The Diplomat season 2 episode 6 ending explained: A death creates a new world order

Spoilers ahead for The Diplomat season 2 episode 6

The Diplomat's second season has been incredibly solid and increasingly good as its gone on but my goodness does episode 6, "Dreadnought," kick us into high gear. After we came off the season 1 finale, I didn't consider that the series would end yet another season with a cliffhanger that upended what we've known about the show but it did and it did so excellently.

During the episode, we were kind of in this polite battle of wills. Now that Kate is aware of what Vice President Grace Penn's hand in the attack on the HMS Courageous, she'd come to realize that she needed to step into the role that everyone has tried to cast her in. This meant color in her wardrobe like the powder blue suit that seemingly came out of nowhere and containing her hair in a bun (it needed bobby pins but she's a work in progress!).

All of this was well and good until she learned that Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge had pitched Penn to President William Rayburn as the nuclear czar for the US. She'd be in charge of reducing weapons stockpiles and growing the nation's nuclear power capacity. The two men have talked about wanting one such czar in each country. Penn would be able to do this as VP, so it showed that Rayburn had confidence in her that he was considering her for the position. He, however, didn't know what she did.

Kate knew she couldn't let that happen so, before dinner with the Australians, Stuart pulled Trowbridge's man Randall to the side to let him know the PM needed to pull any remarks about the VP becoming the nuclear czar from his dinner speech. Well, Trowbridge did so but he bumbled the delivery so it became very clear that he didn't mention Penn's new position because of Kate. The politeness dropped after that and Kate directed Hal to tell the VP that she knew about Roylin. Cue one of the best scenes in the season!

The reason VP Grace Penn told Margaret Roylin to attack a British warship

As Penn put it, "The quickest way for Russia to penetrate [American] naval forces is steaming from the Arctic to the North Atlantic." The US military presence in the Artic consists of two locations in Alaska and one off the coast of Greenland. The Russians have infantry, naval, radar, search and rescue, and air defense all across the northern half of their country. They've successfully built up a robust Artic presence since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Penn informed Kate that the US lost two of Russia's most sophisticated submarines in the North Atlantic for three weeks. The only reason their Losharik submarine was found was because it caught fire. The military doesn't know how many submarines the Russians have, but they think they have a rough understanding of where they are in the Arctic.

All of the UK nuclear weaponry is located in Creegan, Scotland. They're one of the nine nuclear powers. Their base is the only one in Europe where the US can dock their nuclear subs. It's also the last place where the military will be able to detect a Russian sub before it starts heading toward New York. Creegan will be the first base hit in the European theater of war. The Scots hate that they're targets and if Scotland won independence they'd have closed the base.

In a world in which Russian sub activity and air incursions increased exponentially after the US took their forces out of Iceland, and Russia annexed Crimea because the US pulled their combat brigades from Europe, America could not afford to lose Scotland. That's why Penn went to Roylin. She didn't absolve herself of guilt, but she doesn't care about Kate's opinion on the reason why she wants the truth buried, the fact is, in her mind, she avoided a nuclear conflict and she'll have to live with the 43 people lost because of her decision.

But thanks to a choice Hal Wyler made at the end of "Dreadnought," Penn lost her job but only because she got a big promotion.

How did President Rayburn die in The Diplomat?

After Hal and Kate argued about whether to say something about what Penn did, they finally landed on telling Secretary of State Miguel Ganon. Hal need to be the one to do it because Kate would have to have a clean profile if she's going to be Vice President. But Hal being Hal decided to change his call. He asked to speak to the president instead, talk about tactical error!

Rayburn was so upset by the news of Penn's involvement with the attack on the British aircraft carrier that he died. The man had heart issues which is something Hal didn't factor in to his decision making. So now he's accidentally killed the president and Grace Penn is the leader of the free world, the same woman that he and Kate have made an enemy of and who knows they're aware of her gigantic secret. That's one way to head into The Diplomat season 3! Our reaction?:

The Diplomat will be back for a third season. Stay tuned to Americans Undercover for coverage and follow us on X for more content!