The Diplomat Season 4 Is Out, and Most Critics Think It Is the Best Season Yet

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The Diplomat season four reached Netflix on October 15, eight episodes all at once, and the reviews are strong. Tom's Guide gave it 4.5 out of 5 and called it Netflix's best drama, AbsoluteGeeks scored it 4.7, and Collider gave it a flat 10 out of 10, which is the sort of number that makes me suspicious in a good way.

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Keri Russell is singled out by nearly everyone as Kate Wyler. Rufus Sewell, Allison Janney and Bradley Whitford are all praised too, and the season narrows its focus to a single crisis and a handful of relationships, which some reviewers like and others find a little claustrophobic.

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It is not unanimous. Sunday Guardian gave it four out of five and said the political plot gets a little too wild, and TV & City called the season messy and occasionally frustrating, while still saying it is very watchable and that Russell is excellent. I think that is the honest read of a show that loves a twist.

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What I notice is how consistently a series with no big gimmick keeps getting good notices. It is a workplace drama about a woman who is good at a hard job and worse at the rest of her life, with world politics as a high-stakes backdrop, and that is a durable idea.

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It was third on Netflix's weekly series chart for the week of October 19, with 5.5 million views, behind Below and Nobody Wants This. Is it your favourite Netflix drama, or do you still prefer the early seasons?