Note: This story contains spoilers from “The Diplomat” Season 4.
“The Diplomat” Season 4 is finally back and the first episode ends with a literal bang: new President Grace Penn being shot outside Windsor Castle.
After President Penn, played by Emmy winner Allison Janney, is shot in the premiere much of the remainder of the season tracks her husband Todd (Bradley Whitford), Kate (Keri Russell), Hal (Rufus Sewell) and an expanding group of her advisors worried about her decisions. Chief among them is threatening naval action in British waters to keep the secret she stole Russia’s doomsday weapon, Poseidon.
All that culminates at the G8 Summit where Kate, Todd and Hal all admit they’re concerned about Grace’s judgement following the shooting. Both Janney and Whitford told TheWrap the admission to the president was a bit of a shock for her.
“Maybe not. That’s an interesting question,” Janney said. “I think if it’s not conscious, it’s a subconscious feeling of losing power and losing her confidence, and she becomes vulnerable, and she doesn’t like that. So she maybe unconsciously starts doubling down on making hard decisions, and that makes the people around her question what she’s doing.
She continued: “But she’s also found a partner in — well, Hal starts to question her too. Everyone starts to wonder what she’s doing. So I like to think that maybe the first time she was like, ‘Wow, you all think something. Who thinks there’s something wrong with me?’ Yeah, I think maybe it’s subconsciously this is happening because of the shooting.”
Whitford chimed in that the part of Grace’s arc that fascinated him to watch was the double standard on display for a male president surviving an assassination attempt compared to Grace. The worry is that she’s become too frail to govern while a man is celebrated for bravely soldiering on, and Whitford loved that his fictional wife pressed back against that.
“It’s really interesting that even Kate is questioning her judgment,” Whitford said. “There was a trauma you went through. You’re making these dangerous geopolitical decisions, and she defends herself. When Ronald Reagan got shot, it was all about his strength. There was no question of his frailty afterwards. When a man gets shot and survives, it intensifies your trust in their grit, and with a woman in that position, you’re wondering if there’s going to be an emotional response and I love the way she claps back.”
And clap back she does. Her defiance to keep her ships in British waters to hold back the Russians from going down and retrieving the bodies of dead soldiers — all used as a guise to check on their weapon, which they’ll see isn’t there — ends up with a major fracturing with her advisors. Kate, Hal, Billie (Nana Mensah) and more all walk out on her as the Summit begin in the Season 4 finale. Janney assured that Grace is really coming into her own, even as parralells between her character and Donald Trump grow, and she plans to knock anyone in her path away.
“She’s in herself,” Janney said “She knows where she’s going, and she’s not afraid, and she’s like, ‘Screw you all! Get out of my way! If you get in my way, I’m going to knock you down.’ She is fierce.”
“The Diplomat” Season 4 is now streaming on Netflix.
