The Regime

Those looking for Succession-style density here will have to keep searching. But that doesn’t mean that The Regime isn’t clever. This is one of the most shrewd and unexpected affairs that HBO has pursued in a moment, and under the rule of Winslet’s manic genius, audiences should flock to its wacky wits in droves.

“The Regime” has a keen eye for the aesthetics of fascism, from an absurd woman-of-the-people photoshoot in a cabbage patch to Eurovisionesque extravaganzas. Just because these spectacles are laughably tacky doesn’t mean they’re without menace. And in the psychosexual folie à deux between Vernham and Zubak, there’s a canny use of infatuation as a metaphor for a cult of personality.

Authoritarian shadows aside, “The Regime” is also supremely entertaining, much of the credit going to Ms. Winslet.

Above all, HBO’s latest series, The Regime, is about the joys of watching one of her generation’s greatest actors chewing scenery with gusto as a power-hungry, germaphobe of a stateswoman eager to make sure her vanity and her ambitions (both for herself and for her country) are in fine alignment as she navigates increased tensions within and abroad.

The final episode, in particular, feels rushed, as if Tracy had a bunch of new ideas to explore and not enough time to do so. Having said that, “The Regime” is never boring, and the first few episodes are as sharply written as anything that’s been on HBO for a long time.

If The Regime is rarely as funny as a zippy satire should be (it doesn't have a ton of actual jokes, and the comedy is often met with more of an exhale-through-your-nose acknowledgement than an actual laugh), it's the delicious push and pull of that relationship that keeps you watching.

Beyond a tour de force performance from Kate Winslet, an underserved Hugh Grant and some solid support from Matthias Schoenaerts, The Regime is weighed down by an overabundance of ideas.

Don’t expect the kind of clever sendups that, as in Armando Iannucci’s “Veep” and “The Thick of It,” elevate political comedy into something higher than simple black-and-white farce. What you can expect, though, is some entertaining work from Winslet.

Her [Elena's] performance is magnetic; the satire less confident. The story hurtles through a year of chaos, and the ride turns shakier when the tone shifts to straight dramatic thriller. The series feels leery of engaging with the ugly, xenophobic aspects of modern autocracy. It is more comfortable as the story of a demented ruler than a depraved ideology.

It’s plenty good — Winslet is never going to disappoint — but it’s not at the level of Iannucci’s work.

The Regime is a lot of skillfully produced fun, but it never delivers the shrewd political commentary its premise could support. It’s less a satire than a farce—more The Menu than Succession.

For a comedy about authoritarian rule to be truly funny, especially in an era with many crazier real-world examples, it needs to be “Borat”-style over the top. The six-episode “Regime” never gets there. Instead, this limited series plays everything subtle and low-key, refusing to indulge in the satire of the situations presented.

Watching Winslet tear into a character like this is a good enough reason to watch, though as with so many black comedies the tone is a struggle, even in the hands of experienced directors like Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Jessica Hobbs (The Crown).