Pine Gap (TV series)

Last updated

Pine Gap
Pine Gap title card.jpg
Title screen for season one
Genre
Created by Greg Haddrick
Directed byMat King
Starring Parker Sawyers
Tess Haubrich
Jacqueline McKenzie
Steve Toussaint
Stephen Curry
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes6
Production
Executive producers
Producers
Production locations Alice Springs, Adelaide
Production companies
Original release
Network ABC
Release14 October 2018 (2018-10-14) –
November 11, 2018 (2018-11-11)

Pine Gap is an Australian television drama and thriller series that was released on Netflix and broadcast on ABC in 2018. The six-part series is written and created by Greg Haddrick and Felicity Packard. Mat King directs all six episodes. [3] The series was produced by Screentime.

Contents

Overview

Pine Gap is an international political thriller which is set around the Australian and United States joint defence intelligence facility at Pine Gap, south-west of the town of Alice Springs, Australia. [1]

Cast

Episodes

No.Title  [4] Directed by  [3] Written byOriginal air date  [4] Aus. viewers
1"Episode 1"Mat KingFelicity Packard14 October 2018 (2018-10-14)581,000 [5]
The A-Crew intelligence team at the Pine Gap joint defence facility detects a missile launch in Myanmar that brings down a small passenger plane, killing all aboard, including four Americans. When satellite imagery reveals a cache of missiles in range of the APEC conference attended by the U.S. President Larry Kerr and the Australian Prime Minister Philip Burke, mission director Gus Thomson orders a drone strike. Zhou Lin, an executive of the Chinese mining company Shonguran, seeks to obtain land near the defence facility and is courting Alice Springs' Arrernte people, who own the land. His activities alarm the joint intelligence team, especially when Kath reveals to station chief Ethan James that the Australian government is allowing Lin to buy the land. Brilliant computer expert Moses Dreyfus discovers malware on the facility's servers, and reports it to chief of station James. He realises it can only have been installed by an insider.
2"Episode 2"Mat KingGreg Haddrick14 October 2018 (2018-10-14)581,000 [5]
Ethan and Moses deduce that the spy installed the malware into the control room using a smartphone. The investigators suspect six members of the A-team, including Jasmina Delic and Gus Thomson, who develop a romantic relationship. The situation is compounded by news that Chinese have hacked into the Pentagon and the CIA headquarters. In the South China Sea's disputed Fiery Cross Reef, Chinese fighter jets disable a Malaysian naval warship with an EMP bomb, heightening regional tensions. While investigating the victims of the airplane crash in Myanmar, the A-team discover that the passengers included a Burmese man accused of raping Rohingya girls and a Hong Kong journalist with an "explosive story." Both the American and Australian teams suspect that the other team is withholding information.
3"Episode 3"Mat KingGreg Haddrick21 October 2018 (2018-10-21)433,000 [6]
While the A-team monitor communications relating to the US President Kerr's visit to China, Ethan, Rudy Fox, and Kath Sinclair launch a secret twelve-day investigation of the A-team to find the spy. Fox and Ethan strongly believe Jas Delic is the spy. Delic, who is working on the Myanmar airplane case, relays Thomson's suspicions that the Rohingyans were behind the missile attack to Sinclair and Jacob Kitto, but Thomson has second thoughts about this hypothesis. While monitoring Kerr's communications, he discovers a message from the Hong Kong journalist killed on the destroyed plane which he thinks refers to information found on the phone of Robert Boyle, Chief of Staff to the Australian Prime Minister. He shares his thoughts with Delic, but she gets into trouble with Kitto when she hacks into Boyle's email account.
4"Episode 4"Mat KingFelicity Packard28 October 2018 (2018-10-28)362,000 [7]
Australia-United States relations are made extremely fraught by a leaked audio recording of the US President Kerr disparaging Australia. As Thomson and Delic deepen their romantic relationship, Thomson informs his superior Fox and his father. Delic tells Thomson that she has learnt through her hack of Boyle's phone that the Australian Government is secretly negotiating a treaty of neutrality with China, information which he passes to James, Chief of Facility. Discontented with her husband Ethan's secrecy and lack of family attention, Belle James befriends Zhou Lin while visiting an Arrernte sacred site. Lin is courting the Arrernte people for the mining project, promising money and jobs. Meanwhile, Moses Dreyfus befriends a local teenage girl named Marissa Campbell, complicating the investigation.
5"Episode 5"Mat KingFelicity Packard4 November 2018 (2018-11-04)358,000 [8]
Gus' plan to consider an NSA job offer at Fort Meade, Maryland strains his relationship with Jas. Strains between the Australian and American team leaders grow over their countries' conflicting relationships with China. Simon confesses to supplying the leaked audio of President Kerr to a pro-China Japanese blogger in exchange for payments to offset his mounting debts for his children's private school fees. In a show of military strength, the United States launches a pre-emptive strike on a Chinese facility on Hughes Reef. In retaliation, the Chinese down an American fighter jet. The conflict coincides with the activation of malware on the servers and the discovery of the destroyed smartphone trigger in the canteen.
6"Episode 6"Mat KingGreg Haddrick11 November 2018 (2018-11-11)348,000 [9]

