As the title comment above suggests, the initial impressions were not as good as I had hoped. The political drama, from the start, was gripping, convincing and gave a good sense of the nitty-gritty that diplomacy involves but the intriguing dynamics of the husband and wife (ex star ambassador and newly appointed ambassador wife) were too often overdone, culminating, in the third episode in a ludicrous hair-pulling rolling-on-the-ground fight. While there is certainly plenty of potential for interpersonal conflict in a situation like this, the way it was done was absurd. There was a very strong Bill and Hilary vibe in these early episodes.
However, as the series unfolded it did begin to get much better and the personal drama between the two leads and their unravelling (or is it) marriage was more smoothly and plausibly integrated into the political drama.
The oter personal dramas e.g. with the CIA officer and a State Department high-up, were more smoothly integrated and so more consistently successful. And by the final episode, everything really was firing on all cylinders with a very fine series of revelation s about real agendas and a great finale with all the necessary ambiguity of who would, or would not, survive being very well handled.
A rather muddled start then, but it matured well and the prospect of a second series is very enticing – and necessary.