IR TV Review: THE REGIME - EPISODE 2 [HBO]
The texture of "The Regime" tends to reflect on how one influence can change the path of a nation depending who is the puppet and the puppeteer. After the purge that marked the end of Episode 1, Episode 2 tends to show the support system in place surrounding the Chancellor (Kate WInslet). Certain people keep her in power but it is the context of the lower middle class (represented by The Butcher i.e., Matthias Schoenaerts) that is the play for her for some unknown reason (as she selected The Butcher to come in). Her constituents all know that the Chancellor is a handful but there is a lack of humility at all on her part which is almost antithetical as to how it should be set up. Winslet plays her unhinged but one really does not know what is wrong with her. The Butcher looks to mix things up but his own background (which is slowly revealed) shows him to be unhinged as well but trying self-discipline to keep himself on track. He figures to do that by bringing the Chancellor his old home remedies (which realistically are too willingly accepted for a head of state). The impending meeting with a US Government delegate permeates the entire proceedings in terms of puppeteering and presentation in this episode.
Martha Plimpton provides an interesting foil for Winslet in that way. The tactical strategy is expected on both sides but still brutal and reflective of a state in flux. The key here as The Butcher moves with the CHancellor is her imprinting on him but also knowing that she could shift at any time and focus her ire on him. Her will serves her in certain ways but as a figurehead it seems that this situation is a powder keg for all. The set up of the state seems to be built to make money but the person in charge and her ambition is more elusive if at all. Her actions, ljke The Butcher, are becoming more deliberate but especially with the ending coda, which parallels thoughts to both Russia and the US (and by extent Great Britain), it is still mysterious where the dictated ire lies. Even Winslet's husband in the series is torn between the control he might exert and the happiness of his wife. Granted this was much better approached in "The Diplomat" with Rufus Sewell and Keri Russell but that was a very different series and tone. "The Regime" is progressing to show an implosion of self and state but the real question is what is the endgame and who survives. B
By Tim Wassberg
