mirrors of each other. Both focus on power, politics, manipulation and corruption (especially in House of Cards; Defiance, set in a more resource-poor location, has less to corrupt people with) ; both feature ambitious politicians willing to manipulative their wives to achieve their ends, and wives who subtly and then not so subtly rebel against this use; both seemingly feature prostitution as just one of those things, and later in the show use prostitution as another tool to manipulate and destroy various characters. Both focus on the power of secrets.
But what I found really fascinating was examining the pace of both shows. Both – I do seem to be using the word "both" a lot, I see, but I'm about to stop, and soon – both shows featured exactly 13 episodes. House of Cards starts out brilliantly, strongly, compellingly in its first few episodes before falling into a kinda dull muddle where the show isn't really sure what to do to fill in space and time especially since the prostitute isn't taking her clothes off and the corrupt congressman is Trying To Do Good and Stay Off the Bottle, before revving up to a major, taut and kinda unsatisfying conclusion that shrieks, "SUBSCRIBE TO NETFLIX so we can tell you what the hell happened!" Shorter: brilliant, compelling beginning and end and....eh middle.
Defiance was the exact opposite: it started badly, got great in the middle, and then kinda flopped into an end which has been justly criticized for a) making no sense, b) seriously making no sense, c) having a surprising and unnecessary touch of sexism, and d) did I mention, really not making any sense? I finished House of Cards immediately wanting the next season so I can find out what happens to main character Francis and if someone is going to stab him with a dagger*; I finished Defiance asking the deep question of "Huh?"
I can only assume that the Defiance writers were caught between wanting to have a cliffhanger that would get everyone to tune in next season, and the knowledge that the Syfy channel is not known for renewing shows, and therefore they ALSO had to have a major, awesome ending. This unfortunately created what can most kindly be called an Attack of the Plot Holes, which is really not something you should have in your season finale.
Anyway. The shows have some other subtle resemblances: both have elections as a main plot line (something that doesn't always work in Defiance, but more on that later). Both feature non-traditional marriages; one couple in House of Cards has a marriage that can be best described as "open,"; one woman in Defiance has two husbands, and another couple have a halfway open marriage. Defiance, which needs the ratings for this kind of thing more than House of Cards does, also has some girl on girl action; in general, it's less wary of sex than House of Cards is – or is it? House of Cards mostly seems to show sex in unflattering lights, something physically but not emotionally necessary, and something that can make a character weak, but partners also forgive, or work to forgive, sexual lapses, and towards the end, two relationships have a bit of a surprise on this front.
More subtle. The two strongest actors on Defiance, far and away, both blowing the rest of the cast out of the water, are both women playing aliens: Stephanie Leonidas, rising well above what she's been handed as Super-Special Alien/Magical Native (in fact she's the only thing that keeps that plot line from being a complete yawn) and Jaime Murray as the seductive Stahma Tarr. This massively shifts the show's dynamic, probably not in the way the show intended, just because the two are far more interesting to watch than anyone else on the show. Defiance also exists in a more or less gender equal world – the prostitutes are multiple genders and serve multiple genders, some of the leaders are women, some men. Not all of the men can deal with this.
House of Cards stars Kevin Spacey. To say that he massively outshines the rest of the cast is an understatement; most are excellent, but this is Kevin Spacey. That, too, shifts the show's dynamic, in this case, as intended.
Despite this, both end up saying somewhat similar things about gender. Oh, they pay lip service to gender equality. Defiance here (until the last episode which was kinda a "say what?") does a considerably better and more thoughtful job with this; House of Cards thinks it's being equal – and yet, over and over again, House of Cards stresses the power of men. The president is a man. The vice president is a man. The House Speaker is a man. The House Majority Leader is a man. The House Whip is a man. The corrupt lobbyist is a man. Almost everyone making the initial decision to close a Pennsylvania shipyard is a man. The two people running for governor of Pennsylvania – men. We see several cases of sexual harassment, or near sexual harassment. Oh, here and there a woman has power – the White House Chief of Staff is a woman, but given the number of times she says "Sorry, Frank, it's out of my control," her power is shown as obviously limited. Another supposedly powerful woman confesses that she is unable to do something that should be in her control, and in the last two episodes, two women journalists hint that they are terrified that men will kill them.
So given all that, surely Defiance, with its women mayors and leaders of the Earth Republic wins the gender wars hands down, right?
Not so fast.
Sure, in the first few episodes – all the way to episode eight, even -- Defiance is a model of gender equality if you don't think too hard about one of the relationships, and even in that one the woman seems to have significant power. Which makes the final episode all that much more odd as suddenly this is exposed as....not so true.
There's probably a larger statement on gender roles in today's society to be made here, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to make it. So I'll just end this by definitely recommending House of Cards, and sorta recommending Defiance -- well, if you've liked previous Syfy shows, and if you can make it through the first three cliché ridden episodes with my assurances that it does get better.
*It's a very Shakespearean sort of show, despite the American DC setting. I expect the final scene to consist of five or six bodies strewn across the Oval Office, with the Canadians arriving and declaiming "WELL THIS WAS NOT TO BE. GO BID THE SOLDIERS SHOOT" and various stunned Secret Service people saying "OK THEN." I'm only partly joking.