A trip to Scotland yield unexpected results in The Diplomat season 2. Here’s your recap of The Diplomat season 2 episode 4, “The Other Army.”
Stuart (Ato Essandoh) is in a great mood when he arrives at the office the next day. Neil (Graham Miller) tells him that Eidra (Ali Ahn) wants to see him and he walks into her office, joking about how she wants to make him sit down to level the playing field. He realizes that the woman he took home recorded their entire conversation because Eidra needed to know what he would say if he was drunk. She admits she was asked by Billie to check on him.
Later, Stuart tells Kate (Keri Russell) that he’s been carrying a lot of resentment about what happened with Ronnie toward her. Kate admits she hated Hal (Rufus Sewell) so much that it drowned out everything in her mind. She understands if he needs to leave. Stuart says she didn’t kill Ronnie, and Kate says Hal didn’t kill Amir or the young woman who ended up dying. So now Stuart is like Kate has been with Hal, having to decide if he can accept the choices that are being made. He’ll have to pretend not to hate him if he decides to stay. She admits she still hates Hal, but that’s her marriage.
Kate goes to Eidra and asks to see Roylin (Celia Imrie). They travel in silence, and when they arrive Eidra leaves Kate to speak with her privately. She informs Roylin that Austin is resigning; he’ll be going to the press about what Trowbridge did. Roylin insists that Trowbridge wasn’t behind the bombing and she doesn’t think Kate has the ability to understand what is actually happening. Kate offers to allow Roylin to speak with Hal. Downstairs, Kate runs the idea by Eidra, who is against it. But Kate thinks Hal is the perfect person because he won’t have to testify to Congress if things go wrong. Before Kate leaves, she says that Roylin won’t confess to anything in a CIA-controlled facility.
Alysse (Pearl Mackie) arrives at Stuart’s office and he lets her know that Neil is going to stay with him on his staff and he’ll need a desk. Alysse offers Ronnie’s desk, and Stuart says he’ll take care of it. As she leaves his office, she points to Ronnie’s desk and tells Neil to sit there.
During the arranged meeting, Hal and Roylin go for a walk together while Eidra and the security guard watch. When he starts walking back to them, he has a stunned look on his face. He tells Eidra that she can’t give her to the police. He gets into his car and Roylin looks smugly at Eidra.
Later, at the embassy, Hal tells Kate and Eidra that Austin (David Gyasi) can’t resign and go to the press because Trowbridge wasn’t involved. Hal says he’s screening out the irrelevant information, namely that Trowbridge isn’t involved and Roylin is naming names about who was involved. He’s uncomfortable as he says “this is different” and that there’s a lot more involved.
They all go to visit Roylin, who asks if Hal is sure about telling them what she knows. She calmly tells them that she told them Grove hired Lenkov, but she did it. She uses a teapot to describe how the bombs were supposed to work and how the specific types of bombs would only cause so much damage to send a message and stir outrage, specifically to keep Scotland. Two things didn’t go as planned; one was a different kind of bomb used, and the other was that fuel had been transferred from the back of the ship to the side during repairs. That means the bomb hit the fuel and caused far more damage than planned. Grove and Roylin were involved, but so was a far-right MP who ended up killing Grove to keep him quiet. Trowbridge doesn’t know anything about any of it. She doesn’t want Austin to be punished for it either.
Kate smashes the teapot and walks out, Eidra and Hal behind her. Kate doesn’t understand how Hal believes Roylin so easily, but he says it’s the easiest part to understand. Kate thinks they should have Roylin tell Trowbridge what happened and gauge his innocence based on his reaction. Back inside, Roylin asks how they’ll contain Austin. She notes that Austin has made mistakes, too.
At the British embassy, Hal meets with Austin about the trip to Scotland. He says Kate wants Austin to come. Hal says he shouldn’t quit the next day and should give it some time. Austin says he’s been giving Trowbridge more time since he took office and now it’s time to cut off the serpent’s head. Hal says he wants Austin to go to Scotland and he thinks Austin is going to do it because the day he got blown up, Austin was going to sleep with Kate. Austin agrees to go.
