It is a truth universally acknowledged that Keri Russell is a bloody star. And giving Keri Russell her own show on Netflix is a bloody great idea.
Russell has killed it in every role she’s ever embodied, but particularly in The Americans, and it just makes sense to spend roughly 10 hours in her company, watching her do her thing in Netflix show The Diplomat.
Why wouldn’t you? The combination of a “how the sausage is made” political drama with one of the most talented actors of her generation is an enticing proposition, particularly for political junkies who revel in watching people in suits trying to save the world through talking.
Russell plays Kate Wyler, a career diplomat who was preparing to take up the post of US ambassador to Afghanistan when a British warship is struck in the Middle East.
Now, instead of enacting her plans how to improve things for women in Afghanistan, she’s been asked to divert to London, to be the ambassador to the UK. Kate is not interested in tea parties and ceremonial balls. She wants to do the work.
But you can’t say no when the president is asking you to serve, and her experience and gumption will help re-engage the US and UK’s “special relationship” at a perilous time.
What Kate doesn’t know is the ambassadorship is a trial run for a much bigger role – the vice presidency, which will be vacant in about six months’ time.
Until then, she’s got her hands full. The role isn’t exactly a cake walk, trying to stop an all-out conflict in the Middle East when Iran is suspected of the attacks against the Brits – and trying to talk down a Boris Johnson-esque PM (Rory Kinnear) from starting a war because it plays well for him domestically.
There’s also her tempestuous relationship with her husband Hal (Rufus Sewell), a former rockstar ambassador who struggles with laying low. The Diplomat plays up their interesting dynamic, of how a high-achieving couple manages each other’s ambitions and purpose.
Hal wants Kate to succeed because her success also works in his favour in trying to get back into the administration’s good books after a too-honest public comment about the Secretary of State. But he also can’t help himself but meddle.
The state of their marriage is also up the air, but that sometime-ambiguity is great for TV drama. And Russell and Sewell playfully exploits Kate and Hal’s mixed emotions.
The Diplomat was created by Debora Cahn, a writer who has worked on both The West Wing and Homeland, and you can see the fingerprints of her experience.
The Diplomat has the rhythms of The West Wing, in the way it weaves through these rooms with these people who decide the fate of the world, in the way they talk to each other and in the way they trade and power play with each other.
It has also a touch of the idealism of The West Wing in that Kate may be ambitious but she is in it to serve. She is actually trying to do the right thing. Power is a means to that end, and not the other way around.
A character like her is almost out-of-step with the current political milieu where the likes of Veep and House of Cards have been in lock-step with the public discourse around political institutions.
You can also see the influence of Homeland in the way The Diplomat orchestrates the dance between international partners and spy organisations. One of the main supporting characters is the CIA’s station agent in London.
The Diplomat isn’t revolutionary or a total barnstormer but it will definitely scratch the itch if you’re jonesing for a political drama that isn’t too heavy. Plus, you know, Keri Russell.
You just might find yourself devouring it.
The Diplomat is on Netflix from Thursday, April 20 at 5pm AEST