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Less realistic, I imagine, is Frank’s plan to gut entitlements so as to provide every American a new job. Governing is really difficult, turns out-hey, finally some realism! And most of the White House scenes were spent establishing that he's being pulled at from a bunch of different angles. The Stephen Colbert interview was hilarious and savage, catching viewers up with the various factors contributing to Underwood’s low approval. Six months into his administration, he’s not the all-powerful change agent we’ve come to know. He's still fighting those tendencies-hence the syringe, which allows him to get drunk without technically giving himself a drink-but it seems likely that his dejection and frustration could curdle into something more troubling for the president. Now that his services are no longer desired, we see that his job helped distract from his addictive tendencies. In past seasons, Michael Kelly imbued Stamper with a compelling flicker of inner life, but his character remained the archetype of the inexplicably-perfect, motivation-free henchman. But it is admirable that the show’s creators are making themselves and the audience reckon with what it means to bring a character back from the (near) dead. It's a gutsy move: It isn't exactly fun to watch a guy go through physical therapy, slip in the shower, and be condescended to by the man he's devoted his life to. That Douglas Stamper lives is a twist, but it’s not as shocking as the fact that the premiere spends about half its runtime on him. The tentative, mostly unflashy nature of Season 3's start hints that the plan here is not to open with a bang and then survive on the afterglow it’s to turn the heat up slowly, and then … who knows? Then again, few premieres of any show will measure up to Season 2’s opener, a symphony of mounting dread that crescendoed with the show’s most loved/hated character beneath a train. It’s maybe not a great sign, though, that they’ve resorted to such superficial shocks in a season premiere. Like Watching Six Different Marriages Fall Apart James Parker It’s a tactic they’ve used before when the action drags, why not throw in a threesome? One suspects that the writers put these two particular WTF moments into the episode because it would otherwise be entirely lacking in conversation-causing material. On any other drama with Emmy aspirations, you might read some deeper meaning in the fact that the hour’s basically bookended by Frank's graveyard pee and Doug's syringe whiskey-motif: relief?-but House of Cards isn’t any other drama with Emmy aspirations. How, um, interesting that the two most memorable moments of House of Cards' third season premiere involve the emission of yellow liquids. Spoilers ahead don't scroll farther than you've watched. If you've enjoy this well-crafted yet ridiculous show in the past, these 13 episodes are worth a watch. It never reaches the dark, dramatic heights of previous seasons, but it's also a little more focused and intelligent than they were. Top-line verdict: The season starts extremely slowly, but gets pretty good, starting in the third episode.