The Diplomat (2023) s03e01 Episode Script

1
[Kate] Hal, listen to me.
- Say nothing.
- [Hal] He's dead, Katie.
- Don't tell them anything at all.
- They know I was there.
- I was talking to the doctors.
- What did you tell them?
- He was looking for a glass of water.
- Was he dehydrated?
[breathes deeply]
- He was thirsty.
- He seemed dehydrated. Say it.
Yeah, he seemed dehydrated.
- Say as little as possible. You hear me?
- Okay.
- As little as possible.
- Okay.
[officials breathing heavily]
[agent] Safe room.
[Kate] Get Stuart to the embassy.
Lock the perimeter.
[Byron] Yes, ma'am.
- What happened? Get Billie.
- [female agent] Secure command
That's not a secure line.
This is a safe room, not a SCIF.
Swept and posted.
Is he dead? What the fuck happened?!
Repeat that?
[anticipatory silence]
Ma'am, President Rayburn died
four minutes ago.
[shocked mumbling]
They secured the Speaker of the House?
Yes, ma'am.
This space can't support
encrypted communications.
We're running a perimeter check
to make sure the building is secure.
Then we'll set up a portable SCIF
in a larger area.
- Okay.
- Go ahead.
- Clear. Moving Arrow.
- [agent 1] Confirm new status.
- [agent 2] Confirming. External secure.
- External secure.
- [indistinct radio chatter]
- [poignant music playing]
Mr. Hayford.
- Hi.
- [Stuart] On my way to the embassy.
They're putting up a SCIF.
- Once you are in it, call Bert.
- Yeah.
- Stay on the phone until we confirm
- SCIF is up.
Cell phones, please.
[Nora] Oh.
I'm sorry, sir.
[agent] Security's in communication
with the police about that,
but we need a service
[music fades]
[Billie] They have her?
[Ganon] Yeah.
Bert, it's Kate. I need more Met Police
at the residence and outside the embassy.
Madam President.
- Heart attack?
- They think.
Everyone sit down, please.
The pericarditis was back
a couple weeks ago.
Loop in the gunny.
We thought it cleared up, but he doesn't
sleep, drink water. And the fucking salt.
- Was he having chest pains?
- I don't know.
- He was in a meeting in the Oval and
- He was in here.
- In the sit room?
- Stepped out to take a call in the Oval.
- Was he alone?
- [Billie] Agents outside saw him collapse.
Where are we with the security package?
Met police shut down
the streets outside the residence.
I don't want their people. I want ours.
We'll have both.
We're pulling a team from Rome.
- How long will that take?
- Forever. Get her on a plane.
Who was he talking to?
[Billie] Don't know.
We're calling the switchboard.
[Grace] They not picking up?
- [Ganon] They got a lot going on now.
- That makes two of us.
- His detail knows. Is Craig in there?
- [Billie] Debriefing.
- I'm going to say we can interrupt.
- It was my husband.
President Rayburn
was on the phone with Hal.
I'd like to get the
president out of here.
- I'd like to call him.
- So you can get your story straight?
He's debriefing with half the White
House. I think we want him quiet.
How about I won't talk to him?
I'll call the chief of station.
Get the chief of station on the line.
- [Kate] I'll do it.
- No, you won't.
[agent] Is the chief of station in?
[female agent] We can't put the president
on the plane we have here.
It doesn't have the comms package.
We're scrambling 747-9000.
- It's in
- Washington.
- Billie.
- 14 hours until she's back?
- More like 16.
- No, not okay.
We need to swear her in, like now.
- Not on foreign soil.
- On the plane?
- [Nora] Is the plane America?
- The plane is not America.
- When we hit American airspace?
- That's 12 hours from now.
- The embassy is. It's American soil.
- It's not.
People come to the embassy and
claim asylum because it's American soil.
And they don't get it 'cause it's not.
She's already president.
She was the moment he stopped breathing.
You don't want to explain
the 25th amendment to North Korea.
