The Diplomat (2023)
The Diplomat is making quite an impression. That’s a pretty good feat for a show mostly centered around verbal chess in back rooms and a la minute damage control.
Keri Russell stars as Ambassador Kate Wyler, who’s been sent to England after a British naval vessel mysteriously explodes, killing forty-one personnel, and her job is not only to ferret out the whys and wherefores, but prevent the nations involved from going to war. Kate is in line to be Vice President, but she hates the public aspect of politics. She doesn’t like to have the cameras on her or entertaining dignitaries. Everything comes back to doing the job.
Kate’s husband, Hal, who’s also a diplomat and an ambassador, has a brilliant political mind, but in this particular instance he’s along for the ride. At first he does what comes naturally, which is schmooze with the local politicians and read what they’re like, which horrifies Kate because he seems like too much of a loose cannon. On the other hand, he serves a purpose. Hal gets into scrapes but those scrapes turn up needed information and give Kate more ammo for her job.
While the two of them seem headed for divorce, they can never quite get there because they balance each other out. Hal understands what it takes to do the job Kate is doing, and he’ll do what she’s not willing to do, but she doesn’t want him to do it. She wants him out of the picture. Still, she’s forced to admit that she needs him, and they’re devoted to each other in a combative partnership kind of way.
And oh yeah, there’s the matter of keeping various nations happy, but others may not agree.
The Diplomat seems as if it would be boring. Lots of talking and whispering, lots of fists slamming on tables, and not much happening. While that’s very often the case, and the show is a little slow at the outset, it has a rhythm and an intensity to it that keeps it from feeling like a slog.
Oh no, it’s more like a game of racquetball or volleyball, with projectiles batted around at various speeds with varying amounts of theatrics. The show could have taken place in a single room and it would work because there’s so much to keep track of.
The show does have its lighter moments, though. There’s a scene in one episode when Kate and Hal raid the pantry late at night, taking bites out of an entire quiche that’s just sitting on a shelf in cold storage, only to be confronted with Britain’s prime minister, who’s also on the hunt for a midnight snack. The three of them end up having a chummy time over the quiche and smoothing out what was a contentious situation, much to the shock of the foreign minister.
Diplomat’s cast is fantastic and thoughtfully placed. I would never have thought of Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell playing husband and wife, but they have a great chemistry even though their characters are supposed to be at odds with each other. None of the other actors hit false notes, but their main job seems to be getting out of the way and letting Keri and Rufus do their thing.
The only other thing I would say about the show is that there are soooooo many F-bombs. It’s as if scenes aren’t complete unless there are at least five F-bombs from one or more cast members. While this may not bother some people, after a while it feels lazy to me. English is a big language, people. Let’s act like it, please. I’m glad the show is getting a second season, or at least it is at the time of this writing, but I really hope future scripting shows a bit more scope and creativity.
The Diplomat is currently streaming on Netflix. Rated TV-MA.
My grade: A-
Principal cast: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi, Ali Ahn, Rory Kinnear, Ato Essandoh, Jess Chanliau, Pearl Mackie, Tim Delap, Kenichiro Thomson, Adam Silver, Georgie Henley, Celia Imrie, Nana Mensah, Miguel Sandoval, Penny Downie, Michael McKean, Bhav Joshi
Created by Deborah Cahn.
Directed by Andrew Bernstein, Simon Cellan Jones, Alex Graves, and Liza Johnson.