Pilot Captain Pearson survives the downing of his jet, but the Chinese are jamming the signals from his rescue device. A-Crew joins the effort to locate and extract Pearson, while also attempting to ascertain the identity of the malware activator. Moses is able to stop the malware download process from completing, but unable to prevent one file from being leaked. However, Jacob, Kath, Ethan and Rudi suspect Moses of being the culprit and bring him in for questioning, due to his poor judgment in started a relationship with apparently underage Marissa. Moses denies being the spy, but confesses to giving Marissa $12,000 to settle her welfare fraud debts. Kath is informed that the missing file from the servers has been leaked to the public. The leaker is revealed to be Arrenrte law student Immy Dupain, daughter of an important elder. The file is a video showing Gus in his decision to conduct the drone strike. Belle James has an affair with Zhou, whose mining deal has been approved by the Aboriginal and Australian authorities.

Kath is informed of the approval just as A-Crew locate Pearson and President Kerr is preparing to launch an attack on the Chinese to rescue him. Kath orders A-crew Australians to stop their operations, and Ethan manages to defuse the China standoff by convincing Kerr that the Chinese would deploy nuclear weapons if he was to follow through with his preparations. As the US and China enter into diplomatic negotiation, Simon strikes a deal with Kath to get back his A-team job in return for identifying the person who leaked the file to Immy. While police raid Eloise, Gus decides to remain at Pine Gap after his father believes that he helped save the President's life by deciding to execute the drone strike. Gus and Jas repair their relationship. Zhou meets with Immy, in a hint that she is working for Chinese intelligence.

Reception

Critical response

Luke Buckmaster of The Guardian wrote that the "soporific" series was "less a spy drama than an attempt to cure insomnia." He also criticised the series for what he regarded as its poor story-writing and unsatisfactory acting, giving it one out of five stars, as "there is nothing remotely cinematic about the drama." [10] Helen Razer of the Daily Review gave the series a negative review, disparaging it as "a poor attempt at promoting favourable propaganda about Australia–United States relations". She also criticized what she regarded as the token use of Aboriginal characters. [11]

Pat LaMarco of The Daily Free Press described Pine Gap as a "dull and sluggish attempt at a thriller". He also viewed the show's release on Netflix as a sign of what he regarded as the deteriorating quality of its content, writing that "now we will be seeing critically acclaimed dramas...and low-quality, forgettable efforts such as Pine Gap on the same [streaming] service." [12]

Whereas in contrast, Pine Gap has developed a cult status and following,[ citation needed ] often applauded for its gripping storytelling and well-developed characters without having to resort to violence. Also appreciated[ by whom? ] is the clever planning and authority of local aboriginal people - showing indigenous people as more than match for the primary forces.

Nine-Dash Line controversy

Pine Gap was removed from the content streamed by Netflix in Vietnam by order of the country's Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information because a map with the nine-dash line was shown in two episodes of the series. This refers to contentious border issues in the South China Sea. It was in a context in which characters criticised China's claim over the waters in on-screen dialogue. [13] [14]

In November 2021, the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board of the Philippines ordered Netflix to remove certain episodes that featured the nine-dash line, deeming it "unfit for public exhibition" after the country's Department of Foreign Affairs issued a complaint calling the line "illegal" and a "violation of Philippine sovereignty". [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pine Gap</span> Joint United States and Australian military satellite ground station near Alice Springs, Australia

Pine Gap is a joint United States-Australian satellite communications and signals intelligence surveillance base and Australian Earth station approximately 18 km (11 mi) south-west of the town of Alice Springs. It is jointly operated by Australia and the United States, and since 1988 it has been officially called the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap (JDFPG); previously, it was known as Joint Defence Space Research Facility. It plays a crucial role in supporting the intelligence activities and military operations of the US around the world. The base's role has caused much controversy in Australia leading to various protests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Henshall</span> Australian actor (born 1982)

