Shows·
The Diplomat
Geopolitics, marital warfare, and one very reluctant ambassador trying to keep all from exploding… including herself.
Metadata
| Director | Debora Cahn~ |
| Year | 2024 |
| Stars | Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell, David Gyasi, Ali Ahn |
| Creators | Debora Cahn |
The Movie in 3 Sentences
- I went into this show with basically no expectations—I couldn’t get into similar shows like Homeland, Successions etc—but it was surprisingly satisfying for a while. Then the later season takes such a hard turn into teenage melodrama that at times I wasn’t sure if I was still watching a political drama or soft porn.
- What the show did especially well early on was build believable characters with messy, precarious relationships and competing interests, then let those dynamics evolve naturally without forcing them or constantly reaching for deus ex machina. Kate is a little extreme and socially awkward for someone in her position, but that’s exactly what made her convincing to me. She is completely focused on the mission at hand, where people’s lives are literally hanging in the balance; what she wears, how she looks, and even whether she sleeps all come second. And because she is genuinely good at her job, nobody spends much time policing her decorum. I thought her styling fit that characterization perfectly, and it was a refreshing change of pace from the usual polished-TV-power-woman look.
- Which makes me even more curious about what happened behind the scenes. How did a show that felt so sharp and controlled in Seasons 1 and 2 take such a dramatic nosedive in Season 3? Hmm.