I always start my posts with disclaimers, and this one will be no different. The second season of The Diplomat arrived on Netflix on October 31st with six fast-paced and dramatic episodes that won’t let you stop until the end. That said, God protect America from a representative as complex as Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), the least diplomatic character who occupied the American embassy in London in the fiction. And what’s worse, she dreams of becoming vice president of her country.

Since she reluctantly landed in England in 2023, the American representative has only complained, is always running around, has problems with clothes, argues, and managed to attract a terrorist attack that cost the life of an employee and almost killed her husband, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell). It’s tiring and such an exaggerated job that it even had a “critical goal” in one of the episodes.

We pick up the story immediately after the attack in London and spend the six episodes with Kate trying to find the perpetrator and get around an international crisis. After all, although the hot-headed Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) is always cursing someone, giving orders to anyone even if they are from another country, a man who is only less worthy of a political position than Kate herself. And that is the great flaw of The Diplomat.

The drama and suspense behind all the politicking works to entertain us, but it is repetitive and absurd. The passage of time is minimally “free”: in a matter of hours, Hal comes out of a coma to walk and talk behind the scenes as if he were just taking a nap. It is only not, literally, ridiculous because Rufus Sewell is (handsome and) spectacular as a dubious politician who, yes, builds and destroys foreign relations.

Keri Russell has charisma, and no one denies it, but her artistic limitations reduce Kate to a person with no hygiene, no manners, no vanity, and no sense. It’s surprising to think that the plot of the series is to have a talented diplomat, even if young, being trained to take on the Vice Presidency of the United States. With Keri, all the emotional confusion and even the character’s immaturity make us fear for the world if there were someone like her in American diplomacy.

The Wylers’ toxic marriage strangely works for fiction, with Hal (the smartest one) ignoring his wife’s bipolar reactions and guiding her toward some professional result. And like a hurricane, Kate brings the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom, Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), among others, into the mess.

That said, it IS possible to ignore the inconsistencies and enjoy the series created by Debora Cahn. Especially with the entry of the current Vice President of the United States, Grace Penn (Allison Janney), who brings the unexpected and big turn of the season and leaves us eager for the next one (already confirmed).

It’s even a bit humiliating for Keri when she shares her scenes with Allison, again, in the meta-language that the series presents. Allison puts on a show, as always. The scene in which Grace puts Kate in her place, saying exactly everything she said so far, is a relief and a mea culpa from Debora for what is exaggerated (and there is no way around it).

I confess that I was (apparently) wrongly suspicious of Hal in all the confusion, but I didn’t expect in a million years the conclusion that changes the entire dynamic of The Diplomat. Want SPOILERS? Because here it is.

The terrorist attack in Scotland, which moved the first season, was ordered by the American VP, who claims that she orchestrated everything in the hope of unifying the United Kingdom. The attack at the end of the season was an attempt to prevent the first one from being revealed. In the face of all this, plus other domestic problems, there is the current trying to bring Grace down, led, of course, by Hal who wants Kate in the chair. And here comes one of the problems.

When they agree that they will reveal the truth to Secretary of State Miguel Ganon (Miguel Sandoval) and let the justice system resolve the issue, Hal changes his mind at the last minute. She decides she has to warn the President, who was sold on all this. And what happens? The man dies of a heart attack! Literally. Brilliant! What fun storytelling! And right at the moment when Kate was facing her rival! I swear, it’s so exciting.

So, we have an anti-heroine who is now President of the United States and a clueless diplomat trying to overthrow her, but who looks like she’ll be her vice president. Is that really true? Just knowing that Allison Janney will be back already has me in love. The Diplomat is truly a success!

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