S01.E01: Victory Day

[Meredith Quill]

The series tells the story of one year within the walls of the palace of an authoritarian regime as it begins to unravel.

Quote

TBA

 

[AnimeMania]

S01.E01: Victory Day

As Chancellor Elena Vernham prepares for her annual Victory Day celebration, a weary Cpl. Herbert Zubak, arrives at the palace – where he’s introduced to his new boss’ strict health precautions. After a briefing with her top ministers about a pending cobalt deal with the U.S., Elena reprimands Zubak for following orders a little too closely at her lavish banquet.

Premiere Date: Sunday, March 3, 2024   HBO   9pm     

[Mindthinkr]

It will be interesting to see in which direction this goes. 

[BC4ME]

Wow, I thought there would be lots of comments on this show. For myself, I didn't quite know what to make of it. It was kind of terrifying, really. But I guess that was the point.

[SHD]

7 hours ago, Mindthinkr said:

It will be interesting to see in which direction this goes. 

You have a lot more faith than I do. I thought it was terrible. I’m out.

[DMK]

5 minutes ago, SHD said:

You have a lot more faith than I do. I thought it was terrible. I’m out.

Samesies. One episode was all I needed to bounce. That sucked.

[Valny]

It was weird. I was in when I saw the trailer and saw Winslet and Plimpton, but I don’t know if I can make it through the whole thing, the first ep didn’t grab me like I hoped it might. Might give it one more try

[aghst]

After the credits, they show some scenes from the rest of the season and then have some interviews with the cast and also the creator.

They're juggling a lot of things.

That state dinner was something, with her entrance.

You can dismiss Elena as this loopy, hypochondriac authoritarian of some wannabe imperial Eastern European nation.

She's not oblivious of geopolitics, the way she was telling the American businessman her POV.  But then Zubak bends her to his will, looks like she's going to lean into the authoritarian, not the beloved leader she imagines herself to be.

Maybe it's loosely modeled on Romania but there may be some Imelda Marcos as well.

[RunningMarket]

13 hours ago, DMK said:

Samesies. One episode was all I needed to bounce. That sucked.

I didn't make it past her entrance to the gala dinner. I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be serious, comedy or satire - and if it was supposed to be any of those specifically, IMO, it failed terribly.

[Charlemagne]

I thought it was simply fantastic.

[AnimeMania]

4 hours ago, RunningMarket said:

I didn't make it past her entrance to the gala dinner. I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be serious, comedy or satire - and if it was supposed to be any of those specifically, IMO, it failed terribly.

I blamed the Backup Singers for not being able to harmonize her off-pitch singing and make it sound better. Didn't they practice.

[aghst]

6 hours ago, RunningMarket said:

I didn't make it past her entrance to the gala dinner. I couldn't figure out if it was supposed to be serious, comedy or satire - and if it was supposed to be any of those specifically, IMO, it failed terribly.

 

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

I blamed the Backup Singers for not being able to harmonize her off-pitch singing and make it sound better. Didn't they practice.

You need to cut Elena a break.

She's been breathing through a mask and breathing in all the mold spores!

 

 

[Avaleigh]

3 hours ago, Charlemagne said:

I thought it was simply fantastic.

I didn't hate it, and I enjoyed Kate Winslet's other HBO projects so much that I'm hopeful I'll come around to enjoying this series almost as much. 

It's definitely flawed, but there were some bright spots here and there. There's definitely some offbeat humor. This brings me to one of the problems with the show though. There are some parts that are sort of funny, but not funny enough for me to label this a comedy, not even a dark comedy. It's not really a drama either though. I honestly couldn't tell you which genre they're going for and that in itself is problematic at least IMO. As far as tone, it's kind of all over the place.

Still, I'm intrigued enough to want to know more about the Elena character. How did she turn out this way? What was her father like? What's her ultimate objective for her country?

