The Diplomat (2023) s02e02 Episode Script

1
[dramatic music playing]
Lenkov put together the attack
on the carrier,
but the Kremlin did not hire him.
I think the prime minister did.
The call is coming from inside the house.
And three Americans, including my husband,
just got blown up inside the house.
French intelligence thinks
that we're going to kill Roman Lenkov.
We're not.
Are we?
- I think he's gonna be just fine.
- I'm not.
'Cause we had a fight,
and I'm in the doghouse.
Mr. Grove!
Excuse me. The foreign secretary asked me
to share this with you.
[Kate] Who else knew you were meeting him?
I told you, you told Stuart.
I told Margaret Roylin.
Margaret Roylin is missing.
Lenkov might get killed
by British Special Forces,
and Roylin's missing.
Do you think she's dead?
You think Trowbridge is
Might be
cleaning house.
[Kate] My marriage is ending.
The surgeons operated for almost 11 hours.
Ronnie didn't make it.
- [phone rings]
- Ward two, may I help you?
I'm gonna find the ambassador.
I need you
to keep that person on the line.
I can wait.
It's no trouble at all.
[music fades out]
[choir singing funeral song]
- Morning.
- Morning.
- Good to see you on your feet.
- Thank you.
- Morning.
- Morning.
This way, ma'am.
- You okay?
- Yeah.
[choir music continues]
[Eidra] You okay?
This is unwise.
Put this on.
Why can't you take me directly to the car?
No one can touch you here.
These are dangerous men.
[Eidra] We need them to see you.
They'll stop looking for you
if they think they know where you are.
You're not on the run.
You're at a colleague's funeral.
For the next two hours,
this is the safest place in London.
[choir music continues]
[congregation whispering indistinctly]
[door creaks open]
[faucet running]
Terrible shame, such a good man.
Horrible.
William.
Shocking.
Three rows up to the left.
Hmm.
[sniffles]
[singing continues]
[footsteps approaching]
[singing fades out]
[priest] While the light fails
On a winter's afternoon
In a secluded chapel
History is now and England
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time
- All shall be well
- [no audible dialogue]
Do you see?
Yeah, it's all good.
We want people to notice you.
Then they can stop looking for you.
Everything okay?
Yeah, just nerves.
fire and the rose are one
Finally, my brethren,
be strong in the Lord
and in the power of His might.
Put on the whole armor of God
that ye may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.
For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood.
But against principalities.
Against powers.
Against the rulers of the darkness
of this world.
Against spiritual wickedness
in high places.
Wherefore take unto you
the whole armor of God
that ye may be able to withstand
in the evil day,
and having done all
to stand.
Stand, therefore.
[man coughing]
Stand, therefore.
Having your loins girt about with truth.
Taking the shield of faith.
Wherewith ye shall be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked.
[organ music playing]
Margaret Roylin's in the back.
[congregation singing
"I Vow To Thee My Country"]
I vow to thee my country
All earthly thi ♪
[congregation continues]
♪things above ♪
Entire and whole and perfect ♪
- Now.
- Coat now, please.
- A little faster would be great.
- Hal.
[Hal] Yeah, I got it.
Oh shit.
- [Trowbridge] I'll get it.
- [Hal groans]
Oh!
- [Kate] Oh God.
- All right?
- You okay?
- Yeah.
[Kate] Are you dizzy?
[Trowbridge speaks indistinctly]
Don't get up.
Just take a moment.
Is he okay now?
- [Kate] Do you need to lie down?
- [Hal] No, I'm fine.
- Feeling better?
- [Hal] Yeah.
[Kate] Sorry, thank you.
[congregation continues singing]
Margaret.
May I help you, sir?
- Excuse me.
- Mm.
[door creaks shut]
[engine starts]
[church bell ringing]
[song ends]
You okay?
Yeah, I got to make a stop.
Okay.
- Do you have to pee?
- No.
You will not help me to the men's room.
Get over yourself.
Look
You can still leave me.
I mean, the marriage.
Fine. Go without me.
I mean it. You don't have to stay
just because I got blown up.
That's not why.
[Austin] Captain Marsh,
thank you for your service today.
Honor to be here, sir.
It's an honor to see you.
From my understanding
Did you fuck him?
No!
I didn't.
Were you planning to?