You want a picture of her with one hand
in the air and another on a Bible.
- You have to do it here.
- I'm okay if you don't talk.
She's right.
We need to do this within the hour.
- At Winfield.
- Or the embassy.
It's formal. It's a ceremonial space.
Podium, a couple of flags,
we're good to go.
- Or the embassy.
- [female agent] The move is a risk.
The embassy's a fortress
with Marines and a moat.
Based on her analysis of my safety,
she would strongly prefer no move.
The embassy is granite slabs
and soaring ceilings
and a 12-foot eagle on the wall.
It is a not-at-all-subtle monument
to American power.
Ma'am, we're not swearing you in in front
of 18th-century hand-painted wallpaper.
It makes you look like someone's granny.
We're gonna do it at the embassy.
He was pulling at his, um
- At his collar?
- Yeah.
- Was he having trouble breathing?
- Yeah. Absolutely.
- But earlier in the conversation.
- It's hard to, uh, recall when, but
Mr. Wyler, I'm Lyle Javits of DOJ.
Did the president mention
his condition when the call began?
- "I'm tired"?
- No.
"I have a headache"?
I'm trying to remember.
Uh, no, I don't think he did.
You stated earlier to Dr. Colesco
that the president
had complained of dehydration.
Yes.
Yes.
[phone rings]
- Eidra.
- We have an unspecified threat.
We'd like you to up your alert levels
and put any eyes you can
on Winfield and the embassy.
It's unspecified to you,
or you're not specifying it to me?
- The latter.
- [door knocks]
They're coming here.
- When?
- Now. And the ambassador's on the phone.
- I gotta go. Will you just
- Yeah.
- As soon as I can give you more, I will.
- Yeah, go.
- Kate.
- [quietly] Where is he?
In the SCIF.
He's talking to the doctors and the FBI.
- Get him out of there.
- It's an important debrief.
- I will have him call you as soon as
- No. I don't want to talk to him.
He can't be talking to anyone at all.
I can't interfere
with them questioning the last guy
How the fuck did he get on the phone
with the president?
Howard set up the call.
I asked you to connect him
to the secretary of state.
He was in your SCIF.
How'd he place a call to the president?
I am not any happier than you are.
[indistinct chatter]
President Penn is changing locations
and not yet secured.
Hal is rattled. He may share information
that may compromise the president.
- What's he gonna say
- Get him off the motherfucking line.
Howard.
Kill it.
- Who's gonna tell the country?
- You.
Billie.
- She's the president.
- She's not on the scene.
She's in a foreign capital
taking refuge in a 46-room cream puff.
I'll handle it.
Or Liz can do it.
National security advisor
is a less partisan figure.
Don't think anyone's gonna make
a partisan read on this.
He didn't like you, Miguel.
It's not going to be you.
Can we have
the national security advisor step in?
Billie's the person he was closest to.
As a citizen,
I'd want to hear it from her.
She was there, she talked to the doctors,
she saw the body.
- It's you.
- Yeah.
And now. Otherwise, we'll be dealing with
conspiracy theories about why we waited.
- Okay.
- Not till we move her.
[Billie] She's right.
No one's watching you now.
- How are you getting there?
- Helos.
- Plural?
- [female agent] Yes.
[helicopters whirring]
They're here?
Go.
Fuck.
- Yes, ma'am.
- [sweeping dramatic music playing]
[music fades]
- What were you talking to him about?
- It was private.
- Not anymore.
- It doesn't matter. What's imp
It matters to everyone in the world.
I am one of 400,000 people
who will ask you
over the course of your life
what were you talking about
when the president dropped dead?
Okay. You told me you wanted to
place a call to the secretary of state.
Yes.
Did the president call you?
- No.
- He didn't call the secretary.
He asked me to place a call
to the White House switchboard instead.
- And you just did?
- It's nothing to do with him.
That's actually not the case.
I didn't think we'd get him.
- [phone rings]
- Eidra Park.
