“The Diplomat” Season 3 is here, and the new episodes see Allison Janney’s Grace Penn officially take over as president. But how exactly did she get there again?
Now streaming on Netflix, the end of season 2 of the Keri Russell-led show came with the reveal that Margaret Roylin was responsible for the attack on the HMS Courageous in season 1. That means that a Brit ordered the attack on a British military ship — technically treason. But Roylin didn’t come up with the idea on her own.
As we learn, it was actually Grace Penn who planted the idea in Roylin’s head. So that means that, technically the US attacked an ally. If Prime Minister Trowbridge were to find out, it would be catastrophic for the relationship between the two countries.
So, why exactly did Grace do that again?
Why Grace Penn orchestrated the attack
For her part, Penn stands by what she did. When Kate (Keri Russell) confronts her about it, Grace bluntly concedes, “It’s entirely my fault. I own it.” But, according to the vice president, it was a longterm strategic move.
Using a piece of coal from the fireplace and a map that just happens to conveniently be in the room, Grace draws out various naval routes and marks down naval bases. The route we care about here is the one that allows Russia the quickest path to penetrate US naval defenses.
Penn explains that there is one specific nuclear submarine base in Scotland that is vital to the US, as it’s the last place that the US could detect a Russian sub before it’s too late to do anything about it. Had Scotland seceded from the UK, as they were threatening to do back in season 1, the United States would lose access to that base.
So, in an effort to stop that from happening, Grace thought a unifying event for the UK would help — in this case, a unifying tragedy. According to Penn, no one was supposed to die, but the attack went sideways.
The VP was just thinking longterm about US nuclear capabilities (fitting, considering she was nearly made the “nuclear czar”).
So it wasn’t an act of war?
Well, technically yes, it would be an act of war. But the attack was not instigated with the intent of going to war with the Red Coats. Penn wasn’t acting maliciously, but rather defensively.
“The Diplomat” is now streaming on Netflix.