Yeah.
Well, you still can.
I don't want to.
He can piss by himself.
So can you.
He's all right?
More or less.
Good.
Our suspicions were confirmed.
The arrest, it may be more than that.
- Can you shut it down?
- I'm trying.
He's the one person
who can name the perpetrator.
- He needs to be alive.
- I am trying very hard.
Margaret Roylin was in there.
Now?
But that's good, right?
She's not missing in a ditch.
A blessing.
I was awful in Paris.
No.
- You were trying to help and
- You were afraid for your husband's life.
I'm sorry.
He's safe.
My marriage is
[groans]
Also safe.
Things are as they should be.
[door opens]
- [phone rings]
- [Kate sighs] God.
- Is?
- [Eidra] Yeah.
Where?
Downstairs. Walk-in room.
What did she say?
She wants to talk to Dennison.
- Why?
- I don't know.
Not you or me?
Nope.
Why the fuck
did we just smuggle her in here?
- She doesn't think she's safe.
- From who?
- Unclear. And Dennison hates her
- Yeah.
So she thought you could get him.
She said the two of you
are unusually close.
- What the fuck does that mean?
- It's what she said.
That is what I get paid for.
To get unusually close
to the foreign secretary.
So call him.
And say what?
I don't know. I'm not the one
who's unusually close.
We're slightly less close
than we were like a day ago.
What does that mean?
Politics.
Is he gonna say no?
[people clapping]
Oh, guys!
This is like a ticker-tape parade.
Give him some space, guys.
Oh! Bossy.
You're not supposed to be here.
Does Dr. Kesten know you're at work?
I lie on my couch and think about Ronnie,
and then I have a panic attack.
- Yeah. I get that.
- Hm.
Welcome back.
[Stuart] Okay!
Act like you have jobs to do. All of you.
Can we read him in?
Mm-mm.
Do you want to sit?
Not a bad idea.
Yeah, don't overdo it on day one.
Take it easy. There's no rush.
Yeah, I'm still getting the hang of it.
- Why don't I take these, and then you
- You're gonna have to lower yourself.
- Whoa.
- That's not the best chair.
Here, take these.
- You want a pillow?
- I'm good.
Stop fussing.
Your briefing Go ahead.
- We were done, I think.
- Yeah.
Oh, just You were gonna
Call. Yeah.
If you two need to talk
We're done.
- You sure?
- Yep.
See you later.
[door closes]
[Kate sighs]
Stuart.
I am so sorry.
For what?
I sent you there.
Oh, no. No, no, no.
You wouldn't have been
near that place if I didn't.
Absolutely not.
None of this is remotely your fault.
Well
I'll tell you what you told Alysse.
Don't apologize for things
that aren't your fault.
The end.
Um I heard something.
- Oh yeah?
- Yeah.
That, uh,
somebody has a kinda
special thing with somebody else,
and didn't want to tell me about it.
- Ma'am.
- Which I get. I mean, come on.
I don't want to pry,
'cause it's your business.
But it's the cutest fucking thing
I've ever heard.
She dumped me.
[grunts]
- [groans]
- Can I help?
No, I'm good.
Just going to check my email
and pretend everything is totally normal.
I'll get the door.
[phone rings]
- Yes?
- [woman] Ambassador Wyler calling for you.
Thank you.
[phone beeps]
Hello?
I need to see you.
Can you come here?
Kate, I don't think that's a good idea.
Oh God.
Sorry. My bad.
I need to meet with you here
at the embassy. It is urgent.
Ambassador, a small army of civil servants
keeps my calendar.
May I refer you to any of them?
We have a condolence book
for Ronnie Buckhurst's family.
I would be more grateful
than I could describe
if you would take a moment today,
rather than later in the week,
and come by like nowish.
I really can't.
I wouldn't do this if it didn't
You have to.
Pain pills are good, but halfway
through the day, they wear off.
Yeah, and then you realize you overdid it.
It's a motherfucker.
Here we go.
Fantastic. Thank you.
- Britain's finest.
- Yeah. Much appreciated.
I think maybe we're gonna chat.
Just the two of us.
Oh!
Yeah. Sure.
- Where'd you find him?
- No idea.
[Hal chuckles]
- I said some things the other day.
- No.
- I was a jerk.