- [helicopters whirring]
- Ma'am.
Yes, I do. Tell the White House
they're approaching the building now.
[sweeping dramatic music playing]
[agent] Number one,
the Arrow has landed. Now secure.
[final note holds, fades]
Madam President. The White House
would like a go for the announcement.
- Let's get her someplace she can watch it.
- Give us 30 seconds to get her situated.
Hang on.
- [Theo] Who we talking about?
- We have a hold. Stand by.
Gary, is this perimeter or internal?
[Theo] We're waiting on a security hold.
We'd like the president
to watch the announcement.
Eidra Park?
No, I think it's a double-check,
but we don't want anybody rushing.
- [female agent] Lock it off.
- [Eidra] She's in the building.
She's in a secure space
inside the embassy.
Yes.
White House needs to go. Go is confirmed.
Eidra.
Ma'am.
[inhales deeply] The President
of the United States has died.
President William Tresholdt Rayburn
died 14 minutes ago at 7:42 a.m.
of cardiac arrest in the Oval Office.
He was 77 years old.
With the president, at the time
of his death, were special agent
The ambassador's office
will be command and control.
[Billie] Catherine Stetson,
Dr. Tuesday Williamson of the White House
Medical Unit, and myself.
Secure videos in the CIA station.
- [female agent] This is encrypted.
- Clear it. Except for her.
Ambassador?
[door closes]
What the fuck did he
say to the president?
I don't know.
Why did he call him?
I don't know.
I did not know this was coming.
Gabriel!
[footsteps approaching]
Get Hal Wyler.
- I can get him.
- No, you can't.
[door closes]
- Is there something else
- I want you right where I can see you.
The lobby or Constitution Hall?
[Billie] Which one has
the thing on the wall?
Well, the lobby has a very big seal,
and Constitution Hall has a 50-foot-high
rendition of the Constitution.
But with a pop art feel to it, right?
- I mean, kind of.
- No.
It doesn't lack gravity.
If the narrative is new dawn,
fresh leadership
No, the narrative is old and stodgy
and not different than President Rayburn.
Lobby.
- It would be nice if it had a name.
- Like?
Constitution Hall sounds like something.
Lobby sounds like dentist.
- [Stuart] What do you want to call it?
- I don't know. Seal Hall?
- [Billie] No.
- Hall of the Great Seal?
Better.
We're going with the lobby.
The Hall of the Great Seal.
[Stuart] Which is the lobby.
Then let's call it the lobby.
Lacks gravitas.
In the event of a situation,
I want to be able to say,
get her out of the lobby.
- And everyone knows what I mean.
- Lobby it is.
- So the space holds, uh
- Seventy-five.
- Standing, the space holds 230.
- Seventy-five.
It'll look like nobody's there.
- If she's drowning, she'll seem
- Insignificant.
[female agent] She will be surrounded
by Marines.
We're not going for military junta.
I want it to look full.
With people in business suits
making it clear
that civil authority is executing
a civil transition of power.
The entryway right here is not
in front of a 10-story wall of windows.
- Worried about shooters?
- It's got bulletproof glass.
Great. It's the big lobby,
packed with people. Please, thank you.
Yes, ma'am.
- [female agent] We are a go for the lobby.
- Yep, speaking.
[indistinct office chatter]
[door closes]
[uncomfortable silence]
I killed him.
- No.
- I I I did.
No, you didn't.
I told him the false flag attack
was your idea.
Hal, shh.
She needs to know everything.
It happened very fast.
He turned white. He stood up.
His heart stopped.
What the fuck
did you think you were doing?
I was warning the commander-in-chief
he had a rogue deputy, which he did.
Jesus Christ.
I swore an oath
to protect the Constitution.
When I said those words,
it was a commitment, not a poem.
He was the hand and shield
of that document.
Does he hear himself?
He didn't kill the president.
- Was she involved?
- No.
Then you may leave.
The president authorized a double-tap
airstrike on a Houthi base last week.
