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Warning: this story contains spoilers.

Disappointing. Unsatisfying. A waste of time.

These are just some of the words fans and critics are using to describe the highly-anticipated House of Cards finale.

Netflix released the sixth and final season of its award-winning political drama on Friday. And it's safe to say that most people aren't happy with the way the show came to an end.

TV critics have taken aim at everything from the show's sloppy writing to the way it handled Kevin Spacey's off-screen death. Vox's chief critic Todd VanDerWerff has claimed season six proves House of Cards never had anything to say in the first place.

"Its eight episodes comprise a centreless, ham-handed kludge of a season, one that keeps beating you over the head with music and ACTING and plot twists to try to convince you everything that's happening is Important," he wrote. "And then it ends in a series finale that feels more incomplete than anything since Dexter Morgan took to the woods to become a lumberjack."

IndieWire's Ben Travers was as equally scathing: "House of Cards ends with two people fighting over a dead guy's legacy. That may seem fitting for a show that serves as the last gasp of Kevin Spacey's career, but Netflix's torchbearer series goes out with all smoke and no fire. It's a hazy, empty ending that begs the question: why make this at all?"

Robin Wright in a scene from the final season of House Of Cards.Credit: Netflix

While critics largely praised Robin Wright's acting and the show's focus on women wielding power, the main gripe appears to be twofold: the way Spacey was hastily written out of the script but casts a shadow at every conceivable opportunity, and the final scene that sees Claire Underwood murder Doug Stamper inside the Oval Office before possibly starting a nuclear war.

It was that final scene that drew the biggest uproar from fans. One viewer even went as far as to say that the final scene was "the worst ending to a great show" of all time.

When it first launched on Netflix in 2013, House of Cards was wildly popular. However, since that time reviews have slowly gotten worse as the series spun out of control.

Season six was already in production when Kevin Spacey's career imploded. The former Hollywood A-lister's reputation was tarnished after an actor came forward to allege that Spacey made a sexual advance towards him when he was just 14- years old. The story gained momentum after several other men came forward with claims of sexual misconduct.

Robin Wright was one of the best things from the previous seasons of House of Cards, but season 6 simple should've never existed. The ghost of Frank Underwood became its doom. Full review in Spanish

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Apr 7, 2022

Artistically, Season 6 of House of Cards is a flop.

Full Review | Aug 7, 2020

It isn't easy to replace Frank Underwood, who... has become one of the most legendary characters ever portrayed on a TV show. However, it is obvious that this season not only lacked inspiration - it was lacking, in general.

Full Review | Oct 9, 2019

The final season is not the glorious goodbye it should have been, or the one the show's best character and best actor deserved, but there's still enough of that early elegant cruelty to see it across the line.

Full Review | Jun 29, 2019

I doubt that I was the only one whose own lethargy gave her cause for revulsion.

Full Review | May 16, 2019

This is the worst season of the series despite Robin Wright's best efforts. [Full Review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Mar 4, 2019

From the first time Claire Underwood broke that fourth wall and looked directly at us at the end of season four beside her husband, we've been craving more insight into her equally manipulative mind.

Full Review | Jan 15, 2019

The sixth and last season of House of Cards is worth taking a peek at because, well, it's House of Cards and it put in the work to get where it is.

Full Review | Dec 18, 2018

It's eight-hours of filler to set up an immensely unsatisfying conclusion.

Full Review | Nov 19, 2018

The final eight episodes, which are all available for streaming now on Netflix, comes to a messy conclusion with more loose ends than a Florida election ballot.

Full Review | Nov 14, 2018

House of Cards...trashes itself, even if it was a sort of knowing trash to start with.

Full Review | Nov 12, 2018

The new season of House of Cards doesn't feel like an arbitrary story overhaul in response to the

MeToo crisis. It feels right.

Full Review | Nov 9, 2018

The final season of House of Cards is too weird and atonal to ignore completely, but it's not good enough to recommend.

Full Review | Nov 6, 2018

Wright is truly stunning on the final season, and gives every second on screen her all in a way that suggests she's always known this should've been her show.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Nov 6, 2018

House of Cards's sixth and final season really shines in the middle, when Claire is forced to defend every square inch of her presidency against the Shepherd family's abominable ambushes.

Full Review | Original Score: 7.8/10 | Nov 6, 2018

Robin Wright has stepped sublimely up. She dominates by simply inhabiting, as did Francis, every scene in which she appears, and one sees the skull beneath the skin throughout, rather than in snatches.

Full Review | Nov 5, 2018

For a dying series, this feels remarkably alive with possibility.

Full Review | Nov 5, 2018

Sadly just eight episodes! I'll miss Madame President's to die for tailored suits.

Full Review | Nov 5, 2018

The story of Season 6 just doesn't cohere; it barely even tracks well enough to summarize. In a way, the total breakdown is sort of beautiful; it's like watching the story collapse in upon itself, a deserted building, carefully demolished.

Full Review | Nov 5, 2018

Robin Wright is many things, but possessed of a light touch she is not.

Full Review | Nov 5, 2018

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Which is the best season of House of Cards?

Every Season of House of Cards, Ranked Worst to Best.

1 Season 2..

2 Season 1..

3 Season 5..

4 Season 3..

5 Season 4..

6 Season 6..

Is the final season of House of Cards good?

It feels right. The final season of House of Cards is too weird and atonal to ignore completely, but it's not good enough to recommend. Wright is truly stunning on the final season, and gives every second on screen her all in a way that suggests she's always known this should've been her show.

Why did Claire abandon Frank?

During her presidency, Claire distances herself from Frank and becomes colder towards him because she realizes that he is a dangerous and manipulative person, and she wants to separate herself from his actions and legacy.

What was the real ending of House of Cards?

The House of Cards fixer played by Michael Kelly was so loyal, in fact, that the Netflix political saga ended its sixth and final season with Doug revealing to Robin Wright's POTUS that he was the one who murdered Frank (Kevin Spacey) in order to protect the “legacy from the man.” That confession led to Claire Hale ( ...