Both “The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live” and “The Regime” are about the power moves behind oppressive states, and the lies it takes to sustain a dictatorship. By almost any conceivable metric, “Regime” is the better show–more cerebral, more realistic, more relevant, smarter characters, less “Comic Con” influenced–but, shockingly, “The Ones Who Live” actually works whereas “Regime” is only a facsimile of quality anti-hero television. Trust me, I’m as surprised as you…
“The Regime”…This should be the kind of series that I love completely. It’s trying its damnedest to be about the world we actually live in, and I’m always a champion of dramas for adults that have not a whiff of science fiction or fantasy in sight. But a generic feeling settles in early with “Regime” (which refuses to name its “Middle European” country, but is basically Hungary as ruled by Marine Le Pen), which has that “House of Cards” problem in that it’s too far-fetched and cartoonish to be a chilling docudrama, but too faux-prestige to let its most garish instincts push it into being “fun.”
Events feel repetitive yet undercooked, and as cynical as the show pretends to be, it’s weirdly naive in some aspects. For example, it sticks to a “New Cold War” dynamic between relatively-benevolent China and the ever-“treacherous” Neo-cons of the U.S. deep state in a way that must predate Trump’s NATO-bashing and Putin’s Ukrainian invasion since they’ve clearly scrambled this equation. [Even though there’s a land grab subplot in “Regime” that may be based on Russia’s initial seizing of Crimea, the words “Russia” or “Putin” are never uttered.] Too many scenes go by where we don’t care what happens, and feel bored with the safe middle ground “Regime” has chosen for itself between horrifying dictatorship and smirky “satire.” For a much better example of what this show would love to be, check out the movie “The Death of Stalin.” Grade: C
“The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live”…Rick Grimes remains the most stone-stupid character to recently quarterback a semi-acclaimed TV drama. And his bullheaded ignorance and foolhardy decisions almost sink “Ones Who Live” in the middle episodes. Luckily, “TWD”‘s real MVP was always Michonne (sorry monosyllabic Daryl, who was more than a touch overrated), and a top-form Danai Gurira shows no signs of sleepwalking through this revival miniseries. It’s nearly impossible to overstate how rare a character Michonne actually is even in this current landscape of “ass kicking action heroines,” since she’s allowed to not only be a lethal, occasionally-taciturn warrior, but also have a vulnerable, beating heart. She’s not just a badass, but a romantic badass who wants her man, and nearly every TV series now acts like these two things are mutually exclusive and allergic to one another. You could almost imagine Michonne’s social media bio saying something like “I’ve killed 1,000 zombies and led a colony of capable fighters against numerous enemies, but I also enjoy family time with my adorable son and soulmate Rick.”
The storytelling in “The Walking Dead” will probably always be clunky and elliptical, but the final episode of “Live” is one of the best the entire franchise has ever had. Although “Dead” has tried hard to knock us over with no end of saccharine deaths, I’ve never actually felt moved by any single episode–usually glad to be rid of whatever annoying character is being dispatched. The last minute of “The Ones Who Live” changed that, with a happy ending that feels richly earned and deserving of any uplifted tear that might be shed. Grade: B+