Warning: Reviews of The Regime will contain spoilers.

Minute for minute, episode 4 provides the most explicitly comedic material of The Regime so far. But it still manages to add in plenty of darkness, as Elena (Kate Winslet) tightens her dictatorial grip on her people, and Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) descends further into madness. One piece of humor comes in the uniquely bizarre way that Elena tortures Zubak as he rots in his prison cell, pumping in a loud, endless stream of news updates and public addresses with Elena’s voice.

I had wondered if the audio situation was unique to Zubak, but we soon get an answer to a central mystery of the show. That is, the fate of the oft-referred-to former Chancellor, Edward Keplinger (Hugh Grant). We’ve heard plenty, mostly from Elena, as to how her father saved the country from Keplinger’s clutches but, of course, we should take almost everything Elena says with a grain of salt. The reality is that he’s been locked away in a cushy prison cell, and enlists Zubak’s help in somehow taking control of the country back. I imagine that Zubak’s brute stupidity appeals to him, and he sees a man that he can control in order to get what he wants.

In these moments, The Regime understatedly comments on how those in power can so easily manipulate the common folk in order to achieve their own selfish goals. Unfortunately, Keplinger pushes too many of Zubak’s buttons, and meets his untimely demise before the end of episode 4. I’m sure the show has grander designs for its final two episodes, but it’s no less disappointing to have this storyline fizzle out so quickly. Of course, more Hugh Grant is never a bad thing, and he makes a strong impression, making Keplinger an arrogant jerk but a victim nonetheless.

Ultimately, Keplinger’s time on The Regime helps to expand the scope of the show, but episode 4 does so in another way with Elena’s storyline. As expected, Elena’s invasion of the Faban corridor leads to an unsurprising slew of international sanctions, tanking the country’s economy even more. The focus in “Midnight Feast” is on the sugar beet industry, as a number of violent protests erupt, one resulting in a pregnant woman’s miscarriage. Elena begrudgingly travels to the head of the sugar beet union to do damage control, but is unable to control her elitist impulses.

We haven’t talked much about the connections between The Regime and Stephen Frears and Will Tracy’s work on Succession, but it becomes much more apparent in episode 4. This mostly comes out in Elena and Nicki’s (Guillame Gallienne) thinly-veiled contempt for everything which the common folk represent – I lost count of the number of times characters remarked on the unbearable stench of the countryside or the sugar beets processing plant. It seems like Elena has a change of heart after returning to the palace, when she invites a number of kids for a press conference. As if it wasn’t humorous enough to have Elena bested by a bunch of children, she’s defeated because of her bizarre hot flash situation – another stellar running gag throughout “Midnight Feast.” And if you were looking for one more Succession (and Veep) connection: the show makes great use of the “onlookers hilariously reacting to a live TV disaster” scene that those shows perfected during Elena’s press conference.

With two episodes left, I still don’t really know what The Regime’s endgame is, or what it’s building towards. Another quick subplot in episode 4 is in Agnes (Andrea Riseborough) and her increasingly untenable situation with her son. She’s contacted by someone inside the United States, who hints that they can extract her in exchange for information on Elena’s inner circle. I can’t say that episode 4 was the strongest outing of The Regime so far, but it continued to build and expand its characters and situations in fun and interesting ways.