{"id":232868,"date":"2025-10-18T02:29:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:29:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/232868\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T02:29:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T02:29:14","slug":"grace-and-hal-steal-poseidon-trick-kate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/232868\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace and Hal Steal Poseidon, Trick Kate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This story contains spoilers from Season 3 of \u201cThe Diplomat<\/a>,\u201d now streaming on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\n\tWe\u2019ve met before, \u201cThe Diplomat\u201d creator and showrunner Debora Cahn<\/a> and I, with Keri Russell<\/a>, in New York, before the second season of the farcical political thriller dropped. Back then, at an Upper Westside bistro, Cahn, Russell and I had lots of drinks \u2014 the kind that, Cahn says, leave you \u201cfoggy the next day, and yet you do it anyway.\u201d \u00a0\u201cI started doing it at 17,\u201d she says, \u201cand here I am at 50-something still doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWe don\u2019t learn.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd that\u2019s partly why Kate (Russell), in Season 3 of \u201cThe Diplomat,\u201d after her marriage to Hal (Rufus Sewell) has basically ended, has taken up with a guy very much like Hal, and in part why she goes back to Hal in the last few minutes of the season: We don\u2019t learn. But because this is Cahn\u2019s \u201cDiplomat,\u201d it\u2019s much more nuanced and complicated than that.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut, wait, before we get into this, I have to tell you that when Cahn came onto my Zoom to talk about Season 3, it was 6:30 am my time, 9:30 hers, and though I had a cup of coffee in my hand, I hadn\u2019t had a sip.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe said, \u201cWe\u2019re always drinking, you and me \u2014 we have our wine, we have our coffee.\u201d Or I think that\u2019s what she said, because in the blurry, yet-unshowered, coffeeless excitement of getting to unpack Season 3 with Debora Cahn, I neglected to push the button on my iPhone voice app and she didn\u2019t hit record on Zoom.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s a shame, because Cahn is so funny and insightful and has a uniquely wonderful way with words. But I have my notes.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tKeri Russell with showrunner Debora Cahn<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Liam Daniel\/Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tLet\u2019s just start with what happened this season.<\/p>\n

\n\tGrace Penn (Allison Janney) learns two things at once: that she\u2019s now the president of the United States because the last president, William Rayburn (who was played by Michael McKean), has died; and that Rayburn had a heart attack during a phone conversation with Hal. Grace knows what this means: that Hal called Rayburn to tell him that it was she, his untrustworthy VP, who, behind this back, had orchestrated the bombing of the HMS Courageous, killing 41 British sailors.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo Grace is furious, mostly at Kate (because Kate was the messenger, but also because Grace has always disliked Kate for gunning for her job). And instead of naming Kate as her VP, Grace Penn names Hal.<\/p>\n

\n\tThis precipitates a crisis in the Wyler home (or should I say manse, because they\u2019re still living at Winfield House in England). Hal, in love with his brilliant, beautiful wife, says he\u2019ll turn down the vice-presidency if that\u2019s what Kate wants, and Kate, though she\u2019s cross-eyed with anger, tells him to take it. (What else is she going to say?)<\/p>\n

\n\tHal is upset too \u2014 he knows how hard it is for Kate that he got the job instead of her, and that she\u2019s now going to have the thankless job of being the Second Lady of the United States instead of the Ambassador to England, where she\u2019s thought of as \u201cEngland\u2019s darling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAllison Janney as Grace Penn<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tLong story short, Grace Penn is sworn in, Kate says her goodbyes to her staff at Winfield and at the embassy and she and Hal drive to the airport. Then Hal climbs the stairs to the plane \u2014 and Kate doesn\u2019t follow. She stands on the tarmac with tears in her eyes. Hal waits a beat, their eyes locked, and then he boards the plane, leaving Kate behind.<\/p>\n

\n\tA few months go by, and Hal surprises Kate in England for their anniversary. But the surprise is his when he discovers that Kate is having an affair with a young MI6 agent, Callum Ellis (Aidan Turner), and seems to be happy.<\/p>\n

\n\tHal and Kate, who still have to share a bedroom for appearance\u2019s sake, fight about it that night \u2014 about how they agreed to be married on the outside but divorced in private, so why the jealousy? About how Kate, just as much as Hal, would love to have sex with her ex, but that\u2019s a bad idea, so back off. And, finally, from Kate\u2019s point of view, how Hal took the job of VP knowing it would destroy their marriage. After the fight, Kate runs down the stairs to a quiet den, curls up into a fetal position on the rug and weeps.<\/p>\n

