The Spool / Reviews
Doff your cap and take a knee before The Regime
MAX’s Kate Winslet-starring series doesn't offer the sharpest satirical jabs, but there’s something to be said for being funny & frightening.
By: Tim Stevens
GenreComedy Drama War & Politics,
NetworkHBO Max,
Similar3 Body Problem A Dance to the Music of Time, A Death in California, A Fortunate Life, A Little Princess, A Model Family, A Nearly Normal Family, A Respectable Trade, A Spy Among Friends, A Storm for Christmas, A Year in the Life, A.D. The Bible Continues, All or Nothing at All, American Dad!, Amnesia, Anatomy of a Scandal, Anna Karenina, Arn: The Knight Templar, Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers, Ash, Aspen, Återkomsten, Atomic Train, Band of Brothers, Beach Girls, Before, Better Man, Beulah Land, Black Beauty, Black Bird, Black Knight, Blackeyes, Bleak House, Bobby Kennedy for President, Boy Swallows Universe, Boys from the Blackstuff, Breaking Bad, Brides of Christ, Candy, Captains and the Kings, Catch-22, Celebrity, Chaser Game, Chicken Nugget, Christopher Columbus, Cleopatra, Close Relations, Club Friday the Series 14: Love & Belief, Cobra Kai, Code of a Killer, Cold Courage, Come Home, Conquistadores: Adventum, Copenhagen Cowboy, CrimeTube SouthTyrol, Culpa - No One Is Innocent, Cyclone Tracy, DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Dancing on the Edge, David: Story of David, Dead by Sunset, Dead Head, Death of a Pilgrim, Deliver Me, Devil in Ohio, Die Diplomatin, Die Patriarchin, Die Wölfe, Disclaimer, Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves, East of Eden, Echoes, Elas por Elas, Elizabeth R, Eric, Evergreen, Fabio Montale, Faith, Fallen Family Guy, Faraway Downs, Fatal Vision, First Love, Five Days at Memorial, Fool Me Once Fosse/Verdon, Full Circle, G.B.H., Genesis, George & Tammy, Glitch, Golden Years Good Morning Children, Griselda, Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, Heidi, Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed History, Herzogpark, Houdini, Howards End, Hymn of Death, I Just Want To See You, I Know My First Name Is Steven, I'm a Virgo, Idol Fever, In Cold Blood, Intruders, Intrusion, Island at War, Jack the Ripper, Jane Eyre, Järnvägshotellet, Jekyll, Jewels, Joseph Balsamo, Kaleidoscope, Kamen Rider Black Sun, Kamen Rider Jeanne & Kamen Rider Aguilera with Girls Remix, Kamen Rider Outsiders Kamen Rider Zero-One Short Anime: Everyone's Daily Life, Kingpin, Kiri, Knuckles, Krupp: A Family Between War and Peace, Kungamordet, L'amaro caso della Baronessa di Carini, La Chambre des dames, La Cloche tibétaine, Lady Chatterley, Life as a Girl, Life of Shakespeare, Little Tragedies, Long Time No See, Love You Just as You Are, MALICE, Manhunt, Marco Polo, Mare of Easttown, Master of the Game, Melissa, Meteor, Midsummer Night, MIGNON, Million Dollar Babies, Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced, Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye, Miss Marple: The Body in the Library, Moeder, waarom leven wij?, Monsieur Spade, More than Blue: The Series, More Than Words, Mosaic, MosGaz. Delo N1, Mother Is Wrong, Murder in Polná, Murder in the Heartland, Muted, Nancherrow, Nice Work, Nicholas Nickleby, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, Noah's Ark, Nothing Remains the Same, Number Woman Gye Sook Ja, Nur eine kleine Affäre, Nuremberg, Olivia Twist, On Marriage, One Day, One Trillion Dollars, Ordeal by Innocence, Orient Express, Pälzisch im Abgang, Pandora's Clock, Paper Giants: Magazine Wars, Patria, Paul Gauguin, Per amore del mio popolo, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder, Peter and Paul, Phineas and Ferb, Pompeii, Pope John Paul II, Power Rangers Dino Force Brave, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, Pride and Prejudice Provoke, Quatermass II, Queer as Folk, Quicksand, Rage of Angels, Ride On Stranger, Rivals Forever - The Sneaker Battle, Rouge Brésil, Scully Seven Seconds, Shadowlands, She, Six Survivors, Someone Has to Die, Son of the Morning Star, Spies of Warsaw, Studs Lonigan, Supernova, Sweetpea, Taken, Takin' Over the Asylum, Tamas, Tanner '88, Tauno Tukevan sota, Tender Is the Night, Thai Cave Rescue, The 8.2 Second Rule, The Amazing Grace of Σ, The Bequeathed, The Bourne Identity The Brothers Karamazov, The Buccaneers, The Camomile Lawn, The Day of the Triffids, The Debt, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Doll Factory, The Echo, The Edwardians, The Essex Serpent, The Executioner, The Fabulous, The Far Pavilions, The Final Cut, The Fire Next Time, The First Olympics: Athens 1896, The Forest of Love: Deep Cut, The French Atlantic Affair, The Frog, The Gangster Chronicles, The Genius of Mozart, The Ginger Tree, The Glory, The Gold, The Gold Robbers, The Gravy Train Goes East, The Great Train Robbery, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Helicopter Heist, The High School Heroes, The House in the Woods, The Jewel in the Crown, The Killing Kind, The Last Convertible, The Last Cyclist, The Little Drummer Girl, The Long Firm, The Lørenskog Disappearance, The Minions of Midas, The Murder of Mary Phagan, The Murders, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, The Night Sister, The Patient, The Perfect Couple, The Phantom of the Opera, The Pillars of the Earth, The Playlist, The Prey, The Quatermass Experiment, The Rainbow, The Rector's Wife, The Rhinemann Exchange, The Rotters' Club, The Secrets of Lake Success, The Serial Killer's Wife, The Shining The Silence, The Singing Detective, The Spider, The Storm, The Sun Also Rises, The Sympathizer, The Tyrant, The Undoing, The Vanishing Triangle, The Veil, The Wimbledon Poisoner, The Witness for the Prosecution, The Woods, The Word, Those Half Hidden, Three Women, Tiger Lily, 4 femmes dans la vie, Torchwood Toussaint Louverture, Troubles, True Women, Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Twin Peaks, Twist of Fate, Ultraviolet, Under the Bridge, Underworld, Unlucky Girl!, V, Viso d'angelo, Vocation, War Sailor, WHAT / IF, Wheels, Where Your Eyes Linger, White Teeth, Wild Palms, Wir sind das Volk - Liebe kennt keine Grenzen, Witchcraft, World War II: When Lions Roared, Young Catherine, Yuri or Another, ZERO -The Bravest Money Game-,
Watch after3 Body Problem, Shōgun,
StudioHBO
8.1
Read also: popular streaming services that still offer a free trial>

