ABSURDUS apoPLEXUS

There is quite a trend lately for television series bases on political themes, House of Cards, Veep, Scandal, Homeland and Madame Secretary to mention just a few of them. The world of politics and international diplomacy is indeed an arena full of dramatic possibilities, a fertile field for any scriptwriter to be inspired by and the latest brouhaha in the Senate regarding a vote on a diplomatic appointment confirms this. It has also provided the perfect fodder for a new daytime drama under development  for C-SPAN. Here is the leaked synopsis of episode 1.

 

Scene 1: Interior, breathtaking Santa Monica beach residence, California. An ex soap-opera female producer, of a certain unidentifiable age and stylish attire, gets a call from the State Department. She is being rewarded for her generous political party contributions with an ambassadorial gig in Budapest, Hungary. She's a little annoyed that they didn't offer something in Scandinavia as she tells her gorgeously young assistant. She then proceeds to make a mysterious phone call.

 

Scene 2: Voting chamber, US Senate, Washington DC. A maverick, silver-haired, hawkish Senator believes that no such person as the ex-soap-producer lady can be a match with Hungary's "neo-fascist", Russophile "dictator". Sais as much out loud.

 

Scene 3: Foreign Ministry & PM's office (split scene),  Budapest. The Hungarian Foreign Minister converses on the phone with the aforementioned "neo-fascist" leader, who is technically democratically elected and quite pissed off, demanding someone's head on a platter. That someone is the local US Charge d' affaires as we learn at the end of the scene.

 

Scene 4: Interior, US Embassy, Budapest. The US Charge d' affaires, a disarmingly handsome man with excellent tailoring, is informed by the Embassy's chief of staff, a middle-aged, yet charming man, of his imminent departure back to the States.

 

Scene 5: Interior, cozy wood-panelled coffee shop, Budapest. The dashing US Charge d' affaires is having a quite intimate tête–à–tête with his stunningly beautiful Hungarian girlfriend whom he's having an illicit affair with and who we lean happens to be the daughter of the ruthless ruler. The US Charge d' affaires is torn between following his orders and abandoning his true love or staying illegally to save her and her country from the clutches of her autocratic father. The episode ends with a cliffhanger of sorts when she confesses to her beloved that she's pregnant.

 

Later on in the series it is revealed that the ex-soap-producer lady is secretly working for the CIA to depose the dictatorial despot and that she's also, unbeknown to her, the biological mother of the US Charge d' affaires.