What’s Worth Watching: House of Cards Hails a New Chief

House of Cards (Friday, Feb. 27, Netflix)

“You have to be a little human when you’re the president,” purrs newly minted Commander in Chief Frank Underwood (the terrific Kevin Spacey) as the third season of Netflix’s breakthrough original drama returns, with 13 new episodes immediately available for instant bingeing. Naturally, President Underwood says this while performing an appalling act that could make you doubt his humanity.

If you imagined that reaching the nation’s top office would curb the ambitions of Frank and his first lady Claire (the steely, fascinating Robin Wright), you don’t know this show. The outrageous machinations of a man who schemed and murdered his way into the White House have been catnip to a legion of fans that helped establish Netflix as a go-to site for original entertainment, changing the way many of us now approach serialized TV. (Why wait a week for the next chapter if it’s all there at once?) What most may be wondering is how the president can possibly top himself. Could it be that he has nowhere to go but down?