The Regime follows Chancellor Elena Vernham and her crumbling authoritarian rule brought on by her poor decisions. The series is streaming on Max.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary:
Elena Vernham is the chancellor of a European country that is about to celebrate its “Victory Day” commemorating her rise to power.
She is extremely paranoid about a disease flowing through the air and enlists disgraced soldier Herbert Zubak to test the air everywhere she goes.
People around Elena including her cabinet of ministers are playing along with her paranoia to ensure the smooth running of the government.
Herbert initially makes a fool of himself, but he wins over Elena after killing an intruder who snuck into the palace.
Elena is in the middle of trade negotiations with the Americans over control of their lucrative cobalt mines.
The person driving the negotiations is Emil Bartos, an industrialist who benefits the most from the deal. Elena’s cabinet agrees that a deal with the US would be the right choice.
However, Herbert has a much more nationalistic approach and he tells her that they need to look within rather than depend on outsiders.
His words weigh heavy on the chancellor and she decides to tank the deal and publicly chastise Bartos.
Herbert’s influence grows as the palace relies on folk techniques to cure Elena’s “illness” and the regime veers more into an authoritarian direction.
The soldier wants to support the people much like him and promotes socialistic policies. While Elena listens to him, she is caught in two minds about the right decision.
Elena has never been a strong leader and relied on the people around her to guide her hand. Her father’s body is kept on display in a glass case and she visits often to talk.
She also has Agnes to help her around the palace. Agnes manages the palace and ensures that Elena gets whatever she wants while she’s in there.
She has a son named Oskar, who pretends to be Elena’s son with her husband Nicholas Vernham, for the public.
When pushing the Americans away doesn’t work out so well, Elena is forced to bring Bartos back into the fold and make a trade deal with China.
She also carries out a military occupation of disputed land to appease her most loyal supporters, but that only causes more turmoil.
She is branded a dictator in the foreign media, and the local industries are hurt by the entry of Chinese products.
Herbert is exiled for going against Elena, and he meets her predecessor, Edward Keplinger. Edward was a socialist but he was overthrown and branded an enemy of the state.
He is being kept prisoner as a secret, but he plans to get back control with Herbert’s help. Herbert doesn’t agree with Edward’s ideologies and kills him, which wins him favor with Elena again.
His assimilation is complete as he begins a romantic relationship with her right in front of her husband.
Behind the scenes, Herbert and Elena run the country down into the ground as her cabinet gets anxious and civil unrest rises.
Agnes is approached by the Americans to provide inside information in exchange for a safe haven for her and Oskar.
Elena’s ministers conspire with each other on how to get out of the country before everything comes crashing down.
Then on Christmas day, the rebels storm the palace and Elena and Herbert are forced to run away.
Agnes eventually agrees to turn over secrets but when the rebels attack, she is caught in the crossfire and dies, leaving Oskar behind at the palace by himself.
Ending explained:
Still delusional
Elena still believes that her people love her and she wants to convince them that she is the one who must lead them through this difficult time.
Herbert tells her that it is over for them and if the rebels find her, she will be paraded before he public in an act of humiliation.
They escape the palace through an underground tunnel after her ministers escape on a helicopter, leaving her behind to deal with the fallout.
Mr. Laskin, the head of the Secret Service is nowhere to be found and he is branded a traitor to the country.
Taking back the power
While trying to find a place to hide, Elena and Vernham run into an old drunk man in the evening and he offers to hide them for a while.
He takes them back to his house and then locks them in a room before revealing that he hates her and will turn her over to the rebels.
He calls someone, and soon after, Mr. Laskin arrives with some armed men to interrogate Elena.
They separate her and Herbert. and Laskin tells her that he’s sided with the Rebels to form the new government, for which they need her to comply.
They are being taken away when another set of mercenaries kill Laskin and his men, taking Elena and Herbert to a different location.
Putting her in her place
Elena and Herbert are taken to a fancy hotel where Emil Bartos is waiting for them. He meets Elena in a room and offers he a chance to remain in power.
She has to bend the knee to the Americans and be their puppet in the country. An added condition is that Herbert has to go because he isn’t a good influence on her.
She agrees to the demands and spends Herbert’s last moments with him, soothing him into a sense of calm before he is killed.
Things are back to normal by the time the next Victory Day arrives, as Elena and Nicholas are back together and Elena addresses the nation with words written for her by her overlords.
She then visits the room where Herbert’s body has replaced her father’s so that she can continue to have an unhealthy relationship with him.
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