S01.E02: The Founding

[AnimeMania]

Concerned about Zubak’s growing influence, Nicholas conspires with Laskin, Schiff, and Singer to find ways to sour the corporal in Elena’s eyes. With the cobalt deal stalling, Elena welcomes Senator Judith Holt to the palace to negotiate an agreement between their two countries. Later, Agnes deflects Laskin’s inquiries about her ailing son’s miraculously good health.

Premiere Date: Sunday, March 10, 2024   HBO   9pm     

[aghst]

Maybe Elena would get bored of Zubak if they slept together a few times.

So Elena is well-educated and politically savvy.  She dismisses the message Holt is delivering and sets Zubak on her to break her confidence.

Well after this episode, as with the pilot episode, you have both Winslet and Will Tracy saying how politically sophisticated, more than any of the Americans they’ve introduced.

If they have to keep saying how brilliant the Elena character is, maybe the story isn’t as well told as they think it is.

Maybe we’re suppose to get what this small country is suppose to be in real life, from things like potato steam and black beets?  And how deftly it’s playing the Americans off vs. the Chinese?

[CouchTater]

I enjoyed ep 1 more than ep 2.  Judging by the number of comments in the episode threads, it appears I'm not alone?

I don't have much to say, other than I enjoyed the tete-a-tete between the chancellor and the U.S. senator (I think?) - Martha Plimpton's character.

I hope the chancellor and her bodyguard don't become intimate.  Gross.

I'm going to finish the 6 episodes out of a need to see it through LOL, but I'm hoping it improves a bit.

[BC4ME]

Sorry to say I'm out. I wanted to like it.

[Avaleigh]

On 3/12/2024 at 2:01 PM, CouchTater said:

I enjoyed ep 1 more than ep 2.  Judging by the number of comments in the episode threads, it appears I'm not alone?

Same. I'm going to keep watching, but it hasn't had that spark moment for me yet where it takes off and I'm pumped for the next episode or the overall journey. 

I liked the scenes with Winslet and Martha Plimpton. Her character is a little patronizing with Elana and seems to think this is going to be easier than it turns out to be. Then the moment where she realizes that Elena is disturbed enough to have her people threaten her physical safety--the tension there was good and I wasn't entirely sure how far they were going to take this intimidation tactic. 

Regarding the lack of comments, yeah, I thought there would be more for both episodes. I finally looked at the reviews from critics and we're not alone in finding the show uneven and, at times, even a little underwhelming. I feel validated that at least some critics think The Regime is all over the place in terms of deciding what kind of show it wants to be. I just thought I was too dense to get it, but when even the people whose job it is to write about this stuff can't figure out what this show is trying to be, I think it's safe to say the showrunners didn't hit the mark. 

[NeenerNeener]

And somebody must really hate Andrea Riseborough to give her that godawful pixie haircut.