She may not don camo or train for combat, but even in pantsuits and the occasional cocktail dress, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) is always ready for battle. The US ambassador to the United Kingdom is committed to finding justice for the British Royal Navy personnel murdered in an attack on the HMS Courageous warship, as well as her own foreign service officer Ronnie Buckhurst (Jess Chanliau), killed by a car bomb that also took the life of British MP Merritt Grove (Simon Chandler) and critically injured her own deputy chief of mission, Stuart Hayford (Ato Essandoh), and husband, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell). 

In Episode 4 of the second season of The Diplomat, Kate and her allies from both the American and British embassies take their strategy on the road to Scotland, which has been threatening secession from the UK. They plot a precarious plan to prove their suspicions that British Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) is the culprit behind the attacks in his own country. The battlefield is set as the diplomat leads the charge of her embassy’s special op team, or what she calls “The Other Army.” 

What happened with Stuart and the woman from the Fourth of July party?

Stuart arrives at the office in an unusually chipper mood, raving about the success of the embassy’s Fourth of July party. But his bliss is quickly extinguished when he sees the girl he had taken home that night, who he knew as Georgia, with the CIA chief — and his former girlfriend — Eidra Park (Ali Ahn).

They’re both in for surprises: Stuart learns that White House chief of staff, Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah), asked Eidra to investigate him because he wasn’t acting like himself — and Eidra sent “Georgia” to record their entire night together.

But Eidra’s shocked to learn that Georgia went beyond her directive to get Stuart drunk and talking — the two slept together. Stuart calls her “an overachiever” when he learns what actually happened. 

Among Stuart’s most damning quotes during his night of debauchery: “The US doesn’t give a shit about democracy” and “My boss is the worst kind of narcissist — she’s the kind that thinks she’s a socialist.” 

Are the Americans holding Roylin hostage?

Ever since the London car bombing, Trowbridge hasn’t been able to reach his not-so-secret advisor Margaret “Meg” Roylin (Celia Imrie). But she had reached out to Kate, and the Americans have been keeping her safe.

Now Roylin says she wants to leave, so it’s starting to look like the Americans are holding onto her against her will. But they still need to pump her for more intel.

Kate goes to see her and lets her know that Dennison is going to resign and is going to the press with accusations about Trowbridge staging the ship attack. Roylin firmly declares that the prime minister isn’t to blame. 

In a twist of loyalties, Kate tells Eidra she wants to bring Hal into the picture — he can filter out the information needed and feel no responsibility to testify since he’s currently out of a job. Eidra doesn’t like this idea. After all, Kate herself is the one who warned Eidra not to trust Hal. But Kate is firm: “There’s a lot about my marriage that’s a disaster, but this is one of its magic tricks.”

What does Roylin tell Hal?

Eidra and Howard (Adam Silver) from the American embassy escort Roylin and Hal, respectively, to a remote location and look on as they walk down what looks like an abandoned airstrip. 

It doesn’t take long for Roylin to say what she’s been holding in for so long. Hal turns back, perturbed, and tells Eidra with all the certainty in the world, “You can’t give her to the police.”

Whatever intel Hal has been given, it’s clearly delicate. All he’ll say: while government officials were involved, it’s not the prime minister. 

Kate and Eidra think Roylin is playing Hal. But there’s a shocked seriousness in his eyes — he says that Roylin has named everyone and didn’t want to tell him what she did, defiantly adding, “This is different.”

Who are the government officials who ordered the attacks?

Hal thinks Kate and Eidra need to hear it all from Roylin herself, so they go to the house. He guides her carefully saying, “Just this part,” continuing his role as intel screener.

Roylin admits that even though she pinned it on Grove previously, she ordered the Courageous attack. 

Yes, it’s a shocker. But Roylin says it was all about saving the kingdom. Scotland’s secession movement had been picking up, and they needed some tragedy to bring the UK together, so she hired Russian mercenary Roman Lenkov to attack the British ship.

But things didn’t go as planned. Using a teapot to demonstrate, she says he was supposed to use limpet mines, which would have magnetically attached to the ship and then floated away before they exploded. That would have created a dent in the ship, but a “great deal of outrage” — exactly what she needed. 

The devices weren’t available, so Lenkov used anti-ship missiles, which should have just created a bigger hole. But what they didn’t know was that the ship’s propeller shaft was damaged, so the crew emptied the fuel storage area and put spare tanks there. 