\n\tCIA station chief Eidra Park (Ali Ahn), meanwhile, has heard from a source that a Russian official believes that an American was involved in the bombing of the HMS Courageous. The source checks out, and it\u2019s clear that this information is going to leak to the public. Kate, Hal and Eidra fly to meet up with Grace Penn at her home in Amagansett on Long Island, where they encounter Grace Penn\u2019s long-suffering husband, Todd Penn (Bradley Whitford), who really hates being what he calls \u201cfirst lady.\u201d Todd doesn\u2019t trust his wife nor her new VP, and seems almost jealous of him.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAllison Janney as Grace Penn, Rufus Sewell as Hal Wyler, Nana Mensah as Billie Appiah, Keri Russell as Kate Wyler <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tIn any case, Grace, Hal, and the White House Chief of Staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah) go back and forth about how to deal with the impending leak that Grace Penn masterminded the bombing of the ship. Finally, they land on bringing British Prime Minister Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) to Amagansett, telling him about the Russian source and admitting that Grace Penn was involved. They assume he\u2019ll stay quiet once they make a deal where America will solve all of Britain\u2019s financial problems if Trowbridge does a joint press conference with Grace Penn and announces to the world that, not Grace, but Trowbridge\u2019s close confidante Margaret Roylin (Celia Imrie) \u2014\u00a0who died by suicide in the season premiere, while in U.S. custody \u2014 had masterminded the bombing.<\/p>\n

\n\tKate\u2019s the only one among them who knows that this is a suicidal idea. She knows that Trowbridge will freak out when he hears that any American was involved in the bombing. But no one will listen to Kate, least of all Hal. Desperate, Kate finally tells Grace Penn that Hal is lying when he says he thinks this is a good plan; in fact, he only agreed to it because he knows that when the plan fails and Grace Penn is ousted from office, Hal will become president.<\/p>\n

\n\tAt this point, Billie boots Kate, sending her back to England, but she has an idea. She tries to get in contact with Hal, who won\u2019t speak to her \u2014\u00a0nor will anyone else. No one trusts Kate anymore. No one, that is, except Todd Penn. As the secret service is escorting Kate off the property, she jumps into the pool where Todd is swimming laps. She tells him that Grace Penn should not tell Trowbridge that she bombed the ship, but instead that Rayburn bombed it. After all, he\u2019s dead, so what does it matter? Todd gets out of the pool: He understands that Kate\u2019s plan will save his wife\u2019s career.<\/p>\n

\n\tThough Kate is still persona non grata, she\u2019s allowed to stay. Trowbridge arrives, along with his advisor (and Kate\u2019s crush) Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), and the deal is made: In exchange for America\u2019s financial help, Trowbridge will tell the world that Margaret Roylin bombed the ship. Before the press conference begins, Dennison visits Kate in her quarters and tells her that this deal will mean that America will forever be in the debt of England. That is, anything England wants, America will have to give them for generations to come. Kate tells Dennison that that\u2019s not going to happen. Their parting is icy.<\/p>\n

\n\tThen, when it comes time for the press conference, Trowbridge goes rogue and announces that President Rayburn blew up the HMS Courageous, killing 41 British seamen. He doesn\u2019t even mention Roylin. Mayhem ensues.<\/p>\n

\n\tBack in England, citizens are now protesting the U.S. outside the consulate, and Kate gets stuck inside the manse with Callum, who has come by to tell her that, on top of all these events, there\u2019s a Russian submarine felled off the shores of England, all its crew dead. Not only that, but on the sub was carrying the super weapon Poseidon, a nuke that has heretofore been thought of as only a myth because it\u2019s capable of such unthinkable destruction.<\/p>\n