- Don't worry about it.
I'm sorry. About all of it.
None of it is your fault.
Well I'm sorry anyhow.
Don't apologize for things
that aren't your fault.
- You sound like your wife.
- She got it from me.
It's not the end of the world.
Apologizing for things that aren't
your fault. I can think of worse things.
Are you thinking
that I'm going to apologize?
- I'm not thinking anything.
- For Ronnie? Or for getting you blown up?
Neither.
Because I didn't bring plastic explosives
to the party. Someone else did.
Sorry. Milk and sugar.
Better late than never, right?
Neil, can you have them
bring my car around, please?
[Neil] Sure.
[intriguing music playing]
[music fades out]
We have Margaret Roylin.
- Do you want some tea?
- I really don't.
[door lock buzzes]
Sorry about that.
No trouble. We've all had a nice think.
- You're going to get yourself killed.
- It might be happening now.
He's rattling cages about a Special Forces
plot to assassinate Roman Lenkov.
[Austin] How is it no one can find you,
yet we can't blink
without you hearing about it?
- You're a sourpuss. And a scold.
- Can we circle back to "killed"?
The times you've turned up your nose
at my help.
Not enough to make the point.
I find you exhausting.
And still, I will sleep poorly if you're
vaporized in the street like Merritt.
The people who lost patience with him
are losing patience with you.
Who are they?
Well, I could tell you.
Then I'd get myself killed.
I've already risked
my own life to talk to you.
- That must count for something.
- It doesn't.
Roman Lenkov was hired by British citizens
to launch a missile at HMS Courageous.
How do you know?
For 40 years, it's been my job to know
everything that happens in Whitehall.
I tried to retire and failed.
You need to let us know
who you're talking about here.
- I'll give you one name.
- Okay.
- Merritt Grove.
- Pinning a massacre on a dead man.
You never fail to impress.
- Who was he working with?
- I said one.
- Nicol Trowbridge?
- Austin, really?
Three names.
Grove, Trowbridge, and Roylin.
Let's let her talk.
We have extremists in our government
just as you do.
So Grove was working
with British extremists?
Or Grove was one?
[Austin] He became one.
Swam with the tide.
Was re-elected
on the threat of immigrant invaders
and the death of Great Britain.
So Grove hired Lenkov
to bomb a British ship?
On behalf of the prime minister.
Not true.
Grove planned to meet with your husband,
and he was silenced for it.
Now, you're stalking the halls
telling everyone with an ear
that someone's out to get Lenkov.
- Someone is.
- Indeed!
And you're making them very uncomfortable.
Why would Grove
want to attack a British vessel?
Scotland?
The secession movement
had too much momentum.
- They wanted a unifying event.
- Nicol wanted a unifying event.
Why did Grove want to talk to Hal?
Merritt was a great wobbling jelly.
If he was seized by conscience
and his compatriots found out
How would they have found out?
When someone wants to know
what the prime minister is thinking,
they don't tap his phone, they tap mine.
So when I speak with Nicol,
I use a disposable telephone.
But if someone calls me
Grove called you. To say he was worried?
No, darling. You did.
[knocking on door]
Come on in.
How you doing?
Great.
Cool. The prime minister's coming.
Stuart needs the ambassador.
- She's not avail.
- I told him that.
- [sighs]
- [buttons beeping, door buzzing]
[Margaret] Let her run
a simple investigation.
It costs you nothing.
- You should have gone to the authorities.
- They are the authorities!
Ambassador.
[intriguing music playing]
The PM's coming to sign the book.
Now?
Yeah, you gotta go meet him outside.
Fuck me!
- I can't.
- I bet you can.
The foreign secretary is here.
Still?
He hasn't signed it yet. We were talking.
- Okay.
- We're not done.
Wrap it up.
- Stuart.
- Ma'am. What exactly is going on?
It doesn't matter.
Great! Then I'll see you downstairs
in ten minutes to greet the PM.
[music ends]
She just confirmed your theory.
It comes from inside your own government.
She's protecting Nicol. I'm turning her
over to the police immediately.
No, you can't. What if they're involved?
- She's lying.
- Maybe.
But if there is a shadow of a chance
that someone's gonna fucking kill you,
no, you stop.
I have an obligation.
You pause. We've got a few days
before the Lenkov arrest, right?
