The New President Shocks Kate And Hal With A Serious Curveball — Grade It!

We’ve been waiting a year to find out what happens next on “The Diplomat” — and the Season 3 premiere wasted no time in telling us.

Thursday’s premiere picks up right where we left off: with Hal telling Kate over the phone that President Rayburn is dead. Kate rushes into a secret room where they break the news to Penn, who barely has time to collect herself before staffers are calling her “Madame President” and setting up the embassy for the ceremonial swearing in. She wants answers, though, after Kate reveals that Hal was on the phone with Rayburn when he died. “What the f–k did he say to the President?” Penn asks. Kate doesn’t know, but a suspicious Penn orders her to stay close: “I want you right where I can see you.”

While the White House chief of staff announces the sad news to the nation, embassy staffers run around trying to make the place look properly presidential for the swearing in. (They decide the lobby is the best location, but they call it the Hall of the Great Seal for more gravitas.) When Hal arrives, he comes right out and says it: “I killed him.” He told Rayburn about Penn’s false flag operation, and Rayburn turned white and keeled over. “I thought I was warning the commander-in-chief he had a rogue deputy, which he did,” he pointedly tells Penn. (Ouch.) The UK Prime Minister Trowbridge insists on being there for the ceremony — and he says he’ll take Margaret Roylin into custody as a show of good faith to the new administration.

Hal is worried that Penn blames him for Rayburn’s death, but Kate tries to keep him on task: “A terribly flawed woman is now the President, and only we know just how flawed.” She thinks she has to be Penn’s VP now “just so we can keep an eye on her.” Dennison calls to offer his condolences, and Kate invites him to the ceremony. They’re both a little concerned about what Trowbridge will do with Roylin, too, now that he has her in custody. Kate passes a note to Penn asking her to grant Roylin asylum, and Penn nods her approval. They pass the offer along to Roylin, but she’s still reeling from the news that Penn is President: “What a horror.”

Meanwhile, the ceremony is already a comedy of errors: They can’t find the right size Bible for Penn to swear on, and the judge they found doesn’t have his ceremonial robe with him. Even Penn is panicking a bit, complaining in the ladies’ room that the suit she’s wearing makes her “look like a maître d’.” Kate pulls her together, though, lending her a black blouse to wear and styling it underneath her jacket. Penn knows that Kate wanted her out, but Kate reassures her those days are over: “As vice president, you were replaceable. In your current role, you are not.” Trowbridge arrives, trying to get a photo op with the new prez, and he has a gift: a Gutenberg Bible from 1455. The perfect size!

After Penn takes the oath of office, her husband Todd — hi, Bradley Whitford! — arrives, slyly introducing himself as the new “First Lady.” He and Penn share a long hug, but Hal can’t wait any longer and interrupts, telling Penn: “I need you to understand that my wife is your vice president.” He makes an impassioned case for Kate to be her VP, insisting she can get the job done: “I don’t want to share her with you, Grace, but I will. You can’t do this without her.” Roylin settles into her safe house, drinking a cup of tea and taking a pill… and then another… and then another. (Uh-oh.) Then Penn calls in Kate and Hal and tells them she’s made a decision that may be a bit of “a pain point” for them: She wants Hal to be her VP. Oh! How does Second Lady sound to you, Kate?

Season 3 of “The Diplomat” is now streaming in full on Netflix — give the season a grade in our poll, and hit the comments to share your thoughts on the premiere.