Back at the estate, Kate peels off Hal’s bandage and cleans the wound as they discuss what Roylin did. Kate wonders what that kind of attack would cost. She wants to know why Hal believes Roylin, and he says he doesn’t know what to think. Kate thinks he’s acting weird and he tells her to drop it. That makes her even more suspicious.
Kate’s security team, led by Howard (Adam Silver), conducts a sweep of the house in Scotland, citing the need to be thorough. The whole house is present at the inspection, making it possible for Eidra and a heavy security detail to arrive with Roylin. She’s taken, unseen, through the bowels of the estate to a secret safe room.
Kate is reading a report that Russia is calling for a UN condemnation of the execution of a Russian civilian. Hal looks away. Eidra finds Stuart, who tells her that Kate and Hal are a few minutes away. He tells Eidra that he apologized to Kate. He wants to know if Eidra has given the tape to Billie. Eidra admits that she made a mistake; Billie asked her to check on him but didn’t specify how and Eidra admits that her chosen technique was wrong. He wonders if breaking up was a mistake but Eidra walks away before he can get into it.
Stuart greets Kate and Hal when they arrive. They learn Trowbridge is there meeting with one of the bombing victims. Hal tells Eidra that he needs to talk to Roylin. Once he’s in Roylin’s room, Roylin warns him that the room is bugged. He turns and walks out of the room.
Trowbridge walks in as Kate and Stuart are getting briefed. He reveals he toured a sheep farm earlier with the First Minister, telling a story about how he got in trouble for laughing at the sheep farmers selling their wares. When Trowbridge learns that Austin is coming, he’s furious but he reigns it in.
Hal watches as the First Minister takes photos. He asks the head of household if there’s a shop in town. Kate meets with the First Minister, who has been eager to meet with Kate for a long time. Kate asks about the order of speeches and she expresses that the US doesn’t want them to talk about secession. The First Minister says Kate’s in her country, hinting that things are going to go a certain way. In town, Hal buys a burner phone and SIM card. He also buys some postcards since that’s what he said he was buying.
Kate meets with Trowbridge to tell him that she met with the First Minister, but he wants to talk about Austin, who tried to boot him from office at the gala. Kate says he’s an ally, and that Trowbridge should avoid attacking him at every turn. Trowbridge calls her annoying and she points out that he can stop because he’s won already.
Stuart calls Billie (Nana Mensah) and tells her he’s getting over his anger about what happened. He’s not happy about Billie checking up on him but he wants to sing a different tune about Kate being the VP. She’s a better candidate than he wanted to admit.
In the garden, Hal makes a call to check on a phone number, not realizing that Eidra is watching him. Eidra isn’t happy seeing him with an unauthorized phone. As he and Kate get dressed, Eidra knocks on the door and asks Hal if there’s anything he wants to tell her. Hal tells Kate he made a call but he’s not going to tell them who he called. He knows why Eidra is concerned but he swears he’s not betraying Kate or the country.
Eidra goes through a plan to get Roylin through the house. She asks where Austin is and Kate says he’s due soon. For now, they need to go through the cocktail party together and act normal.
Kate greets Austin and has him led through the house as Kate goes to the cocktail party. She stands beside Hal as the First Minister offers her praise for Trowbridge. Roylin is led to a room while Austin is escorted to a surveillance room where Howard is giving last-minute instructions to Roylin.
Trowbridge finds Kate and Hal after the speech. He tells Hal that Kate told him he’s the cleverest man she's met since she met Hal. Kate pulls Trowbridge away and leads him through the house as he breaks down the First Minister’s speech. Kate brings him to the room where Roylin is waiting. He asks where Roylin has been. She tells him to sit down and drink the water she left for him. He rails at her for a moment about being the “conquering hero” but he realizes she wants him to be quiet so he sits down. She explains that the explosion was a false flag attack. Kate, Eidra and Austin listen as Roylin explains that she was the one who hired Lenkov, but it didn’t go as planned. He lunges on her and starts strangling her. Austin runs in and pulls Trowbridge off, but Roylin flies backward and hits her head on the floor. Blood pools under her.
All episodes of The Diplomat season 2 are available to stream now on Netflix.
