Netflix Stream Team Update: House of Cards, The Bridge and More

This week, once the kids went to bed we’ve been glued to the couch watching House of Cards on Netflix. It’s a US political drama, and a very dramatic one at that, it draws you in and the episodes fly by as you gawp at the brass neck of the main characters and gasp at the many twists.

We finished Series 2 last night and already I am missing Frank and Claire Underwood like old friends who I long to catch up with. I’ve found myself wondering what they are up to now, similar to my sense of loss when we finished the final series of Breaking Bad or when we finished the West Wing Box Set. Yes, in case you’ve been living in a bubble, House of Cards is that good.

I miss it. I miss Frank’s connivance, his strategising and manipulation. I miss the stark, uncluttered interiors of their beautiful home, the apples on the kitchen counter rarely touched, and almost always green. I miss wondering what the ribs in Freddy’s taste like, and if I’d really try them for breakfast. Aside from the sharp, witty dialogue, clever plotlines with jawbreaking. Possibly most of all however, I miss drooling over Claire’s wardrobe. Claire Underwood, lobbyist, career woman and political wife and style icon.

We know from the series that Claire is a fan of running, and her amazing figure is enough to convince me to put my runners on. Her hair, short and slick is always perfectly styled but it’s her clothes that really are a step apart, a classic simple style. She wears simple shift dresses of varying lengths in neutral tones, a pair of heels and earrings. Clean and simple, but oh so classy. For the more formal days she has her beautifully pressed shirts and straight skirts, perfectly tailored, and a black suit with a peplum that I covet.

There was one scene early in Series 2 where the inside of her (enormous) wardrobe was shown as she tried to decide what to wear for a TV interview. The colour palette was limited, black, grey, beige, white, each garment hung a perfect distance apart so as not to impinge on the one next to it.

My love for Claire’s clothes may come from my own “Mammy wardobe” at the moment, skinny jeans (not as skinny as I’d like), biker boots and a jumper or long cardigan and top combo, accessorised with a scarf and sensible warm coat and hat for the school run.  I’ll be swapping them soon enough for my office wardrobe, which is nowhere as near to Claire’s as I’d like. Ah well. Roll on Series 3!

Other Netflix news

I watched The Bridge last year when it was shown on TV and have recommended it to loads of people to track down, and now it’s easily available on Netflix. It’s based on a murder investigation when a woman’s body is found on the bridge that joins Sweden and Denmark, exactly on the halfway point, giving jurisdiction to both Danish and Swedish police. The two main characters are very entertaining and interact to create a great chemistry- Saga Norén from the Swedish side, an attractive blonde with a penchant for leather trousers and blunt talking and Martin Rohde the seemingly laid back Danish cop, who for some reason spends most of the first season recovering from a vasectomy and grabbing his crotch in pain. Watch this, it’s addictive.

If that sounds good to you we also loved The Killing – Another subtitled Danish programme, great suspense, lots of twists, bit of murder, bit of politics and lots of Scandinavian jumpers.

For the Kids- New to Netflix this month 

I’m feeling fairly retro here with this list, great memories from some of the titles. New to Netflix for the kids recently are the following:

Clifford the Big Red Dog

The Muppets 

Smurfs (All together now La la la la la laaa la la la la laaaa) 

Pokémon

So much TV, so little time…

Disclosure:  I am a member of the Netflix Stream Team and received a Netflix subscription and an Apple TV in return for posting Netflix updates and reviews, however, all opinions are my own, and I already had a personal subscription before joining the Stream Team.