“The Diplomat”, international espionage even for those who don’t like spy stories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HECWlrLOGw

It is a surprisingly successful balance that characterizes The Diplomat – The Diplomat, a Netflix series in eight episodes of about an hour that follows the story of Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), the new American ambassador in London, a woman of action and accustomed to operate in war zones which is catapulted into a context made up of political meetings and representative dinners. Following her is her husband – Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) – diplomat and longtime ambassador, a man with a nonconformist character and a true legend in the environment. Kate arrives in London, on a mandate from the President of the United States, as an English ship is hit by unknown enemies and more than thirty British soldiers are killed in the explosion. In reality, this position is only a general test because the woman is – unbeknownst to her, at least up to a certain point – in the running to become American vice president and the work she will do in London will make it clear if she has the temperament and characteristics to occupy that position. role.

Up to here it could seem like the classic “procedural with a political background”, a mix between The Americans (in which Russell was already a leading actress), The West Wing (an unsurpassed account of American politics by Aaron Sorkin) and a pinch of House of cards. In reality, The Diplomat intelligently proposes one more gap: he chooses a linguistic and stylistic register imbued with light and at times ironic moments. Kate is a messy woman, with hair always tending to get mussed, who hates to dress up and who goes around with a comfortable shoulder bag. She is serious and focused when the situation requires it, smart and pragmatic in solving contingent problems, not very diplomatic and at times “crazy” in managing her most personal sphere (with her husband they are at loggerheads and Kate does not hold back even from beating some slaps when Hal goes too far). You are therefore an unpredictable character who manages to keep together, in a balance that is very difficult to achieve in writing because the risk of “farce” is around the corner – very different personal dimensions. She is a changing diplomat, who has as many faces as – physiologically – all people have. And in this lies the force of attraction of her: it’s not just granite and professional or just tousled and oppositional but all its facets are believable and well told. And, what never hurts, the Diplomat is a tale accessible to everyone, not just international policy initiates familiar with spy jargon. In short, it is a perfect “generalist but not too much” story, a successful experiment of which a second season will be made. The series is created by Debora Cahn, former producer of Homeland and screenwriter – among other series – of The West Wing and Gray’s Anatomy.

What are the ingredients of The Diplomat?

Despite being a series with a very well-defined and identifying protagonist, La Diplomatica is in fact a choral story. As The West Wing doescet, here there is a similar structural construction: an arena (there was the White House, here is the American embassy in London) of collaborators who play various roles, well constructed and with its own specific relationship with the ambassador (for example Stuart Heyford, head of mission of the American embassy in London, or Eidra Park, head of the CIA division in London), ancillary characters who make up the court – of Shakespearean memory – to which Kate can appeal and finally his private sphere, linked to the complex but also stimulating relationship with the cumbersome Hal.

What is the aesthetic of The Diplomat?

The series appears from an aesthetic point of view with attention to detail but without that excess of affectation that often characterizes the stories set in the world of diplomacy and the high spheres of politics. There is a taste for refinement, pastel colors and large canvases that embellish the Wyler residence but it is well balanced with – for example – more essential and chaste work environments, in perfect British style.

What is the tone of The Diplomat in four bars?

“The president sends you there to prevent a war…not to butter canapés.”

“You know who can’t be fired? Cinderella”.

“You are so famous that nobody wants to work with you”.

“It’s a golden rule: those who love power shouldn’t have it.”