The Diplomat. Season 2. Pretty much up-to-standard continuation of the political/personal drama

https://youtu.be/J49VymjKJ8w

This continues to be enjoyable – in a slightly soapy way but none the worse for that.  I like the style of the opening for each episode – the title and then the director, writer for that episode, each in plain black on white background, and this is then almost immediately redacted, and we are plunged into the story.

The ending of each episode is (usually) equally) effective with a real cliff-hanger. This worked well for the episodes in this second series but the sensational revelation in the final seconds of the last episode really was a bit too much. There had been no hint, I am sure, that this was even a possibility and so it came across as slightly desperate.

The performances are good and the central relationship continues to be well depicted with its ups and downs although in this series I did feel that it was a little cursory and dramatically taken for granted. Rory Kinnear as the Prime Minister is superbly unlikeable.

 

 

The Breakthrough. A quietly involving and powerful Swedish true-crime drama.

Black Doves. Gripping and superbly plotted Christmas spy thriller.