(Editor’s note: the following post includes spoilers for season 2 of “The diplomat. “)

It only took three minutes to “The diplomat” to completely upset Hal and Kate Wyler in the season 2 finale. That’s the exact time that passed between when the ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kate Wyler (Keri Russell), told the vice-president President Grace Penn (Allison Janney) that she will not reveal to Hal her role in the deadly attack (Rufus Sewell) telling Kate that Grace is now President of the United States.

And let’s move on to the credits. Three minutes, and Hal and Kate are completely undone; for the first time, they are in the passenger seat. And by ending with a close-up of Janney, the balance of power has officially shifted. Following the gripping 180 Seconds, IndieWire spoke to Editor-in-Chief Gary Levy about putting together the final moments that change the game.

“They shot a lot and there were a lot of fantastic shots that we ended up not even using because we kept tightening them up to get to the heart of each beat and keep it as kinetic and not let the audience get too ahead of time,” he told IndieWire. “So it was a bit of a pain to edit because there was so much gold that we had to get rid of just to keep it in good shape.”

The tension begins with a seemingly innocuous scene of Hal walking through a maze of offices at CIA headquarters, en route to an official call from the U.S. government to explain the vice president’s role in the bombing. But there is a shiver of unease as “The Diplomat” changes strategy towards us.

“As Hal (walks), we play music and the music says something is happening,” Levy said. “We lead a little bit with the music, which we don’t usually do. But in this case, we wanted to let the audience know that there was a little evil at play. And then we decided to leave the whole conversation between Allison and Keri high and dry.

The shift from an office with rising music to a bucolic scene with only ambient noise (and decidedly unbucolic conversation) is subtly unsettling. At the 44:47 mark, Vice President Grace Penn demands to know if Kate will tell anyone about the bombing the Vice President secretly orchestrated. Kate protects herself by saying, “I’m not telling anyone,” as the scene cuts to Hal telling the President directly.

Back to Grace and Kate, as Grace calls out the ambassador for her enlightenment and Kate pushes back more aggressively than before, patriotism and ambition blurring until she doesn’t even seem to know which one is dominant. “It was a really tricky sequence to work on,” Levy said. “And Keri’s performance – (Kate) just can’t help herself in this argument.” Ultimately, we choose how crazy Kate is. You had a lot of choice in how angry he was and how strong he was. So there were a lot of tricky choices in there.

Back to Hal, running out of the conference room and banging on a window, demanding that someone call his wife on the phone. “For a long time, we had a score that started when Hal rushed, and it was very action,” Levy said. “But the way we ended it, other than the music at the beginning and the end, the middle is very dry. And I think that intrigues you.

Another tense moment between Grace and Kate over whether or not Kate is qualified to be vice president is interrupted by Hal’s call and the score returning. As Hal struggles to explain, the music picks up and we cut to an overhead shot of 22 Secret Service agents running out of the ambassador’s residence.

“We played with it a lot when you see everyone running out,” Levy said. “If I remember correctly, in the script, (Hal) said, ‘The president is dead,’ and then you see all hell break loose. And it seemed a little strange, like it was too perfectly timed. So what we did was everyone ran out and then Kate noticed him. So you don’t know why they’re short, and then he says, “The president is dead.”

As Kate reacts, we cut to another overhead shot of Secret Service agents rushing toward the vice president, standing in eye-catching burgundy. As we shout: “Madame! » Grace turns around. “Grace Penn is president,” we see Hal frantically telling Kate. As her face falls at the news, the scene cuts to Grace, as the camera slowly zooms in. And the scene.

There were many options to choose from for this final plan; Janney delivered a range of expressions as Grace turned to the camera. “There wasn’t a big difference in his performance,” Levy said. “But a subtle difference makes a huge difference between being simply surprised or being surprised with a sense of preparation. You see a little fight in her when she turns around, I think.

But ending the show on someone other than Kate Wyler? This is perhaps the most shocking revelation of all. “It was an important choice,” Levy said. “It made perfect sense to me to end with Kate’s reaction. And towards the end, we turned it around. The last time (we see) Kate is what was originally the last shot of the season. We just moved it all at once. It was very late. We really worked a lot on the ending, right up until the very end. And that was one of the final decisions and it was (showrunner) Debora Cahn’s decision. At these times, she intentionally withdraws. When you have a moment that feels a little forced or manipulated, she always wants to tuck it in. (End on Grace) just seems a little more natural, a little less manipulated. It’s more grounded.

“The Diplomat” is now streaming Netflix.