The Kollective (2025) s01e05 Episode Script

1
[party music]
DJ: Come on, Tech Club!
[cheering]
Arielle! If you wanna have some fun
- Oh shit, yes!
- [giggling]
[song and music continues]
MAN 1: But you know the DJ.
- [indistinct chatter]
- Whoo!
I'm already feeling it!
Good shit!
[ominous music]
This is the best we can offer.
There are certain
journalistic standards,
processes that we have to stick to..
What? Censor it?
We can't censor the video.
People should see exactly
what they did to him.
AARON: We've got murdered journalists,
planes brought down in the Congo,
and Russian state actors
involved in the assassination
of political candidates.
But there is no public interest
argument in seeing the blood.
- No.
- Yeah, we totally get that.
We're just worried that
if it's censored,
that the world will ignore it.
- No, no, no. Please.
- Why not?
Uh, trust me. This is enough.
Publishing the story with us
gives it mainstream exposure,
and we need that.
Tomorrow, Moses Mbemba will run
for election in the Congo.
- And most likely he's gonna win.
- Obviously.
So, it is imperative that we let
the Congolese people know
the extent of Russian
interference in their country
before they head to the polls
in the morning.
Yeah? So this evening
is the deadline. By midnight.
- Yes.
- I agree. We-we have to try.
ETIENNE: Censored or not,
people have to see the video.
Yeah, we all agree. It's the right move.
AARON: Okay, then we publish.
- We're gonna call you back.
- Great. Yeah.
As soon as, as soon as we get
the all-clear from the lawyers.
- Okay. Bye.
- AARON: Bye.
[mellow music]
[notification alert chimes]
[tense sting]
No.
- [message alert chimes]
- [exhaling]
[sighs]
[breathing heavily]
[phone ringing]
MAN 2: Don't discuss this with anyone.
If you care about your daughter,
you make sure that video
isn't published.
- Who is this?
- MAN 2: I repeat.
MAN 2: Destroy the video,
or you'll never see her again.
Wait! Wait! Wait!
[theme music]
[music continues]
[music fades]
[phone vibrates]
MAYA: Yeah, okay, that's fine,
if you could just
- Hey.
- ETIENNE: Yeah, hello, it's me.
Wait, hang on. Everyone, it's Etienne.
I'm putting you on speaker.
Okay. Um, it's probably nothing,
but, um, I wondered if, uh
we can hang fire
for a moment on publishing.
- No.
- Why?
ETIENNE: Because, uh,
I spotted something.
I-I mean, maybe some artefacting
in the video which I don't like.
Plus some metadata has been stripped.
I see it a lot
in the GAN generated videos.
But I-I think we need to be sure
before sharing the video on the website
t-t-to avoid any accusation
that it is a deep fake.
So, um, I-I-I need some time.
Uh, Etienne, we can give you
two hours at most.
We go to print at midnight GMT.
No. No, no. No. Please, I-I need more.
That's impossible. You know,
the Congo goes to the polls
first thing in the morning.
The whole point of putting this
on cloud tonight
is to make sure
that the Congolese people
No, no, I already heard that!
- ETIENNE: So
- What is wrong with him?
Well, then y-you probably also
know that she's right.
This is, this is really bad timing.
Yeah. Okay, fine.
Fine, two hours is better than nothing.
[phone rings in background]
Um, I just need to know
who has the old file.
Uh, all of us. Including Maya.
Okay, I-I will send you a new version
with the anomalies highlighted.
And-and-and then we-we decide together.
- ETIENNE: Okay? But, um
- Yeah.
ETIENNE: I just need you all
to watch it.
- Yeah. Of course.
- MAYA: Yes.
Thank you.
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay.
Um, I'm gonna call Lucas.
MAYA: Yeah, good idea.
I'll be right back.
Hey, Lucas, it's Aaron.
[keyboard keys clacking]
[clicking mouse and scrolling]
[computer beeping]
Okay.
[tense music]
[keyboard keys clacking]
[sighs in relief]
[sniffles]
[rapid beeping and beeping stops]
[chair clatters]
[zip screeches]
[raspy inhale]
[sighs]
[panting]
[intense music]
[panting]
- Okay.
- [breathing shakily]
[exhales]
[buzzes doorbell]
Ai, ai, ai, ai. ai.
- [grunts]
- [inhales]
[grunts]
- [doorbell buzzing]
- [bangs on door]
- [speaking indistinctly]
[siren blaring]
- [knocks on door]
- [sighs]
LUCAS: Yeah, guys,
I'm just gonna say it.
I think Etienne's wrong.
I don't see any of the red flags
you might expect from a deepfake, so
MAYA: So no artefacts, like
false reflection of the eyes,
or t-t-the texture of the hair,
any of
The inside of mouth, lip movements?
- LUCAS: None of that.
- Basically anything
that doesn't have a fixed shape?
The artefacts in the video are
probably just an inefficient
compression algorithm,
and beyond that,
I don't see anything suspicious.
- Yeah, okay. But No, no, no.
- Well then this is great news
Good for you, but I think still
it's-it's super weird
for Etienne to get this wrong.
LUCAS: I think he's just
feeling the pressure.
I tried calling him a couple of times,
but he, he won't pick up.
So, we publish.
There is no point waiting any longer.
The file is legitimate,
Lucas, you have confirmed this,
and so have my tech guys.
Maya, we gave him our word.
We honour what we said.
We wait until midnight.
[keyboard keys clacking]
[line ringing]
[car door closes]
[intense music]
[car door closes]
[opens and closes car door]
[breathing heavily]
[ominous music]
[Etienne breathing heavily]
[car door closes]
[video squeaking]
- [keyboard keys clacking]
- [speaking indistinctly]
[grunts]
-Hey.
[speaking in foreign language]
[speaking in foreign language]
[breathing heavily]
Hey, hey!
- Come here.
- Oh!
You can rest here.
There. Now she won't put up a fight.
Did the dad do what you wanted?
- Shut up.
- [speaking indistinctly]
[man speaking in foreign language]
ETIENNE: Art Fuel.
Okay. Okay.
[keyboard keys clacking]
[party music]
MAN 3: She's not well.
- Now, stay down.
- [panting]
[keyboard keys clacking]
[line ringing]
[continues ringing]
- [sighs]
- [continues ringing]
[Aaron sighs]
One more.
Delia, I've tried him a dozen times.
- But I can do
- MAYA: Delia. Delia.
MAYA: You know it's time.
Etienne understood the urgency.
LUCAS: Yeah, guys, I agree.
Uh, we need to move fast.
Just in the past hour,
there's been a flood of
pro-Moses Mbemba posts.
We can't let him win.
Come on, come on, come on.
You need to do it together.
Quick, here. It's ready. Come on.
- [party music]
- [speaking indistinctly]
Yeah, we have to.
LUCAS: I'm right there with you, guys.
AARON: Yeah.
[club music continues]
Three, two, one, and go.
Congratulations, you have just shared
your story with 50 million readers.
- How does that feel?
- [applauding]
[tense music]
Arielle!
Papa!
Papa!
[music continues]
- [siren blaring in distance]
- [door opens]
[door closes]
[sighs]
[paper rustling]
[tense music]
[blinds rattle]
[sighing]
Morning.
[chuckles softly]
I think you're right
to be cautious about Mbemba.
He's always made me uneasy.
- Yeah?
- Yeah.
Even when we worked together.
I was never as brave as you
and your friends.
- Aw!
- [both chuckle]
So now that you've published,
what would you like to do today?
I don't know. What do you wanna do?
Oh, come on.
Help me out here.
Geological engineers aren't exactly
known for their spontaneity.
- No, not really.
- We tend to think in eons.
- Mmh. Well, more like ice ages.
- Oh, come on.
Do you know what?
Actually, an ice age is
often shorter than an eon
- Oh, fuck me!
- Which is a thousand million
Is something wrong?
[keyboard keys clacking]
What the fuck?
[tense music]
Is everything okay?
LUCAS: Uh, I just need to
check something.
[sighs]
KollectiveLies, what is this?
[tense sting]
- [notification chimes]
- Shit!
[clattering]
[keyboard keys clacking]
[phone buzzes]
[grunts and sighs]
AARON: Thank God you're picking
up. We're trying to
reach you and Etienne for hours.
It's a really bad time to disappear.
Have you seen what's happening?
Yeah, I fucking know.
They're burying the story.
Make enough noise, sow enough doubt,
eventually you'll just
drown the fucking truth.
