Knit to this: The Diplomat

My taste for tense TV evaporates once the end-of-year holiday hoopla starts. From November through mid January, I don’t have the extra bandwidth to handle anything with any real stakes. While I might have the time to binge The Bear, I do not have enough emotional capacity to enjoy it.

Which is why I’m just straight-up shocked I’ve fallen so hard for The Diplomat, the Netflix series that just launched its second season. Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) is the titular diplomat who is tapped to lead the U.S. embassy in the U.K., which is very much not a role she wants. Kate’s more about action, not tea.

To add to Kate’s plate, her husband Hal (Rufus Sewell), a showboat whose diplomatic skills have long been on display, is forced to be the trailing spouse. Before this, their marriage was falling apart. But now? Oy.

Chuck into that stew an unfolding global crisis, full of hidden agendas and the occasional Russian. There are suspicious deaths and fabulous parties. And just when it feels like too much tension for a tired human to bear, the writers toss in moments of playfulness, humanity, and humor, which assure you that they know exactly what they’re doing.

There’s a lot going on underneath the surface, including a not-so-veiled commentary on how many non-white, non-male people have to compensate for the egos of their very white, very male bosses. Plus, nearly of us have felt like a Kate a time or two where we’ve been tossed into the deep end of a professional pool and expected to be Esther Williams.

But those are the tidbits you notice once you stop to think about the show. During any given episode, you’re too engrossed in all The Diplomat has to offer as Kate untangles the mysteries of marriage and of protocol.

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