The great narrative format of our time: Series TV (House of Cards)

Starting Season 3 of (the American) House of Cards, and am completely caught up once again in this great series about people you love to hate. It's rare that a TV show makes you think: that character's smarter than I am - which is to say that the writers are smart - but HoC is one, where it's a great pleasure to watch up close the struggles for power that go on at the top levels of government. For what I now about government, mostly at the state level albeit, the power plays seem very accurate and credible. In episode 3 the state dinner with President Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey), his ice-cold and extremely ambitious wife Claire (Robin Wright), and teh Soviet president "Petrov" - no question whom he's meant to be - a terrific bit of stunt casting w/ the actual Pussy Riot group present at the dinner and telling Petrov to go to hell in an uncalled-for toast. What's driving this season is Underwood's coy decision to not run for re-election but instead to concentrate on the big issues (he has a cockamamie America Works scheme he's trying to sell to Congress) - so how's he going to work this out so that he wins the nomination without overtly trying? At the same time, Claire pressures him into appointing her UN ambassador in a recess appointment; in episode three she plays up to the Secy of State, and it's not clear if she's doing so to push the secretary off the cliff (and take her place?), or if she truly needs a girl-ally in the administration. Lest we forget, Underwood killed not one but two prominent people in his ruthless rise to power - and there are people out there who know the facts. How will Underwood keep them quiet? Doug Stamper, former aide now recovering from a brutal beating, is a key player in this season, as Prez Underwood does all he can to keep Doug quiet - how long will it be before Doug "accidentally" drives into a bridge abutment? This season has the high production values - great art direction, cinematography, musical score - we've come to expect from Netflix and HBO (and sometimes from Showtime). Further evidence that series TV is becoming the great narrative format of our time.