What I found interesting is how she has just enough awareness to not want the Americans to see her obsessive side. It's funny that she has no problem giving a not so great musical performance for the American politicians, but draws the line at them finding out about her humidity obsession. 

The show hasn't won me over yet, but I want to see more. I'll have a better sense by the next couple episodes. 

[Dminches]

16 hours ago, AnimeMania said:

I blamed the Backup Singers for not being able to harmonize her off-pitch singing and make it sound better. Didn't they practice.

I saw an interview with Winslet about that singing scene. She was terrified to sing so she practiced endlessly. However, when it came time to shoot the scene she said the director told her to be bad, not polished (I am paraphrasing). So, she did the scene like any non-singer could do. I thought it played very well.

 

[Charlemagne]

17 hours ago, Avaleigh said:

I didn't hate it, and I enjoyed Kate Winslet's other HBO projects so much that I'm hopeful I'll come around to enjoying this series almost as much. 

It's definitely flawed, but there were some bright spots here and there. There's definitely some offbeat humor. This brings me to one of the problems with the show though. There are some parts that are sort of funny, but not funny enough for me to label this a comedy, not even a dark comedy. It's not really a drama either though. I honestly couldn't tell you which genre they're going for and that in itself is problematic at least IMO. As far as tone, it's kind of all over the place.

Still, I'm intrigued enough to want to know more about the Elena character. How did she turn out this way? What was her father like? What's her ultimate objective for her country?

What I found interesting is how she has just enough awareness to not want the Americans to see her obsessive side. It's funny that she has no problem giving a not so great musical performance for the American politicians, but draws the line at them finding out about her humidity obsession. 

The show hasn't won me over yet, but I want to see more. I'll have a better sense by the next couple episodes. 

But, I mean... its genre seems pretty clear to me.

It's a satire. In the vein of The Death of Stalin. I found its tone to be 100% focused in that regard.

I am loving it. Others are not. That's how it goes. I am very comfortable being in the minority on this one. 😊

[Pestilentia]

I went into this knowing nothing so I had zero idea what to expect. I determined 'satire' pretty quickly but still have no idea what direction it will be taking. 

Still, it is different enough that  I'll give it a few more weeks to settle in to itself. If Winslet signed up for it there must be something there worth watching, and if it keeps me away from true crime that's only a good thing. 

[BC4ME]

4 hours ago, Pestilentia said:

and if it keeps me away from true crime that's only a good thing. 

OMG how many of are there out there with this true crime addiction now? I have to have it on to go sleep these days! 

[topanga]

On 3/6/2024 at 12:35 PM, Charlemagne said:

But, I mean... its genre seems pretty clear to me.

It's a satire. In the vein of The Death of Stalin. I found its tone to be 100% focused in that regard.

I am loving it. Others are not. That's how it goes. I am very comfortable being in the minority on this one. 😊

On 3/7/2024 at 11:21 AM, Pestilentia said:

I went into this knowing nothing so I had zero idea what to expect. I determined 'satire' pretty quickly but still have no idea what direction it will be taking. 

Still, it is different enough that  I'll give it a few more weeks to settle in to itself. If Winslet signed up for it there must be something there worth watching, and if it keeps me away from true crime that's only a good thing. 

Yes, I'm loving this so far, mainly because of Kate Winslet. The show is weird and cooky and mysterious, but I trust her so much as an actress that I know her performance is intentional and deliberate.

I'm also curious about Zubak. What's he plotting? What's he hiding? 

 

[AnimeMania]

48 minutes ago, topanga said:

I'm also curious about Zubak. What's he plotting? What's he hiding?

A Dominatrix Fetish.

[PurpleTentacle]

I'm also not quite sure what to make of this.

But at least by the end I could see how she ever made it to Chancelor. She gave a very good speech. Hit quite a few populist talking points, but let's be honest, told no lie about the USA. Everything she said on that topic was true. Of course her solutions were simplistic, vague and likely impossible. So par for the course for authoritarian populists.

So I'm in for now. Interested to see where this goes.