The Diplomat season 2 episode 5 ending explained: The real reason VP Grace Penn is being ousted by the White House

Major spoilers ahead for The Diplomat season 2 episode 5

When I say The Diplomat season 2 episode 5, "Our Lady of Immaculate Deception," is a doozy! It picks up right after Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge was told the earth-shattering secret that his favored advisor Margaret Roylin was a part of the group responsible for the attack on the HMS Courageous.

Ambassador Kate Wyler and co. were banking on his response giving them a clear answer on whether he knew about it. Well, he gave them an answer alright. He choked Roylin and when he was forced to let her go by Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison, she fell back in her chair and hit her head. She was bleeding profusely but she survived.

With Trowbridge's innocence abundantly clear that left the issue of what to do next. Cue the arrival of Vice President Grace Penn and a plot twist no one could have seen coming!

Why is Grace Penn really being replaced as Vice President?

Penn's presence is a force the minute she's on-screen. She's up to date on everything that's happened, she read the report. What she wasn't aware of was how much Kate was involved in the discovery of the conspiracy to trick the British public into staying united. Penn seemed intrigued by that information but didn't say much about it.

When she called the PM and Dennison to the ambassador's mansion, she led the meeting so deftly that it was inspiring to Kate. Penn was able to get Trowbridge to sit on the story about what really happened to the HMS Courageous. She did so by guiding him as if it was his idea. Instead of going with Dennison's choice to slowly tell the public the truth, Trowbridge instead decided to say nothing because, as Penn pointed out, revealing the conspiracy would result in his resignation whether he did so immediately or in a year. The PM always serves his own interests.

Kate's opinion of the VP didn't change even after she took her to task about her appearance when giving advice about being the vice president. It's well known that the ambassador wants to focus on the meat of the job and not the visuals. She'd prefer to disappear so that the work stands out and not her. But the VP can't do that which Penn explained rather pointedly as she shared her opinion that Kate looked like a "sloppy hussy," in the ambassador's words.

Their one-on-one meeting cemented Kate's belief that Penn shouldn't be going anywhere. She expressed her feelings while at dinner with the VP and Hal Wyler. She advocated for Penn and felt that she could ride out the backlash. It's the move that Hal would make. If the White House were trying to force him out over something his spouse did, he wouldn't let it happen. At all.

Hal's point, however, was that the administration wasn't willing to ride this out with Penn. They don't want her. They don't want her so much that they'd rather take Kate who is un-electable, it's that dire to unseat Penn. After dinner, Kate apologized for Hal. She and Penn shared a drink. They spoke about the VP's ambition and Kate's lack of it, and they seemed to bond.

Seeing Penn's worth, the ambassador pushed for Hal to call Billie and support Penn. He wouldn't do it. She thought it was because he wanted power by proxy which he would get if Kate became the vice president. But that's not why he refused so hard that he wrestled with Kate over the phone. Or why he went as far as to hold her down on the bed so she couldn't use the landline.

He explained that Penn didn't deserve rescuing and that she's not going down because of her husband. She's losing the vice presidency because she was the one who gave Roylin the idea for the attack on the British war ship. Shocking, I know!

Stay tuned to Americans Undercover for The Diplomat coverage. All six episodes of season 2 are available to stream on Netflix. Follow us on X for more content!