![]() Above all, The Diplomat rests on the power of its star, and Russell doesn’t disappoint: The actress delivers the same intensity she did in The Americans without racking up a body count. The Diplomat toggles between the pressure-cooker environment of international diplomacy and a combative marriage with real verve imagine Aaron Sorkin–esque banter without the outdated political idealism. It’s the kind of position that would typically appeal to Kate’s shifty husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), a former ambassador who must contend with the spotlight that’s being pointed in his wife’s direction for once. In The Diplomat, created by West Wing alum Debora Cahn, an international crisis that involves an attack on a British aircraft carrier in the Middle East leads to no-nonsense foreign services officer Kate Wyler’s (Keri Russell) appointment as the United States’ new ambassador to the United Kingdom. The Night Agent is already one of Netflix’s most-watched original series to date, but while the show is tremendously fun, the company’s real crown jewel in the Dad TV space is a bit more elevated: a high-stakes political thriller in which snappy dialogue feels as charged as a fight scene. While Prime Video remains the go-to streamer for Dad Television, Netflix finally got in on the game this year, and the results have been encouraging. Copenhagen Cowboy won’t be for everyone, but if you can get on the show’s self-indulgent wavelength, it’s a mesmerizing experience that could be delivered only by Refn. If that sounds high energy, I should note that the pacing is so slow you’d think someone released quaaludes into the local water supply. The bare-bones plot concerns Miu (Angela Bundalovic), a soft-spoken loner who passes through various criminal organizations using her supposedly supernatural gifts until she acquires a taste for vengeance. Scenes suddenly interrupted by borderline fetishistic bouts of ultraviolence? You know it. A synth-heavy Cliff Martinez score? Check. A seedy underworld that’s brought to life with neon-lit compositions and leering 360-degree camera pans? Check. Refn’s latest project, the six-episode Netflix series Copenhagen Cowboy, amounts to a greatest-hits compilation from the filmmaker. The same sentiment applies to the recent works of Nicolas Winding Refn, the polarizing Danish auteur who has migrated from the big screen to streaming services without compromising his unique sensibilities. With those exceptions in mind, these are the best shows of the year so far.įor fans and detractors alike, it’s become something of a running joke that Wes Anderson has such a recognizable (and somewhat unchangeable) aesthetic that you could identify one of his movies from a single frame. It’s been so overwhelming, in fact, that I have an ever-growing list of acclaimed series that I still need to catch up on-apologies to Dead Ringers, Somebody Somewhere, Jury Duty, The Other Two, and Perry Mason, which I promise I’ll get to at some point. ![]() (Full disclosure: I’m a member of the Writers Guild of America, East.) At the same time, I wouldn’t blame the average viewer if such concerns aren’t at the top of their mind: For all the industry turmoil, there’s been no shortage of good shows that have come out in the first half of 2023. If a new deal isn’t reached between studios and the Writers Guild of America in the coming months, the ongoing strike could begin affecting TV lineups this fall and beyond. It’s a strange time to be covering television.
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