Has anyone ever watched Pine Gap on Netflix?

[msfiddlestix]

it's an Australian tv series a couple of years or so old.

I'm interested in knowing about the real deal behind the scenes regarding to discontinued status. They had one season and it was so fantastic, last episode was not quite a cliffhanger but yeah actually it was.


I wiki'd it and the only official line that Netflix and ABC had not come to some sort of agreement to go forward with the net season.


stating the obvious sans the real explanation.

Just wondered if anyone here has the real scoop on why they discontinued this series after one seasona?

[dlk]

1. I recently watched and enjoyed it

I also read due to the sensitive nature of the situation in the South Chins Sea, the Philippines had 2 episodes removed in 2021, because they were “unfit for public consumption. I’m guessing the network didn’t want the hassle.

[msfiddlestix]

2. Pine Gap was extremely revealing to me, very realistic on so many levels.

I almost felt like real events were being dramatized.

hell I didn't know that Pine Gap actually existed until I googled it. I recall when Obama was in office and he had stressed the urgency to deal with the South China Sea situation. Pine Gap certainly brought it all into focus.

I loved the characters in the series, really intrigued by Jasmina's character. along with others

[dlk]

3. I thought it was realistic, too

Early on, I had a feeling the character, Zhou Lin, was probably a spy. In reality, I seriously doubt the US would permit a Chinese “mine” to be built so close to the facility. It would be a hotbed of spying.

I thought Zhou’s perspective of world dominance between our two countries was interesting: that China’s approach is to gradually taking up more land. They see the US as enforcing a rules-based world order, with the US calling the shots. Since neither country has signed the International Court Treaty, the Chinese don’t truly respect the rulings of “old Europeans.”

Lately, we haven’t heard much in the news about the South China Sea, although I think It remains an important issue.

I’ve never forgotten something I read agrs ago in a novel about Japanese culture that seemed realistic and could be useful sometimes in understanding the Chinese, as well: they have three hearts, one they show to the world, one they show their family and one they only show themselves.

[msfiddlestix]

4. Interesting cultural point I hadn't read before, ty.

I agree the U.S. wouldn't permit a Chinese mine to be built near the facilities, because yeah, it would be a hotbed of spies. This series shined a light on the geopolitical tensions between Australia and the U.S. , which I had not ever considered before this series, never realized existed on any significant level. But this series revealed they do indeed exist, and the reasons why. As well as the precarious state of play with regard to the South China Sea.

ne of the most interesting points of intrigue for me, is the fact that the land Pine Gap is built on belongs to the Aboriginals. A Trade deal between the Aboriginal tribe and China was being carefully and secretly negotiated. Although, the question of whether or not Kath, the Australian Deputy Chief was "in on it," was never made clear. She was in on something we know, but because the series was abruptly shut down after the first season had been completed and released, we'll never get that answer from the story teller's perspective. Certainly the scene ending the last episode put a punctuation point on what appeared to be a successful intelligence operation between the Aboriginal and Chinese Trade spy. It looked like the road to building the mine right next to Pine Gap facility would be eminent.

Kath's relationship with Jasmina was also very intriguing to me... As a Serbian Orphan during Kosovo/Serbian war because her parents were massacred by the CIA somehow Jasmina ends up in Australia apparently under the tutelage of Kath before she was hired as an analyst. Jasmina has no love for the U.S. and neither does Kath for that matter. So interesting, I would have liked to have seen the dramatization of that particular dangling thread.

So many points of interest, yet on Wikipedia essentially says Pine Gap was widely panned. Why? I think because there are no endless chase scenes, gratuitous explosions (other than the cell phone in the microwave oven) torture scenes etc.

One more thing, I really enjoyed the character "Moses". he was a trip.


this bit from Wikipedia hints at the possible reason why the "show couldn't go on".

Nine-Dash Line controversy

Pine Gap was removed from Netflix in Vietnam, following an order from the country's Authority of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, as a map with the nine-dash line was shown in two episodes of the series, albeit in a context in which characters criticised China's claim over the waters in on-screen dialogue.[14][15] 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 foreign department issued a complaint calling the line "illegal" and a "violation of Philippine sovereignty".[16]