At a time when it seems political rhetoric couldn’t get more bitter or outrageous, it’s easy to see the world’s leaders and the people who support them in the worst possible light.
But Netflix’s The Diplomat offers a different vision of politics: one where sharp staffers are often the backseat drivers in government, and many of those involved are truly interested in improving lives – even when they do awful things along the way.
That’s the universe Netflix’s series thrives in, where The Americans alum Keri Russell plays a hard-nosed, practical mid-level diplomat suddenly elevated to serve as ambassador to Britain, amid plans to groom her to become America’s next vice president.
Starting season two with a bang
As the show’s second season kicks off, Russell’s Ambassador Kate Wyler is dealing with the aftermath of a cliffhanger that ended the first season. Her husband — former ambassador Hal Wyler — along with her deputy, Stuart Hayford and another aide were caught in the blast of a car bomb while trying to meet with an official from the British government.
The official may have had information about who really initiated a deadly attack against a British aircraft carrier from the first season. But instead of learning more, Kate’s husband and two members of her staff were caught in another attack.
While British and American officials scamper to figure out exactly what happened, we see The Diplomat ride a delicious, compelling line between serving up hefty slices of political drama and revealing the mournful humanity of co-workers trying to recover from a massively traumatic event.
Every performance here is golden. Rory Kinnear is particularly excellent as an egotistical blowhard of a British Prime minister, Nicol Trowbridge. Ali Ahn, currently earning raves for her performance as a witch on Disney+’s Agatha All Along, shines here as CIA station chief Eidra Park – trying to offer savvy, effective support to Kate while not-so-secretly fretting about Kate’s deputy Stuart, with whom she had a relationship.
Rufus Sewell is magnetic as Kate’s husband Hal; she suspects he sees her ascension to vice president as his best route back to power, but he insists otherwise, testing their relationship. David Gyasi plays U.K. foreign secretary Austin Dennison as a precise-yet-passionate power player, focused on doing the right thing for Britain, even as he grows closer to Kate and her marriage frays.
But it’s not until West Wing alum Allison Janney arrives as current Vice President Grace Penn that we see the show’s drama really come alive. As a brilliant vice president who may be forced to step down because of a financial scandal involving her husband, Penn excels at maneuvering others into doing what she wants while leaving them convinced it was all their idea.
Some may have been concerned that Janney is playing a souped-up version of her West Wing character, White House staffer C.J. Cregg. But ultimately, they don’t have much in common beyond a habit of speaking directly and a predilection for pantsuits.
A show centered on smart women leading
What both of Janney’s characters do have in common, however, is that they are accomplished, effective women – making a difference in environments where their talents and achievements are often underestimated or overlooked.
Indeed, several storylines in The Diplomat revolve around smart women deftly guiding powerful men into making better decisions than they could manage on their own. These men aren’t complete idiots, but also are not as smart as they believe – especially Trowbridge, a vociferous bully who leans heavily on several sharp-thinking women, including his wife.
In a particularly pointed exchange, as Hal notes all the humiliating reasons why Penn should accept her fate and resign without damaging the president’s agenda, Kate responds with a telling line. “What do you think my husband would do if it was him?” she says to Penn. “Would he quit?”
The answer – that Hal naturally assumes the benefits he brings would outweigh any political cost – neatly outlines the specter of sexism which hangs over The Diplomat. In a world free from that particular “ism,” you get the sense these women would actually occupy the seats of power, instead of acting as backseat drivers for the men who do.
Complicated plots that pay off
Compelling as all of this is, the plot gets even more complicated in the second season, as Kate and her team begin to sort what really happened in both the warship attack and the car bomb. New viewers trying to jump into the series now could be thoroughly confused — best to make sure you know the events of the first season before joining in for the second.
But once acclimated, you can sit back and enjoy a story set in a political universe where expertise is valued, competition plays out like a protracted, 3D chess game and several staffers caught in the middle truly believe in the possibility of using their offices to make life better for everyone.
Who knew a visceral, fast-paced series about a global political conspiracy could also – thanks to the terrible state of our real-world political clashes – feel like something of a fantasy?