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Four months later.
Yes. The time jumps keep coming. Which simply means that we spend the first few minutes of another episode catching up on what’s been happening in Elena’s chambers (the Chancellor is now sleeping with Oskar, having banished Nicky), in the palace (completely frigid, courtesy of infinite air conditioning units given Elena’s hot flashes). ), and in this fictional country in central Europe (in conflict with protests over the annexation of Faban, the agreement with China and the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies). Oh, except no one should admit there are riots anywhere in the country.
No, listening to Elena (Kate Winslet) talk about it, it’s all great. And if it isn’t (which is the case), then it’s all an American conspiracy. Or the result of that leftist chancellor Ed Keplinger, who is clearly working with the global elite. No, no, as Elena reminds her compatriots every day during her radio address to the nation, there is nothing to worry about. The press spin would be ridiculous if it weren’t so obviously common in this age of misinformation.
But if you’re Herbert (Matthias Schoenaerts), listening to these radio missives non-stop every day from the (in)comfort of your prison cell is basically torture. Especially because he can’t stop hearing her words that torment him the most: “You dream of fucking me…”
So yes, while Elena continues to bury her head in the sand while demanding her government turn all the bad news into positive PR for her shrewd local and foreign moves, Herbert is left to wallow in his thoughts, something he has been encouraged to do by a fellow prisoner: Keplinger himself (played by a tough-looking Hugh Grant). Despite what everyone has been led to believe (including Herbert) about Keplinger’s whereabouts and his cowardly ways of wanting to overthrow Elena, the former chancellor has been in prison this entire time and has had to take advantage of his stay as much as possible. best I can. Apparently that involves midnight snacks with the guards and, in due course, meetings with Herbert, who can’t believe what he’s seeing, or what it means for what he’s been led to believe all along. Could these two men, despised and imprisoned by the loon that is the current chancellor, unite and conspire together or will their seemingly incompatible political beliefs prevent them from creating a united front?
Meanwhile, in the cold AF palace, everyone is once again doing everything they can to make sure Elena’s version of the truth (it’s hot!) becomes everyone’s version of reality. (They are all very cold, but refuse to wear scarves or coats or anything that suggests they do not share their chancellor’s need to have fans or ice on hand.) As with the way she has approached every other crisis, Elena decides that all she has to do is improve public relations, so she hosts a live televised question and answer session with children from the Westgate region to quell conversations about things getting out of hand. It’s a disaster, of course. The kids, indoctrinated as they are, ask softball questions, but soon Elena perks up in front of the cameras. She may be back in her cosplay outfit/folk hair, but she ends up scolding the kids around her, clearly offended at the idea of anyone holding her responsible for what that horse did at that protest (apparently kicking a woman pregnant?). . “Be grateful,” she chides those who are there in person and those watching at home. Isn’t she doing enough for them? Why should they continue to make her look bad in front of the world?
One nosebleed and an outburst later (soon reported by the press to be the result of a covert attack by the CIA), Elena finds herself traveling through many hidden paths in the palace to go meet with Keplinger. (Yes, the prison is adjacent to the palace.) The two have a somewhat civil chat in which he basically tells her why he’s failing, which only irritates her more (she orders him to be beaten), and she leaves , without telling him. Keplinger where her family is. (“Lisbon, perhaps?” he asks rhetorically, reminding us that he is still quite cruel.)
It is evident that Elena is losing control, of herself but also of her country. And no amount of PR-ready photos (like eating fondue with Nicky on a “date night” to celebrate traditional family values) will do any good. Not unless, as her husband Nicky insists, she travels to see her people, to listen to them. So a visit is arranged for her to meet with representatives of the Westgate Sugar Beet Union at a local factory. It’s all absurd (Elena carries around the kind of fan you get at Disneyland on a hot summer day and keeps her own oxygen tank nearby) and leads to another photo op moment in which Elena corners herself by making platitudes about stop Chinese imports. , support the working class and get the workers who are seeing their own industry disappear before them to support it moderately. He then leaves in his Rolls-Royce and returns to the comfort of his own palace, where he asks Laskin (Danny Webb) to organize a raid on the Westgate factory, where they will find weapons and evidence that the riots were all part of An American ploy to discredit her before her own people.
It’s all authoritarianism 101 (like most The regime) and it works: before it was a monster that fought against peaceful protests. But now that they are angry, armed and ready to escalate violence, their forceful handling of the protests will be seen as adequate. (See, she’s a protector.) Her lackeys and yes-men can’t do much, so they stare in amazement when, as all this dawns on them, they see Herbert return to Elena’s inner circle… and they proceed to kiss and undress her.
Oh yes, because Herbert finds a way to escape his cell, reach Keplinger’s chambers, and, when not persuaded by the former chancellor’s very astute words about Elena (which deprives those around her of oxygen, of the truths of the real life). there, only to leave them trapped in the claustrophobic made-up world she herself has invented), she kills him and then returns to the palace. She clearly didn’t care about the idea of Elena losing power, Ed regaining it, and then having a “fair trial” in which her former lover and tormentor (or vice versa) would be forced to deal with a reality she couldn’t bear. he is no longer warped in her own image.
And then the butcher has returned. He has become Elena again with a burning passion that leaves her husband anxious (talk about becoming a cuckold!). And I admit, the metaphor here is hard to read: Is this the preamble to how she will soon successfully brainwash the rest of the country? Or is it more of a red herring to a moment when, having read and spoken to Keplinger, Herbert can finally see more clearly that he may need to get rid of Elena from the inside?
Lost observations
- Elena’s most obvious verbal tic (“Yes? Good!”) strikes me as a perfect summary of why I’m struggling with The regime like an everything. Every time something provocative happens, the series closes it with the energetic efficiency of Elena’s verbiage: “Yeah, you get that joke? Okay, let’s move on! She never lets anything linger…or when she does, it happens off-screen (in those time jumps we’re not aware of) and so every fun/interesting part is reduced in size.
- Did The regime really fly through a guest star role for Hugh Grant in one episode? Or is this a moment where his Ed Keplinger will return from the dead to haunt Elena and/or Herbert?
- In case you would like to read the synopsis of Keplinger’s book, Radical democracy and its dialectic: “Addresses the loss of faith in conventional partisan politics and advocates for new ways of thinking about diversity, freedom, and civic responsibility. Chancellor Edward Keplinger debates whether democracy is primarily a form of decision-making or an instrument of popular empowerment; and whether democracy constitutes an abstract ideal or an achievable goal.”
- What will it take for Agnes to betray Elena and her country? She keeps being contacted by some Americans who want to help her and Oskar get out of the palace (and the country) before what looks like a planned coup, but will she continue to ignore them? Can she really support Elena for much longer? (Which is to ask: Will Riseborough be given more to play with than being tame but cautious?)
The regime is available to stream now on Max.