The Diplomat season 2 episode 2 recap: ‘St. Paul’s’

The Diplomat season 2 episode 2, “St. Paul’s,” begins with a funeral at St. Paul’s Cathedral for Merritt Grove’s funeral in London.

After calling Kate and the Americans at the end of episode 1, Margaret Roylin (Celia Imrie) is there with Eidra Park (Ali Ahn). She’s making an appearance in public for the first time since the bombing happened. As it appears, the CIA has made it look like many people look like Roylin in attendance to cause a distraction. We don’t know why exactly, but it’s to keep her away from Trowbridge’s men and the British government. 

As we learn, they want people to stop looking for Roylin. She’s at the funeral, so she’s not missing, of course. 

In exchange for protection, Eidra and Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) want information from Roylin. They want to know what she knows, and probably most importantly, who she is afraid of. 

During his speech, Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) notices Margaret Roylin. Before he can reach her, the CIA makes their move to extract Roylin from the funeral. Roylin is escorted under and out of St. Paul’s after a quick outfit change to a CIA car where she’s taken to a safe house. 

Hal learns that Kate and Dennison were likely going to have an affair 

This is a pretty crucial revelation from Kate. After the funeral, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) asks Kate if she and Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) were going to have an affair, which she admits to. Nothing happened because Hal was blown up, obviously, but it’s a turning point of sorts in their relationship. 

Where will it lead? We don’t know yet, but it’s going to be interesting to watch this love triangle for the remainder of the season (and probably series!). Remember, The Diplomat season 3 is already happening! 

When Hal goes to the restroom or the loo, as the Brits call it, Dennison also reveals to Kate that Margaret Roylin was at the funeral, which Kate already knew obviously. Kate also apologizes for the night in Paris, but Dennison shakes off the apology and mentions that everything is okay. Is it, though, Austin? 

Anyway, Kate continues the pressure to get Dennison to stop the Lenkov assassination. Kate wants him alive, so they can find out who exactly hired him. She still thinks it’s Trowbridge. 

Stuart returns to work after the bombing

After the funeral, Stuart Heyford (Eto Assandoh) shows up at the US Embassy to work. They’re obviously shocked to see him in such a state, but he said he couldn’t sit at home and think about Ronnie. 

Kate questions him in a friendly way about his relationship with Eidra, but Stuart reveals that she dumped him. There’s a lot of unfinished business in that relationship, but it’s tricky to navigate with everything going on. It’s definitely something to watch throughout the season to see how the will-they-won’t-they plays out. 

Hal and Stuart meet at the office for the first time since the bombing, but it’s kind of contentious. Stuart obviously has a lot of emotions he’s working through, but Hal, who has a very different perspective, doesn’t feel any need to apologize. 

Margaret Roylin reveals that British citizens hired Roman Lenkov to attack HMS Courageous

At the embassy, Roylin is being held in a safe room in the basement. Eidra says that Roylin won’t talk until she meets with Dennison because she feels for her life. 

Kate doesn’t want to loop Dennison in, given the state of their relationship, but she asks him anyway. More like, she actually demands that he come to the embassy. 

Finally, he shows up, and he’s not exactly happy to learn that Roylin is there. She tries to warn him that he’s going to get himself killed by the same people who killed Grove if he isn’t careful. She also tells Kate and Eidra that she knows who they are, but she’d be killed, as well. 

Dennison still doesn’t want to play ball, but Roylin drops another bomb. 

She admits that it was British citizens, including Merritt Grove, hired Roman Lenkov to attack the ship. Kate guesses that it happened to change public sentiment and bring a “unifying event” because the Scottish secession movement had already gained too much steam. 

Roylin also shares that it all happened because Kate called her and the people who killed Grove and Ronnie had tapped her phone. 

Dennison wants to turn Roylin over to the police, but Kate and Eidra talk him out of it. Eidra wants to interrogate Roylin, who wants Dennison to be quiet about Lenkov, Trowbridge, and everything unless he wants to get killed. 

Nicol Trowbridge surprises Dennison at the US Embassy

Just as they are talking it over and making a plan, Trowbridge makes a surprise appearance at the US Embassy to honor Ronnie, but it’s not about Ronnie at all to Trowbridge. He wants to speak with Kate alone, which he does. 

Trowbridge found out that Kate called Roylin from Paris, and Trowbridge wants to know why. 

After playing dumb for a few minutes, Kate lies and says that she called Roylin to ask about “handling” Trowbridge. Kate also reveals that the conversation was about Lenkov and the French complying. 

Trowbridge leaves after Kate says she will let him know if she hears from Roylin. 

After he leaves, Kate reveals what’s going on to Stuart, who is shocked. Kate alleges that Ronnie could have been killed by Trowbridge although she’s not sure. What she is sure about is that members of the British government are behind the bombing, including Merritt Grove, who was killed for the information he was going to give Hal. She also tells Stuart that Margaret Roylin is in the US Embassy. 

She also tells Stuart that everything happened because she called Roylin, who is very upset by what happened. He blames Kate and Hal for what happened, and he’s not exactly wrong. 

On their way to the airport to honor Ronnie’s body, Stuart gives Kate a piece of his mind. He warned her about Roylin, and she didn’t listen to him. She made “an error, and it was deadly,” he tells her. 

Kate blames herself for Ronnie’s death and the bombing

Later, Hal tries to make Kate feel better about what happened, but she doesn’t want to hear it. In fact, he tells her that “it’s the cost of doing business,” and she loses it. They get into a big fight about which room to sleep in. 

Kate apologizes to Hal about the times she mistreated him on the job in the past. She understands that it wasn’t Hal who was the problem, but it was the job. Then, they get into a big fight again because Hal doesn’t appreciate the apology. 

The episode ends with Hal, mid-fight, asking Kate to help take off his shoes before bed. It’s a hefty dose of reality for the couple. They may not always get along or agree, but there are clearly bigger and more important things they are working toward. This could have ended very differently with Hal, and I think they both understand that.