Keri Russell, Rufus Sewell Shake it up

SPOILER ALERT: This review includes a plot detail from the season 3 premiere of “The Diplomat,” now streaming on Netflix. There are no other spoilers for the rest of the season.

Season 3 of ‘The Diplomat’ is the first installment of Netflix’s political drama to release since the 2024 presidential election, meaning the series is now even more of an escapist fantasy than it already was. Watching Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) prowl the halls of the U.S. Embassy in London, work earnestly to allay Danish concerns about British oil drilling in the North Sea, and talk about bipartisan treaties as the key to domestic popularity, it’s hard not to think of Elon Musk’s minions destroying USAID or waging trade wars through Truth Social. This pain is only compounded by the cliffhanger that ended Season 2, which saw President William Rayburn (Michael McKean) suffer a fatal heart attack and put his Vice President, Grace Penn (Allison Janney), at the top of the list. If a female vice president struggling to gauge how much distance to put between her and her former boss as she tries to fill his shoes gives you a sinking feeling, this season could be a tough one.

The good news is that “The Diplomat,” still under the leadership of creator Debora Cahn, is making other changes that return the series to its core strengths. At just six episodes, and with a fast-paced plot that unfolded in the immediate aftermath of an explosion that injured several main characters, season 2 shifted the focus from the volatile marriage between Kate and her husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), also a Foreign Service veteran. The accelerated momentum was helpful in stabilizing — or perhaps getting viewers used to — the show’s hodgepodge of tones, which stack together motormouthed policy wonk and combustible romantic chemistry. But Season 3 goes beyond expanding the pre-existing story and meaningfully changes the status quo. Paradoxically, shaking up “The Diplomat” also brings the series back to its roots: the tug-of-war between the ambitions of two ambitious people, both pushing against the gender dynamics of monogamous heterosexual marriage.

Grace’s sudden promotion leaves many vacancies in the new government, including her old job. Hal spent the first two seasons of “The Diplomat” plotting, along with White House Chief of Staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah), to have Kate promoted to VP. According to Hal, the plan – together with the move to London – was one mea culpa for subordinating his wife’s career to his own for years, even though she is a competent professional in her own right; According to Kate, Hal’s maneuvering behind her back meant her husband was once again going rogue to serve his own agenda. The question of how sincere Hal is in wanting Kate to take charge for once is one of the animating tensions of “The Diplomat.” That’s why it’s so good for the health of the show that Grace offers the job to Hal for his better half.

The idea that Hal’s Richard Holbrooke-esque resume would put him in the line of succession is part of the series’ alternate reality, where the only skill that matters is exerting American influence abroad with an expert knowledge of protocol. (The entire season premiere is devoted to the specifics and optics of Grace’s swearing-in: where the event should take place, which Bible to use, and who should take the oath of office.) This institutional worldview, inherited from Cahn’s old workplace “The West Wing,” may irritate in light of recent events; a passing mention of the Jared Kushner-negotiated Abraham Accords of the first Trump administration raised my eyebrows, given subsequent developments in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It’s also less sustainable if Hal works from the White House, an office with a much broader portfolio than that of a diplomatic mission — including domestic issues that “The Diplomat” still largely avoids.

Either way, there are real benefits to Hal’s new workplace. One is simply expanding the world of the show, which has added a production outpost in New York (where Russell and Cahn both live) that allows for set pieces like a “Succession”-style interlude during Grace’s Hamptons retreat. Mensah, once largely confined to Zoom, FaceTime and phone calls when her character flew in from DC, gets to join the ensemble in earnest as she spars with the Wylers face-to-face. Both she and the new environment are a breath of fresh air.

The shock to Hal and Kate’s balance, already shaky to begin with, is even more rewarding. For two seasons, Hal tried and mostly failed to take on the role of “ambassador’s wife,” while introducing himself to Grace’s husband Todd (Bradley Whitford). (With Whitford joining Janney and Cahn in the “West Wing” reunion, one wonders if Richard Schiff is waiting in the wings for Season 4.) Now he’s once again in the high-profile position, a shift that Kate is trying to spin as “completely upside down”: He can negotiate a bigger role for her! she can get a meeting with any foreign dignitary she wants! – before admitting how she really feels. When asked whether playing second fiddle is what she actually wants, Kate sighs: “Apparently. That’s what I always choose.”

The second episode of the season looks back on the early days of Hal and Kate’s relationship as they reflect on this big change. It is, according to this critic, the best chapter of “The Diplomat” yet, because it focuses on the hapless power couple who are the show’s most extraordinary creation. Sewell gives Hal a childlike quality, for both good and bad; he is as genuinely enthusiastic as he is reflexively selfish and petulant. For her part, Russell can match Sewell’s intensity without saying a word, as in a scene where Kate quietly lets down her hair as Hal leans over Grace’s VP offer. And with Grace and Todd, “The Diplomat” gives Kate and Hal a mutual animosity, and perhaps a glimpse into their future. Kate finds common ground with Todd as the husband locks out the room where it happens, but she doesn’t want to be him.

Ultimately, “The Diplomat” doesn’t have much to say about international relations, too enamored with surface pomp and process to delve into the real power dynamics beneath. Rather, it’s a story about the messy intersection of love, work and the battle of the sexes, with a setting grand enough to heighten both the stakes and the eroticism. In season 3, “The Diplomat” recommits to this core mission, a pivot that pays off.

Season 3 of ‘The Diplomat’ is now available on Netflix.