We need to talk about The Diplomat. Specifically, the romantic relationships on The Diplomat. And even more specifically, the sex scenes.
The Netflix thriller has been sitting comfortably in the top 10 most-watched TV shows since its third season premiered on October 16, and not since House of Cards has the public been so invested in the juicy inner lives of despicable elected officials. (The fictional ones, at least.) In the series, Keri Russell stars as Kate Wyler, a longtime behind-the-scenes strategist who, in season 3, plays double duty as both the second lady of the United States as well as the US ambassador to the UK. She appears slightly disheveled at all times and is not afraid to put ethics aside for the sake of her preferred outcome. She and her husband, Vice President Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), also a duplicitous politician, are well-matched antiheroes.
I am a fan of the show. In a world full of flops, The Diplomat is a diamond in the rough, a rare TV series that has me reaching for my phone not because I want to mindlessly scroll on a second screen, but because I want to embark on a Wikipedia deep dive into the Law of the Sea treaty (a real thing!), the Runit Dome (a concrete structure in the Marshall Islands that “entombs” nuclear waste), the politics behind the Scottish independence movement (what’s really behind its failure?), and so on and so forth.
However, when deeply engaging moments like this are interrupted by out-of-left-field dialogue like, “I want to lick you until you scream,” it can feel like a slap in the face. I’m sorry, but what is going on with The Diplomat’s sex scenes?
For the record, I’m not a prude, or one of the Gen Z contingent who believes there’s too much sex on TV (a young millennial, I was raised on Gossip Girl—it takes a lot to shock me). Nine times out of 10, I’m all for a little sexy time on screen. But the relationships between Kate and UK foreign secretary Dennison (David Gyasi), Kate and Callum Ellis (Aidan Turner), and Kate and Hal in season 3 of The Diplomat felt forced in a manner that completely took me out from under the show’s otherwise unbreakable spell.