I was going to launch an inquiry.
Chief of defense staff. Today.
Do it tomorrow.
I'm gonna keep her tonight.
Put her in a safe house.
See what else she has to say.
- Keep her?
- Yeah.
- Is that
- Legal?
I'm not kidnapping her. She's scared.
She was hiding in someone's attic.
We look like we're doing her a favor.
And what we have
is a chance to interrogate her.
I'm still not sure that's legal.
- Let's talk about it.
- We are.
- Just us.
- [knock on door]
Yeah?
[Neil] Ambassador? Mr. Hayford's
pretty eager to have you join him.
Tell him I'm coming.
[Neil] The PM's almost here.
He's gonna sign the book
and wants a word with you.
PM?
[exciting music playing]
Sir.
Prime Minister. Good to see you.
[music fades out]
- Dreadful loss.
- Yes.
Young person
serving your country and mine.
Thank you, sir.
Right this way.
Big step back. Don't need you in my shot.
[cameras clicking]
[Stuart] Ma'am.
Give him a minute.
You two will get caught up talking.
Maybe let the foreign secretary
focus on Ronnie.
[Alysse] Sir,
can we get you anything to drink?
No. Thank you.
Would you like notes?
- We would not like notes.
- Sorry.
You're following us.
Think it possible for the ambassador
and I to have a moment?
Of course.
That something we can manage?
- [phone ringing]
- [staff chattering]
[door closing]
How can I help?
Margaret Roylin.
She's nowhere to be found.
She never had children.
Didn't need to. She had me.
The Guardian wrote that.
Why did you call her?
She's a frail spinster.
She could snap like a twig.
When she vanished,
I had GCHQ check her phone records.
You called her.
- I did.
- From Paris. Why?
She tells me how to handle you.
I need handling?
The president seemed to think so.
That's why I'm here.
What was her advice?
Well, if I tell you, it won't work.
An advisor and friend went missing
the night our colleague was murdered.
Will you do me the courtesy
of answering the question?
I called to ask how you'd react
if the French didn't cooperate
with the Lenkov arrest.
'Cause the first thing they said was no.
I wanted to know if you'd be upset
if we didn't succeed.
She said you'd be happy Dennison failed.
She's a cunt.
Is she wrong?
Of course not.
What else?
That was pretty much it.
Mrs. Wyler,
I don't have a great deal of time.
She said you think you're playing chess,
but actually, you're playing checkers.
[chuckles sardonically]
That has the ring of authenticity.
She meant you overcomplicate things
and that's why you talk to her.
It's not what she meant.
Sir, if I hear from her,
I will contact you right away.
Not sure I give a fuck.
[intriguing music playing]
You said I was distracting
the foreign secretary from Ronnie.
I think we're all
a little distracted today.
- You okay on those crutches?
- Yeah, they're not bad.
- Think you can make it over there?
- Uh-huh.
[Kate] You know there's a lot going on.
I have no idea what's going on.
You clam up every time I walk in a room.
- [music ends]
- Everyone is focused on Ronnie.
I know that.
When I was talking
to the foreign secretary
we were discussing
who may have killed Ronnie.
Pursue the killer all you want.
Just take five minutes.
Look at Ronnie's picture.
I think it might be the guy
who just signed that book.
What?
We both shook his hand.
The prime minister.
How?
Margaret Roylin is in that building.
Don't look over there.
Lenkov was hired by members of the
British government. Merritt Grove was one.
She won't say who else,
but it's got to be Trowbridge.
Grove got cold feet,
so his collaborators killed him
and Ronnie and almost you.
And somehow it all came together
because I called Roylin.
Ronnie's face is seared in my eye.
I don't need to look at a picture.
[Neil] We've got MilAir transport lined up
leaving from RAF Mildenhall.
The transport case will be loaded
by eight Marines.
The flag that's flying over the embassy
right now will cover the coffin.
Secretary Ganon will present it
to Ronnie's family at Dover.
You should sit.
This is the wrong time
for you to tell me what to do.
She shouldn't have told you.
You gotta get Roylin the fuck out of here.
You're harboring a person
who has knowledge of a crime,
who may have participated in a crime
- of massive proportions.
- I'll take it under advisement.
You know the ambassador called Roylin
on the telephone
the day of the bomb?
