A slightly shorter episode count focuses Series 2 of The Diplomat to brilliant effect
“I have outbuildings”
The first series of Netflix political thriller The Diplomat had no right to be as good as it was. What at first seemed like a fish out of water narrative featuring a career diplomat unexpectedly placed into the role of US ambassador to the UK proved to be something much more complex and nuanced. Creator Debora Cahn really digs down into the geopolitical dirt to give a picture of just how murky things can get in the world of international relations at both the personal and political level, the hunt for the enemy always more complicated than it seems.
It returns now for a second season, shorter at just six episodes but wonderfully taut and disciplined with that, a real focus guiding its storytelling. From taking its time to deal with the aftermath of the explosive cliffhanger and its devastating emotional consequences to following through meaningfully on the multi-layered conspiracy that is painstakingly being revealed, The Diplomat successfully keeps all its plates spinning in the air and also manages to raise the stakes considerably, with the arrival of Allison Janney as Vice President Grace Penn.
Part of the show’s success lies in its essential credibility. You totally buy Rory Kinnear’s weaselly, petulant Tory Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge, just as much as you believe the influence that Celia Imrie’s Margaret Roylin as a political fixer can wield over him. The different ways in which they deal with the idea of taking responsibility for their actions stings with authenticity. So too the ever-pragmatic relationship between Kate and Hal, always somewhere between partnership and marriage, a question mark lingering over the extent of his support for a spouse who is exceeding him.
Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell play this love/hate beautifully and even in this condensed form, utterly convince as the reality of the Vice Presidential offer that is on the table comes more sharply into focus. That is in no small part due to Janney’s phenomenal performance as the current VP, a figure with her own considerable depths, but also down to the other key interpersonal connections developed here – Ato Essandoh and Ali Ahn both impressing as the embassy DCM and CIA station chief orbiting the Wylers and trying to control the chaos.
It’s almost good enough to make me forgive them for teasing us with Nancy Carroll as the head of MI5, only to give her just a couple of lines. Clare Burt fares a little better as the Sturgeon-esque Jemma Doud, Scottish First Minister, as does Pandora Colin as the wonderfully dry Lydia Trowbridge, wife to the PM who suffers no fools. You might long for more for Pearl Mackie’s Alysse to do but with less time in the embassy itself, and consequently less Nine Elms/Vauxhall location spotting opportunities, something has to give in this excellent series.
