The Diplomat: Full Season 2
November 7, 2024 10:47 AM - Season 2 (Full Season) - Subscribe
In which Kate Wyler, U.S. ambassador to the UK, deals with the consequences of her staff being injured and killed in the car bombing intended for Merritt Grove (at the end of Season 1), investigates the conspirators behind the bombing, and gets fashion tips from the Vice President. Her husband Hal continues to be a wildcard, telling himself that his freelancing is in support of his wife, but maybe isn't. PM Trowbridge continues to be an asshole.
My main complaint about this season is that there wasn't enough of it. It builds to another boffo ending that leaves numerous threads untied.
The Diplomat is available on Netflix.
My main complaint about this season is that there wasn't enough of it. It builds to another boffo ending that leaves numerous threads untied.
The Diplomat is available on Netflix.
I enjoyed this. Keri Russell is such a fantastic presence here (I'm still annoyed she never landed an Emmy for The Americans).
It all feels absurdly expensive! They filmed four days in St Paul's Cathedral, apparently a record for that location.
I found the British prime minister's development fascinating: he managed to be completely loathsome while still winning me over just a tiny bit as the plot progressed.
posted by simonw at 3:47 PM on November 7, 2024 [4 favorites]
It all feels absurdly expensive! They filmed four days in St Paul's Cathedral, apparently a record for that location.
I found the British prime minister's development fascinating: he managed to be completely loathsome while still winning me over just a tiny bit as the plot progressed.
posted by simonw at 3:47 PM on November 7, 2024 [4 favorites]
Enjoyed it until the final episode, which was completely ridiculous and actually annoyed me. Great acting throughout though. Allison Janney is masterful.
posted by oneirodynia at 8:41 PM on November 7, 2024
posted by oneirodynia at 8:41 PM on November 7, 2024
I agree with everything said so far: too short, Janney is wonderful, the Prime Minister (Rory Kinnear) played a very fine line between arrogant ass and sympathetic fool, and the last moments of the finale stumbled into farce (which I will inevitably forgive in order to watch the third season). I also appreciated the quiet moments of loving support between Wyler and her husband during his physical and mental recovery.
But I missed the comedy of the first season. There were still a few funny moments to relieve the tension, even one or two laugh-out-loud scenes, but I felt the second season lacked the strong seasoning of humor that originally drew me into the series.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 12:32 AM on November 8, 2024 [4 favorites]
But I missed the comedy of the first season. There were still a few funny moments to relieve the tension, even one or two laugh-out-loud scenes, but I felt the second season lacked the strong seasoning of humor that originally drew me into the series.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 12:32 AM on November 8, 2024 [4 favorites]
Yay, thank you for this post!
I liked the fact that they paid some attention to the emotional and physical aftermath of the car bomb and didn’t just move directly from cliffhanger resolution into the next big plot point. I liked the line from Hal mid-fight: “Katie… I can’t reach my shoes.”
The conversations between Eidra Park and Stuart are amazing — especially the confrontation where she walks out and says, with a steely face, “Despite my placid appearance… I have lost my composure in the workplace.” Everything is in a vault with her, it’s infuriating and delicious and actually very relatable.
They did misdirection with Hal very well. I ended last season believing that he has to be “a good guy” in terms of being on the same side as the viewer, or else the writers wouldn’t have given him the Chatham House speech. But there were still moments this season where I wondered. Like when he buys a burner toward the end of E4 and goes off to the garden to make a secret call seeking dirt on someone. (Are we to imagine that he’s called Carole Langetti, who shows up in E6?) The ambiguity of that relationship, in the context of bedrock love stuff like the line about the shoes, is what makes it so great to watch.
posted by eirias at 3:50 AM on November 8, 2024 [1 favorite]
I liked the fact that they paid some attention to the emotional and physical aftermath of the car bomb and didn’t just move directly from cliffhanger resolution into the next big plot point. I liked the line from Hal mid-fight: “Katie… I can’t reach my shoes.”
The conversations between Eidra Park and Stuart are amazing — especially the confrontation where she walks out and says, with a steely face, “Despite my placid appearance… I have lost my composure in the workplace.” Everything is in a vault with her, it’s infuriating and delicious and actually very relatable.
They did misdirection with Hal very well. I ended last season believing that he has to be “a good guy” in terms of being on the same side as the viewer, or else the writers wouldn’t have given him the Chatham House speech. But there were still moments this season where I wondered. Like when he buys a burner toward the end of E4 and goes off to the garden to make a secret call seeking dirt on someone. (Are we to imagine that he’s called Carole Langetti, who shows up in E6?) The ambiguity of that relationship, in the context of bedrock love stuff like the line about the shoes, is what makes it so great to watch.
posted by eirias at 3:50 AM on November 8, 2024 [1 favorite]
If anyone knows of a website that explains all the political stuff going on, I'd appreciate it, because god knows that isn't my strong suit.
