Critical response Season 1 Rotten Tomatoes reported an 84% approval rating with an average rating of 7.7/10 based on 57 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "
Keri Russell's scrappy performance negotiates the best possible terms for
The Diplomat, a soapy take on statecraft that manages to make geopolitical crises highly bingeable entertainment."
Metacritic assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Julian Borger wrote in
The Guardian that there "is a fair amount to be incredulous about", with Netflix having "taken a lot of liberties to keep
The Diplomat racing along like a thriller." However, "for all the dramatic licence taken with the plot and characters", the producers "made sure they got at least some of the details absolutely right." He argued that "most current and former diplomats were ready to overlook the impurities" and were appreciative that diplomacy was being "given its moment under the bright lights." Nevertheless, Borger noted that some felt that the series was a "missed opportunity" that "carries on a long tradition of shows that put a foreign policy focus in the title, and then veer completely off into something that has nothing or little to do with actual diplomacy." The
Radio Times was more critical, calling it a "simplistic, bland, and easily digestible political drama" that "isn't particularly thrilling or complex" and "never feels particularly high stakes." Meanwhile, the
Financial Times lamented that the series "spurns the opportunity to provide a considered look at international relations in favour of a generic and improbably-plotted yarn" and "lacks delicacy and nuance." The paper described it as "so exaggerated that it has little to say about actual statecraft and so dry and insistently talky that it struggles to entertain."
Season 2 Rotten Tomatoes reported a 96% approval rating with an average rating of 8.0/10 based on 46 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Maintaining explosive momentum with Keri Russell as the arresting eye of the storm,
The Diplomats sophomore season solidifies it as among television's most entertaining dramas." Metacritic assigned a score of 76 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
The Guardian was enthusiastic about the second season, calling it "several great shows all at once" and concluding that "
The Diplomat should slot effortlessly into any list of the best dramas of the year."
Season 3 Rotten Tomatoes reported a 97% approval rating based on 30 critic reviews. The website's critics consensus reads, "Elevating both the geopolitical and personal stakes while remembering to have fun,
The Diplomat goes from strength to strength throughout its dishy third season." Metacritic assigned a score of 84 out of 100 based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Varietys Alison Herman praised the third season and wrote, "In Season 3,
The Diplomat recommits to this core mission, a pivot that pays dividends." == Accolades ==