Full spoilers of Season 3 of The Diplomat, now streaming on Netflix, ahead.
The highest praise I can give the new season of The Diplomat – Netflix’s gripping, propulsive, and often hilarious political thriller starring Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell – is that that it blends the ingredients of the best political TV shows of the past 25 years (The West Wing, Veep, and House of Cards to name a few) into something comfortingly familiar yet wholly unique.
The series follows Kate Wyler (Russell), the United States’s Ambassador to the UK, as she navigates intrigue and political turmoil in what is normally a stress-free post. When a British warship is attacked and scores of sailors are killed in Season 1, Wyler and her sometimes-estranged husband / fellow diplomat Hal (played by Sewell) are drawn into a web of life-and-death political stakes involving everyone from the British Prime Minister to the President of the United States.
Season 2’s big twist revealed that Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney in a delicious, scene-chewing performance) masterminded the attack in an effort to prevent Scotland from seceding from the UK (which would have jeopardized the United States’s ability to dock their nuclear submarines in Europe). Season 2 ends with the American president William Rayburn suddenly dying and Penn assuming office.
Season 3 begins right where Season 2 left off, with Penn elevated to the presidency and the Wylers left scrambling to figure out where they fall in the new world order. In an early twist, Kate – who in Season 1 was thrust into the role of ambassador in part as an audition to replace Penn as VP – is passed over for the job, which goes to Hal instead. Kate decides to stay in London while Hal moves to Washington, adding a literal ocean to the metaphorical one already dividing their marriage.
Russell and Sewell are the dual heartbeats of the show. Their characters are wholly unique and together consistently exhibit a portrait of a marriage under fire – often figurative, sometimes literal. Every scene they share is filled with both tension and understanding – they’re the only people in the world who truly understand each other, but most of the time they can’t stand to be in the same room, much less the same bed.
The Wylers’ relationship stands in relief to President Penn’s marriage to her husband Todd (played in a brilliant casting move by Janney’s old West Wing costar Bradley Whitford). Todd is supportive of his wife’s new role as president even as he’s left wondering how to step into the role of what he jokingly refers to as “First Lady.” Janney infuses Penn’s morally questionable motives with a sense of determination and strength that constantly drives the plot. The acting here is so good that when Janney gets to share scenes with Whitford, you completely forget they ever played affable colleagues on The West Wing.
Whitford and Janney’s on-screen chemistry is on full display during a late-season scene that shows why The Diplomat may be the only true successor to the iconic comedy Veep. In the scene, the Wylers come to dinner and Whitford’s character cuts his hand while preparing oysters. Todd bleeds all over the appetizer, capturing the banal idiocy of the people central to our modern politics. Here are four of the most powerful people in the world (the president, the vice president, the American ambassador to the UK, and the first gentleman) squinting at a plate of oysters wondering if they’re looking at blood or cocktail sauce.
Season 3’s plot is exciting if not particularly groundbreaking. Hal’s elevation to VP creates so much tension in his relationship with Kate that they decide to officially separate, leaving Kate to start up a romance with a British political operative (The Hobbit trilogy’s Aidan Turner) midway through the season.
Turner’s character draws Kate into a new mystery involving a disabled Russian nuclear submarine stranded in British waters. The action is more of what Diplomat fans love, even if the show spins its wheels a bit after a burst of energy in the first few episodes. A mid-season time jump ramps the excitement back up and propels the remaining episodes to a stunning finale.
A motley cast of the Wylers’ colleagues and adversaries— including British Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), CIA Station Chief Eidra Park (Ali Ahn), Deputy Chief of Mission Stuart Heyford (Ato Essandoh), White House Chief of Staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah), and British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear)— breathes life into on-screen conflicts both big and small and makes you want to pay close attention to nearly every scene of the season.
While The Diplomat at times suffers from a bit of political TV-itis (a character who probably would never get a cabinet-level job has one now! A fantastical excuse is made for why something is going down in an international location instead of at the White House!), incredible performances and a unique perspective on the political thriller genre make every episode of Season 3 a veritable feast of acting, writing, scenery, and laugh-out-loud comedy.
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