\n\tKate and Callum fight about the fact that he took it upon himself to make decisions (about who to tell and who not to tell) about such an important matter. And she suddenly realizes that she\u2019s fallen for a man who\u2019s exactly like her husband. She lays into him the way she does Hal. Callum says he\u2019d never let a wife of his talk to him like that.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBradley Whitford as Todd Penn, Allison Janney as Grace Penn, David Gyasi as Austin Dennison, Rufus Sewell as Hal Wyler, Tracy Ifeachor as Thema Dennison, Keri Russell as Kate Wyler<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Idris Solomon\/Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, something must be done about the sub before China or Russia gets to it. (Trowbridge is currently buddying up to China.) Callum says that Grace Penn needs to apologize to Trowbridge for what Trowbridge thinks are Rayburn\u2019s actions, and then the two countries can deal with the sub and the weapon together.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen Kate talks to Hal, he gets Billie on the phone and helps organize a meeting between Grace Penn and Trowbridge in England. She won\u2019t apologize, but she\u2019ll offer to help with the sub. The meeting happens at Trowbridge\u2019s house, and Trowbridge wants nothing to do with Grace Penn or America. He storms out.<\/p>\n

\n\tTurns out Trowbridge thinks Grace Penn is lying about the Poseidon, and so it becomes Kate, Hal, Billie and Grace Penn\u2019s mission to convince him before it\u2019s too late. \u00a0Kate tries to get Callum to tell Trowbridge all he knows, but Hal nixes that plan, knowing that Callum is good for Kate, and not wanting her to lose him.<\/p>\n

\n\tSo Kate comes up with another plan: Unbeknownst to Trowbridge, the Americans will send a submarine to take photos of the Russian sub, which will have been modified to hold the weapon. Grace Penn can then show them to Trowbridge and prove that the Poseidon exists.<\/p>\n

\n\tGrace Penn balks at how dangerous sending an American submarine into English waters would be, and Hal, after asking Kate to leave, tells Grace that there\u2019s a way to make this work. We don\u2019t know what that plan is, but Grace Penn agrees.<\/p>\n

\n\tLater that night, Callum visits Kate in her room and she lies to him, telling him she\u2019s got things to do when in fact she just doesn\u2019t want him there. Maybe the tide is turning on her feelings for him.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe next day Grace Penn, Billie, Kate, and Hal meet with Trowbridge. Grace Penn shows him the photos the Americans have taken of the sub with the Poseidon, and apologizes for all the trouble caused. She says that she\u2019s ready to help Britain with the Russian sub. But Trowbridge still refuses.<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s when Hal whispers to Kate to talk to Trowbridge \u2014 clearly, they made a plan last night where Kate would convince Trowbridge to bury the Russian sub so that no nation could ever get it. Trowbridge agrees to Kate\u2019s plan. This is the kind of teamwork that Hal and Kate have been excelling at for years \u2014 and what makes their marriage so electric \u2014 and when Hal winks at Kate from across the negotiating table, she is clearly pleased.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tShortly after, Kate breaks down and apologizes to Hal, begging him to take her back. He does. It\u2019s clear that she\u2019ll give up her job in England and come back to Washington with her husband.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs the cars are being loaded, Callum pulls Kate aside and tells her that he believes the Russians stole the super weapon \u2014 that radiation levels near the sub have dropped 60%, and the only explanation for that is that the weapon is no longer there. Kate tells Hal that the Russians found the sub and took the weapon. Hal rushes away, ostensibly to tell Grace Penn.<\/p>\n

\n\tJust then, Todd Penn comes up behind Kate and asks her whether it bothers her, the relationship between Hal and Grace Penn. Kate says no, why would it?, but then she looks over and watches the way Hal and Grace Penn are standing together, whispering, and then she knows: It wasn\u2019t the Russians who stole the super weapon; it was Grace Penn and Hal.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe confronts Hal, putting it all together as she does: The Brits will consider this an act of war. The Russians will think the Brits stole the weapon, and will attack them. Not only that, but Hal used Kate to convince Trowbridge to bury the sub, implicating her in this plot.<\/p>\n

\n\tHal orders Kate to keep quiet, and then goes over to Grace Penn. She asks if everything\u2019s OK, and Hal says no. He says, \u201cShe knows.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAidan Turner as Callum Ellis, Russell as Kate Wyler<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Clifton Prescod\/Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cKate\u2019s such a mess this season,\u201d I say to Cahn to start our (unrecorded) Zoom call off. She says, \u201cKate\u2019s always a mess,\u201d and laughs.<\/p>\n

