American diplomat Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) has been so focused on trying to find traitors abroad that she never thought to suspect anyone back at home — and surely not Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney), a seemingly innocuous character on her way out of office, supposedly because of her husband’s sketchy financial behavior.

Although Kate’s relationship with her own husband, off-duty fellow ambassador Hal (Rufus Sewell), has been tracking toward divorce, their dynamic has grown even more complicated ever since she used their marriage’s “magic trick” to have him filter out essential intel from a British informant.

She’s stunned by the weight of what he’s been holding in, as the Season 2 finale of The Diplomat spirals toward a shocking — and dangerous — changing of the guard. 

How does Kate react to Hal telling her Grace Penn was behind the plan to bomb the British warship? 

When two diplomats are married, there’s bound to be some swapping of strategy secrets during pillow talk. But this has reached a whole new level. Kate is in an incredulous state after Hal reveals that the true culprit behind the HMS Courageous attack that killed 43 innocent Brits wasn’t Margaret “Meg” Roylin (Celia Imrie), unofficial adviser to Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear), but that the idea actually came from the Americans.

Penn conceived the strategy as a way to halt the momentum of Scotland’s secession movement, uniting the United Kingdom through one common event. Yes, the union may have been saved, but it also means the US told its ally to attack itself. On top of it all, President Rayburn (Michael McKean) has no clue. 

Now Kate realizes why Hal had been acting so weird — the truth strikes especially close to home, since Kate is up for VP. 

So now does Kate want to be vice president?

The next morning, Kate tells her deputy chief of mission, Stuart Hayford (Ato Essandoh), that she’d officially like the VP position. The first major step: Kate trades her black suit for a baby blue one and ties her hair back in a sleek bun. She feels like a fish out of water, but those around her take notice.

Clocking her change in appearance, Penn invites Kate to join her for breakfast. The mutual respect between the two women is growing. The vice president tells her, “You’re a bold choice. Foreign policy ace, legacy builder. I mean, if it has to be someone, I’m dangerously close to being glad it’s you.”

Alex Bailey/Netflix

And how are things between Stuart and Eidra these days?

Now off crutches, Stuart is physically recovering from the bomb injuries, but his shattered heart still needs mending as he desperately tries to win his way back to ex-girlfriend Eidra Park (Ali Ahn), CIA chief of station in London. Attempting not to repeat the same mistakes he’s made in the past, he keeps Eidra updated on his plans, telling her there’s a chance he may follow Kate to Washington, DC.

Eidra shrugs him off, dismissing the info and reminding him they’re not together. Stuart is desperate, practically begging. “It was a mistake to split up,” he says as she marches away.

He’s not letting her slip away this time, chasing her through the halls. She finally confesses that she might seem “placid” in response to his relentless pursuits, but tells him everything he’s been doing hurts her to her core. He can’t keep making her cry in the workplace, she says, pleading, “It has to stop.”

But it doesn’t. The next time they find themselves alone, Stuart accuses her of being commitment-phobic and needlessly blaming him for everything going on. Even he realizes he shouldn’t have said that at work.

Is Dennison still trying to overthrow Trowbridge? 

While the Americans work on smoothing out their internal affairs, the Brits are doing the same. Trowbridge calls in his foreign secretary, Austin Dennison (David Gyasi), to join him and his wife, Lydia (Pandora Colin). In an apology of sorts, the prime minister says the two of them need to work more cooperatively. Dennison agrees.

Of course, they don’t know about Penn yet, so they’re focused on how to handle Roylin’s involvement in the attack. Trowbridge says that even though the Americans are urging him to bury the story and stay in office, his wife thinks he should resign. He’d like Dennison’s thoughts, but the foreign secretary remains diplomatic. Trowbridge tells him to drop the formalities and tell him the truth. 

“Resign,” Dennison says. “Drift away.” He says the PM’s anger with him and Roylin are getting in the way.

Trowbridge seems to succumb to the advice, as he puts it, “based on the sage counsel of my beloved and my beloathed.” He calls Tom Libby (Richard Dillane) from the British intelligence office, but then can’t get the words out and instead pivots to telling him the Americans would like them to join the upcoming dinner with the Australians (the cover-up for why Penn’s in town). After Tom leaves, Trowbridge tells Dennison it wasn’t the right time. So when will the ball start rolling? “I’ll let you know,” the PM says.

So when are they getting rid of Penn?

For someone on her way out, the vice president still seems to be extremely involved. During a call with President Rayburn, he asks what she thinks of Kate. “I get the appeal,” she admits. “Took me a minute.” The president laughs that it took him a minute too.

She asks him what the timeline is, but it turns out the prime minister just spoke with the president. A few months ago, Rayburn and Trowbridge had decided they wanted to appoint a “nuclear czar” to specialize in defensive strategy — and Trowbridge, who clearly doesn’t know about Penn’s exit plan, rang up Rayburn to recommend her.

Before the Australia dinner at Blenheim Palace, Penn lets Kate know the president is thinking about letting her stay on and take this new role. She apologizes (or faux apologizes) to Kate that there’s been so much fuss about prepping her for vice president, and now it was all for nothing. 

