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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- Hal: So, what worked? Last few days, it worked, right?
- Kate; I don’t know.
- Hal: No, you gotta make it clear. Obviously, I don’t always know. I mean, you set the agenda. You came up with a moonshot. I made a few phone calls to make you feel you weren’t in it alone.
- K: That’s not what you did. You made a hundred phone calls. You made people feel brilliant and important. You didn’t hate it?
- H: What? Being a backup singer. No, I didn’t. I thought I would. But, uh… no. It was kind of fun. I don’t want to do nothing. I’m not ready to retire.
- K: You know, I didn’t spend the last decade working on my tan. It can be a big job, being a backup singer.
- H: You made it all happen. Whatever f*ck-witted scheme I came up with.
- K: I don’t think you should start with making it all happen.
- H: Jesus, Kate, I attended a two-day emergency meeting of world leaders and I did not speak unless spoken to. I spent a shocking amount of time discussing the rain.
- K: You were so great.
- =====
- Billie: What happened with Ganon?
- Hal: You know what happened. He’s launching a presidential campaign and he’s trying to hide it from a president who’s stated clearly he does not like being used as a step-stool, which is disqualifying on loyalty grounds. Much worse is he can’t even cover his own tracks, which is disqualifying on he’s-a-f*cking-idiot grounds.
- B: How is Kate? Is the VP idea taking root?
- H: Uh, yeah, it is, actually.
- B: She did what she set out to do. She made London into a real job. You’re proud.
- H: She’s turned it into something pivotal. I am. She deserves it. And she’s good at it.
- =====
- Eidra: I kind of knew. That Russia didn’t do it. Everyone in the Russian establishment was like, “We did it. Not my office, but clearly, something we’d do.” We couldn’t find the origin of the order. Intelligence chiefs, oligarchs, generals, nobody was read in. And these are people who are read in.
- Carly: Hi from the Russia desk. I was number six at the Russia desk, then everyone got moved to Langley or Kyiv.
- Kate: Wow
- Eidra: The Agency spent years training Middle East specialists. Then it was all-hands on Russia. There weren’t a lot of hands to be had.
- Kate: Is your background Cold war or post-‘?
- Carly: Uh, my background is Tolstoy’s influence on the later work of Chekhov.
- =====
- Hal: The president wants to fire the secretary of state.
- Kate: It absolutely is (because of me). I served him up on a platter.
- Hal: Let me put this in the way you would to me. The narcissism involved in assuming that you managed – to get the secretary of state canned…The president has been waiting for Miguel Ganon to stab him in the back since the day he hired him. He’s secretary of state ’cause you keep your enemies closer.
- =====
- Friend: Have you talked to Bazya?
- Kate: No. I wanted to call her, but things got so… busy.
- Friend: She’s not allowed to leave the house without Hussein.
- Kate: Did Pari get out?
- Friend: She went to a protest and the Taliban bat the sht out of her with a rubber pipe. But only on her boobs and her crotch, so she couldn’t take pictures to prove to anyone that it had happened. Then she went to another protest, and they took her away. Probably she’s dead. We like to think she’s in jail.
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- Friend: You can’t fck anybody anymore. You can’t even marry anybody. That shit you pulled with Kate? Keep it quiet for months, then invite everybody to the wedding? – Those days are over.
- Hal: Saddest story I ever heard.
- F: Whitehall is a mess. The SNP want our nukes out of Scotland. GCHQ is shitting their pants about China. There’s a ton of work for you.
- S1E8
- Kate: I f*cking dumped her. Like everyone else has done to every democracy-oriented Afghan throughout time.
- Hal: You mentored her, right? She knows how to apply for a grant.
- Kate: She won’t get it. Everyone’s moved on to something else.
- Hal: Yeah. Like trying to avoid armed conflict between Russia and NATO.
- =====
- Kate: I knew this was a bad idea. Another ride on the merry-go-round. I don’t know how we’ll fix this marriage, but it’s not something we’ve done before.
- Hal: Common courtesy dictates that if we’re gonna make this work, you don’t yell “divorce” every time I open my mouth.
- Kate: I was supposed to do a speech at Chatham House. But I can’t do it because of the trip to Paris. You’re supposed to say you’re proud of me because I agreed to do a speech. – I hate speeches. I said yes because I listen to you. You do it. You’ll kill it. It’s all upside.
- Hal: You don’t want that.
- K: I do, actually. I did stuff I was good at when you were ambassador. You weren’t threatened by it, you were thrilled. I’m trying to rise to the occasion.
- H: You can’t buy me off with a speech at Chatham House.
- K: There is significant evidence to the contrary.
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- Kate: Hal’s like a racehorse. You gotta run him, or he’ll tear down the barn.
- Stuart: Are you familiar with the Chatham House Rule? Anything you say can be cited, but it can’t be attributed to you. It’s bad for public image building. Mr. Wyler asked to waive the Chatham House Rule for the speech.
- ======
- Our original scheduled speaker was abruptly called away. Struggling to fill her shoes is her husband, Ambassador Hal Wyler. [audience applauding]
- Hal’s Speech:
We started the Bosnia talks a few days after Suljic launched a bombing campaign that very nearly killed the woman who’s now my wife. It was my lot to spend more hours in locked rooms with that man than in the hospital with Kate. First time I met him, I refused to shake his hand. Rookie move. It probably set the peace back a year. Communication isn’t the key.
Diplomacy doesn’t open doors with a twist of the wrist. Diplomacy never works. It never fcking works. Diplomacy is days and nights in a Vienna hotel room, listening to the same empty talking points. Getting trashed at the minibar. It’s getting to “no” over, and over, and over. The answer will be “no,” so don’t stop when you hear it. You can ask me to leave the room. That’ll take it up a level. Then mention the fact that I was sent here as an insult to both of you, but maybe you rise above it. Diplomacy never works.
Until it does. I’ve given years of my life for two moments. When enemies stood on blood-soaked ground… and grasped hands. I’d give it more. The second round of talks with Suljic… I shook his hand. Two years later, he was a tired man hoping for peace, and together… we ended the war. One of the boneheaded truisms of foreign policy is that talking to your enemies legitimizes them. Talk to everyone. Talk to the dictator, and the war criminal. Talk to the poor schmuck three levels down who’s so pissed he has to sit in the back of the second car, he may be ready to turn. Talk to terrorists. Talk to everyone. Fail, and fail again. And brush yourself off. And fail again. Because maybe… Maybe.
- =====
- Kate: Were you ever staff?
- Dennison: I suppose not.
- K: Staff learns to talk fast, reduce complexity into a phrase someone can memorize while they’re peeing. It’s true. Nobody wants to be briefed. You gotta chase them into the toilet. Especially if it’s about women getting their tongues cut out.
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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