The Regime "The Founding" 3/10/2024 (spoilers)

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This was advertised as farce. There was quite a bit in the first
episode, but this episode emphasized weirdness more than anything else,
and I think that's where the series is going.

Elena is no longer being convinced that she's dying, but her husband is
obviously part of the conspiracy against her. She's easily manipulated,
willingly by Zubak, but her husband tells the other plotters to
manipulate her back by elevating Zubak in her mind so she'll tire of him
more quickly. So they come up with a story that he's genetically related
to one of the mythical brothers who founded the country in primitive
times.

Fighting off the plot to sell Unobtanium to America, Elena is insulted
that Senator Hold (Martha Plimpton) was sent to negotiate with her
(She's a woman! is her main complaint), so she and Zubak plot to
intimidate her by isolating her in the castle for 30 seconds or so. She
flees. Then Elena humiliates the billionaire monopolizing Unobtanium
mining on live tv.

This part really makes no sense. She claims he's underpaying his
workers, or not paying them at all, but what we understand from Zubak's
backstory, his military unit was used as strikebreakers against the
underpaid miners. Elena specifically hired him because, I think, he
killed a lot of the striking miners (but got bad publicity out of it or
something). Neither one of them is sympathetic to workers and I doubt
they'll actually get paid.

Meanwhile, it's revealed that her daughter Agnes is keeping her son
Oskar sick by forcing him to eat some medicine that she froze into
popsicles. So we get the incredibly common plot point of the incredibly
rare Munchausen by proxy! What is it with this family and fake illness?

This country appears to be a blend of Germanic and Slavic. Is it Nordic,
Baltic, or Balkans? Hungarian? I have no clue what it's supposed to be.

It's not a democracy but was there even a pretence that the Chancellor
was elected at some point, even in a rigged election? I don't see how
it's inherited even though her dead father was her predecessor, maybe.

The country has some sort of parliament, which we haven't seen.

Whether the castle is decrepid in reality or the mold scare FOR DECADES
was entirely fake to kill her father is a dropped plot point.

I'm watching it but I can't say I'm enjoying it.