Pine Gap Season 1 Review: Trust But Verify

I seem to be watching a lot of Australian TV these days. Not that that's a bad thing. Its just an interesting coincidence. After watching "Wolf Creek" (Shudder) and season 2 of "Secret City" (NetFlix), I just finished "Pine Gap".

The show was created and written by Greg Haddrick and Felicity Packard and distributed in Australia by ABC. NetFlix s making it available elsewhere.

It's the story of a US surveillance base located outside Alice Springs, Australia. The program is operated jointly by the Australians and Americans. It's main mission is to keep tabs on the region (especially the Chinese). Everything about the program is of course hush hush. Many of the employees families dont even know what they do for a living. NOTE: There is a IRL Pine Gap. It is officially referred to as the Joint Defence Facility Pine Gap.

Here are the main players:

Australians:

Kath Sinclair- Deputy Chief- once married to Jacob, they have a contentious relationship and are fighting over custody of the cat.
Jacob Kitto- Mission Director- ex husband of Kath
Immy Dupain- Law student who is none too happy about the base being on Aboriginal land (especially given they were not compensated for it).
Paul Dupain- An Arrernte physician and community leader. Father of Immy.
Eloise Chambers- Passed over for several positions, she may be disgruntled.
Deb Vora- Cries a lot. We're not sure why. May have PTSD or may be up to something.
Simon Penny- leaks classified info a pro-Chinese Japanese blogger. He cant be trusted but may be around a while anyway.
Jasmina Delic- Communication Intelligence Team Leader- She has a mysterious past and we're not sure when she is telling the truth. She develops a relationship with Gus.

Americans:

Ethan James- Station Director- married to Belle.
Rudi Fox- Chief Of Intelligence Operations
Moses Dreyfus- Technician- a genius who doesnt have any people skills. He secretly befriends a young woman named Marissa.
Gus Thompson-Mission Director- develops a relationship with Jasmina. He later considers a job stateside to be near his elderly father. This decision may destroy his relationship.
Belle James- Ethan's wife, she is unhappy in her marriage and slowly seeks companionship elsewhere.

Chinese:

Zhou Lin- represents the Chinese mining company Shonguran that seeks to purchase land near Pine Gap from the local Arrernte people.

At the beginning of the series, the facility detects a missile launch that brings down a passenger plane. When they discover more missiles in range of the US President (who is attending a conference) they authorize a drone attack.

The show really kicks into high gear when it is determined that there is a spy amongst them. There LOTS of people to be suspicious of. I wont give away the final scene so you can guess for yourself.

Grade: 4 Monsters (out of 5). If you like international intrigue. "Pine Gap" is worth a look.  And with just six episodes total, it's a super fast watch. Just a note of caution though. This series is about satellite surveillance so dooesnt have a ton of action. It mainly involves people starring at computer screens. It has a slow but the finale is excellent.

Trying to guess the traitor amongst them is great fun. Watching all the players jockeying for position (US, Australia, China), is also interesting. I'm not sure who can be trusted-- if anyone. The speech by Kath at the end of the series about the US no longer being the dominant world power and that the country should "age gracefully" is very thought provoking.