“The Diplomat” on Netflix stars Keri Russell as a newly installed U.S. ambassador to the U.K. She may be great in a crisis zone, but she has no patience for dressing up or standing on ceremony. She’s a little like Sandra Bullock pre-makeover in “Miss Congeniality” — she’s not the obvious choice for the post but she’s sent to London anyway with instructions to nod solemnly and defuse a potential global conflict after a British aircraft carrier is bombed off the coast of Iran.
Along for the ride is her husband (played by Rufus Sewell), a former ambassador himself whose jaunty self-assurance and constant back-channel maneuverings tend to have a way of gumming things up for his more serious-minded spouse. He can’t help inserting himself, despite her firm instructions that he not.
To get a sense of the show’s tonal sensibility, it’s worth looking to creator Debora Cahn’s previous credits, namely “Homeland” and “The West Wing.” She takes the best from both and jettisons all the stuff that doesn’t work, namely “Homeland’s” panicky Islamophobia and “The West Wing’s” smug self-satisfaction.