\n\tYeah, I say, but why did she hook up with that shit Callum? Why didn\u2019t she have the long-promised affair with Dennison? Cahn laughs when I call Callum \u201ca shit,\u201d and tells me a story about guy, during a recent interview, who asked her about Kate\u2019s \u201cmental illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tClearly, this bothered Cahn. So she said to the guy, \u201cI wrote a character who was bipolar in \u2018Homeland\u2019 \u2014 that\u2019s a medical condition. But I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve said anywhere that Kate is crazy.\u2019\u201d Then she says, \u201cMen think Kate is crazy; women think Callum is a shit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, I\u2019m on Team Hal, because, to quote Paul Newman about Joanne Woodward, why have hamburger when you can have steak? I push Cahn: Kate is all over the place. She tells Hal to take the VP job, and then cries on the rug in a fetal position after blaming the end of their marriage on the fact that he took the VP job. What\u2019s up with that?<\/p>\n

\n\tCahn says: \u201cKate got to the airport, got out on the tarmac, and she hit a wall. She just couldn\u2019t move forward. And Hal could have turned around and come down the stairs and said to her, \u2018Let\u2019s talk about this. Let\u2019s work this out.\u2019 But he didn\u2019t. He just turned around and stepped onto the plane.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tOK, fair. But then why didn\u2019t Kate have the affair with Dennison, I ask Cahn.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou plant these characters like seeds in a garden, and you wait to see how they grow,\u201d she says. \u201cDennison grew to be a moral center in the show, standing between Trowbridge and Kate. He\u2019s worked so hard to get where he is, and he\u2019s not going to throw his career away by having a fling with an American who\u2019s there only temporarily.\u201d \u00a0She then adds, \u201cDennison was useful to Kate as a comparison to Hal, who Kate has always had issues with when it comes to where he is morally.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo then why Callum?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHal has kept Kate centered for years,\u201d Cahn says. \u201cAnd now they\u2019re at that time in their life, during a divorce, when their world falls apart. So Kate is casting about to figure out who she is.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cPeople do this when they first get divorced: They find the same person. Because they think they have the perfect person in their spouse \u2014 except for these flaws. And when they look for a new person, they want that perfect person again, only this time without those flaws. But the flaws are actually the flipside of what makes that person who they are.\u201d She holds out her hand, palm side down and then flips it, palm side up.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTrue love is not beautiful,\u201d she says. \u201cTrue love is un-beautiful. I think of relationships like any other drug or addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tI am still digging in, because it really bugs me that Kate would have this important revelation about Callum \u2014 that he is not a good guy \u2014 and then she goes sniveling back to him, asking him to try again. I say to Cahn, \u201cWhy would Kate do that? She\u2019s a strong woman.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSuddenly Cahn blanches and says, \u201cOh, my God, Trish.\u201d She puts her hand over her mouth and takes a sharp intake of breath. \u201cOh, my God,\u201d she says again, \u201cI just realized something.\u201d Finally, after a solid minute, she says, \u201cI never realized that I\u2019m writing about my parent\u2019s marriage!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe tells me the story. \u201cMy mom wanted to leave; my dad didn\u2019t. He was devastated. And I understood why she did it \u2014 my dad didn\u2019t, but I did. But the thing that I found hard was when they then started dating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat is, dating each other.<\/p>\n

\n\tFinally, she says, about her mom and about Kate, \u201cMy mom experimented by making decisions and then living them. I think that\u2019s very brave.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Liam Daniel\/Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter a moment, she says, \u201cI had no idea that I was writing my parents\u2019 marriage. Thank you for the therapy session.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd just like therapy, our time is up.<\/p>\n

\n\tThere is so much more to cover so I throw out one last question about Hal. Did he use Kate to get the super weapon? Was he so angry at her that he just pretended to want her back?<\/p>\n

\n\tCahn says, \u201cHal used Kate to make the deal where they\u2019d bury the empty sub. But he wanted her back. He accepts her back fully. I have a lot of empathy for Hal; he\u2019s tried so hard to let her go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBut is he evil?<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThere\u2019s nothing a character in this show does that we can\u2019t justify,\u201d Cahn says.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SPOILER ALERT:\u00a0This story contains spoilers from Season 3 of \u201cThe Diplomat,\u201d now streaming on Netflix. We\u2019ve met before,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[129518,88,76719,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-232868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-debora-cahn","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-the-diplomat","11":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}