The Diplomat Season 4 Finale Is Shocking, Empowering, and Surprisingly Sad

This story contains spoilers for The Diplomat.

It seems in every season of The Diplomat, the U.S. is pushed closer and closer to war, but this time it really feels like it. In season 4 of the Netflix series, all signs point to armed conflict. That’s literally the case for President Grace Penn (Allison Janney), who sent American warships to British shores for questionable reasons. How exactly did we get here?

It’s an issue that’s been snowballing throughout the whole series. At the start of season 4, we know that the U.S. has secretly taken a nuclear weapon, called the Poseidon, from a Russian submarine off the English coast. But Britain and Russia don’t know that—they think the Poseidon is still there. Britain finds out when Vice President Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewell) breaks the news to Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) during negotiation talks. This, of course, infuriates Trowbridge, and the Americans worry he’ll rat them out. So, Ambassador Kate Wyler (Keri Russell) plays dirty and blackmails him into staying quiet. It shakes Trowbridge up. He resigns from his post.

The entry of his successor, Prime Minister Bethan Vaughn (Jodie Whittaker), changes things. Vaughn knows that Kate likely caused Trowbridge’s resignation. She understandably wants some space from the Americans. So when Russia tells her it wants to retrieve the bodies of the soldiers who died on the submarine (the one that had the Poseidon), Vaughn lets them. President Penn doesn’t like that. Once Russia sees that the Poseidon is missing, they will surely retaliate. Grace Penn will do anything to make sure they don’t find out. She orders Kate to urge Vaughn to change her mind, “or I will send warships to do it for her.” Grace means it. And as her husband Todd (Bradley Whitford), special envoy to the U.K., later relays, they will shoot at anything that tries to get past. Even civilians.

Grace’s threats give her cabinet pause. Sending U.S. warships to the U.K. and firing at Russian vessels that are simply retrieving their dead will certainly lead to nuclear war. But no matter who tries to reason with her, be it Kate, Hal, secretary of state Miguel Gannon (Miguel Sandoval), or her chief of staff Billie Appiah (Nana Mensah), she won’t budge. Remember, Grace was shot during a trip to the U.K. early in the season. Her harsh stance could be a message to anyone who thinks she’s now fragile; she wants to prove them wrong. Her husband Todd theorizes this much, but she brushes off his assumptions.

Her inner circle continues to try to change her mind as they travel to Italy for the G7 summit. Kate and Hal suggest a fair alternative: that the U.S. and U.K. retrieve the dead for Russia to avoid any possible violence, but Grace doesn’t bite. Stuart Hayward (Ato Essandoh), Kate’s deputy chief of mission and right hand, even files a report in the internal, sanctioned dissent channel to voice his disapproval. The forum was made for situations like this, but Grace believes Stuart took it too far. He is removed from his post in London and sent back to D.C., which means the future of his career—and his relationship with CIA lead Eidra Park (Ali Ahn), who will remain in the U.K.—is now uncertain. The twist only makes an already-scary turn of events even scarier. Now the president is punishing her own staff for exercising the First Amendment. How much farther will she go?

A lot farther, actually. The morning of the G7 summit, Kate learns that President Penn has already launched the warships overnight, without anyone’s knowledge. As the G7 assembly gathers, the president makes a statement to get ahead of the speculation. She reveals that the Brits have allowed the Russians into their waters, which she disagrees with. She admits that the U.S. is “prepared to fire on any country that interferes with our mission.”

It’s the last straw for Kate. In the middle of proceedings, she gets up, faces Grace, and tenders her resignation. She can no longer support the actions of the Penn administration, so she leaves. Moments later, Billie and Miguel follow. Finally, so does Hal—it’s not just a strong show of support from a man to his wife, but also a show of dissent from the vice president to his commander in chief. Together, the four of them face reporters as they exit the premises. The credits roll before we hear what Hal tells the press.

The bombshell raises massive questions for the series: What will happen when the titular diplomat is no longer a diplomat? Will anyone call the president’s ships back? Will a prospective fifth season focus on stopping World War III? It’s also strange to watch as a viewer living in America right now. A president overstepping her power, disregarding the First Amendment, and threatening war on a whim? Where have we seen that before? “It does feel honest to say these events are not happening in a vacuum,” showrunner Debora Cahn told Deadline about season 4.

In The Diplomat, the president’s closest advisers stand up to her and try to hold her to an ethical standard. And when she doesn’t meet it, they walk out. Who is doing that in real life? Somehow, two impeachments don’t feel like a strong enough response for everything that’s transpired.

The last scene of season 4 is meant to play out as an empowering one, and it is. With dramatic pauses and swelling music, Kate and her colleagues exit one by one, leaving behind their powerful jobs and making themselves targets for possible retaliation by the president of the United States. It’s TV. It’s Hollywood. But it’s also depressing to see how far away it is from our current reality. The Diplomat doesn’t have any dragons or magic, but it’s escapist in another way.