In the bathroom of a plush function room, the US ambassador to the UK, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), is struggling to take off her dress. She’s desperate to get out of this strappy orange cage so she can put on a jacket and jeans and get back to work. Eventually, unable to find a fastener among all the delicately interlocking loops at the back of her neck, she rips the thing in two, discards a couple of grand’s worth of fine fabric, changes, and stalks purposefully off.
This scene from the first episode of season two of The Diplomat is the sort of thing that used to happen all the time in the drama’s early days. It began with forthright problem-solver Kate, a US diplomat versed in war-zone management, rerouted against her will to become America’s representative in London, a role that usually carries little responsibility and is taken up by complacent types who enjoy saying and wearing the right thing.
Dutifully popping canapes at events with minimal real-world importance is not Kate’s style, which initially created a deft, very funny comedy of manners, sharply considering the fusty traditions that slow British politics down. But Kate’s arrival – and that of her semi-estranged husband Hal (Rufus Sewell), a more experienced, smoothly manipulative operator dedicated to advancing his own interests – was not by chance. A British warship had just been attacked in the Persian Gulf, with Iran the chief suspect and Russia mentioned in the corridor chatter, too. Fixers in Washington had spotted Kate’s ability and sent her to London to manage the looming international crisis.
As season one gathered speed, The Diplomat morphed into a proper political/conspiracy thriller, a tale of layered agendas and hidden alliances. Kate still bridled at anything involving ceremony or protocol, but found herself adept at playing the game diplomacy becomes when the stakes are raised: it requires the ability to discern motives, improvise solutions and take nothing on trust, which are Kate’s core skills.
Season two carries straight on from the explosive twist that ended the first run – it was one of the best last two minutes of any season of anything, ever – and continues to be a masterclass in “therefore/but” storytelling: this happens, therefore that happens, but then this happens, therefore that happens. No moment is wasted and, before you know it, it’s 2am and you’re still watching.
The Diplomat’s politics, meanwhile, are a spicy mix of fantasy and reality. The fantasy is roughly the same as the one in The West Wing – a wide-eyed overestimate of how many people in positions of real power in the US and UK are faithful adherents to doing the right thing without fear or favour. The harsh reality is that Kate and the other conscientious characters are dealing with a British rightwing government dangerously in hock to the far right; season two builds on the horribly plausible idea that this corrupt administration has tolerated or even orchestrated terrorism against itself for political gain.
Rory Kinnear is terrific as rogue British PM Nicol Trowbridge, a man who is essentially Boris Johnson but worse: the chippy self-regard and whiff of imperial perversion are there, but the buffoonery is toned down. We switch back from reality to fantasy with David Gyasi as Austin Dennison: terse, precise and fastidiously principled, even when it would obviously be beneficial not to be, Dennison is hard to imagine as a real foreign secretary but easy to picture in a tailcoat, moodily heading up a Brontë novel.
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The new episodes see Kate again romantically triangulating between Dennison, the perfect man who is professionally and emotionally unavailable, and Hal, who will always let her down but knows her better than anyone ever will. So Keri Russell has three strong male foils, but The Diplomat is still her show. Kate Wyler has a lot of the ferocity and resourcefulness of Elizabeth Jennings in The Americans, only with more humour and vulnerability. Nothing will ever be a better vehicle for Russell than The Americans, but this one asks for more versatility and relatability, and Russell is easily equal to it.
Russell has been given her second great TV role by showrunner Debora Cahn, who has, if a glance down her CV is any guide, spent her career working towards this moment. Cahn has written for The West Wing, Homeland and Grey’s Anatomy, qualifying her to create a series that is several great shows all at once. Kate Wyler may never quite feel that she fits in at work, but The Diplomat should slot effortlessly into any list of the best dramas of the year.