Eidra is a hard player. No sooner is everyone going, "Oh, you and Stuart are a couple? THAT'S SO CUUUUUUTE," then she dumps him while recently injured out of nowhere and he's a weeeee bit cranky. I about choked on the sex tape bit. Stuart is all, "you're being avoidant" and I am all HELL YEAH YOU TELL 'EM STEVE DAVE.
Allison Janney in a BLONDE BOB is just wrong. "Gimmick," indeed.
Kate's hair and headlights and paperclip...I mean, yeah, she is bed-head-y, "I don't care as long as I'm not technically naked..." is her usual attitude.
"The vice president called me a sloppy hussy." LOL on the latter.
Kate is all HERO WORSHIP, love it. Hal is all, nobody's on your side. Which figures, since woman (sigh)....
"You needed six months in London to learn how to hold a teacup."
Between the female VP talk and how Hal always wins and falls up, I'm triggered AF in episode 5. Followed by "democracy is going out of style."
"We killed Scottish independence?!?! Who gives a fuck about Scotland? They're nice, sweet people. They are cold all the time." LOL
"Oh shit. I have to be vice president of the United States."
HAL LITERALLY KILLED THE PRESIDENT. THAT IS CRAZY ASS. Of course, this show is crazy ass.
Kate needs to be Grace's VP, I want to see this. I dunno if you can still call it "The Diplomat" if she does that, though.
The global politics of hair in The Diplomat: The show’s hair and makeup designer helps us break down the meaning behind Kate Wyler's locks.
Eidra is a hard player. No sooner is everyone going, "Oh, you and Stuart are a couple? THAT'S SO CUUUUUUTE," then she dumps him while recently injured out of nowhere and he's a weeeee bit cranky. I about choked on the sex tape bit. Stuart is all, "you're being avoidant" and I am all HELL YEAH YOU TELL 'EM STEVE DAVE.
Allison Janney in a BLONDE BOB is just wrong. "Gimmick," indeed.
Kate's hair and headlights and paperclip...I mean, yeah, she is bed-head-y, "I don't care as long as I'm not technically naked..." is her usual attitude.
"The vice president called me a sloppy hussy." LOL on the latter.
Kate is all HERO WORSHIP, love it. Hal is all, nobody's on your side. Which figures, since woman (sigh)....
"You needed six months in London to learn how to hold a teacup."
Between the female VP talk and how Hal always wins and falls up, I'm triggered AF in episode 5. Followed by "democracy is going out of style."
"We killed Scottish independence?!?! Who gives a fuck about Scotland? They're nice, sweet people. They are cold all the time." LOL
"Oh shit. I have to be vice president of the United States."
HAL LITERALLY KILLED THE PRESIDENT. THAT IS CRAZY ASS. Of course, this show is crazy ass.
Kate needs to be Grace's VP, I want to see this. I dunno if you can still call it "The Diplomat" if she does that, though.
The global politics of hair in The Diplomat: The show’s hair and makeup designer helps us break down the meaning behind Kate Wyler's locks.
You can’t talk about Kate Wyler’s bedhead and beyond without talking about Keri Russell’s actual hair. Although she wore many wigs across her six seasons as Soviet superspy Elizabeth Jennings in the 1980s period piece The Americans, what you see in The Diplomat is always Russell’s own hair. Hair and makeup designer Roo Maurice, who is now in her third season of work on the show and the artist responsible for Russell’s look on a day-to-day basis, explains that the now-iconic “disheveled, scraggy” hair waving this way and that as it brushes past Russell’s shoulders is “probably one of the hardest types of hair looks to achieve.”posted by jenfullmoon at 5:06 PM on November 9, 2024 [3 favorites]
Russell and Maurice collaborated to bring down the volume and ringlets her famously “naturally, very, very curly” hair would form if left to its own devices. The design they settled on involved “focusing the curl in the center of the length of the hair” and creating an alternating pattern of curls to the left and then the right, so that “the curls don’t lock together and give that lovely wave.” The technique relies on Russell arriving on set with wet hair, followed by Maurice using a high-powered dryer, curling irons, and texturizing spray, resulting in a purposefully messy “dysfunctional curl.” The irony of the intentional chaos is that it takes time to so wholly subvert Russell’s innate tendency toward elegance, but over two years of working together, Maurice and the show’s lead have refined the process to a brisk 30 minutes.
I liked this season, and I like the show, and was so disappointed it was only 6 eps.
Ali Ahn is incredible as Eidra. She has a way of saying things really casually - eg, "I thought we were going to keep the circle small." "I'm small." - when you know they're not casual at all. A vault indeed. What a great character.
I'm very entertained by how Keri Russel's character is characterized, especially around clothes and looks; her impatience for being made-up, dress-wearing, and put on display is funny and understandable; but I also feel like they're leaning on that as, like, her character's main defining feature a little too hard.
I found the bit with Stuart's PTSD to be moving, as well as Hal trying to brave the fireworks.
Enjoyed the growing respect between Kate and the VP, and of course it all went sour immediately.
posted by entropone at 10:11 AM on November 10, 2024 [1 favorite]
Ali Ahn is incredible as Eidra. She has a way of saying things really casually - eg, "I thought we were going to keep the circle small." "I'm small." - when you know they're not casual at all. A vault indeed. What a great character.
I'm very entertained by how Keri Russel's character is characterized, especially around clothes and looks; her impatience for being made-up, dress-wearing, and put on display is funny and understandable; but I also feel like they're leaning on that as, like, her character's main defining feature a little too hard.
I found the bit with Stuart's PTSD to be moving, as well as Hal trying to brave the fireworks.
Enjoyed the growing respect between Kate and the VP, and of course it all went sour immediately.
posted by entropone at 10:11 AM on November 10, 2024 [1 favorite]
I was not tracking the episodes and 6 seemed like if not the middle not the end so the the last few minutes were a total surprise twist and a bit perplexing the way the various opinions of Kate's future should be headed. And after the twist was revealed after the horde of Secret Service agents rushing onto the grass there was a tag that Season 3 was confirmed. An-ti-ci-(pregnant pause)-pation!
Some of the dialog is quite on the nose compressed, probably to fit a bunch of geopolitical ideas into a simplified scene. The map should've been dripping with sarcasm and used subtle language that took several episode for us clueless to have an 'ohhhh' moment.
posted by sammyo at 9:26 AM on November 20, 2024 [1 favorite]
Some of the dialog is quite on the nose compressed, probably to fit a bunch of geopolitical ideas into a simplified scene. The map should've been dripping with sarcasm and used subtle language that took several episode for us clueless to have an 'ohhhh' moment.
posted by sammyo at 9:26 AM on November 20, 2024 [1 favorite]
Lol, this show is so silly. I didn't like this season quite as much as the first season, but it was still fun.
Hal is still annoying though. I will grant that Kate is also terrible in their marriage, but I need Hal to have to go undercover or get appointed to a DC post in the new Penn administration or something to get him less airtime.
posted by the primroses were over at 3:16 PM on November 24, 2024
Hal is still annoying though. I will grant that Kate is also terrible in their marriage, but I need Hal to have to go undercover or get appointed to a DC post in the new Penn administration or something to get him less airtime.
posted by the primroses were over at 3:16 PM on November 24, 2024
Just finished episode 6. Never a dull moment on this show.
I love Allison Janney. And I like Keri Russell. But if she's an executive producer, she owns criticism for the persistent Ally McBeal moments like putting a paperclip in her zipper.
posted by Lemkin at 6:45 PM on December 14, 2024 [1 favorite]
I love Allison Janney. And I like Keri Russell. But if she's an executive producer, she owns criticism for the persistent Ally McBeal moments like putting a paperclip in her zipper.
posted by Lemkin at 6:45 PM on December 14, 2024 [1 favorite]
I rewatched S1 before starting this season, and this one is definitely missing the comedy of the first season. I told my husband that season 1 was like the best parts of The Americans, but with snappier pacing and less tension. This season felt much heavier. I also don’t understand what they were doing with Dennison this season. It felt like they didn’t know what to do with his character, so they just made him mad at Kate for no reason. Also, Allison Janney is an icon.
posted by bluloo at 4:31 PM on December 22, 2024
posted by bluloo at 4:31 PM on December 22, 2024
I hadn't meant to put off watching season 2 until now, but I've been home nursing a very stupid cold and binged the whole (too short) season this weekend.
Yes, the season was too short. Had I not been helping my mother over the phone with navigating various shows, I wouldn't have known, and had I gotten to the end of ep. 6 thinking there would be ten, I'd have been fuming.
