One day you’re The Butcher of Site 5; the next, you’re The Foundling. On the second episode of The Regime, Corporal Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) rises up due to a plan hatched by the chancellor’s husband, Nicky (Guillaume Gallienne), as Elena (Kate Winslet) rubs an American diplomat the wrong way. Still Watching hosts Hillary Busis, Richard Lawson, and Chris Murphy unpack Zubak’s meteoric rise, which puts the violent zealot in a very powerful position: “He has become [Elena’s] Rasputin, her closest adviser and counselor, and has completely put her onto, like, ‘anti-vax, only herbs from the Earth can cure epilepsy’ kind of stuff,” says Busis. Which is bad news for Agnes (Andrea Riseborough), Elena’s right-hand woman and palace manager, as well as Agnes’s epileptic son, Oskar.
Along with this rejection of Western medicine comes a rejection of Western policy and intervention. Martha Plimpton guest stars this episode as Judith Holt, an official emissary of the White House who seeks to strike a deal between the States and Chancellor Elena. But their meeting goes awry quite quickly, with Elena leading Judith on a wild-goose chase through the palace and ultimately leaving her with Zubak—who intimidates her and tanks the deal. “The threat of violence is very real,” says Busis. “It did seem very possible that Zubak was going to physically harm a sitting US senator.”
Meanwhile, Zubak’s fixation and obsession with Elena takes a darker turn as he engages in both self-flagellation and autoerotic asphyxiation while thinking of the chancellor. Actor Matthias Schoenaerts dropped by Still Watching to talk about all things Herbert, particularly acting out some of those darker moments—like the “chokey-tuggy” of it all. “There’s no exact science to it,” Schoenaerts says. “Subconsciously you get yourself to the point of where you know you need to go and how far you need to go. Of course it’s a conscious process of imagining all of that, but then your body starts to take over and it starts doing stuff to bring you there.”
Schoenaerts isn’t quite sure where Zubak falls into the overall political schema of The Regime, but he knows the palace has everything all wrong. “I think they’re totally misinterpreting him,” says Schoenaerts. “I don’t know if they overestimated or underestimated. They definitely see the amount of influence he’s developing, and the amount of grip he starts to have.” But despite Zubak’s growing influence, Schoenaerts notes that everyone but Elena is still looking down on him due to his humble beginnings and outsider status. When you diminish someone, Schoenaerts says, “you forget to really look at someone and pay attention. That is a blessing in disguise because if people stop seeing you for what you are, well, you can move in silence because nobody’s seeing what you’re doing.”
Should Elena be worried about the rise of Zubak? Will her botched negotiations with America bite her in the ass? Will Agnes find a way to get Oskar the medicine he needs? You’ll have to keep tuning into The Regime to find out. As always, send any questions, comments, or thoughts about the series to Still Watching at stillwatchingpod@gmail.com.