It turned out to be
full of child soldiers.
He supported a regime in Niger
that's slaughtering its own citizens.
If he was too fragile for bad news,
he was no longer the man for the job.
- [knocks]
- [woman] Ma'am?
No!
- Who you gonna tell next?
- No one.
For the sanctity of the Kingdom of
Heaven, maybe the Fed chair needs to know.
- The president needed to know.
- And now the president knows.
You could throw him in jail
if you want, or both of us.
But we are no longer your problem.
You have a lot of other problems.
Nora!
[door opens]
We're pulling up the Joint Chiefs. We have
something in our airspace over Anchorage.
They think it's nothing,
but want you on if they're wrong.
Yep, I have her.
[Grace] How far inland?
Ma'am?
Kate?
- The narrative is legitimacy.
- The narrative is five minutes old.
- [Nora] It should be a judge.
- Swearing the president in.
He wants you to do it.
You are the highest-ranking American
on site.
Your building, two women.
It is a powerful image.
- Get a judge.
- The PM's on the phone.
Judge Andrew Mitchell, Third Circuit.
In town for a wedding.
- [Kate] Tall?
- [Nora] 5'11.
- Book him.
- Why am I the only feminist in the room?
I'm a feminist.
Cleared my diary.
How can I be of service?
- Thank you, sir.
- [Trowbridge] What time are we thinking?
- For
- Swearing her in.
MI6 says it's soon.
As it should be.
That's extremely thoughtful, sir,
but to drop your government schedule
for an event of 20 people
A crowd of two, ten, or ten thousand.
The point is, I stand with her.
In her honor,
and in his.
"His legs bestrid the ocean."
"His reared arm crested the world."
"His voice was propertied
as all the tune it spheres."
- "That to friends"
- No. No foreign leaders.
- You want to tell him?
- It's the image of a presidency.
Can we keep him out of the photo?
[Trowbridge continues indistinctly]
"rattling thunder."
That's beautiful, sir.
How is she?
[whispers] Sorry.
Uh, I am so sorry, sir. Just one second.
- King James. Pocket edition?
- No.
Better.
But it looks like a Bible.
A real Bible. Adult size.
Written by Jesus.
- I Please forgive me, sir.
- You alone?
- Yes.
- Jesus did not write the Bible.
That's an excellent point.
Is she steady?
- Uh
- There's no right answer, is there?
If she's fine, she's a monster.
If she's upset, she's a hysteric.
Indeed.
Look, I apologize.
You wanted to return Margaret Roylin
to our custody. We declined.
I understand. It's complicated.
Oh, we'll take her.
You have a full plate.
That That's not necessary, sir.
Yeah, I'll speak to the Met Police.
Tell the president that I arranged it.
[call disconnects]
Hey.
You okay?
You were amazing. With the
Don't.
She's not blaming me, right?
Can I not think about you
for a second right now?
I'm trying to figure out
if I need a lawyer.
Whether or not
she blames me matters. Legally.
- I blame you.
- Yeah, so do I.
A terribly flawed woman
is now the president.
And only we know just how flawed.
So I have to be her fucking VP
just so we can keep an eye on her.
Don't you be happy.
It's a fucking travesty.
[door knocks]
Foreign secretary.
- [Hal sighs]
- [door opens]
- Hello?
- My God, Kate.
Yeah. [sighs]
Our deepest condolences.
Thank you.
- I was terribly short with you.
- No, no, no.
- Don't worry about it.
- It's inexcusable.
I earned it.
And now Nicol's forcing himself
on your ceremony.
It's really It's okay.
It isn't. I'd come too.
But the two of us is
It's probably worse, so
Come.
- All right.
- It's better if there's two of you.
It doesn't seem like
she's under the sway of a particular
Yes.
He offered to take Roylin off our hands.
Trowbridge.
Do you think he's gonna
Harm her?
I know I've accused him of that before
and it wasn't true.
He wrung her neck with his own hands.
I have no idea what he's gonna do.
