Yikes: "House of Cards'" Final Season Is Getting Savaged by IMDB Users

Their turn.

The sixth and final season of Netflix's flagship streaming show House of Cards debuted on Friday. And if you hadn't been paying attention to the biggest cultural event of the past 12 months, you may have been a bit confused.

That's because it begins with former president and narrator Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, having died off-screen. Season 6 instead focuses on President—and new widow—Claire Underwood, played by Robin Wright. We never see Frank's face again.

The show's arrival can be best described as a 'Hail Mary' pass by the producers, who attempted to wrap up the story of the Underwood presidencies following the firing of star and producer Spacey.

And though no one can reasonably argue against the dismissal of Spacey (who has been accused of numerous incidences of sexual assault, and even harassment on the HOC set), fans of the show are not at all happy with the alternative.

Over on IMDB, where users can rate not just movies but also TV shows and individual episodes out of 10, viewers have given the final eight instalments some absolutely brutal reviews. In fact, the sixth season (with an average of more than 1,000 votes per episode) is averaging a rating of 4.4/10. All previous seasons have an average rating between 8.4 and 8.8.

Please note that all the scores you're about to see are correct as of 6 November 2018...

Things are even more dire when you look at the individual episodes.

The best reviewed ep is the season opener, Chapter 66, with a score of 4.9 (as of this writing). The harshest criticism has been saved for the series finale, Chapter 73, with an all-time low (for the show) score of 3.2. And though it's important to note that the episodes from Seasons 1 to 5 have two to four times as many votes, you're not likely to see the ratings of Season 6's eps change significantly over the coming weeks. 

For what it's worth, professional critics have been kinder, giving Season 6 a 75 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That's up from Season 5's 69 per cent and equal to Season 3's score, but down from Seasons 1, 2 and 4.

Now, could the low marks be attributed to trolls intentionally down-voting the new entries as a form of protest? Perhaps. The internet has certainly found less productive ways to air its unfounded rage before. But even those who applauded the firing of Spacey (and appreciate the fact that the sixth season was cobbled together precisely to keep thousands of cast and crew employed) likely noticed the slapdash storytelling of the abridged season, which not even Wright's performance could salvage.

No matter what, this certainly isn't how Netflix likely thought House of Cards would farewell the world after it debuted to raves back in 2013. Even beyond the grave, Francis Underwood delivers a vengeful "FU".

Header Image: Netflix