Daniel Edwin Henshall is an Australian actor. Following his film debut in Snowtown (2011), for which he won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Henshall appeared in films such as The Babadook (2014), Okja (2017), Acute Misfortune (2018), and Catch the Fair One (2021).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Perkins</span> Australian filmmaker

Rachel Perkins is an Indigenous Australian film and television director, producer, and screenwriter. She founded and was co-director of the independent film production company Blackfella Films from 1992 until 2022. Perkins and the company were responsible for producing First Australians (2008), an award-winning documentary series that remains the highest-selling educational title in Australia, and which Perkins regards as her most important work. She directed the films Radiance (1998), One Night the Moon (2001), Bran Nue Dae (2009), the courtroom drama telemovie Mabo (2012), and Jasper Jones (2017). The acclaimed television drama series Redfern Now was made by Blackfella Films, and Perkins directed two episodes as well as the feature-length conclusion to the series, Promise Me (2015).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Restricted military area</span>

A restricted military area or military out-of-bounds area is an area under military jurisdiction where special security measures are used to prevent unauthorized entry.

<i>Jack Irish</i> Australian television series

Jack Irish is an Australian television drama series first broadcast on ABC TV on 14 October 2012. The series stars Guy Pearce as the title character, a former criminal lawyer turned private investigator and debt collector. Much of the action is set in the Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy. Adapted from the crime fiction novels by author Peter Temple, the telemovies and series Jack Irish were developed by Andrew Anastasios, Matt Cameron and Andrew Knight. They began as three feature-length movies, before being adapted into three six-episode series, the final one airing from June 2021.

<i>Nowhere Boys</i> 2013 Australian television series

Nowhere Boys is an Australian teen drama fantasy television series created by Tony Ayres. It was first broadcast on ABC3 on 7 November 2013. The first two series follow the adventures of four mismatched teenage boys – goth Felix Ferne, nerd Andrew "Andy" Lau, golden child Sam Conte, and alpha jock Jake Riles. Nowhere Boys was renewed for a second series which began airing from 23 November 2014. An 80-minute feature-length movie based on the show, titled Nowhere Boys: The Book of Shadows, premiered in selected Australian movie theatres on 1 January 2016. A third series of Nowhere Boys, titled Two Moons Rising, started airing in 2016 with a new cast and characters, replacing the original cast members. The fourth and final series, titled Battle For Negative Space, started airing on 3 December 2018.

Sachin Joab is an Australian actor. He took an interest in acting during primary school and attended various acting schools and workshops. Since graduating from the National Theatre, Joab has appeared in several films and television, including City Homicide, Rush, My Year Without Sex, 10 Terrorists, and Conspiracy 365. In 2011, Joab successfully auditioned for the recurring role of Ajay Kapoor in the soap opera Neighbours. He was later promoted to the main cast. Joab left the show in May 2013. The actor has since appeared in SBS miniseries Better Man, feature films Lion (2016) and Hotel Mumbai (2018), and television series Pine Gap, The Hunting, Upright, and Jack Irish.

The Weekly with Charlie Pickering is an Australian news satire series on the ABC. The series premiered on 22 April 2015, featuring Charlie Pickering as host with Tom Gleeson, Adam Briggs and Judith Lucy in the cast who joined the show in 2019, replacing Kitty Flanagan.

<i>Secret City</i> (TV series) 2016 Australian TV series or program

Secret City is an Australian political thriller television series based on the best-selling novels The Marmalade Files, The Mandarin Code, and The Shadow Game by Chris Uhlmann and Steve Lewis. It premiered on Foxtel's Showcase on 5 June 2016 and on Netflix internationally on 26 June 2018. The series is produced by Matchbox Pictures and Foxtel.

Barracuda is an Australian drama miniseries, first broadcast on ABC TV starting 10 July 2016. The series is based on Barracuda, the 2013 novel by Australian author Christos Tsiolkas, which explores a brutal clash of cultures, dreams and expectations and the relentless demands that are placed upon young athletes, their families, friends, schools and coaches.

Pulse is an Australian television drama series that was first screened on ABC TV on 20 July 2017 and ended after eight episodes on 7 September 2017.

Little J & Big Cuz is an Australian animated television series first screened on the NITV network in 2017. The 13-part series is directed by Tony Thorne and produced by Ned Lander and developed with the Australian Council for Educational Research. It was written by Beck Cole, Jon Bell, Erica Glynn, Danielle MacLean, Bruce Pascoe and Dot West, with creative input from Margaret Harvey, Leah Purcell and Adrian Wills.