[indistinct office chatter]
[Hal] Hey.
She's gonna be Grace's VP.
Kate?
- Grace asked?
- Not yet.
But Kate's the right choice. Get on it.
Talk to Nora, make sure that Kate is
on Air Force One when it lands in D.C.
She needs to walk off the plane
right behind the president.
That's premature.
It's a trial balloon. The papers
will assume it means something.
You get a public vetting,
private at the same time.
Sets her up for a fast confirmation.
It's a plastic moment. This is when
you can make things happen.
[Grace] Even if the NSC says it's nothing,
DOD should talk to the Post. Off record.
Yes, they're looking into China
and prepared to remove it by force.
[phone ringing]
If we can hold it together for an hour,
it'll drop on its own.
[Nora] Ma'am?
Carolyn Rayburn.
- Everyone give her some space.
- I'm gonna have to call you back.
- [door closes]
- Oh, my God.
Carolyn, this can't be happening.
[firmly] Shut the fucking blinds.
[agent] I'll get it.
[whispers] On the frame
between the two doors.
By the door?
They're electric. There's a switch.
You s No, you s
You stay there as long as you need.
[door closes]
No, I I want you to.
[poignant piano music playing]
Stuart says you're not swearing her in.
You tell her you want to be her VP?
[sighs] The job is making
her life easier, which I'm doing.
I'm not walking around
in a constitutional crisis
with a resume stapled to my forehead.
[Neil] Sorry, Mr. Wyler?
Mrs. Rayburn would like to speak to you
when she's off with the president.
[elevator doors open]
[door knocks, opens]
She wants to offer asylum
to Margaret Roylin. We still have her?
- Yeah.
- In the safe house?
I had to move her, but
Yeah, another safe house.
Tell her we'll find a cottage in Vermont.
It'll look like the Cotswolds.
No, it won't.
Why?
I didn't want to ask.
Really?
She was on the phone with the fucking
presidential widow.
Trowbridge is ready
to take Roylin off her hands.
This is probably safer.
I don't think she should pull the trigger
before we talk to Langley and DOJ.
[firmly] She's the most powerful person
in the world.
And she feels totally powerless.
I'm not telling her no.
Just put the offer through.
We'll deal with the rest tomorrow.
You want this to happen now?
Ceremony's not till four.
- Take Hal with you. He's good with her.
- Ambassador
He called the president from my SCIF
without my approval. Now
Now he's on the phone
consoling the president's wife.
He'll get a yes.
[Stuart] I think we're good, right?
I'm reading.
The ambassador should get
on the plane with you.
It's looking like
- You know?
- I don't.
Vice president.
- No?
- Where did you hear that?
Well, it's not like it's a lock, but
The ambassador's husband.
The president hasn't mentioned anything?
No. [sighs]
Big day.
Yeah. Of course.
[inhales deeply] Eventually.
[chuckles softly]
The judge is on vacation.
He doesn't travel with a robe.
Neil, I swear to God.
A church. A Harry Potter store.
- Yep.
- Anything.
What a horror.
I'm so very sorry.
Now she's
President.
The United States would like
to offer you asylum.
- Does the vice president
- The president.
- Does she know?
- About this offer?
It was her idea.
You have enemies in this country.
- I have enemies everywhere.
- Not in the United States, you don't.
You'll never breathe easy
in this country again.
In the United States
I'll be perfectly safe.
Grace Penn is your president.
[indistinct chatter]
The Hyatt Regency.
There was a sticker.
- I took it off.
- Good man.
- The robe
- I don't want to know.
[footsteps approaching]
Ma'am.
- Ma'am?
- [Grace] Yeah?
The ambassador needs something
from her safe.
- Is it all right
- Yeah. It's fine.
[door closes]
[keypad beeps]
[sighs] I look like a maître d'.
What about the blouse you had on earlier?
Soaking wet. It reeks of fear.
[sighs]
Take it off.
[Kate] The blouse too.
