Review: The Regime, "Don't Yet Rejoice" | Episode 6
We return for the finale which mostly reaffirms that problems that led us to bail in the first place
“What was that all about, do you think?”
I know I complained about it back in my review of the premiere, but watching this finale I was struck by how much I hate Alexandre Desplat’s main title theme for The Regime. While there were moments of the series’ six-episode run that perhaps matched the zany tune playing over the generic images of political unrest, over time the show became an increasingly bleak look at how bleak this version of our world actually was. And while there were moments where the writers and directors mined some productive dissonance out of Elena’s wacky bubble as civil war broke out, last week’s penultimate episode definitively burst that bubble. And yet, after a harrowing opening sequence where Zubak struggles to control a manic Elena who doesn’t realize that her government has fallen, we still smashcut to wacky zany fun times with the opening title sequence, and I’m frustrated all over again.
“Finale Title” is a logical conclusion to The Regime, albeit one that highlights the limitations of the show’s creative approach to date. Across five episodes, the show was caught between playing out a political satire and exploring the psychosexual drama between Elena and Herbert. Kate Winslet was consistently compelling moving between the two worlds, but the sheer volume of exposition required for the political dimensions of the story was a burden they never resolved. This was especially true in the characterization of Zubak, whose motivations were muddy to begin with and were further blurred by the huge time gaps between episodes. Still, the show was clearer in its intentions with Elena and Herbert’s messed-up romance than it ever was with its politics, and so it’s fitting that it ends with the eponymous regime fully in the rear-view mirror as Elena and Herbert escape into the city running for their lives.