This review was made possible by advance screeners of all episodes of The Regime. New episodes of The Regime are set to air weekly on Max from March 3.
Mare of Easttown was a big hit for the folks over at HBO. The series, led by Kate Winslet, broke records with its viewership, with the finale becoming the most-watched episode on HBO Max with over 4 million viewers over memorial day weekend. Of course, a return to HBO for Winslet was sure to get viewers’ attention, especially one so drastically different from her previous one. Winslet leads the political satire The Regime, alongside Mattias Schoenaerts, Andrea Riseborough, and Hugh Grant. Unfortunately for said viewers, this is no Mare of Easttown, but Kate Winslet is still pretty damn entertaining.
‘The Regime’ Is Somewhere In Europe?
The Regime was created by Will Tracy, writer of The Menu and is set in a fictional, unnamed, eastern European nation and follows Winslet as the chancellor Elena Vernham of an authoritarian regime. Vernham is an incredibly unstable and paranoid leader who believes everyone is out to get her and can’t make a good decision to save her life, sometimes literally. The premise of the series essentially follows Vernham as she navigates her way through the downfall of her regime and life within the palace as the world outside falls apart due to her incompetence, alongside an even more unstable bodyguard turned advisor named Herbert Zubak, played by Matthias Schoenaerts.
The story here is one of the show’s weakest elements. You never really feel connected to what’s going on, and I get that they may have been on purpose, showing how out-of-touch this regime is to its people and everything outside, but it just doesn’t ever feel all that interesting. Certain episodes handle the unrest and downfall better than others. The subtext here is just painfully obvious, it doesn’t really go about being clever with its writing and finds itself tripping over itself. It just feels like scene after scene of Vernham ignoring her advisors and doing whatever she pleases and seeing how it plays out but never proceeds to become interesting enough.
Perhaps the gradual decline of the nation isn’t properly showcased, as the show is constantly jumping weeks to months at a time. Showing how the previous poor decisions made in the last episode have since effected the country more presently may have benefitted its story more.
The tone is just constantly bouncing back and forth, one second it feels like it’s trying to be a serious drama and the next it’s remembering that it is a satire and trying to throw a joke or two in.
She’s Unslayable
The crowning jewel of this regime is Kate Winslet. She’s absolutely the best part of the series. She shines with such unstable charisma in this role, she walks into a scene and you’re instantly more intrigued by the show. The best thing about Elena is how unpredictable the character is, you never know what is going to come out of her mouth or what she is going to do next. Winslet sells the hell out of this deranged narcissist. Whether it be from her sudden bursts of anger or her constant state of obliviousness Winslet has a little quirk and mannerism for it.
I must admit, it is nice to see an actor break away from their normal archetype and explore other avenues of their potential. Winslet is an actress that you don’t see in a comedy all too often, usually finding her in hard-hitting dramas. She does exceptionally well here and she should definitely spread her wings and fly through this genre more than once in awhile.
Forgetting The Rest
Unfortunately, Elena is the only character that really gets love in the series writing. Many of the supporting cast never really get anything good to work with and are often quite forgettable. It pays to have some side characters that can rival your lead but many here just fall to the wayside.
The only other character that really gets anything to do would be Schoenaerts as Herbert Zubak who gets a real one-note role here. Zubak is an explosive individual, pulled from a life serving to time to serve elsewhere, as Elena’s personal bodyguard but you can never really tell what his goal is, or even what his point is.
What Is A Satire?
The show is marketed as a political satire but can we call something like this a satire anymore? is our current reality marching towards this exact state of crisis making what was once unbelievable to be truth. Let me start by saying yes, some truly outrageous things are said and done in the show but the past few years have proven that our real-life leadership may not be far off from this. I think the issue here is how simple it is. It rarely feels as if its exaggerations are all that far-fetched and often leaves you wondering if that is it.
I don’t think the device is terrible here, I just think that we’ve seen better, and for the times that we are in now feel that much better material could’ve been out there for something that is so absurdly dull.
‘The Regime’ – Final Thoughts
The Regime is an absurdly dull political satire that is carried by a dazzling performance by Kate Winslet. The series falters with its uneven tone and writing that sidelines its supporting cast and feels like it’s forgotten that satires are usually supposed to be funny.
The Regime is now streaming on Max. Check out a trailer below:
