You see there's a bit too much plot. Too much story. Whereas the setup is what made the first season great, the relationships, the establishment of the landscape.
But the second season starts with a not so convoluted plot and you think you're watching network TV, which is anathema, and then the soul of the series starts to shine.
The marriage of Kate and Hal, Keri Russell and Rufus Sewell, this is what we lack in most productions, an honest relationship. When Kate finds out Hal has been planning an over the top extravaganza and hasn't clued her in on the details, she insists he sleep in the other bedroom.
I've lived this relationship. You know, where you have an argument and one or the other ends up sleeping on the couch. Thank god I'm not in that relationship anymore. I want my relationship to be bedrock, I don't want it to be in question, I don't want to go through every day wondering if a breakup is imminent and my whole life will be derailed.
Yet Kate is thinking of divorcing Hal.
And Hal knows Kate was about to sleep with David, the Foreign Secretary.
People know more than TV lets on. When Hal squeezes David to come to Scotland because he almost slept with his wife... That's what you're watching this series for, truth.
Not that this is the truth of the foreign service. In other words, the job is not as dynamic and thrilling as it is in this fictional depiction. Kind of like being a lawyer, which is oftentimes the most boring gig on the planet, but if you watch "Perry Mason"...
As for the issues at hand, the destabilization of the entire world, with an election looming within which our entire nation might be destabilized, it's hard to get hard for some Russian doing dirty work akin to Prizgozhin. Now in real life, Putin took Prizgozhin's life. But just like Bezos and Sion-Shiong are afraid to piss off Trump, the entertainment industry is afraid to piss off Putin so we've got this fakokta plot about Scottish secession that is just hard to get concerned about. Of course, the ultimate reveal, the ultimate payoff, is kind of worth it, then again, the last two episodes redeem the entire season, with the main plot points established, we can get back to the personal interactions, which make "The Diplomat" so great.
Keri Russell is 48, can you believe that? And here she plays against type, with her less than perfect hair. And when the VP brings this issue up...
And Russell can't see the benefits of being married to Sewell, they have to be pointed out to her, which is the case in so many high-powered relationships, people are so focused on what they're doing that they've got no perspective.
And the truth is if you live long enough you learn that you don't get to the top by accident. I read that Kamala Harris took a briefcase to class at Howard. We would have laughed, but we aren't running for President, we're just at home pontificating. You've got to have sharp elbows, you've got to keep your eyes on the prize in order to have a chance to make it to the top, and odds are you won't anyway.
And Kate and Hal are a typical power couple. Working their relationships, better in public than in the bedroom.
But when Kate says her marriage may not always work but it's got a certain magic that sometimes does, that solves big problems... That's the essence of the two of them, with no kids, with career and power key, sure there's love involved, but in some ways their coming together was more like a merger.
And there's the constant tension between Kate and Hal over the latter usurping her power. Can a man with experience be number two? And the strange thing is, in reality he's doing it all for her. Then again, if it benefits her, it will ultimately benefit him.
And Allison Janney as the Vice President is perfect. She seems detached, like a classic #2, but slowly her power and manipulation shines through, as well as her need to get the right result, irrelevant of how you get there.
Morality. Choices. These are addressed well in this series. The truth is everybody at the top has to do things that are hard to live with. It takes a special kind of person to be able to live with themselves after taking these actions, can you sleep at night? Most people want to. But the "winners" are willing to be haunted, to compartmentalize, to march forward.
And favors are traded and the issue arises... To what degree are our governments telling us the truth? I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but when you watch "The Diplomat" you wonder...is the public out of the loop?
Russell holds the whole thing together. She plays against type. She doesn't trade on her looks, but her intellect. And she occasionally gets it wrong, but she lives to be in the game.
We finished season 2 in two days. We started watching a series on Apple TV+ that I don't want to talk about, because you'll tell me what happened, and still we won't get to the finale until Friday.
Which is why Netflix owns streaming television. The blueprint is there, yet all the competitors think they know better. They're watching their dollars, MAX cut foreign production, they're dribbling out product trying to create water cooler talk...that ultimately doesn't occur. When was the last time someone brought up "The Old Man" to you? There was the premiere and then crickets.
Once again, we live in an on demand culture and if you don't give the public all it wants, right away, people will go elsewhere. You can't employ a twentieth century playbook in a twenty first century world.
And they never would have made this exact series for network.
And they never could have made "House of Cards" for network, not even pay cable wanted it. But that one series built Netflix. And further chances solidified it. No one can predict success in entertainment. And you can have the best intentions and still fail. Which is why you've got to take a lot of chances in different genres/fields. Something the record labels refuse to do.
Where do they go next with "The Diplomat"?
This is not "Ozark," this is not "House of Cards," maybe it's the underlying comic tonality, the gravitas is not there. But let's be clear, compared to the mindless drivel purveyed by the usual suspects, "The Diplomat" season 2" is great.
If you liked the first season, watch the second.
It's only six episodes. Enough to tell the story. You're not bored, and you're left wanting more.
I'm looking for a series that can intrigue me every night. Too often producers calculate how to appeal to the lowest common denominator, the widest audience, and the bland result appeals to few.
"The Diplomat" is trying. And it isn't failing.
And in television, THAT'S A SUCCESS!
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