(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)
Blowing up a main character in the final moments of Season 1 gave Netflix’s The Diplomat a cliffhanger reminiscent of those we’re used to seeing on network TV. Sure, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) survived his ordeal, but you only need to sow a little doubt to land the moment. In its second season, which is now streaming, the stakes are even higher, with the President of the United States losing his life in the closing seconds.
There is an art to a cliffhanger. The Diplomat creator Debora Cahn is more than adept at leaving viewers wanting more, having worked on The West Wing and Homeland. The Diplomat has packed twists aplenty to ensure viewers will be tuning in for Season 3 (which is already in production), and the addition of Allison Janney as pragmatic (and duplicitous) Vice President Grace Penn has upped the dramatic stakes in every way possible.
Grace enters Season 2 with a target on her back, as her administration is actively looking for a new vice president due to a financial scandal embroiling Grace’s husband. Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) is reluctant to go for this starry promotion, changing her mind about this potential role as often as she fights with Hal about what to do. By the time Kate and Hal are on the same page about her moving forward with this second-in-command career change, the series finds a new way to unsettle the landscape.
Even though it wasn’t an assassination, the circumstances behind President William Rayburn’s (Michael McKean) death are troublesome. It’s not like revealing unpleasant news can kill someone, right? Unfortunately for Hal, telling Rayburn his VP had a hand in a deadly plot is fatal. While it is likely an unfortunate coincidence, it still means Grace Penn is now the president. Oops!
Much like the combative Wyler marriage, the events leading to Hal’s mistimed call might cause some whiplash. So buckle up because you might also need a lesson in international relations. Luckily, Janney is a master of churning out jargon, drawing on a map, and explaining why Scotland is essential to the whole shebang.
Kate cycles through a frosty start with Grace to becoming political besties and then reverting to combative, maximizing the opportunity for the two TV titans to play nice and spar with each other. Hello, Emmy nominations for both.
Janney doesn’t arrive until the penultimate episode of the season, immediately going toe-to-toe with Russell before finding common ground over whiskey and honest words. Or at least some of those are candid, as Grace is holding a major card close to her chest. First, she makes Kate (platonically) fall in love with her, which only makes the truth sting more. Not only does Kate adore Grace, but I immediately plotted out three seasons of Russell and Janney as endearing friends.
Alas, this is The Diplomat and not a sitcom (even if Russell gets to flex her comedic muscles whenever her character disagrees with someone), and by the end of the finale, Kate and Grace are more at odds as they vie for the same job. Instead of scandal prematurely ending her career, Grace is the new commander-in-chief.
In the episodes leading up to the arrival of the killer blonde-bobbed Janney, Kate points fingers at multiple powerful figures (including the Prime Minister) about the attack on a British aircraft carrier that killed more than 40 Royal Naval personnel in Season 1. First, Iran was blamed, and then Russian mercenary Roman Lenkov was identified as the person who staged the attack. While Lenkov did set the explosives that tore through the vessel, the wider conspiracy unravels to reveal it was a false flag operation devised from within by Meg Roylin (Celia Imrie), a key Tory operative with close ties to Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear).
Kate correctly deduced that the Brits did it to themselves but is flabbergasted to discover that the United States guided this plan from a safe distance. Or rather, Grace Penn laid the breadcrumbs that ended in a bloodbath with global ramifications. “What the f---?” is Kate’s straight-to-the-point response to this information.
Yep, the call is coming from inside the house, and the woman who just gave Kate the best advice is behind the whole damn thing.
Even though Kate and Hal are meant to be this power couple, neither figure out the real reason why Scotland riding solo would be enough to launch a madcap scheme. “We killed Scottish independence?! Who gives a f--- about Scotland? They’re nice, sweet people. They are cold all the time. Let them make their own decisions,” says Kate. This comment would be enough to get Kate in hot water with the Scots.
Kate is horrified that her new girl crush of all of 12 hours (or thereabouts) is responsible for the chaos that also left staffer Ronnie dead. Kate might think she knows everything, but Grace is ready to step out of the splashy dinner at Blenheim Palace to give the ambassador a lesson in nuclear warfare and global geography using a piece of coal from the fire as her marker pen (resourceful!).
Given how Janney made light work of exposition-heavy dialogue as The West Wing’s C.J. Cregg, she deftly dishes out this explainer as to why Scotland is so intrinsic to the United States' ability to defend itself. Long story short, Creegan is a nuclear submarine base in Scotland, and it is the only place in Europe where the US can dock its subs. The Scottish hate having a target on them and would shut the base if they gained independence. Without the president’s knowledge, Grace suggested a plan to unify Britain and stop the vote from going into motion.
During this lesson, Grace vibrates with disdain, which spills over to the following day when Kate makes a play for the veep job and Hal calls the secretary of state about Grace’s extracurriculars. Except Hal goes to the top, telling President Rayburn about this conspiracy.
“He got really upset,” Hal tells Kate on the phone. Hal initially buries the lede, then breaks the news that Rayburn is dead. The Secret Service agents are running across the manicured lawn to ensure that Grace, the new President, pretty much confirms this. Again, I need to see a body.
There might be no literal explosions in the finale, but there are plenty of bombshells, and Hal is the one pressing detonate on the information trigger. Even though there is a vacant VP seat, Kate probably won’t get that promotion after all.
