The Diplomat is a thoroughly engaging series that had me hooked from the get go. It is such a well crafted show that I wanted to create a place where I could index its subtly epic dialogs (and share it with fellow Diplomat fans). I have watched the series “cover-to-cover” a couple of times now and here’s why I highly recommend it:
- The show is not only entertaining but also educational, as it portrays how diplomatic, geopolitical decisions move through bureaucracies. You don’t have to take my word for it, you can take the Belfer Center, The Washington Post, and Foreign Policy‘s word for it.
- An intelligent portrayal of the complexities of marriage between two intellectual equals, highlighting the nuances of balancing personal and professional advice within a relationship. I have rarely seen this captured in cinema but this series finally gives this a worthy, intelligent treatment. It explores themes such as:
- Trusting a partner’s advice while maintaining individuality.
- The gendered conditioning that influences how men and women approach their work differently.
- In fact, the main premise revolves around Hal, a diplomat whose career stalls after a significant misstep, forcing him to support his wife Kate’s career progression. This shift in their dynamic requires major adjustments from both characters, bringing to light issues of career ambition, gender roles, and personal growth.
So lets go! Here are some noteworthy dialogs from Deborah Cahn‘s masterpiece:
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- Kate: Is there a talk we’re supposed to have?
- Hal: No
- Kate: Thank you for f*cking me. No, I don’t think it changes the fundamental non-viability of our marriage.
- Hal: At no point did I think it did, okay?
- Kate: You don’t have to come to this thing.
- Hal: I’m arm candy for the first tranche of photo ops, then I drift off as planned. Doesn’t mean you can’t come back to the trough every now and then.
- K: I just.I don’t want things to be unclear.
- H: Katherine… only you can ruin a perfectly good, wordless roll in the ashes of a dead union.
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- Dennison: He wants to end it. The entanglement of our two nations. The assumption that American might makes right. That the British millitary cannot act without American assistance or approval. That we suffer the whims of your elected officials and are bludgeoned by your unflagging self-interest. It might be dangerous to be America’s enemy, but to be its friend is fatal.
- Kate: You ditched the EU. Scotland and Northern Ireland want out. Russia just spent a year murdering Ukrainians, now they’re turning their attention to you. This is when you wanna rethink the alliance?
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- Dennison: Ambassador Wyler, we are no longer an empire. We’re not even part of a continent. We’re a small island nation with a great democracy. We called Iran the enemy and they were not, so now we say something. We apologize. Even if America prefer we not, because when the rest of the world stop believing our word, our might goes with it.
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- Hal: If I’m leaving, you’ll need a little something on the side, or you’ll get surly, which is bad for America. He is the platonic ideal of all those f*cking handsome, repressed nerds you dated before you met me. Don’t pretend you didn’t notice.
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- Stuart: Hi. You know I work for you, right? You were a Deputy Chief of Mission, but you’re not anymore. So if you need to figure stuff out, I am a resource. As is Ronnie, as are the other folks that work for you.
- Kate: By the time I explain it…
- Stuart: Ma’am, I think you should try. I think that we are doing the part of the job you like, you’re great at it, but it is a big job. You can’t handle both.
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- Brit PM: A month into the Ukraine war, we’d already crawled all the way up the diplomatic ladder. We sanctioned Russian debt, we embargoed their oil, and banned them from SWIFT, yes? We spanked, and we bluffed. And we smashed the rungs as we climbed. There are no moves left. Meanwhile, they’ve bombed maternity wards in Mariupol, and shelled Chernobyl, and gone in Iranian fancy dress to blow open our prized vessel. So why can’t we follow suit?
- Dennison: If we do what they do, if we obliterate the rules-based order…
- Brit PM: What, that makes me a hypocrite? So what? I can think of worse words. You will stay here, hungry and focused, until you can find an in-kind response to Russia that does not make me look like a wobbling pussy. I’m taking a leaf from the book of St. Bonaventure. It’s , the cardinals can’t agree on a new pope, so, what does Bonnie do? Makes them a spread? He locks them up without any food until they make up their fucking minds. Three died, but it worked.
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- Hal: Are you a moper?
- Cecilia: Am I…? A moper?
- Hal: A brooder. You know, a sad girl, a wistful, drifty, malnourished little f*cking waif. I’m a magnet for mopey women. I mean, come on. This may be one of the epic days in the life of a man. I mean, the water’s dancing, the air carries a whiff of freshly cut hay, and we’re here… commanded by crown and country to devour the plunder of kings and the plenty of the land. And here I am with yet another woman who could find that one piece of cloud in every silver lining.
- Cecilia: I think you ought to f*ck me for my troubles.
- Hal: I’m… tragically devoted to my wife. The machinery doesn’t really function with anyone else.
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- Hal: How’s it going?
- Kate: Slouching towards Bethlehem. And what kind of therapy are we trying today?
- H: Yeah, you caught me. I’m kind of f*cked up. This is what the wives do, right? Drink a little wine, smoke a little pot. Take the air.
- K: Playing the part like a pro.
- H: I’m fcking klling myself trying to prove to you that I can sit in the back seat and just stay there. And it requires actual sedation. You know, the PM asked me how he should handle Russia, and I talked about purple fcking bluebirds. I didn’t give him any advice. I didn’t call anyone. I didn’t rally support for you behind your back. I… I went for a nice walk. I took a swim. I got my dck handled by a nubile thing, and it behaved the way it always does when it’s not you. And then I came here.
- K: Trowbridge wants to reenact the Siege of Leningrad. Thoughts?
- H: It sounds bad.
- K: That’s your only thought? How stoned are you?
- H: I don’t wanna get baited into saying something that’s gonna make you hate me.
- K: That’s not what’s happening here.
- H: All right, you want my help, you don’t want my help. I’m the smartest man you’ve ever met, I’m the biggest idiot in the world. Can’t we just admit that I am not the only problem, Kate?
- K: Is this your latest stab at saving our marriage? You’re the wife? You do everything I ask? You’re so goddamn docile I’d be psychotic to let you go?
- H: Yeah.
P.S.
- More Dialogs of previous and newer episodes
- Cinema is rife with stories of “great” men with an array of irrelevant domestic relationships, predatory romantic interests or unhealthy partnerships of skewed power dynamics. Personal lives are depicted as yet another dimension to demonstrate power, one where they can pick the rules and discard those that don’t maximize their domination. This is why ‘The Diplomat’ is such a rarity in that sea of beaten-to-death nonsense. A breath of fresh air.
- If you actually watch the series, the extra material on Netflix’s fan website TUDUM is a great companion as well.
- Some useful links on women and their relationship with work over the past decade:
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