- Did she tell you that?
- Yes.
And what did she say on the phone call?
Remember when we got together and I said
there's a lot I'm not gonna tell you
and you said that's okay,
you could handle it?
- Yeah.
- Handle it.
Remember when you said this is over?
I'm not your boyfriend right now.
I am the deputy chief of mission,
and the ambassador
and the CIA station chief
The station chief's investigating
intelligence from a walk-in
about an attack on American citizens.
The ambassador's cultivating relationships
that might serve our national interests,
as she was hired to do.
- Oh, that's what's happening?
- Yes.
Because it looks like she's running
with scissors into my staff and me.
She said it herself, she will never
forgive herself for calling Roylin
and telling her whatever
the fuck she told her.
People whose spouses went
to the towers on 9/11
will never forgive themselves
for letting them walk out the door.
It doesn't mean
they drove a plane into a building.
No! Not the same.
Not the same.
The Wylers are so fucking cool.
They talk to terrorists and hug warlords
and drink llama blood.
This shit didn't happen
when the Vayles were here.
Ronnie would still be alive
if the Vayles were here.
That's not how it works.
That's exactly how it works.
[footsteps receding]
[siren sounding]
Byron. Give us a minute.
[sighs]
You called her.
Yeah.
I told you to stay away from her.
I had you evacuated from a public event
on the day you got here.
Just so you could avoid that woman.
But London's not a serious post.
What do I know?
I never worked in Baghdad,
where the real men go.
If you think I respect you any less
than any of the people I
[Stuart] I don't give a hoot
how you feel about me, ma'am.
You made a tactical error.
I told you who she was. You ignored me.
You made a tactical error.
And it was deadly.
- May I help, sir?
- [Stuart] No. You may not.
Present arms!
[melancholy music playing]
[wind whistling]
Present arms!
[plane door whirring shut]
Stuart's mad.
Of course he is.
- At me.
- And me.
- Oh yeah?
- Kind of great, actually.
He was like, "I know it's not your fault,
but you should apologize anyway."
Well, did you?
Yeah!
Did I?
I I'm not sure.
I should.
Why?
Roylin says somebody went after Grove
because I called her
and said he was anxious.
Correlation is not causation.
I don't know what that means.
I pretend to when you say it, but I don't.
It means it's not your fault.
Tell that to Stuart.
You dug up a conspiracy
inside this government.
They're gonna catch Lenkov
because someone tracked you down
and told you where to find him.
I'm very special.
Then Lenkov's gonna say
the fucking prime minister hired him.
I made a phone call without which
this could not have happened.
I can see my part in it.
So can Stuart. You never could.
You're not gonna see it now.
Someday,
and it looks like
today's not gonna be the day,
but someday you're gonna say,
"I gave you a lot of shit."
"For the plane in Kabul, the house
in Beirut, but I kind of get it now."
"The cost of doing business."
[sighs exasperatedly]
I think you should give me a minute.
I don't think you should come in here.
- Are you sending me to my room?
- I'll go. You can stay.
What the fuck is this?
You think you're gonna get a pass now?
Because now I know what it's like
to be in the big chair?
Before I was just your ass monkey,
but now I'm man enough to see
it's the cost of doing business?
Don't ever say those words to me again.
So no perspective
from the other side of the desk?
The perspective is you did things that
got your staff killed, and now I did too.
Oh, don't even.
You sleep in the other room.
No, you sleep in the other room.
It has a shitty mattress.
- Really?
- Yeah, really. Go.
[exhales sharply]
[blows]
[urine trickling]
I was unfair.
Backpedaling?
It's the job.
I always acted like it was you.
You sure did.
The job
has a morally repugnant component.
[toilet flushing]
So your big insight
is that I wasn't born horrible,
the job made me that way,
and now you are too?
Yeah.
I don't think you backpedaled far enough.
It's a start, right?
For ten years, I let you act
like I was a man with no moral compass.
I did that for you.
It was a kindness.
No, you offloaded it to me.
You excused yourself because I was
the conscience for both of us.
Katherine. Do me a fucking favor
and sleep in the other room.
Un believable!
Fuck.
- Kate.
- I am going!
Can I take 30 seconds
to find my fucking glasses?
I can't reach my shoes.
[somber music playing]
[music ends]