Try not to trip over the symbolism of House of Cards releasing its Season 5 premiere date trailer on today of all days, to say nothing of the content.
One has to guess that most people don’t actually like the protagonists of House of Cards. Frank Underwood and, after Season 4’s ending, Claire Underwood are ruthless in their pursuit of power. (Season 4 spoilers follow, for those who may be about a year behind at this point.) To go so far as to start a total war just to distract from a massive story that could make or break Frank’s chances of winning the presidency properly this time is kind of a big deal.
In fact, Season 4 turned out to be a pretty great season, all things considered. Yours truly has to admit not wanting it to end and hoping that Season 5 would air sometime in March of 2017. That won’t be the case.
Instead, according to this new date announcement trailer released today by Netflix, we’ll get to see House of Cards in May:
It’s barely thirty seconds long. Neither Frank nor Claire even speak. Instead, we hear what sounds like a group of kids at school reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. The accompanying visual is of a dingy American flag flying over an equally dim-looking Capitol building. How cheerful, right?
Okay, let’s face it: we don’t watch House of Cards because we really want to be cheered up.
Here’s the other thing. We all know what today is. The inauguration has already happened. This trailer, according to the accompanying tweet, actually dropped before the ceremony. One gets the sense that Netflix really wanted to comment on it, but, well, couldn’t beyond quoting Frank himself for the caption of the tweet.
We couldn't possibly comment. @HouseofCards, May 30. https://t.co/Z9bjsMaOqd
— Netflix (@netflix) January 20, 2017
“We couldn’t possibly comment,” indeed, Netflix. Well played. Frank would be proud.
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House of Cards Season 5 drops on May 30.