Netflix’s original series The Diplomat ,season one episode seven entitled “Keep Your Enemies Closer,” starts with Keri Russell’s Kate Wyler as she and her husband Rufus Sewell’s Hal Wyler talk about their estranged relationship. In Kate’s mind, she is sorry that she doubted Hal’s ability to not undermine her during her meeting. Deep down she wants to trust him more like she once did. However, she has every reason to believe he will eventually as he has done it numerous times before. Meanwhile, in Hal’s mind, he is happy that Kate is starting to trust him more. Deep down he worries that he will not be able to keep it up as he feels an itch he wants to scratch. Luckily, he seems to be adjusting to not getting involved and letting Kate take over. This is demonstrated by how he just sits around and waits for Kate to be done with whatever she is doing. Also, as a show of trust Kate allows him to sit in on another meeting, which further proves that she is starting to trust him more.
Additionally, the viewer is caught off guard as Kate is given information by a Russian representative that leads to the arrest of a wanted Russian criminal. This is shocking as this information is a sign that Russia is not responsible for the bombing of the British Navy ship. Unfortunately, this means that her plan for handling the situation is worthless. The series does a fantastic job at keeping the viewer on the edge of their seats. This is due to the twist and turns it takes with establishing tension. This is shown by how everyone questions if the information provided is valid. Kate along with her staff are shown to constantly question if it is true or a mislead by Russia. The interesting part about this is how this also creates a sense of uncertainty within the viewer. At any moment the culprit could change to be someone else, which guarantees the viewer will keep watching to see how it will all play out.
Towards the end of the episode, Kate sees all her efforts start to unravel as everything she promised is not going to be kept. This is demonstrated by how Rory Kinnear’s Prime Minister Trowbridge now looks foolish for following her plan regarding Russia. In his mind, he thought that Kate would help him keep the United Kingdom from losing power. Unfortunately, now he looks like he wanted to attack people that did not have anything to do with the attack. Deep down he sees that this could hurt his reputation as well as his career in the long run. From what the viewer can tell, this will come back to haunt Kate as he will no longer listen to what she has to say. This will prove to be dangerous as he is shown to be arrogant when it comes to a crisis.
At the end of the episode, Kate and Hal seem to be taking a step backwards in what is left of their relationship. From the look on her face, Kate feels extremely stressed and defeated by all of the events that have transpired so far. Not to mention that Hal might get another job away from Kate. It seems as if he will have a cure for his boredom from just sitting around doing nothing. From the look on his face, he may consider it as he sees Kate does not need his help. The viewer can assume this may cause a serious problem as Kate may need Hal more than ever to help her clean up her mess.
Rating: 9.5/10