In The Diplomat Season 2, women rule

The diplomat who doesn't comb her hair smooths out world issues.

- JOANNE RAE M. RAMIREZ

By the time this column comes out, the winner in the US presidential elections would have been crystal clear, and if the trend at press time (Wednesday afternoon in Manila) continues, the president-elect won't be a woman.

But in The Diplomat Season 2, it is the women who rule, who make the difficult calls, who do the spadework and work the room in their designer gowns and chignons. They rock.

For those who missed Season 1, The Diplomat centers around a career diplomat Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) poised to take on the post as head of mission in Afghanistan, but is assigned instead to London where she runs smack into a crisis: 40 Royal Navy personnel are killed in an attack on a British aircraft carrier and British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) thinks it's a certain Middle Eastern country behind it.

If you haven't watched Season 1, there may be spoilers ahead.

Kate is married to another career diplomat Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell), at present unemployed officially. Sometimes, he is a thorn in her side; sometimes, his reading of the situation saves the day for Kate and perhaps, the world.

While Kate was dispatched by US President Rayburn (Michael McKean) to help smooth out things over in London, Kate succeeds in smoothing out everything but her hair and her clothes.

She always has wardrobe malfunctions and in Season 2, uses a paper clip to hold up a defective zipper.

A source said staffers in the US Embassy in London cringed after watching a scene in The Diplomat 1 where the lady ambassador had no time to take a bath and asked her husband to sniff her armpit for hygiene clearance.