YMMV / Diplomatic Immunity

• Genius Bonus: A lot of Fe'ausi's wasteful ways are based on the exploits of the real island nation of Nauru. At one point, Nauru was swimming in cash that ended up being poured into wasteful ventures like resorts, skyscrapers, and an airline that flew empty planes. The Nauran government even funded Leonardo the Musical, a wildly innacurate story about Leonardo Da Vinci like the Fe'ausians did with Sir Edmund Hillary in Ed!: The Musical. While the fictional Fe'ausi is able to bounce back from the box office bomb, Nauru was not so lucky, as the failure put a permanent dent in the nation's finances.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The Niu being portrayed as an All-Loving Hero who is a straight-up Nice Guy. His actor Pua Magasiva was later convicted of domestic violence towards his wife and eventually dying of a suspected suicide hours after attacking her in a drunken rage.
  • The second episode deals with the topic of one of Fe'ausi's islands being wiped away in a natural disaster. In the wake of Japan's March 2011 earthquake, the tsunami danger to a lot of Pacific island nations is all too real.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Leighton having a thing for princesses, considering Craig Parker's character in Spartacus: Blood and Sand is a massive social climber. What's more is that Lesley Ann Brandt, who is his love interest in this, plays a slave there.
  • Leighton being the romantic rival of Prince To'omai becomes hilarious when you learn their actors both starred in The Lord of the Rings as an elf and orc respectively. Mick's actor John Leigh was likewise in the same film as a Rohirim.
• Ho Yay: the Niu admits to having a crush on Leighton. Also, the story-within-a-story version, as Ed!: The Musical features suggestive scenes with Sir Edmund Hillary.
  Leighton: It desecrates the memory of the greatest ever New Zealander!
  Jonah: How so?
  Leighton: Where to start? Maybe where you imply, not at all subtly, that Hillary and Tenzing were...you know.
  Jonah: Climbing buddies?
• Hollywood Homely: Malepe is treated as if he were completely repulsive, and Suga is horrified at having accidentally slept with him under the influence. His actor Mario Gaoa is a perfectly regular looking guy.
• Nightmare Fuel: "Boris The Spider" can be this for people afraid of bugs, especially with a brief look at Sugar's book of exotic spiders.
• Paranoia Fuel: The rare spider that is unleashed in "Boris the Spider" can reproduce asexually and, while it doesn't target humans or livestock, it can consume enough plants to potentially destroy New Zealand's agricultural industry.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Lesley-Ann Brandt is instantly more recognisable for her work in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, The Librarians 2014 and Lucifer.
  • Leilani's potential husband is played by Robbie Magasiva, who'd be best known in The New '10s for the prison series Wentworth.
• Testosterone Brigade: Leilani of course, as characters played by Lesley Ann Brandt are prone too attract. Kirsty in a different way, with her Perky Goth appearance, and One of Us nature.
• Too Good to Last: Despite its funny premise and clever writing, the show was given a rather late 10 pm timeslot and only lasted one season.

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