Friends Episode In New Kate Winslet Show Oddly Parallels 1 Viral Moment From Netflix’s Hit 2023 Thriller

Friends Episode In New Kate Winslet Show Oddly Parallels 1 Viral Moment From Netflix’s Hit 2023 Thriller

WARNING! This article contains spoilers for The Regime episode 2!

Kate Winslet’s character Elena Vernham watches a classic episode of Friends in The Regime episode 2, which has a curious parallel to a hit Netflix thriller from 2023. In her third miniseries for HBO, Kate Winslet leads the cast of The Regime as the eccentric Chancellor Elena, the leader of an unnamed small country in Central Europe. While her character attempts to gain more power and control over her country, The Regime’s political satire includes various unconventional storylines, moments, and traits for Elena that subtly reveal more about her complex nature.

In the midst of political diplomacy and strategy related to a potential deal with the United States, The Regime episode 2 curiously spends a chunk of time dedicated to Elena and her husband, Nicholas, watching an episode of the sitcom Friends. Elena watches Friends’ season 2 episode “The One with a Chick and a Duck,” and the series plays a clip of Ross doing Rachel’s makeup. Coincidentally, The Regime’s episode premiered only a few months after a hit politically-charged Netflix movie featured a viral moment that included characters watching an episode of Friends.

The Regime & Leave The World Behind Both Feature Characters Watching Friends At Terrible Times

Elena casually watches “The One with a Chick and a Duck” in The Regime episode 2; meanwhile, her political power is being abused and the stability of her palace is crumbling around her in a dystopian-like fashion. This situation is reminiscent of the end of Netflix’s 2023 movie Leave the World Behind, in which the teenage Rose simply wants to watch Friends’ series finale while the entire world’s infrastructure is being destroyed around her. The comeback of Friends on streaming has certainly contributed to a massive revival in its popularity, but the sitcom’s feature in two very different political dramas so close together is still notable.

Friends Episode In New Kate Winslet Show Oddly Parallels 1 Viral Moment From Netflix’s Hit 2023 Thriller

Related

The Real Meaning Of Leave The World Behind’s Friends Obsession (It’s A Netflix Self-Own)

The significance of Leave the World Behind’s obsession with Friends extends beyond its storyline, offering commentary on Netflix as a streaming site.

Other than the fact that Julia Roberts appeared in both projects, Leave the World Behind’s Friends subplot inspired plenty of discussion about how frustrated audiences became at Rose for paying more attention to the show than the world around her. Meanwhile, Kate Winslet’s paranoid Elena is in a comparable situation as she sits inside her palace watching Friends with an entire staff at her call, as much food and supplies as she could possibly need, and the power to change her country’s future with the snap of her fingers. All the while, The Regime’s main character is completely disconnected from her citizens, society, and reality.

What The Regime & Leave The World Behind’s Friends Inclusion Means For The Sitcom’s Legacy

Kate Winslet's Chancellor Elena smirking alongside Ross and Rachel from Friends

Custom image by Sam MacLennan

With the sitcom continuing to stay popular with several generations while gaining new audience demographics on streaming, Friends’ inclusion as a show characters watch in other TV shows and movies isn’t surprising. However, it does have a deeper meaning in The Regime and Leave the World Behind, as Friends is watched when characters become distracted from reality and escape to the nostalgia for – as the Netflix thriller states – a “time that never existed.” Both Elena and Rose find comfort in watching the show during times of trouble, escaping to Friends’ predictable “perfect,” or controversial, world while losing control over the one they actually live in.

The Regime TV Show Poster Showing Kate Winslet Sitting in a Chair Next to a Tiger

The Regime

Drama

The Regime is an HBO/Max mini-series that takes place over the course of one year and follows a failing dictator as her fictional empire begins to crumble around her. The show sees the beginning of the end of the dictatorship and the challenges that the Chancellor faces to keep her unsustainable rule afloat.

Cast

Kate Winslet
, Andrea Riseborough
, Hugh Grant
, Martha Plimpton
, Matthias Schoenaerts

Release Date

March 3, 2024

Seasons

1

Writers

Will Tracy

Directors

Stephen Frears

Where To Watch

HBO Max