At the end of the first episode of The Regime, Chancellor Elena Vernham (Kate Winslet) tells the US that her fictional Middle Europe country will no longer bow to their every whim. Three weeks later, Elena hasn't budged on this shift in attitude. Meanwhile, everyone else in the palace is scrambling to stop Corporal Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) from exerting even more influence.
They are not the only ones taking steps, as Senator Judith Holt (Martha Plimpton) visits the palace to realign Elena's country with the US — including getting the cobalt deal back on track — but it doesn’t quite go according to plan.
Here's what happened in The Regime episode 2.
Zubak's influence grows
Zubak has no medical qualifications but is now in charge of palace health and safety. Elena's paranoia regarding deadly spores is replaced with a belief in Zubak's country medicine — even though she is a qualified physician. From potato steam to mustard getting pressed into her chest like Vick's VapoRub, Elena will try anything Zubak suggests.
She has also stopped everyone else from receiving Western medicine, including Agnes' (Andrea Riseborough) epileptic son Oskar (Louie Mynett). Luckily, the doctor Agnes is dating slips her Oskar's meds so they don't have to rely on "folk science."
Over breakfast, Elena watches a CNN news report. She is furious to find out the US isn't sending someone higher in the chain of command than Judith Holt, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. While Elena's husband, Nicky (Guillaume Gallienne), voices his concerns about how their other allies will react to her confrontational rhetoric, Elena's approval rating is its highest in four years — a whopping 75%.
At a sugar beet farmers event, business mogul Emil Bartos (Stanley Townsend) tries to reason with Elena while massaging her ego. "You worried about your purse, greedy guts," she menacingly teases. Bartos mentions sanctions as a concern, but it doesn't help when Zubak hovers on the edges.
Finding a solution to Elena’s new infatuation
After the celebration, Elena works out with Zubak until she throws up; he claims this is the poison being flushed out. Later, while watching Friends, Elena tells Nicky this is the best she has felt in years.
When she rebuffs his gentle attempts at sleeping together, he heads to the discotheque downstairs, where he meets Laskin (Danny Webb), Schiff (David Bamber) and Singer (Henry Goodman) to discuss what they have dug up about Zubak's past.
Zubak's file is rather bleak, including beating up his mother when he was 14, enlisting in the military and then becoming violent again. Zubak was the first to shoot at Site 5 and then attempted suicide. But Nicky thinks the information would only push Elena closer to Zubak.
Upstairs, Zubak dreams of Elena, and while it's just a version of the conversations they have already had, he is aroused. The following day, when Agnes comes to get him, she sees Zubak has punched the headboard and is bleeding from self-flagellation. "I deserve it," he tells Agnes. He wants to keep this secret from his boss. But Zubak does tell Elena he has been having spicy dreams about her, and Elena tells him that "spice is nice."
Elsewhere, Laskin knows that Agnes is still giving her son his meds, blackmailing her so she will put a camera in Zubak's room to get more potential dirt.
Elena intimidates a US politician
Elena continues her PR campaign against the US by posting on Instagram that she will give Holt hell. Meeting in person, Elena compliments Holt's kingfisher-blue suit but makes a veiled joke about it looking good with red. The two women sit at either end of a long table, and what follows is an exercise in passive-aggressive and aggressive-aggressive statements.
Holt tries to play nice and agrees the US will take responsibility for the recent crossed wires. Elena thinks there are no wires crossed and lists all the things her country has done as favors to the US (such as letting them run CIA black sites here).
"You shoveled your s*** on our doorsteps for years and told us we were happy to eat it," Elena says. Holt tries to keep a smile plastered on her face as she notes the US wants a reset before explaining everything they will do if Elena complies.
It's a very tempting partnership offer, but Elena sees through the pleasantries and instead lets Holt experience some intimidating alone time with Zubak. He doesn't lay a finger on the senator, but she flees the palace — which we find out used to be a hotel — with nothing resolved.
A good story
Elena's new aggressive campaign continues the next day. Bartos arrives at the palace expecting a one-on-one meeting with Elena but is surprised to see cameras present. She wants to talk about "the problem" but doesn't give him any context at first, showcasing how this line of questioning is constructed to make Bartos dig his humiliating grave.
Elena gets the wealthiest man in this country to admit to being a careless boss who doesn't know what is occurring at his own company, twisting his words then getting him to apologize for his greed. Elena leaves the billionaire to stack the chairs while being filmed.
The secret camera reveals Zubak's sexual proclivities, but Nicky thinks this won't change his wife's mind. What they need is a good story to reduce Elena's infatuation.
So they come up with a tale that suggests Zubak shares genetic material with the first settler in this country (who is part of a wider legend about the founders of three Slavic peoples), which the ministers think will make her feel threatened. They argue Zubak proves this country is descended from important men, so their ancestors are not "mongrels."
Instead of sending Elena spiraling, she hangs a painting of Zubak dressed as a knight. Perhaps this story is too good. Zubak already controls medical practices and foreign policy. What will he exert influence over next?
The Regime airs new episodes Sundays on HBO and on Max. The show premieres in the UK on April 8, with all episodes on Sky Atlantic and NOW.
