Netflix’s The Diplomat wrapped up its first season with a cliffhanger that set the stage for even higher emotional stakes and more byzantine political intrigue. Season two picks up right where that explosive finale left off, plunging viewers into the dizzying aftermath of a car bomb attack in London that leaves Ambassador Kate Wyler’s (Keri Russell) husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), along with her colleagues Stuart Heyford (Ato Essandoh) and Ronnie Buckhurst (Jess Chanliau), battling for their lives. What follows is a whirlwind of gripping twists and turns, as the race to uncover the masterminds behind the attack intensifies.
To reveal more would be to risk spoilers, but suffice it to say that The Diplomat’s narrative tightens in season two with a precision that rewards close attention while leaving just enough mystery to keep you wanting more. Kate’s suspicions of foul play by the brash, expletive-spouting Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) seem as warranted as ever: Could he have really enlisted a ruthless Russian mercenary to orchestrate an attack on his own country’s warship? Adding to the intrigue is the ever-scheming Margaret Roylin (Celia Imrie), the prime minister’s shadowy advisor, whose fingerprints seem all over the chaos.
Throughout the season, The Diplomat deftly layers these existential threats to democracy with simmering romantic tensions between Stuart and C.I.A. station chief Eidra Park (Ali Ahn), and between Kate and dashing Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi). It’s the flirtations between the latter, coupled with the show’s subtle probing of Kate and Hal’s marriage of convenience, that presents thorny questions revolving around the dynamics of love and power. The series clearly signposts its numerous plot threads, leaving no room for confusion, while at the same time challenging and subverting our notions of traditional gender roles.
It’s in the quieter moments of the series, which otherwise moves at a breakneck pace marked by razor-sharp dialogue, that Kate and Hal’s dependency on each other as partners comes into sharp relief. After a brutal argument that offers flickers of the many breathtaking fights that Russell’s undercover agent Elizabeth Jennings had with her husband, played by Matthew Rhys, on The Americans, Kate is exiled to a guest bedroom. Still recovering from his injuries, Hal reluctantly asks her to help him remove his shoes before she goes, and Kate is forced to kneel down at his feet, knowing that she played in a role in why he can barely move.
The Diplomat manages to comfortably balance the behind-the-curtain view of political machinations with the interpersonal relationships of the people involved thanks in large part to its leads, Russell in particular. Also, supporting characters like Frances Munning (Penny Downie) and Pascale Besson (Géraldine Chevalley), staff members at the ambassador’s palatial residence, inject some much-needed moments of levity into the show’s gloriously high drama.
And that drama leads to a cliffhanger that’s as shocking as it is far-fetched. It’s a bold bait and switch that makes an initially curious late-in-the-game addition to the cast make a whole lot more sense in retrospect, practically ensuring that The Diplomat will return for another round.
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