“The Diplomat,” the hit Netflix drama starring Keri Russell as a career stateswoman, has an ever-shifting tone that keeps you on your toes. Creator Debora Cahn is an alumnus of “The West Wing” and “Homeland”; sure enough, “The Diplomat” has the latter’s international intrigue and the former’s zippy workplace patter. But there’s also a hint of “Scandal” in Russell’s hyper-capable professional navigating affairs of the heart as well as state, and a jag of true, transcendental weirdness that’s entirely this series’ own. Most of this X factor can be found in the dynamic between Russell’s Kate Wyler, the newly appointed American ambassador to the United Kingdom, and her husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), a dashing maverick getting used to the passenger’s seat after heading the American embassy in Beirut.
In Season 1, these sometimes-clashing…