<i>The Letdown</i> Australian comedy television series

The Letdown is an Australian comedy television series that first premiered on ABC in 2016. It follows the adventures of Audrey, including her struggles as a new mum in an oddball mothers' group. It ran for two seasons between 4 May 2016 and 3 July 2019.

<i>Mystery Road</i> (TV series) Australian television series

Mystery Road is an Australian television crime mystery series whose first series screened on ABC TV from 3 June 2018. The series is a spin-off from Ivan Sen's feature films Mystery Road and Goldstone, taking place in between the two. Aboriginal Australian detective Jay Swan, played by Aaron Pedersen, is the main character and actor in both the films and in the first two TV series, each of six episodes.

Total Control is an Australian television political drama series first screened on ABC TV in October 2019. Its working title was Black Bitch, but that was deemed too controversial and the series was renamed. Season 2 began airing on 7 November 2021, and the final season premiered on the ABC on 14 January 2024.

Stateless is an Australian television drama series launched on ABC TV on 1 March 2020. The six episodes were released on Netflix on 8 July 2020.

<i>The Unlisted</i> 2019 Australian drama television series

The Unlisted is an Australian children's science fiction drama television series. The series follows the story of 13-year-old identical twins, Drupad and Kalpen Sharma, who work with a group of underground vigilante children, who call themselves "The Unlisted", in order to stop a powerful corporation from imposing global control over the world's youth by inserting a tracking device, which also allows them to be remotely controlled.

Julian Maroun is an Australian actor, best known for his roles as Corporal Peter "Pepsi" Abboud in Fighting Season and Farid in Logie Award-winning miniseries Romper Stomper.

Fisk is an Australian television comedy series on ABC Television, first airing on 17 March 2021. The second season aired in 2022, and the third premiered on 20 October 2024. Seasons 1 and 2 are also broadcast on Netflix and by other outlets around the world. The series is co-created and co-written by comedian Kitty Flanagan, and takes its name from its central character Helen Tudor-Fisk, played by Flanagan, who joins a small legal firm after returning to her hometown, Melbourne.

Bay of Fires is an Australian television crime drama and dark comedy series, which screened on ABC Television from 16 July 2023. The eight-part series was co-created by Andrew Knight, Marta Dusseldorp and Max Dann. Filming began in June 2022 with Natalie Bailey and Wayne Blair each directing four episodes. Locations used include the west Tasmanian towns of Queenstown, Strahan and Zeehan. Dusseldorp also co-produced with Yvonne Collins. The series title references the actual Bay of Fires on Tasmania's east coast.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Knox, David (14 September 2017). "Pine Gap thriller for ABC, Netflix". TV Tonight . Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Groves, Don (12 September 2018). "Premiere dates set for 'Pine Gap' and 'Fighting Season'". IF . Mark Cuban. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  3. 1 2 Groves, Don (26 October 2017). "Mat King to direct 'Pine Gap' for the ABC and Netflix". IF . Mark Cuban. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  4. 1 2 "Pine Gap - Episodes Guide and Summaries". Next Episode. Retrieved 29 October 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Sunday 14 October 2018". TV Tonight. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  6. ↑ "Sunday 21 October 2018". TV Tonight. 21 October 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  7. ↑ "Sunday 28 October 2018". TV Tonight. 28 October 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  8. ↑ "Sunday 4 November 2018". TV Tonight. 4 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  9. ↑ "Sunday 11 November 2018". TV Tonight. 11 November 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2018.
  10. ↑ Buckmaster, Luke (12 October 2018). "Pine Gap review – lots of yakkety yak and occasional scenes of bonking". The Guardian . Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  11. ↑ Razer, Helen (11 October 2018). "The ABC's Pine Gap is a stinker". Daily Review . Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  12. ↑ LaMarco, Pat (9 December 2018). "REVIEW: Netflix's Pine Gap is a dull and sluggish attempt at a thriller". The Daily Free Press . Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  13. ↑ "Vietnam orders Netflix to remove Australian spy show Pine Gap over South China Sea map". Special Broadcasting Service . Agence France-Presse. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  14. ↑ Pearson, James (2 July 2021). "Vietnam orders Netflix to remove Australian spy show over South China Sea map". Reuters . Retrieved 9 July 2023.
  15. ↑ Ramos, Christia Marie (1 November 2021). "Netflix ordered to remove 'Pine Gap' episodes on China's nine-dash line – DFA". Philippine Daily Inquirer . Retrieved 9 July 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.