The Diplomat Season 2 Review

The Diplomat (2023-)
Season 2 - 6 episodes (2024 October 31)

Watch The Diplomat on Netflix
Created by: Debora Cahn
Starring: Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, Ato Essandoh, David Gyasi, Rory Kinnear, Michael McKean
Rated: TV-MA
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Plot
In the midst of an international crisis, career diplomat Kate Wyler lands a high-profile job for which she is not suited, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.

Verdict
I like this season more than the first. It tells a more complete story, where the first season felt like half the story, this certainly is the other half. It does leave this season on a cliff hanger, but it's more of a chapter end. This season is all about the politics games, as suspects come and go and political moves come into focus. The sum is not greater than the parts. The characters are interesting, and the story puts everything into place, but it's not a show I'd miss if it were canceled.
It depends.

Review
The first season started with a bang when a United Kingdom air craft carrier was attacked. It's this attack that fuels the plot for the first season, but the answers never came. It was an okay season, but it was incomplete. Once we got the big reveal, the season was over. I hoped this season could provide some amount of closure. With how quickly streaming shows get canceled, it's annoying when a season ends on a cliff hanger. Even good shows get canceled. At least the first two seasons comprise a mostly complete story.

Kate (Keri Russell) got the job of Ambassador to the UK amidst a crisis. At the same time, she's being considered for Vice President though her husband Hal (Rufus Sewell) undermines her when he's not trying to maneuver her for his own gain.

Rufus Sewell, Keri Russell, Ato Essandoah play play Hal, Kate, Stuart

This season reveals who they think attacked the carrier in the first episode. The first season was just a big tease to this reveal. The spinning conspiracy of who attacked the carrier seems to involve everyone, even the prime minister. This season is better with the reveal of what happened, but it can't stand on its own without the first season. The first season set all the drama while this season begins resolving the loose threads.

The first question is who attacked the boat, but that transforms into who is behind that person. The characters guess at a few different people before it's revealed who actually did it and why. Except that person didn't do it. While this season is a convoluted investigation, the pieces fit together well at the end.

One of the best cameos is Allison Janney as the Vice President, giving Kate some advice. I still don't buy Kate as the VP, and the show always undermines any credibility she may have.

I like this season more than the first, and this season closes a chapter before opening another. There is more to this story, but at the end of the first season I was promised a season and only got half of it. This has plenty of moving parts and even some levity, but it ends up being just good enough; not great.