[dryer whirring]
No.
Turn.
[softly] And then this goes
With nothing?
[sighs dismissively]
Button it.
I killed him.
Not your husband.
No.
I killed a good man
and a great president.
That's not what happened.
Of course it is. He heard what I did
and his heart halted.
You can just agree with me.
You don't have to kiss my ass.
You're the one who accused me
of a terrorist plot.
I never said that.
That's right. You accused me
of botching a terrorist plot.
I said I would have done the same thing.
And yet you were trying
to replace me with you.
As vice president, you were replaceable.
In your current role, you are not.
You didn't kill the president, ma'am.
You made a tough call.
In hindsight,
nobody likes it, you included.
Walk out the door.
[resolute orchestral music playing]
Judge Mitchell of the Third Circuit.
Madam President, it's an honor.
A terrible way to meet.
Thank you for your service.
Of course.
- What'd Roylin say?
- She's thinking about it. She'll say yes.
- Mm.
- [doors open]
Ambassador.
[music ends]
Oh. Thank you, sir.
Where is she?
We have a place reserved for you
and the foreign secretary.
- Pardon me?
- PM, I'm so sorry.
We need a camera angle that doesn't
contain the leader of another nation.
We are so grateful to you.
But the American people need to see
an exclusively American image.
I will clear your photograph,
but I have a gift for her.
That's extremely thoughtful.
She needs it now.
Sir, we're about to begin.
I know she'd love to see it.
The Gutenberg Bible.
[camera shutters clicking]
- [Judge Mitchell] I
- [Grace] I, Grace Hagen Penn
Do solemnly swear
That I will faithfully execute the office
of President of the United States.
That I will faithfully execute the office
of President of the United States
And will, to the best of my ability
preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United States.
[serious music playing]
[keyboard clacking]
Did you, um, tap a VP?
No. You don't think
I'd have mentioned it?
- Yeah. Just rumors flying.
- Already?
Do you want me to look into Synar?
He's Governor of Pennsylvania.
It's not like he hasn't been vetted.
- Yeah. Just it's
- [firmly] Not today's problem.
Everything else in the world
is today's problem.
- Welcome, sir.
- [man] Thanks.
Come on in. How was the flight?
- [man] Uh, kind of a blur.
- Yeah.
You'll have to speak
with the chief of staff.
I just need one minute of her time.
Thirty seconds.
[female agent] He's here.
Hal Wyler. Ambassador's wife.
Todd Penn. First Lady.
They put her in the ambassador's office.
- It's in here.
- [Kate] Hal.
I'll show you the corner
where the husband sits
and tries not to look diminished.
[door closes]
[exhales] Holy fucking shit.
Holy fucking shit.
[grunts, exhales]
- I don't know.
- [sighs] Yeah.
I'll get out of here. I'm so sorry.
I just need half a second.
I need to make sure you understand
that my wife is your vice president.
Every misery you've suffered
at our hands has been me. Not her.
Her play for your job, that was my idea.
She hated it from the jump.
Call to the president, she knew nothing.
She'd never have allowed it.
She is the fiercest advocate
you will ever have,
and she is effective.
Not the most rousing term used
in a payout to leadership,
but you want something,
you tell her, and it's done.
Don't believe me, put her on the plane,
start vetting, leak her name
to the Times and the Post.
By the time you hit the ground, you'll
know what the public thinks of her.
I don't want to share her
with you, Grace, but I will.
You can't do this without her.
Did you warm the pot?
I heated the pot, I threw out the water,
I put in new hot water.
Finally, he learns.
I bought more biscuits if you want
to go crazy and have a third.
Unnecessary, thank you.
Yell if it's disappointing
in some way I can't imagine.
I will.
[indistinct officer chatter]
Ambassador, she'd like to speak with you.
Sir, could you join us?
This is going to be a pain point.
I apologize for that.
I know it's complicated.
Hal.
I'd like you to be my vice president.
[poignant piano music playing]
[music fades]