It might help some to think of The Regime less as satire and more as dark farce with political opinions. Yes, there’s nothing especially new here in the series’ send-up of a paranoid autocrat, Chancellor Elena Vernham (Kate Winslet), whose withdrawal from the larger world has brought an ever-decreasing grasp of reality. But sometimes, it is enough for a story to just make you laugh and feel sick with fear for the real world.

Much like creator Will Tracy’s The Menu, The Regime‘s advertisements suggest a different viewing experience than it delivers. And, as with that film, the audience risks missing a nasty treat if they don’t meet the series where it lives. The film arrived when “Eat the Rich” entertainment seemed to be spiking. However, The Menu’s focus didn’t lie with economics, at least not solely or predominantly. The Regime hits MAX as America is facing an eight-month nightmare Presidential election campaign goosed by the worst human being you’ve ever known, armed with his naked desire to rule entirely for personal gain and without even the slightest hint of criticism. However, the show’s goal isn’t a six-episode allegory on the excesses of executive power.

The dialogue, from an array of writers including Tracy and Bodies, Bodies, Bodies writer Sarah DeLappe, often suggests Veep with a less dexterous tongue. It keeps the palace intrigue fun and quick even when it the notes feel quite familiar. The willingness to spike international incidents with amoral verbal tartness is a delight.

The Regime (MAX)
You’re thinking you got Matthias Schoenaerts. Then, bam! Surprise Andrea Riseborough! (Miya Mizuno/HBO)

That isn’t to say The Regime is devoid of insight or humanity. The series is impressive in its ability to capture people in power at their most unhinged without reducing them to mere cartoons. Winslet’s Chancellor is the closest to four-color status with her fear of contamination and increasingly bizarre rituals. However, she’s having so much fun in the role that it is nearly impossible not to forgive her for its excesses. The moments where she shifts from a nigh-delusional recluse to a frightening national leader unafraid to wield her power to settle scores, real and imagined, are especially striking and rewarding.

Characters that initially suggest a certain static two-dimensionality quickly achieve surprising depth. Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts), a former soldier who the show rather nakedly implies is a war criminal, has been brought to the fictional Eastern European country’s seat of power to act mainly as Vernham’s bodyman. However, he quickly becomes a Svengali of sorts, leapfrogging several members of her inner circle to become her favorite. His mix of physical rigor and dubious “natural” cures immediately pulls the physician-turned-chancellor (irony!) into his orbit. Before long, inappropriate codependency riddles their relationship.

