“The Diplomat”: that ménage is in crisis

«Nor, it’s not intimacy. Just a quiet one plot for world domination.” The conclusion, which concerns a he and a she whispering in complicity (we’ll come back to it), is almost consolatory. To draw it is the First Gentleman, the husband of the president of the United States. In the series The Diplomata compelling interweaving of feelings and geopolitics now in its third season (8 episodes available on Netflix)gender issues, together with couple dynamics in extreme situations, are at least as important as international tensions.

Keri Russell is a very smart ambassador. Kate Wyler – the surname is that of her husband, an eloquent choice – would have preferred Afghanistan (she is an expert on the Middle East and Central Asia), but is assigned to London. Which, the English would say, is not his cup of tea.

But one of the reasons why they will rarely see her at Buckingham Palace receptions is precisely that her husband Hal who travels with her, Rufus Sewell, intelligent and pragmatic at least as much as her, but much more unpredictable. And capable – to quote one of the many happy jokes produced by television genius Debora Cahn, who of The Diplomat she is a screenwriter, showrunner and producer – «to take you to the edge of the abyss to produce the brilliant solution only at the last second».

However, the abyss in diplomacy is a dangerous metaphor. In the third season of The Diplomat is touched on more than one occasion: for example when a Russian nuclear submarine sinks a few miles off the English coast with on board the end-of-the-world weapon that the Russians are not the only ones who want to recover (it is also tempting for China and the United States). With Europe which – as is now our custom – stands by and watches hoping that no one triggers the fuse.

Losing, waiting for the greatest victory

The right idea to avert the crisis comes to him, who is no longer just the ambassador’s husband, two seasons were enough for him to become vice president of the United States, a post that was destined for her (but we will come back to it), and it is at that point that the First Gentleman – a man with an archived career (he was a biologist) and now completely demasculinized – observing his wife confabulating closely with his deputy ends up putting world domination in the background compared to intimacy. Never mind, “it’s just a quiet conspiracy.”

“You were also chosen because you look good in the photo”: the ambassador, cheated of the role she had worked for for a long time, informs her newly appointed husband with a good dose of realism. «After all, Kate never really believed she was ready to make the leap» reveals Debora Cahn during the press conference reserved for the Golden Globes jurors. «When Hal is appointed in his place it is as if his worst fear materializes, like being told: “Thanks for trying”». But, before anyone feels like commenting: «Ah, typically feminine», pay attention to Keri Russell’s reply: «Watch out for the ending! I love that the ending is about an incredibly stupid choice that Hal makes. I love how season 3 ends. And I also love the humiliation Kate suffers. Losing is something really fun for an actress: no one who does my job wants to win. Losing gives great satisfaction.” In other words: wait the fourth season (confirmed even before the third landed on the platform)because there, we are sure, justice will be done. And the satisfaction will be double.

The inspiration comes from current events

The third season of The Diplomat therefore he puts it on stage not one, but two power couples who have a complex relationship with intimacy. Does the ambassador love her husband? His reputation is certainly safe (“the cold”), but in fact he sleeps in another room. The flashbacks that take us to the origin of their story tell us yes, there was love and even a passionate one.

The flashback to Iraq

We are in Iraq: he is ambassador, she works for him, they secretly love each other, until she – as if we were in Beautiful – he concludes: «Either you are serious or I’m leaving». He will be serious: asking her as his wife with a wire lovingly rolled around his ring finger instead of a ring (we understand there is no shortage of jewelers in Baghdad, but the DIY choice is more cinematic). That condition, he is the boss, she is an employee and, moreover, betrothedbut it evolves rapidly. He has come close to the brink one time too many, he is put on stand-by, and now she is the boss. Until the situation reverses again: he goes to the Oval Office. She finds herself playing a double role, Second Lady, of course, but holding on to the role of ambassador. The not-so-latent depression of the First Gentleman (Bradley Whitford, and in this case the source of inspiration seems to have inevitably been Doug Emhoff, Kamala Harris’ husband) tells us that the move is not risky.

Deborah Cahn who is familiar with the halls of power, because she has written West Wingas well as with the dangerous drifts of which the human soul is capable, because he wrote Homelandspent years cultivating relationships with real diplomats and State Department officials. Until the very complicated world of international politics stopped being uncharted territory, although “much of what is happening in the world right now seems more relevant to a Marvel movie than a realistic drama” he concludes.

Finding yourself, after 15 years, sleeping with the boss

Cahn a Variety revealed that the original idea was «to tell the story of a marriage in which two people do the same thing and fall in love at work. I have many acquaintances who have had this happen to them. Every relationship I had before meeting my husband was of that type. But if you stay in a relationship like that and build a life together, 10 or 15 years later, you find yourself in bed with someone who could be a competitor, a boss or an employee. There’s no way to get away from work if you’re sleeping with each other, and there’s no way to get away from marriage when you’re in the office.” Kate and Hal Wyler are an example of a “tandem couple”, Cahn reveals that he met many of them during the research phases for the series: «If you spend your life traveling abroad, you need someone who wants to move to a different country every three years with you. Often these people make agreements, establish shifts: you will have an excellent job for three years, then I will have an excellent job for three years. It seems perfect, but sometimes things don’t work out the way you originally imagined.”

And maybe, in the case of school well told by The Diplomateven if the world goes from one crisis to another, even if the head of the British government (played by Rory Kinnear, irresistible) with whom the couple has to deal with on more than one occasion, is a mix between Boris Johnson and Donald Trump, but less deplorable than the sum of both, the only truly insoluble problem is that it seems like it’s time for Kate to be the center of attention. And Hal just can’t handle it. «Richard Holbrooke (former US diplomat, special advisor to Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for Pakistan and Afghanistan, ed) was an important role model for the character of Hal,” Cahn revealed. “Definitely a successful alpha male model.”

The idea of ​​a successful alpha female that Cahn probably has in his head, having written the character of Carrie Mathison in Homeland (the bipolar expert on espionage and terrorism played by Claire Danes, 8 seasons until 2020), is clearly very unconventional. Among the many meetings she must have had over time, CIA experts, soldiers, politicians and journalists, the screenwriter remembers one visit in particular: that of Beth Jones, former ambassador and assistant to the Secretary of State, who had spent much of her career in the Middle East. «She looked like a librarian, spoke quickly and her activity was always frenetic. I remember thinking, “Oh, this woman is serious. This woman is a superhero in a pantsuit.” It was immediately clear that it was what I was looking for.”