Alberto Rey

Updated Friday, March 15, 2024-00:19

Sometimes a superstar is enough.

On other occasions, no matter how big the star is, the series that contains it does not shine.

Who was going to tell us that a series starring

Kate Winslet

wouldn't be good.

The Regime

is wet gunpowder.

Lots of gunpowder.

Very wet

.

How can it be that something that on paper couldn't be more appealing, is... that?

Well it has happened.

And it couldn't hurt us more.

There should be a divine law that prevents a series with

Kate Winslet

from not being the best of its season.

Broadcast in Spain on HBO Max,

The Regime

, created by Will Tracy, screenwriter of

The Menu

and

Succession

, is a political satire set in a fictional Central European country governed by a tremendous chancellor.

We might think (we would like to think) that, to set up this racket, Tracy will have resorted to his experience as a scriptwriter for John Oliver, whose weekly show satirizes current political events with great grace.

There is some of that in

The Regime

, but there are also

attacks of seriousness and solemnity that only destabilize

the viewer.

One is not sure what series one is watching.

And that, which is not bad by definition, in

The Regime

becomes infuriating.

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Perhaps its scriptwriters plan for the series to find its comic tone and, once it breathes on its own, they will bet everything on laughter and astracanada.

Let them turn

The Regime

into the new

Veep

and Elena Vernham (Kate Winslet) into the new Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus).

Of course, for that the series would have to be renewed, if possible for several more seasons.

Even

Veep

, a masterpiece no matter how you look at it,

hesitated a little before hitting the right note

.

The Regime

relies too much on a highly tuned musical instrument and forgets the score.

We would like to believe that Kate Winslet can make any series good.

And no, she can't.

Even when its conductor is

Stephen Frears

, who directs some episodes of

The Regime

.

With the second season of

Mare of Easttown

in the air (or so we would like), one of the best actresses in the world has embarked on a project that I would really like... if I hadn't seen it.

What's more: even the promotional photos for

The Regime

are more attractive than the series from which they come.

The clear inspirations (and not just aesthetic ones) in

The Handmaid's Tale

or Julie Taymor's

Titus

enchant me in theory and unnerve me in practice.

The Regime

is another of those series that we look forward to and we should have stayed in that nervous wait.

An attractive idea, a perfect star, a cast full of prestigious faces

, the acronym HBO (yes, they still matter) and many millions of dollars for... this?

The Regime

is that authoritarian party that you vote for because you think its candidate is handsome.

Then, when what happens happens, you regret it.

And then you make the same mistake again.

In

Veep

they told these things very well, by the way.

But Kate Winslet wasn't in it, of course.