Of course, that’s where the missile hit, and instead of just some bent metal, 120 tons of diesel fuel was blown up, killing more than 40 innocent Royal Navy personnel on board. 

There’s more: Trowbridge has no knowledge of this. The only ones in on the plan were Grove, Roylin, and a far-right MP named Lenny Stendig. When Grove started to panic and asked to meet with Hal, they were afraid he would confess. So Roylin told Stendig to talk to Grove, but instead, he blew up his car. 

“It was a small plan, hatched in crisis, and everything that could go wrong did,” Roylin admits, adding that they have to stop Dennison from blaming Trowbridge. 

Kate’s reaction? She smashes the teapot into pieces, saying, “More accurate.”

So Kate, Eidra, and Hal hatch a plan: They think Trowbridge should hear the truth straight from Roylin, and they should tap his phone when she delivers it. “If he’s innocent, he calls the cops. If he’s guilty, he calls his lawyer,” Hal explains, following Kate’s thoughts. 

One way or another, they’ll know. And since they’ll all be in Inveraray, Scotland, that seems like the place to pull off the operation. 

Why does Trowbridge ask Kate to come along to Scotland?

This diplomatic visit is all about showing unity between England and Scotland, hosted by Scottish First Minister Jemma Doud (Clare Burt). 

As Kate and Trowbridge are being briefed on the schedule, he’s surprised to learn his archnemesis Dennison is coming. Kate steps in and says she invited him, while Stuart adds that it was the American embassy who did, given the nature of the foreign diplomacy talks that will be happening.

Trowbridge is more than miffed, but he has a favor to ask of Kate. Doud’s welcome remarks will actually be a list of demands, so he’d like Kate to talk her out of it. She agrees.

As it turns out, Doud is well aware of who Kate is — she remembers her from a Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference years ago when Doud was working for a delegate.

Kate tries to convince her to go gentle on the UK in her remarks, promising talks of price caps and the export slump the next day. Doud’s a tough one, though — and they’re on her soil.

How are they going to get Trowbridge to meet with Roylin?

The prime minister is still furious that Kate invited the foreign secretary, but she tells him Doud will go “light and polite” on him during her remarks, improving his mood somewhat. 

Plus, Kate knows how to work his ego. She tells him he already got what he wants. Scotland’s not seceding, and the public loves him. He should be pleased that he “saved the kingdom.” She needs to be in his good graces so she can whisk him away to see Roylin during the cocktail hour. 

So do we trust Hal now or not? 

Sure, we know Hal has some seriously dangerous info in his back pocket, and it’s clearly something big. He goes into town and buys a phone and a SIM card. From a turret, Eidra spots him making secret phone calls and confronts him about it in front of Kate. 

Hal is upfront that he did call someone, but says he won’t divulge their identity since Kate and Eidra are the ones who dragged him into this mess.

Is he up to no good or protecting Kate and the country? Only time will tell. 

How does Trowbridge react to learning Roylin ordered the attack on the HMS Courageous?

When Dennison arrives, the ball gets rolling on the plan to expose Trowbridge. The foreign minister is blindsided and led into a surveillance room, where he sees Roylin being prepped to confess to Trowbridge. 

Meanwhile, the cocktail hour with the Scots goes off without a hitch. Doud keeps her words kind, so that Trowbridge is in good spirits. Kate successfully leads him into the room with Roylin — and leaves him there with her.

Roylin spills everything. Scotland was on their way out, so she hired Lenkov to create a mess that gave Trowbridge a reason to unite the country, which he did. “The cost was devastating, but the kingdom will remain intact,” she says proudly.

Trowbridge turns around, considering what he’s been told. He can’t believe the very advisor he trusted with the most delicate info is the one who attacked their own country. 

In a fit of fury, the prime minister lunges at Roylin, grabbing her by the neck and screaming, “Fucking monster! You’re a monster!”

Dennison’s the first to run into the room to hold back Trowbridge, releasing his choke hold. Kate follows, tending to Roylin.

Roylin’s Courageous strategy didn’t go as planned — and it looks like this big reveal to the prime minister won’t either. Roylin falls back in her chair, blood streaming onto the floor from the back of her head. 

“Ma’am, look at me,” Kate pleads. “I need you to tell me you’re OK.”

All we hear is silence. 

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