《紙牌屋》第二季，陰郁劇情更加動人

《紙牌屋》第二季，陰郁劇情更加動人

“House of Cards” may well be the most joyless show on television.

《紙牌屋》很可能是最不歡樂的電視節(jié)目。

Colors are so washed-out that the closest thing to brightness in all that gray, taupe and black is an orange Post-it note. There is no laughter, not even the forced bonhomie that real politicians trade in cloakrooms and on cable news talk shows. This Netflix series is more cynical than “The Americans” on FX and more pessimistic about human nature than “The Walking Dead” on AMC.

畫面顏色泛白，以至于在一片灰色、灰褐色和黑色中，最接近明亮的東西就是橙色的即時貼便條了。沒有笑聲，甚至沒有真正的政客在衣帽間里和有線新聞脫口秀上裝出的親切和藹。這部Netflix劇集比FX的《美國人》(The Americans)更加玩世不恭，比AMC的《行尸走肉》(The Walking Dead)對人性更加悲觀。

Yet it’s hard not to feel giddy delight at the first sight of those emblematic clouds rolling across the landscape of the nation’s capital and plunging the city into a Stygian gloom.

但是，一看到那些充滿象征意味的烏云卷過整個華盛頓，把它淹沒在冥河般的陰郁之中時，你很難不感到頭暈?zāi)垦５南矏偂?/p>

All of Season 2 of “House of Cards” becomes available on Friday, Valentine’s Day. It’s a bitter chocolate bonbon for people who love to hate Washington.

本周五情人節(jié)，《紙牌屋》第二季上線。對于那些愛上了仇恨華盛頓的人來說，這是一塊苦味巧克力。

It’s not clear exactly why this bleak series is so exhilarating and binge-worthy. It could be that just as victims of tragedy find it hard to accept that their suffering is random and purposeless, voters find it intolerable that so many of the petty, shortsighted moves by elected officials have no greater meaning than small-time expediency. After so many years of Washington gridlock, there is a fascination with leaders who could actually get things done, like Lyndon B. Johnson, who is the subject of a new Broadway play, “All the Way,” starring Bryan Cranston.

不清楚究竟是為什么，這部陰冷的劇集如此令人振奮和值得人們廢寢忘食地觀看?？赡苷绫瘎〉氖芎φ吆茈y接受自己的苦難是隨機的、無目的的，選民們無法忍受民選官員這么多雞毛蒜皮的短視舉措不過是三流的權(quán)宜之計，并無更大的意義。華盛頓的政治僵局反復(fù)出現(xiàn)了這么多年，像林登·B·約翰遜(Lyndon B. Johnson)那樣能夠真正把事情做好的領(lǐng)導者當然會有一種魅力;百老匯新劇目《堅持到底》(All the Way)就在講述他的故事，由布萊恩·克蘭斯頓(Bryan Cranston)扮演。

By positing a Johnsonesque power broker and master schemer who wields cabalistic influence behind the scenes, “House of Cards” assigns order and purpose to what, in real life, is too often just an endless, baffling tick-tack-toe stalemate.

通過假設(shè)一個約翰遜式的權(quán)力掮客和陰謀高手，在幕后發(fā)揮神秘的影響力，《紙牌屋》把秩序和目的注入到一種東西里，在現(xiàn)實生活中，這種東西往往只是一個沒完沒了、莫名其妙的井字游戲(Tic-tac-toe)僵局。

Or maybe it’s just a cleverly made Washington thriller.

或者只是一部制作巧妙的美國政治驚悚片。

After much maneuvering and malfeasance, Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey), a Democratic congressman from South Carolina, is about to be sworn in as vice president. He remains just as intent on consolidating his gains and squashing his enemies, especially the few who suspect a conspiracy. He is racing against time and karma: It is Underwood’s precarious limbo between power and self-destruction that lends “House of Cards” much of its suspense.

弗朗西斯·安德伍德(Francis Underwood，由凱文·史派西扮演[Kevin Spacey])是南卡羅來納州的民主黨眾議員，他在多次閃轉(zhuǎn)騰挪和做出瀆職行為之后，即將宣誓就任副總統(tǒng)一職。他仍然一心鞏固權(quán)勢，打壓政敵，尤其是少數(shù)懷疑存在陰謀的人。他正在跟時間和因果報應(yīng)賽跑：安德伍德危險地游走在權(quán)力和自我毀滅之間，給《紙牌屋》制造了很多懸念。

He is one heartbeat away from the presidency, but also just one step ahead of the truth.

