Diksha Sundriyal
The fourth season of Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat‘ continues Kate Wyler’s turbulent time as the American ambassador to the UK. Every season, she tries to clean up the mess, often created by her own people. With the theft of Poseidon from the Russian submarine, she once again finds herself defending the actions of Grace Penn. However, she is not the only one who can feel a mounting pressure. UK PM Nicol Trowbridge has also repeatedly found himself in a tricky position due to actions often beyond his control. He reaches a breaking point in this season, marking his exit from the office, though probably not yet from the show. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Ghost of Margaret Roylin Haunts Trowbridge
When we meet Nicol Trowbridge in Season 1, it is in the aftermath of the attack on a British vessel which leads to the deaths of several British soldiers. This is taken as an attack on Britain’s sovereignty, and the PM vows to find and kill the perpetrators. It takes two whole seasons before he discovers that his mentor, Margaret Roylin, is behind it. This is a major shock for him because he used to idolize her. She was the voice in his ears, driving his policies for the nation. So, discovering that she had been working her own agenda in the background makes him feel like a puppet. He gets so angry at her that he tries to strangle her, promptly stopped by the people around him.
The only upside of this revelation is that he is free of her influence now. Still, he needs someone he can rely on, and that’s where foreign secretary Austin Dennison comes in. Trowbridge can trust him because Dennison actually wants to work to better the nation and has no hidden agenda that’d make him go behind the PM’s back. He is known to be straightforward and not manipulative and secretive like Roylin. So, even when she is placed under house arrest, and a tweaked truth about the attack is revealed, Trowbridge has something tying him to sanity. But then, Dennison goes to India where he dies in a helicopter accident, and Trowbridge is left in such shock that he doesn’t know how to function.
By this time, Roylin has killed herself while being kept under watch by the CIA. With Dennison gone, her ghost materializes in the form of a voice that constantly questions and taunts Trowbridge. There is no one and nothing to keep a lid on it, and meanwhile, the Americans keep making things worse. Previously, it was decided that they would bury the Russian submarine and the Poseidon so no one gets their hands on it. But then they present a severely reduced budget, and Trowbridge sits down to discuss it shortly after discovering Dennison is dead. He has no time to process the information and is still in shock when he walks into the meeting, with Roylin’s ghost’s voice growing stronger.
The Americans Snap the Final Thread of Trowbridge’s Sanity
As the PM, Nicol Trowbridge already has a lot on his plate, but the chaos caused by the Americans keeps getting worse. The revelation about the attack on the British ship, the financial question of burying Poseidon, and then discovering that the weapon isn’t there because his so-called allies stole it from under his nose is a bit too much. What makes Americans queasy is that he is not the kind of person who would shove things under the rug. The last time, they thought they’d convinced him to blame the attack on the British ship on Roylin. But then he stood before the press and named late President Rayburn as the primary culprit, as he had been told. Now, they worry that he will spill the beans on Poseidon as well.
The theft is a major breach of trust between the two parties, and it makes sense that Trowbridge would want some accountability from the Americans. But they are ready to do whatever it takes to bury the whole thing, including blackmailing the PM. Hal suggests Kate threaten Trowbridge with the video in which he can be seen strangling Roylin. At first, she doesn’t like the idea. Still, eventually, when it becomes clear that Trowbridge will not listen to her, she calls in his new foreign secretary and tells her all about the attack on the British ship, including how the PM was caught on tape strangling Roylin. Her abrupt actions catch him off guard, especially since he considered Kate one of the better people out there.
Still, the threat is credible, and Trowbridge knows he cannot find a way around it. It also means that the same threat can be used against him again and again, basically turning him into a puppet for the Penn administration. So, he has a proper sit-down with his new foreign secretary, fills her in on everything from his side as well, including the part about Poseidon, and then concludes that it would be best if he stepped down from his role as the leader of his nation. The fact that he can be blackmailed means he is compromised already. Moreover, hallucinating Roylin all the time means he is not mentally fit to hold the office. If he is perpetually distracted by his mentor’s ghost, he cannot perform his job well.
And so, he finds it in the national interest to give up the reins to someone else who doesn’t have all this baggage and can start fresh. Does this mean we won’t be seeing Trowbridge again? There is a good chance of that, since he’d prefer to distance himself from politics as much as possible and focus on himself. But as the former PM, his insights could prove valuable to the next PM, Bethan Vaughn. As she faces a bully in Grace Penn, she will want to know how to tackle her. She could seek out Trowbridge for advice. This means he’ll likely appear in a cameo, but his role as the main player in the US-UK relations is done.
Read More: Who is Bethan Vaughn? Is She Based on a Real UK PM? Who Plays Her in The Diplomat?
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