"The Diplomat," Year Two

Minor spoilers ahead.

"The Diplomat" returns for a second season that doesn't waste a moment.  When we last left the Wylers, a car bomb had gone off, leaving Hal and Heyford injured, and another of Kate's officers dead.  This year is still about trying to figure out who attacked the British destroyer and juggling too many competing interests.  Margaret Roylin (Celia Imrie), one of Trowbridge's advisors, ends up in CIA custody with most of the answers, but nobody can agree on what to do with her or the information.  Kate is also under consideration to be the replacement for the American Vice President, because the current one, Grace Penn (Allison Janney) is expected to be brought down by an impending scandal.  Hal thinks this is a great idea and Kate thinks it's a horrible one, which becomes a recurring argument between the two of them for the whole season. 

Ten episodes worth of story is somehow crammed into six (two fewer than last year), which I'm not complaining about because it makes each episode of "The Diplomat" feel so fast-paced and unpredictable.  This season actually improves a bit from the first because the main cast is settled into their characters and the writers are more willing to play up their little idiosyncrasies for humor.  Heyford gets a lot more comedy this year - stuck on crutches for several episodes, trying to get back into Park's good graces, and constantly reassuring everybody that he doesn't need to know the information that he's working really hard to suss out.  Trowbridge is given several reasons to be extremely upset, and is more hysterical the angrier he gets.  As for Kate, her PR skills have not improved, and she looks even more hopeless next to the effortlessly brilliant and poised Grace Penn, who shows up for the last two episodes.  Allison Janney is nothing short of spectacular in the role, and if she doesn't get to come back for a third season, I will be sorely disappointed. 

I continue to sing the praises of Keri Russell, who remains the frazzled, compelling, and wonderfully watchable center of the series.  Rufus Sewell's Hal is out of commission for a good chunk of time, and not able to be nearly as much of a thorn in her side as last year, but she has no shortage of other great scene partners and deftly handles the torrents of dialogue that can turn on a dime. I love her cringy exchanges with Trowbridge, her hero-worship of Grace Penn, and her genuine happiness at finding out that Heywood and Park are a thing - well, were a thing.  In a show that's all about hyper-competency, she's still so human and so fallible and so susceptible to the chaos around her.  This season gives her fewer opportunities to really be a nut, but she sure takes advantage of the ones that she gets.     

The writing continues to ride the line between a wildly exaggerated version of how foreign relations works, and a totally implausible political fantasy.  Time scales are massively compressed and everyone is way too good at their jobs.  However, the way that tiny interpersonal slights can end up having an outsized effect on policy issues rings true, and the show takes the time to highlight the absurdity of some of the political theater and the effort it takes to wrangle so many large personalities.  There's so much double-dealing and backstabbing going on, it's almost a relief when people actually come to physical blows.  And this is the sort of program where occasionally we do get people coming to physical blows.  I'm also grateful that while the pace is fast, the story remains very comprehensible throughout, which is not something I can say about other currently running shows with a lot of political maneuvering.         

 

Again, "The Diplomat" ends on another cliffhanger this year with not much resolved.  However, I'm optimistic that a third season is coming and I'm greatly looking forward to it.     

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