And yes, it wasn't quite as funny as last year, but there were so many funny lines that I didn't mind so much. Meanwhile, I was often lost in the palace intrigue and had to draw little diagrams to keep it all straight, which made Allison Janney's map moment more amusing to me.
bluloo, I think they (rightly) knew that Dennison couldn't pursue Kate when the night everything was so frothy was also the night her husband (and Stuart and Ronnie) got blown up. He's mad that he did this unethical thing to take a step toward something (someone) he wants very much, and so he's transferring his anger to the object of that affect. Dennison can't top his unethical pursuit of a married woman by continuing to pursue her while her husband has gone kablooie, ...and he's British and stuffy, so he can't talk about how he feels.
Finally, granted, I have the yuckies and may not have paid perfect attention, but did we SEE Eidra break up with Stuart? Did this happen near the end of season 1 and I just forgot? She wasn't acting at all tender about him until he called her "Pi" in front of the doctor, and I wondered if a) they broke up after the hospitalization off-camera or b) they broke up last season and he's concussed and forgot. (I vaguely recall the original bit about him wanting Kate to be VP and he'd go to DC, but if they were already broken up, concussed Stuart definitely didn't seem to recall that.)
I'm ready for season 3. And half a dozen more shows like this, please.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 4:55 PM on December 23, 2024
Yes, the season was too short. Had I not been helping my mother over the phone with navigating various shows, I wouldn't have known, and had I gotten to the end of ep. 6 thinking there would be ten, I'd have been fuming.
And yes, it wasn't quite as funny as last year, but there were so many funny lines that I didn't mind so much. Meanwhile, I was often lost in the palace intrigue and had to draw little diagrams to keep it all straight, which made Allison Janney's map moment more amusing to me.
bluloo, I think they (rightly) knew that Dennison couldn't pursue Kate when the night everything was so frothy was also the night her husband (and Stuart and Ronnie) got blown up. He's mad that he did this unethical thing to take a step toward something (someone) he wants very much, and so he's transferring his anger to the object of that affect. Dennison can't top his unethical pursuit of a married woman by continuing to pursue her while her husband has gone kablooie, ...and he's British and stuffy, so he can't talk about how he feels.
Finally, granted, I have the yuckies and may not have paid perfect attention, but did we SEE Eidra break up with Stuart? Did this happen near the end of season 1 and I just forgot? She wasn't acting at all tender about him until he called her "Pi" in front of the doctor, and I wondered if a) they broke up after the hospitalization off-camera or b) they broke up last season and he's concussed and forgot. (I vaguely recall the original bit about him wanting Kate to be VP and he'd go to DC, but if they were already broken up, concussed Stuart definitely didn't seem to recall that.)
I'm ready for season 3. And half a dozen more shows like this, please.
posted by The Wrong Kind of Cheese at 4:55 PM on December 23, 2024
they broke up at some point at the top of season 2 I guess but I also don't really remember whether or how explicitly it was shown on screen
my wife and I spent the first two episodes of this season not really remembering enough about the details of last season to be too invested (rip in peace Ronnie, I don't remember who you were). the performances are still great all around but some of the character work gets fuzzy (agreed with bluloo re: Dennison). the whole british conspiracy plot felt weird and rushed to me here, and oddly positioned next to the overarching VP plot... until the introduction of VP Penn in the final two episodes
her character (and performance) was the exact jolt of clarity of purpose the show needed. Allison Janney is absolutely perfect in the role, and I am very happy they set up a way for her to be an important and recurring (if not regular) presence moving forward
it's a rocky ride but definitely at its best when it's being confidently funny, like Stuart doing a one-man show of "let's just both agree you fucked up and are fucked up" while Eidra does an increasing "?????" face at him is funny. and god knows damn Hal killing President Michael McKean is fuckin' funny, holy shit
posted by Kybard at 1:59 PM on December 31, 2024
my wife and I spent the first two episodes of this season not really remembering enough about the details of last season to be too invested (rip in peace Ronnie, I don't remember who you were). the performances are still great all around but some of the character work gets fuzzy (agreed with bluloo re: Dennison). the whole british conspiracy plot felt weird and rushed to me here, and oddly positioned next to the overarching VP plot... until the introduction of VP Penn in the final two episodes
her character (and performance) was the exact jolt of clarity of purpose the show needed. Allison Janney is absolutely perfect in the role, and I am very happy they set up a way for her to be an important and recurring (if not regular) presence moving forward
it's a rocky ride but definitely at its best when it's being confidently funny, like Stuart doing a one-man show of "let's just both agree you fucked up and are fucked up" while Eidra does an increasing "?????" face at him is funny. and god knows damn Hal killing President Michael McKean is fuckin' funny, holy shit
posted by Kybard at 1:59 PM on December 31, 2024
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posted by supermedusa at 12:42 PM on November 7, 2024 [1 favorite]