Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell in “The Diplomat” 2023. IMDb photo
You watched the final scenes of season one of Debora Cahn’s “The Diplomat” with eyes open wide and mouth open wide. Cahn left us dangling in our slippers with that one.
SERIES INFO
“THE DIPLOMAT”
Political Drama, Drama, Thriller
In the midst of an international crisis, Kate Wyler, a career diplomat, lands in a high-profile job for which she is not suited, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.
Length: 50 minutes
Rating: Moderate profanity with mild sex, nudity, violence, gore, alcohol, drugs and smoking
Creator: Debora Cahn
Stars: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi
A bomb went off in London as our favorite diplomat Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) attended a high-level political event in Paris. Her husband was heading toward a restaurant when the massive bomb exploded. This was the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers, and we weren’t ready for it.
We did know that Kate’s husband Hal (Rufus Sewell) was somewhere in the blast.
We also knew that Hal and Kate had always maintained a rocky boat of a relationship, but not that it ends with a bomb. Now we’re feeling better.
The thought popped into our professional heads that this is often the way an actor’s contract is settled. Not now, not here. We liked Hal and were ready to send an email to Cahn’s iPhone.
The next 49 minutes of a show that was getting damp reviews from some fans, brought hackles to our necks and fingers to our remotes.
The beautifully filmed attack on the HMS Courageous warship that opened the first season brought all hands on both sides to the deck. So to speak.
Hold on. Season 3 is already in the can and headed to us. In this political November that was already giving us furrowed brows, we needed confidence in our favorite fictional heroes, so we were saddened by the death of foreign service officer Ronnie Buckhurst (Jess Chanliau), the bowtie-clad quirky. Didn’t we all enjoy her popping in and out of high-level situations?
The closing scene took away more than one of the central characters. It eliminated Tory MPMerritt Grove (Simon Chandler) and injured deputy chief of mission Stuart Heyford (the funny/serious actor Ato Essandoh), whom we are now grateful to find recovering, back at Kate’s side and not so secretly in love with super spy Eidra Park (Ali Ahn).
Well, we all, with a few key taps, were comforted with the knowledge that Hal would be coming back —battered and bloody, and not entirely glued together — and up to his old games.
Not all news was good. We’re happy to see what we already suspected, that the bullying, bombastic British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (a perfect Rory Kinnear) might be the menacing fellow behind the attacks on his own country.
We are also happy to see the sneaky Margaret “Meg” Roylin (Celia Imrie) back, and looking forward to the great Allison Janney in upcoming episodes.
Soon to come: the mysterious Russian Roman Lekov.
We can’t wait for that.
“The Diplomat” streams on Netflix.
J.P. Devine of Waterville is a former stage and screen actor.
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