他不僅離總統(tǒng)寶座只有毫厘之差，而且離真相暴露也只有一步之遙。

Season 2 is as immersed in the battlegrounds of governing as “The West Wing” was: entitlements, Chinese cyberespionage, anthrax scares, parliamentary procedure, government shutdowns. But that Aaron Sorkin series on NBC ennobled politics. “House of Cards,” which was adapted from a 1990 British series of the same title, eviscerates it. And while the second season picks up where Season 1 left off (the tagline is “The race for power continues”), this continuation is possibly even darker and more compelling than the first.

第二季的情節(jié)發(fā)生在跟《白宮群英》(The West Wing)一樣的治國戰(zhàn)場上：福利項目、中國網(wǎng)絡(luò)間諜、炭疽病恐慌、議會程序、政府停擺。但跟艾倫·索金(Aaron Sorkin)為NBC制作的那個美化型政治劇不同。改編自1990年英國同名劇集的《紙牌屋》對政治大加挖苦。雖然第二季接續(xù)了第一季的情節(jié)(宣傳語是“爭奪權(quán)力的比賽繼續(xù)進行”)，但第二季可能比第一季更加陰暗，更加吸引人。

Underwood still turns from the action to address the audience in the style of Shakespeare’s Richard III, but his cynical asides are not as clever as his underhanded actions. The conceit worked better in the British original, which was more arch and satirical and closer in spirit to “Kind Hearts and Coronets.”

安德伍德仍然會從情節(jié)中轉(zhuǎn)過身，以莎士比亞的《理查三世》(Richard III)的風格對觀眾說話，但他玩世不恭的旁白不如他的卑劣行為那么機靈。這些自大的表述在英國原劇中效果更好，原劇更加俏皮，更具諷刺性，更有《仁心與冠冕》(Kind Hearts and Coronets)的味道。

The American version takes itself more seriously: Its tone is a double bass, not a flute.

美版更鄭重其事：它的基調(diào)是低音提琴，而不是長笛。

Underwood’s cool, inscrutable wife, Claire (Robin Wright), is still ruthlessly pursuing her own agenda as well as her husband’s. She remains an enigma even as she reveals more and more disturbing secrets from her past. (Her perfectly organized closet is on the verge of self-parody — 50 shades of slate.)

安德伍德的妻子克萊爾(Claire，羅賓·萊特[Robin Wright]扮演)很酷，高深莫測，她仍然堅定不移地追求著自己的目標，外加丈夫的目標。就算她令人不安的早年秘密一件件曝光，她也依然是一個謎。(她的井井有條的衣柜接近于自我戲仿——50套顏色深淺不一的灰黑色服裝。)

There are some welcome newcomers, especially a congresswoman, Jacqueline Sharp (Molly Parker), who is an ambitious former soldier who becomes an Underwood protégée and, like everyone else in his poisoned orbit, soon discovers that Underwood expects his people to cast aside principle and pursue his grand plan.

還有一些受歡迎的新角色，尤其是女眾議員杰奎琳·夏普(Jacqueline Sharp，莫莉·帕克[Molly Parke]扮演)，她當過兵，雄心勃勃，安德伍德成為了她的庇護人，但跟他有毒的軌道上的其他所有人一樣，她也很快發(fā)現(xiàn)，安德伍德想要手下人拋棄原則，為實現(xiàn)他的宏偉計劃而努力。

There are few starry-eyed depictions of government anymore; cynicism is the currency of choice. And there are many variations on the theme.

第二季很少再有對政府不切實際的描寫了;玩世不恭成為主打。主題也有了很多變化。

“The Americans,” the show about Soviet moles in the Reagan era, is more complex and inventive than “House of Cards,” and it begins a second season on Feb. 26. The next day, “Scandal,” Shonda Rhimes’s frothy, over-the-top West Wing telenovela, returns to ABC with new episodes, and it is a campy, escapist romp.

《美國人》講述的是里根(Reagan)時代雙重間諜的故事，比《紙牌屋》更為復(fù)雜，更有創(chuàng)造性，第二季將于2月26日開播。27日，珊達·萊梅斯(Shonda Rhimes)制作的“白宮群英”式電視劇《丑聞》(Scandal)也將重返A(chǔ)BC，播出新集，這是一部淺薄夸大、矯揉做作、逃避現(xiàn)實的玩鬧劇。

“House of Cards” is “Scandal” for naysayers and misanthropes, and that’s actually quite cheering.

《紙牌屋》是愛唱反調(diào)的人和厭世者的《丑聞》，這一點其實相當令人愉悅。