The changing plans unfold fast. Kate asks Dennison to have Trowbridge cut all mentions of the nuclear czar from his remarks. But her former almost-fling has changed his tune, saying he’s no longer getting in the prime minister’s way.

Kate grasps onto the threads of their waning partnership, but Dennison is a different guy now. “That was a mistake,” he tells Kate. “All of it.” And with that, her strategic professional — and almost personal — relationship with the British foreign office is cut off.

They’ve got to get to Trowbridge somehow. Hal and Stuart work Randall (Simon Hepworth) from Trowbridge’s office, who ends up getting the message to the prime minister. Without questioning it, he rips up his notes about Penn as nuclear czar. Done. 

How does Kate tell Penn she knows her big secret?

The dinner kicks off with Trowbridge’s speech, which starts out swimmingly with his trademark wit and wisecracks. As he continues through his notes, he starts to read one, “She’s uniquely qualified …” and stops himself. He clearly didn’t rip up all the cards. 

Penn looks disappointed her new high-stakes position wasn’t mentioned, and also latches onto the fact that the prime minister looked at Kate in the midst of the odd fumble. She thinks this is a power play — that Kate wants the job so much that she stopped the announcement. 

That’s not it. Kate nudges Hal, who’s seated between the two of them, and he tells Penn that Kate knows she was behind the HMS Courageous bombing. Penn abruptly leaves the dinner, and sends for Kate to join her. 

Grace drags a giant world map into a side room and grabs a piece of burnt wood from the fireplace to use as chalk, giving Kate a geography lesson about the current state of global nuclear affairs: Russia has been revving up its military presence in the Arctic, inching its way closer to the US, at the fastest speed since the fall of the Soviet Union. Also in the path is Scotland’s Creegan base. Not only is all of the UK’s nuclear power there, it’s also the only base in Europe where Americans can dock their nuclear submarines. 

If Scotland secedes from the UK, it’s like having a bull’s-eye on their small would-be nation, so they would surely close the base. If the US loses that access, they lose the only line of nuclear defense between New York and Russia. 

Penn says she can name all 43 British victims, but if the disaster went nuclear, she could never name the thousands of victims. As dire as the consequences were, it could have been worse.

Kate tries to raise the blame game, pointing out that the vice president went to Roylin. “It’s entirely my fault,” Penn says with acceptance. “You think I’m suggesting it’s not my fault?!” But she says she won’t let it take down the president.

“This is my game board, the whole goddamn thing,” Penn says, gesturing to the entire map. “This is yours,” she emphasizes, pointing to just the UK. “Keep your eyes on your own paper.”

How are things between Kate and Hal now?

With each development, Kate starts to gain more empathy for the kinds of decisions her husband has had to deal with his entire career. Chatting outside on the residence’s grounds, Kate muses that maybe Penn should stay in office. But Hal is still dead set on his wife being second-in-command, now thinking that they need to report Penn’s actions to the Secretary of State Miguel Ganon (Miguel Sandoval), even though he has serious beef with him. She’s still convinced his motivation is completely selfish, since his clearest path to power is becoming a Second Gentleman.

Kate’s former agency colleague Carole Lengetti (Laurel Lefkow) is also in town — Kate is a different person around her, joyful and full of zest. Carole’s seen Kate through a lot and is taken by her transformation, calling her look for the Australia dinner “geo-strategy Barbie.”

When they find a quiet moment, Kate asks Carole if she was happier before Hal. She says she doesn’t remember, but she’s definitely sadder now. Her longtime confidant says it feels like Kate wants Hal to act with more humanity. Yet when he does, Kate dismisses him. It’s almost like she doesn’t like it “when he’s good.” 

Soon, there’s another pillow talk strategy meeting between Kate and Hal. She acknowledges her husband is right: They need to tell Ganon — and he needs to do it since Kate needs a clean profile as she’s gunning to become the second-in-command.

As she says the words, “I want to be vice president,” they’re both turned on, rolling over into an impromptu make-out session. 

What happens at the end of The Diplomat Season 2?

The plan is in place. Kate asks Eidra to take Hal to the embassy to make a secure call to Ganon. But once he gets there, Hal decides to place the call to the US president, not Ganon.

Meanwhile, Kate and Penn go for a walk around the grounds. A cloud of tension follows them. Penn asks for Kate’s assurance she won’t tell anyone what happened. She also asks her to stop chasing her job. The ambassador claims the job was chasing her, but Penn questions why her hair is up — the bun has come to signify Kate’s ambition. 

Back at the embassy, a frantic Hal gets off his call, urgently shouting, “Get my wife on the phone!” Stuart runs out to Kate, with Hal on the line.

“Kate, I did something,” Hal starts. He didn’t want Ganon to make it all about himself, which is why he called Rayburn, who grew furious at the news of what Penn did.

How mad? “He died, Katie,” Hal tells her. “The president is dead.”

As he speaks, Kate looks up to see dozens of Secret Service agents running across the lawn toward Grace Penn, the new president of the United States. The mastermind murderer is now the leader of the free world. 

Watch The Diplomat Season 2 Trailer