{"id":271153,"date":"2025-11-04T15:46:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T15:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/271153\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T15:46:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T15:46:09","slug":"the-diplomat-sings-by-doubling-down-on-its-goofiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/271153\/","title":{"rendered":"The Diplomat sings by doubling down on its goofiness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Everyone is in a frenzy in The Diplomat\u2018s third-season premiere, which picks up minutes after the POTUS\u2019 untimely demise in season two<\/a>\u2018s finale. \u201cEmperor Dead\u201d tracks VP Grace Penn\u2019s (Allison Janney) rushed swearing-in ceremony in the U.K., where she\u2019s visiting Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell<\/a>). Putting aside their differences, Kate focuses on the minutiae of the event at the Embassy\u2014if only someone could find a robe for the judge (suggestions include grabbing one from a church or a Harry Potter store) and an actual \u201cadult-sized Bible, written by Jesus,\u201d as Kate deadpans. Hunting down the Holy Book becomes a comical subplot in a major crisis. And the punchline arrives in the form of PM Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear), who, previously in the episode, straightforwardly retorted to Kate that \u201cJesus did not write the Bible.\u201d He strolls into the inauguration with the 1455 Gutenberg Bible, using this \u201cgift\u201d to position himself right behind Grace on camera as she takes the oath in an oddly funny scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Humor has always been a part of this Netflix hit, which darkly mines laughs from Kate and Hal\u2019s (Rufus Sewell) marital woes. Series creator Debora Cahn (The West Wing, Homeland) wields it as a tool to diffuse the tension of political conflicts as well. But as evidenced by its opening installment, season three doubles down on goofiness. The Diplomat is as ridiculous as it is compelling, with pivotal turns landing in the same melodramatic vein as Scandal, Madam Secretary, and Designated Survivor. While it boasts a prestige-TV sheen thanks to its pedigree, the series actually operates as a tightly packaged network drama, relying on familiar beats to keep the action moving. In this case, there\u2019s no time to mourn President Rayburn (Michael McKean), considering Hal and Stuart (Ato Essandoh) are busy pitching Kate as the new VP, Grace is worrying about the optics of being in a different country, and devoted White House staffers are struggling to manage the situation from afar. Even the final \u201cEmperor Dead\u201d twist\u2014Grace chooses Hal as the VP instead of Kate, as they look on in stunned silence\u2014screams soapy, not serious.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This curveball adds to The Diplomat\u2018s enjoyability factor. The show uses the Wylers\u2019 latest strife to elevate its theatrics (probably to the disappointment of those hoping for a more earnest take on the subject matter, as seen in Russell\u2019s previous hit, The Americans). Kate\u2019s disdain for Grace\u2019s decision is written all over her face. So even when Hal promises she won\u2019t be stuck as the Second Lady and makes a bid for her to be a Special Envoy to Europe, she doesn\u2019t bite. By the end of episode two, Kate abandons her husband at the tarmac when he\u2019s leaving for Washington, D.C., opting to remain a diplomat in London and launching a \u201csecret divorce\u201d with him. This kicks off a new level of toxic back-and-forths between them that\u2019s reminiscent of Scandal\u2018s Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) and Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn), two people who often found themselves on opposing ends but couldn\u2019t stay away from each other either.<\/p>\n

Netflix’s Hostage feels like The Diplomat lite<\/a>Bradley Whitford shakes things up in The Diplomat season 3 trailer<\/a><\/p>\n

In Shonda Rhimes\u2019 series, Olivia and Fitz\u2019s juicy affair launched plenty of ludicrous arcs. (He went to war for her and sent an old military pal to spy on Liv, while she rigged an election for him and later became the campaign manager for his ex-wife.) Scandal stopped caring about any grounded, nuanced political stories as it went on to spin in circles around the ruckus their romance caused. Accepting this made it easier to put logic aside to buy into Rhimes\u2019 increasingly wild plotting. Here, too, suspending rationale is key to enjoying inane storylines that tie the crisis of the moment to Kate and Hal\u2019s relationship status. The Diplomat joins a lineup of shows that make little sense but are entertaining because of it, including Apple TV\u2019s Hijack and Netflix\u2019s The Night Agent.<\/p>\n

Season three ups the ante by putting physical distance between the pair, leading to Kate kissing Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) after two seasons\u2019 worth of buildup. Then, a five-month time jump reveals she\u2019s secretly banging the British spy who\u2019s informing her about a nuclear weapon. This complex triangle gives The Diplomat further ammunition for soapy hijinks. And they aren\u2019t the only turbulent couple dialing up unnecessary drama. After welcoming TWW\u2018s Janney, Cahn reunites with Bradley Whitford, who plays the exasperated First Gentleman. And boy does he hate the close bond his wife and her new VP have formed. He assumes they\u2019re sleeping with each other when, in reality, they\u2019ve stolen a weapon from Russia. Kate puts two and two together, immediately regretting her decision to reunite with Hal in the finale. And with both couples barreling toward doom, it looks like The Diplomat has teed up an even sillier fourth season<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everyone is in a frenzy in The Diplomat\u2018s third-season premiere, which picks up minutes after the POTUS\u2019 untimely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-271153","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271153","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=271153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}