Netflix The Diplomat season 1 recap guide: All episodes explained

The Diplomat episode 8 recap: The James Bond Clause

Seemingly overnight, Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge changes his tune regarding arresting Lenkov, baffling Kate and Dennison, particularly Kate, since Trowbridge called her an embarrassment the last time she proposed the plan. So, what changed?

Before they can get the plan to arrest Lenkov underway, Kate needs to seek approval from the French ambassador since the arrest would be happening on their soil and require French police involvement.

Elsewhere, Eidra reaches out to Billie to discuss the possibility of turning Hal into a CIA asset, but Billie makes it clear that cannot happen because Kate is on the shortlist for something important. She gives Eidra permission to ask Stuart. He tells her Kate is being prepared to potentially become the next vice president.

Eidra realizes that if this happens, Stuart would be returning to DC with Kate in a few months, and she’s pissed that Stuart knew this was a possibility all along. He told her not to go to Cairo and wants to go public with a relationship that’s probably ending in a few months. Stuart tries to defend himself and says that’s not true, but Eidra kicks him out of her office before they can resolve anything, seemingly ending their relationship.

Dennison and Kate prepare for a trip to Paris to meet with the French ambassador. Before leaving, Kate throws Hal a bone to give him something to do. She lets him do her planned speech at Chatham House. Stuart is somewhat shocked by this change of plans and informs Kate that Hal has waived the Chatham House rule and asked for his speech to be sent to Billie.

Chatham House has a rule where anything speakers say can be cited, but they cannot reveal who made any particular comment. It’s not great for building public image, but Hal waived that rule, which means people can cite him directly, and Billie can get a copy of his speech.

Kate is clearly unnerved by Hal’s decision and slowly realizes that Hal is gunning for Ganon’s spot as secretary of state. His speech is all about diplomacy and catches the interest of Tory MP Meritt Grove, who requests a drink with Hal. When Kate finds out, she calls him livid that he would essentially act like a link to the White House despite the fact he’s not technically involved anymore.

She feels used like Hal intentionally made her burn Ganon so he could snake his way back into the White House. She accuses him of using the whole “vice president” thing as a fun side project until he could figure out what he really wanted to do. She tells him not to go to the meeting with Merritt and says she’ll have her office cancel the appointment.

All of this happens while Kate is in Paris with Dennison. Their initial meeting with the ambassador goes poorly, and Dennison comes off as a misogynistic prick, interrupting Kate and speaking over her. But later, he tells her it was a ploy to create a woman-to-woman bond between Kate and the ambassador since they hate it when men interject and act superior. It will allow Kate to pull her aside that evening at a fancy event they’re attending at the Louvre and talk to her again about Lenkov.

After the meeting and the phone call with Hal, Dennison offers a shoulder to lean on as Kate laments what she believes is the official end of her marriage (again).

The Diplomat finale comes to a head with a climactic series of final scenes that draws tense parallels between Hal and his meeting with Meritt and with Kate and the French ambassador in Paris. In Paris, Kate meets with the ambassador, who reveals the orders for Lenkov have changed.

The Brits announced a kill order, and the French police were told to stand down. Kate is shocked and thinks Dennison went behind her back. But Dennison swears he knew nothing about this despite the fact he would have needed to sign off on any kill order as the foreign secretary. Dennison looks through his phone to see if he somehow missed some sort of documentation, but Kate quickly puts two and two together and throws his phone into a bag with hers, and hands it off to a security guard.

Kate says the only person a kill order benefits is whoever hired Lenkov, meaning Nicol Trowbridge likely hired Lenkov and started this entire thing so he could pin the attack on another nation and go to war—thus getting his “act of unity” to maintain his position and showcase an act of strength.

Back in London, Stuart sends Ronnie into the restaurant to tell Merritt that Hal isn’t coming. Merrit leaves in a huff and heads toward his car at the same time, Hal and Stuart both approach him from opposite ends of the sidewalk. Just as they reach Merritt’s car, a car bomb goes off, leaving the fates of all three men in the air. Although I think we can safely assume Merritt is dead, the jury’s out on what happens to Hal and Stuart! I guess we’ll have to wait and see if Netflix renews the show for a second season.

Written by Maddy Lennon