The Regime (MAX)
Martha Plimpton is not having a good day. (Miya Mizuno/HBO)

And yet, the audience can understand it. Played by Schoenaerts as a man white-knuckling it through his own mental degeneration, Zubak is an appealing mix of rough bluntness and barely hidden vulnerability. The actor refuses to reduce the soldier to either a dangerous cancer on the “republic” or a wounded warrior who might be healed if someone would just love him right. He’s both, and that dichotomy is captivating.

He’s twinned in many ways by the initially brusque and brittle Agnes (Andrea Riseborough), the Palace Manager and only woman inside the Chancellor’s inner circle. Again, the watchword of the performance is balance. Riseborough thaws Agnes faster than expected, but it never feels rushed. Additionally, her evolution further underlines Schoenaerts’ work, suggesting that the Chancellor’s warmth towards him is not just the reaction of a woman losing touch with reality. However, her role is not just one of surprising maternalism. Viewers also see she plays the internal political game better than almost anyone. Her every move keeps her just ahead of the shifting political winds to keep herself upright and safe.

The Regime (MAX)
No, Matthias Schoenaerts are not staging a remake of Footloose. But imagine if they were. (Miya Mizuno/HBO)

Guest turns by Marsha Plimpton as American Senator Judith Holt, visiting to stabilize relations between the countries, and Hugh Grant as the appealingly gone-to-seed previous Chancellor give the series a deep bench. They keep the series from collapsing into overly repetitious storytelling as they bring a different flavor to the mix. Even better, each guest star shakes the status quo of the Palace, even if it is ever so slightly. Even when the familiar attempts to re-establish itself, viewers can feel the lingering effects.

Finally, The Regime feels big in its visuals. Cinematographer Alwin H. Küchler, working with series directors Stephen Frears and Jessica Hobbs, establishes the Palace’s geography well. They’re careful to give the audience enough of a sense of it to feel like an actual location. However, the team also leaves enough undefined that it seems infinite at times and horribly cramped at others. This mix makes it effective as a tool wielded by the Chancellor. For instance, she briefly separates Senator Holt from her security duty and sends the American racing away. 

Near the end of one episode, Zubak returns from an event, stung by a comedian’s words. By way of reassurance, Vernham tells him that the thing about comedy is no one is really good at it. Will Tracy’s ongoing efforts would suggest that that is very much not the case.

The Regime demands your allegiance on MAX starting March 3.

The Regime Trailer:

