The Politician season one finale has set up a new challenge for Payton Hobart on his road to the presidency, by jumping forward in time.
The political comedy follows the ambitions of Payton Hobart (Ben Platt), with the first season focusing on his battle to be student body president at Saint Sebastian's High School.
Payton is forced to take on his nemesis Astrid Sloan (Lucy Boynton) in a war for the student body president win, but it all unravels pretty quickly.
The show, created by Glee and American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy, is a bumpy ride for high schooler Payton, when he realises he may not have quite figured out the formula for success.
Astrid undermines Payton’s race to the top by dropping out of the running on voting day, and though Payton’s wins the election by default, he later learns that the votes were counted and he would have actually lost.
That’s not the worst part though - his running mate, Infinity Jackson (Zoey Deutch), whom Payton chose because he thought her cancer would get sympathy votes, turns out to not have cancer at all.
Instead, her grandmother, Dusty Jackson (Jessica Lange), has deliberately been making Infinity sick to get attention and free things.
When the truth comes out that Payton knew Infinity didn't had cancer, he is forced to resign as student body president and loses his place at Harvard.
He's also been cut off by his adoptive father, and his adoptive mother Georgina (Gwyneth Paltrow) has made plans to run away and live with new lover she met at her horse riding club. The season finale also reveals that Georgina is now in a monastery.
Hitting what seems like rock bottom, it looks like Payton’s dreams of becoming president is over.
The season one finale episode then jumps forward in time - picking up in New York, three years after Payton was exposed for aiding and abetting the fake-cancer plot against Infinity.
He, unsurprisingly, isn’t doing too great - he’s at his back up university NYU, drinking a lot, and picking up the odd singing gig in a New York cocktail bar.
However, the finale paves the way for an exciting new political plan for Payton as a window of opportunity arises.
McAfee Westbrook (Laura Dreyfuss), who helped and encouraged Payton in his race for student body president, gets an internship with veteran senator Dede Standish (Judith Light).
McAfee realises that Dede isn’t even making an effort to campaign for her senate seat because she’s revered enough already and has run unopposed for years.
With that information, and as McAffee uncovers a few secrets about Dede’s personal life (including a martial polyamorous relationship), McAffee approaches Payton to convince him to run against Dede and potentially win the New York senate seat.
After McAfee rallies Payton's former high school opponents and allies - Skye (Rahne Jones), Alice (Julia Schlaepfer), Astrid (Lucy Boynton) and James (Theo Germaine) - Payton eventually agrees, and announces his plan to run against Dede.
However, Dede has a secret weapon - a ruthless chief of staff Hadassa Gold (played by Bette Midler). Hadassa vows to crush Payton, saying "We're going to eat him alive” - perfectly paving the way into season two of the show.
Luckily for fans, The Politician season two has arrived, and will portray the big league race for the New York senate seat between Payton and Senator Dede Standish.
Stream The Politician season 2 on Netflix from Friday, 19 June
