My suspicion after two episodes of High Card is that it’s going to be mostly empty calories – a fast-food burger or whoopie pie. But of course you usually enjoy those things as you’re eating them, and such is the case here. I’m not expecting to take much away from the experience but for what it is, High Card is pretty enjoyable so far.
The playing card metaphor runs deep here. The country in question is called “Fourland”, with the four states more or less representing the four suits (though I don’t quite know “Lozenge” fits into that). Spade and heart metaphors and names are all over the place. The front organization (posing as a car company for rich hipsters) is Pinochle, and the mafia that they’re up against is Klondike.
More background – each card (“X Playing Cards” to be precise) represents a unique ability, and “chooses its holder” (natch). Finn’s Two of Spades is regarded somewhat derisively, as twos (natch) are the least powerful cards. But Pinochle mid-boss Bernard Symons still welcomes Finn to his deck, and assigns him Chris Redgrave (the dude who got into the fracas with Finn in the premiere) as a “mentor”. The gig is selling cars, but the real job is gathering the 52 cards scattered across Fourland for its king.
Obviously a big suspension of disbelief card is trumps here, but like I said – this is pretty enjoyable junk food. The faux-Hollywood dialogue is fun, and I sort of like all the named characters so far (and the ED is hilarious). The thresholds for watching a show and blogging it are obviously different, and I’m not sure yet whether High Card’s hand is good enough for either – but if it continues to amuse me I might stick around to see the river.
Nicc
January 18, 2023 at 2:07 pmIt has been a fun show to watch so far and the style makes it work. It picks up directly at the end of the previous episode and Finn finds himself captured. Just when it seems like he might be silenced for good with a gun in his mouth, it looks like he gets hired. He’s going to work for High Card and the car dealership front that they operate. I want to see at least a bit of the latter just to see if Finn really can sell cars. Yep, lots of card game references here like Old Maid, Pinochle and Klondike.
We also briefly see the rest of the crew and their abilities, though the focus is on Finn and Chris. It seems like they’re going to be working as partners. We also get a better look at their powers and there’s still one more member of the crew to meet. It may be empty calories, but it’s still a pretty tasty dish so far.