“The Diplomat,” starring Keri Russell, returns for a second season on Netflix. But maybe the real headline is: A streaming original you’ve long forgotten about is back. If that seems petty, you could argue the pettiness emanates from media companies that do little in their power to get shows back in front of audiences in a reasonable time frame. Network shows manage to do that within the same calendar year. “The Diplomat”? A year and a half. But who’s counting?
I liked what creator Debora Cahn came up with for the first season, drawing on her past experiences writing on “Homeland” and “The West Wing” and taking the best from both and weaving a sense of humor into its story of a serious-minded U.S. ambassador to Britain (Russell) chafing at the ceremonial and hosting demands of the job.
She’s Kate Wyler, forever disheveled and struggling to figure out this awkward turn her career has taken. Her husband is Hal Wyler, played by Rufus Sewell, and he is both her biggest supporter and the bane of her existence. A former ambassador himself, he’s the kind of sly dog who’s always playing the angles and then saying, “Who, me?” Turns out, he orchestrated this job for his wife, which is a dry run for an even bigger slot: vice president. Maybe.
Season 1 ended on a cliffhanger, with a car bomb going off in London, and this season picks up in the immediate aftermath. Guess who is caught in the fray? Why, Hal, of course.
The six-episode season is focused on what the hell happened and the tone is “intrigue” that somehow fails to be intriguing. Kate is a reactive rather than proactive figure, which probably says something about the futility of the work she’s juggling. But not enough of the storytelling this time out feels specific or detailed enough, and overall the series has lost its sense of humor.
Here’s what happens when there’s a year-plus gap between seasons: You don’t retain relevant information or even an emotional connection to the characters. There is a lot of time spent on how everyone feels about the death of an assistant who worked at the embassy and it becomes the centerpiece for their angst about mistakes made — and all of it rings hollow because, thanks to the show’s 19-month hiatus, all I kept thinking was: Wait, who are they talking about? Did this person play a significant role in the first season?
In Season 2, “The Diplomat” feels like the same show, but a lesser version made by different people. Too much is flatfooted, from the performances to the phony-sounding exhortations about what it really takes to preserve democracy. What a letdown. But more pointedly: What changed between seasons?
Things perk up considerably with the addition of Allison Janney late in the season as the current vice president. She arrives with a sleek blond bob and glamorously professional wardrobe and she might as well be holding a sign: Here’s the intrigue you’ve been waiting for. She may or may have to step down in the near future, hence, the reason Kate has been groomed to take her place. The two women have frank conversations about this and the show feels alive in these moments because Janney is playing someone with the instincts of a chess master and she’s given room to display emotions other than “intense.”
Their interactions lead to a pointed conversation about Kate’s distracted approach to hair and wardrobe. This came up often in Season 1 and the show is just repeating the same points by now. But I am fascinated that the women Russell plays are defined by their looks.
An actor’s appearance can be a canvas upon which we — the show’s creators but also the audience — project all kinds of ideas about who a character is. When Russell played a college student in “Felicity,” her tumble of long curls conveyed an innocence; it was a signature look her character then subverted by cutting her hair short. Later, in “The Americans,” Russell played a Russian spy masquerading as an unremarkable American housewife who would then transform, one assignment after another, with the help of various disguises.
In its initial outing, “The Diplomat” had all kinds of things to say about the expectations women face in the workplace when it comes to hair and clothing. Does one’s appearance become a performance? A form of armor or personal expression? That Kate continues to resist that part of the job could be interesting. More often than not, it’s just a gimmick.
“The Diplomat” Season 2 — 2 stars (out of 4)
Where to watch: Netflix
Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.
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