“The Diplomat” Review: Keri Russell Saves Democracy (But Maybe Not Her Marriage) in a Sexy New Season

Allison Janney joins the show as a veep who's a bit of a creep

Alex Bailey/Netflix Russell with David Gyasi as Britain's Foreign Secretary

Alex Bailey/Netflix

Russell with David Gyasi as Britain's Foreign Secretary

No one seems happy about our upcoming election, apart from maybe strategist James Carville, who always seems to enjoy a good bipartisan melee. Luckily, there’s The Diplomat, now returning for season 2. The show turns politics into a tall, smoothly processed beverage. It's a politico Pinkberry. Slurp it down— you’ve been through enough this election cycle.

Starring Keri Russell as Kate Wyler, ambassador to the United Kingdom, The Diplomat is so enjoyably removed from reality, you can almost imagine it as a musical (sample lyrics: “Email or text it/We’re fed up with Brexit”).

This is a show in which the vice president (Allison Janney), who probably won over a few voters with her sarcastic brio, lays into Kate for her lack of style: “You probably think your hair says you’re too busy serving your country to get a blowout.”

Related: Why The Diplomat Is Getting a Shorter 6-Episode Season 2

Janney's veep character does provide a few moments of realpolitik when she drags in a large cardboard map of the world and gives Kate the lowdown on who's likely to go to war with whom, and what brazenly cynical and fundamentally criminal tactics the United States has taken to keep the peace.

The earnestness of the scene is undercut by Janney's humor, and by the fact that she's dressed in an evening gown with a train. It's as if a guest at the Met Gala had been called in to pinch-hit for the late Henry Kissinger.

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Of course, the vice president is aware, and not amused, that Kate’s estranged husband, the adorably Machiavellian Hal (Rufus Sewell), is maneuvering to have Kate made veep. Kate is ambivalent about striving after a level of power, which is possibly the most preposterous detail in a series that isn't overly concerned with authenticity. Would Hillary Clinton have settled for being on The Real Housewives of the Potomac?

Courtesy of Netflix Janney as America's tough Vice President

Courtesy of Netflix

Janney as America's tough Vice President

Then again, Kate has distractions: She needs to keep her focus on contentious Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (the terrific Rory Kinnear, who looks a bit like Tweedledee minus Tweedledum).

Related: Why Keri Russell Loves That Her The Diplomat Character Is Still Wearing the 'Same Black Suit' in Season 2

Russell, perhaps borrowing a little from her superb performance on FX's The Americans, is at her best in these scenes of American-English gamesmanship: Kate engages in endless strategic runarounds with an air of an air of cool internal stillness, combined with a certain frustrated bemusement at the endless snafus. She's comedic yet solemn, which is certainly a neat trick. If you've seen any sign of that in the current election, give a holler.

The season ends with a knockout twist—what America’s political class refers to as an October surprise.

Season 2 of The Diplomat is now on Netflix.