GenreComedy Drama War & Politics,
NetworkHBO Max,
Similar3 Body Problem A Dance to the Music of Time, A Death in California, A Fortunate Life, A Little Princess, A Model Family, A Nearly Normal Family, A Respectable Trade, A Spy Among Friends, A Storm for Christmas, A Year in the Life, A.D. The Bible Continues, All or Nothing at All, American Dad!, Amnesia, Anatomy of a Scandal, Anna Karenina, Arn: The Knight Templar, Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers, Ash, Aspen, Återkomsten, Atomic Train, Band of Brothers, Beach Girls, Before, Better Man, Beulah Land, Black Beauty, Black Bird, Black Knight, Blackeyes, Bleak House, Bobby Kennedy for President, Boy Swallows Universe, Boys from the Blackstuff, Breaking Bad, Brides of Christ, Candy, Captains and the Kings, Catch-22, Celebrity, Chaser Game, Chicken Nugget, Christopher Columbus, Cleopatra, Close Relations, Club Friday the Series 14: Love & Belief, Cobra Kai, Code of a Killer, Cold Courage, Come Home, Conquistadores: Adventum, Copenhagen Cowboy, CrimeTube SouthTyrol, Culpa - No One Is Innocent, Cyclone Tracy, DAHMER - Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, Dancing on the Edge, David: Story of David, Dead by Sunset, Dead Head, Death of a Pilgrim, Deliver Me, Devil in Ohio, Die Diplomatin, Die Patriarchin, Die Wölfe, Disclaimer, Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves, East of Eden, Echoes, Elas por Elas, Elizabeth R, Eric, Evergreen, Fabio Montale, Faith, Fallen Family Guy, Faraway Downs, Fatal Vision, First Love, Five Days at Memorial, Fool Me Once Fosse/Verdon, Full Circle, G.B.H., Genesis, George & Tammy, Glitch, Golden Years Good Morning Children, Griselda, Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, Heidi, Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed History, Herzogpark, Houdini, Howards End, Hymn of Death, I Just Want To See You, I Know My First Name Is Steven, I'm a Virgo, Idol Fever, In Cold Blood, Intruders, Intrusion, Island at War, Jack the Ripper, Jane Eyre, Järnvägshotellet, Jekyll, Jewels, Joseph Balsamo, Kaleidoscope, Kamen Rider Black Sun, Kamen Rider Jeanne & Kamen Rider Aguilera with Girls Remix, Kamen Rider Outsiders Kamen Rider Zero-One Short Anime: Everyone's Daily Life, Kingpin, Kiri, Knuckles, Krupp: A Family Between War and Peace, Kungamordet, L'amaro caso della Baronessa di Carini, La Chambre des dames, La Cloche tibétaine, Lady Chatterley, Life as a Girl, Life of Shakespeare, Little Tragedies, Long Time No See, Love You Just as You Are, MALICE, Manhunt, Marco Polo, Mare of Easttown, Master of the Game, Melissa, Meteor, Midsummer Night, MIGNON, Million Dollar Babies, Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced, Miss Marple: A Pocketful of Rye, Miss Marple: The Body in the Library, Moeder, waarom leven wij?, Monsieur Spade, More than Blue: The Series, More Than Words, Mosaic, MosGaz. Delo N1, Mother Is Wrong, Murder in Polná, Murder in the Heartland, Muted, Nancherrow, Nice Work, Nicholas Nickleby, Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King, Noah's Ark, Nothing Remains the Same, Number Woman Gye Sook Ja, Nur eine kleine Affäre, Nuremberg, Olivia Twist, On Marriage, One Day, One Trillion Dollars, Ordeal by Innocence, Orient Express, Pälzisch im Abgang, Pandora's Clock, Paper Giants: Magazine Wars, Patria, Paul Gauguin, Per amore del mio popolo, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder, Peter and Paul, Phineas and Ferb, Pompeii, Pope John Paul II, Power Rangers Dino Force Brave, Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, Pride and Prejudice Provoke, Quatermass II, Queer as Folk, Quicksand, Rage of Angels, Ride On Stranger, Rivals Forever - The Sneaker Battle, Rouge Brésil, Scully Seven Seconds, Shadowlands, She, Six Survivors, Someone Has to Die, Son of the Morning Star, Spies of Warsaw, Studs Lonigan, Supernova, Sweetpea, Taken, Takin' Over the Asylum, Tamas, Tanner '88, Tauno Tukevan sota, Tender Is the Night, Thai Cave Rescue, The 8.2 Second Rule, The Amazing Grace of Σ, The Bequeathed, The Bourne Identity The Brothers Karamazov, The Buccaneers, The Camomile Lawn, The Day of the Triffids, The Debt, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Doll Factory, The Echo, The Edwardians, The Essex Serpent, The Executioner, The Fabulous, The Far Pavilions, The Final Cut, The Fire Next Time, The First Olympics: Athens 1896, The Forest of Love: Deep Cut, The French Atlantic Affair, The Frog, The Gangster Chronicles, The Genius of Mozart, The Ginger Tree, The Glory, The Gold, The Gold Robbers, The Gravy Train Goes East, The Great Train Robbery, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Helicopter Heist, The High School Heroes, The House in the Woods, The Jewel in the Crown, The Killing Kind, The Last Convertible, The Last Cyclist, The Little Drummer Girl, The Long Firm, The Lørenskog Disappearance, The Minions of Midas, The Murder of Mary Phagan, The Murders, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, The Night Sister, The Patient, The Perfect Couple, The Phantom of the Opera, The Pillars of the Earth, The Playlist, The Prey, The Quatermass Experiment, The Rainbow, The Rector's Wife, The Rhinemann Exchange, The Rotters' Club, The Secrets of Lake Success, The Serial Killer's Wife, The Shining The Silence, The Singing Detective, The Spider, The Storm, The Sun Also Rises, The Sympathizer, The Tyrant, The Undoing, The Vanishing Triangle, The Veil, The Wimbledon Poisoner, The Witness for the Prosecution, The Woods, The Word, Those Half Hidden, Three Women, Tiger Lily, 4 femmes dans la vie, Torchwood Toussaint Louverture, Troubles, True Women, Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Twin Peaks, Twist of Fate, Ultraviolet, Under the Bridge, Underworld, Unlucky Girl!, V, Viso d'angelo, Vocation, War Sailor, WHAT / IF, Wheels, Where Your Eyes Linger, White Teeth, Wild Palms, Wir sind das Volk - Liebe kennt keine Grenzen, Witchcraft, World War II: When Lions Roared, Young Catherine, Yuri or Another, ZERO -The Bravest Money Game-,
Watch after3 Body Problem, Shōgun,
StudioHBO

Read next: The Spool's Best New Releases

Streaming guides