We may be looking at a new breakout hit on Netflix as of this week, a strong debut at #1 for a show with high critic and audience scores, unseating the last show with high critic and audience scores, Beef. But that series took a little while to spool up through word of mouth. That’s not true for its #1 replacement, The Diplomat.

The Diplomat gives us a post-Americans project for one of its stars, Keri Russell, the titular diplomat who is an ambassador to the UK, and has a “turbulent” marriage to a political star, played by The Man in the High Castle’s Rufus Sewell. The series is eight, 50 minute episodes and it does not appear to be pitched as a one-off series, implying it will indeed try to perform well enough to be renewed for more.

The show is also reviewing quite well, which of course is never a sure thing for a Netflix series, even a highly viewed one. The Diplomat currently has a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes with a 90% audience score, though it’s still pretty early on both counts. That’s less than Beef’s 98%, but it could be argued that’s Netflix best series of the entire year so far.

What I’m wondering is if The Diplomat is going to be just a good, solid series for Netflix, or have some wild breakout performance like The Night Agent, which was a decently okay enough series, somehow rocketed to become the third best debut for a Netflix original ever, and has climbed to being the sixth most-watched show on the whole service. The Diplomat may not be quite as action-centric, but I’d argue Keri Russell and the base concept are both big draws. It seems like this one may end up doing really, really well, if I had to guess.

As for the rest of the list, Beef is still performing extremely well, despite controversies about one of its actors, David Choe, that I’m sure the general public has never heard about. Beef season 2 could happen with a new cast, according to its creator, but nothing has been announced on that front yet.

The Love is Blind train is leaving the station after its botched live finale, and will continue to slide down the list. Better Call Saul is now #4 after the final batch of episodes were added from AMC, one of Netflix’s few remaining lucrative licensing partnerships. The Night Agent and Florida Man are dropping lower in the list. I’ve never heard of The Marked Heart, but it’s apparently a Netflix original and apparently has a new season. It’s at #8.

So yes, it does seem like The Diplomat is one to check out and something I’m going to be keeping an eye on, based on this very strong debut performance. We’ll see where it goes from here.

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Update (4/23): Beef has now had another twist in its tumultuous lifespan, this time with a statement issued from stars Steven Yeun, Ali Wong and showrunner Lee Sung Jin, in relation to David Choe. (Sexual assault content warning follows).

The controversy is that David Choe, back in 2014, told a graphic story about how he sexually assaulted a masseuse. He subsequently said he made up the story and denies raping anyone. The claim is that Choe landed the role because of his friendship with the cast, in a sense rehabilitating him with a big part in a huge Netflix project.

Now, the statement made to Vanity Fair from Yeun, Wong and Jin follows, chastising Choe but claiming he has been reformed:

“The story David Choe fabricated nine years ago is undeniably hurtful and extremely disturbing. We do not condone this story in any way, and we understand why this has been so upsetting and triggering. We’re aware David has apologized in the past for making up this horrific story, and we’ve seen him put in the work to get the mental health support he needed over the last decade to better himself and learn from his mistakes.”

This has led to a rush of pushback from fans online, attempting to “cancel” the previously well-liked Yeun and Wong in particular for defending Choe. The main question posed is how anyone can prove that Choe actually made up that story or not, other than taking him at his word.

It remains to be seen whether this issue will possibly shelve another season of Beef, which Jin has said he wants to make, albeit with a new cast (and spoilers, Choe’s character did not survive the events of the first season). The show remains #2 on Netflix, and as with all cast-based controversies, it is likely a huge portion of the viewing audience has not heard about any of this at all.

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