Did you see this hashtag
that started trending?
- #KollectiveLies.
- Yeah, we saw. We need to react.
I already did.
I wrote a quick program
that maps the accounts.
Who they follow, which accounts
retweet other accounts,
looking for the connections
between them.
And using that data,
we can start to form
an interesting pattern.
So, there's this network
that starts growing,
but it's fast, I-I mean, fucking fast.
Like, it's grown exponentially.
So we've incurred the wrath
of a Russian troll farm?
No, no, no.
A Russian troll farm would mean
a couple of dozen people repasting
the same thing from some Moscow bunker.
But this is a lot bigger.
So we're talking hundreds of employees?
Well, make that tens of thousands.
If I'm right, we've never seen
an operation this scale before.
DELIA: Can it be located?
You'd think not, but I have a theory
that everybody fucks up eventually.
So, I wrote another programme.
I started scraping all the
links from all these tweets,
every website these accounts reference.
And then we can start looking
for another pattern,
something all these websites
have in common.
This is like looking
for a needle in a haystack.
Not if they all
share the same DNS server.
DELIA: No way.
Then it's just a simple case of
a Whois search for that server
and a bit of sweet, common, human error.
And guess what? I found their mistake.
Someone forgot to turn on
domain privacy.
So the hosting server
is registered to a company
in Saint Petersburg.
The Web Research Agency.
I tried accessing their servers online,
but fuck, they're well-protected!
Do we know who's at the top?
According to The Russian Public
Corporate Register
one "Constantin Drischev."
[keyboard keys clacking]
He operates a dozen companies,
right across the country.
LUCAS: Yep, that's the one.
We're talking private jets,
properties worth tens of millions.
Do we think this Drischev
is our man at the top?
LUCAS: Yeah and everything
points to him.
[notification chimes]
Guys, Mbemba's just been elected.
LUCAS: They got away with it.
Buried the fucking story,
got the man they wanted.
Fuck!
[sighs and sniffles]
[clears throat]
Hi, guys.
Um I lied to you last night,
when I asked you
not to, to publish the video.
So I owe you an apology.
You have to know
that Arielle was in danger,
and they were threatening to kill her.
So
as long as they can blackmail me,
I will always be a threat for,
for the Kollective.
The work we are doing means a lot to me,
but now, I have to fix things, so
[doors creak]
So I am out.
- I'm out.
- [keyboard key clacks]
- [sniffles]
- Eh
[opens and slams door]
ETIENNE: Hi, guys.
Um, I lied to you last night
when I asked you not to,
to publish the video.
- So I owe you an apology.
- AARON: Delia.
ETIENNE: You have to know
that Arielle
AARON: We'll miss our plane.
We need Etienne.
AARON: But he has a kid
and he wouldn't want this to
distract us, would he?
LUCAS: Hey, guys, I just heard
Etienne's message.
Please be careful.
What do you mean, Saint Petersburg?
Well, it's not like you can
just walk up to the WRA
and demand that they let you in,
which is why we're meeting
one of Anna's friends.
She's put us in touch.
She's gonna help us.
Her name's Sofiya.
Look, the guy who runs
the Web Research Agency
is Michael Drischev, D-R-I-S-C-H-E-V.
He's rich, super rich.
All that disinformation,
we think it might be coming
from his building.
[engine rumbling]
[bell tolling]
- [keys jangling]
- WOMAN 1: Come in.
Kitchen, toilet.
[rock music]
- Hi.
- Hi.
So, we need to
get into the WRA building.
I gathered that.
Oh, right. Well then, any bright ideas?
I have already checked it out.
It's a big building, 15 floors
with a whole bunch
of companies based there.
One thing you learn in a protest,
there is safety in crowds.
So, my plan? I'm just gonna walk inside.
And then, we'll see who works there.
[tense music]
[opens door]
Nice, good job.
Now try to find a Web Research Agency.
SOFIYA: Okay, I think
we might have something.
Let me look.
Can you get a little closer?
SOFIYA: I will try.
[tense music]
[elevator bell dings]
WRA, Suite 1.1.
Ah. There we go.
SOFIYA: Here, 1.1.
I hate those fucking card readers.
That thing might be a problem.
Okay, I will have to check it out.
SOFIYA: Let me try something,
guys. I will call you back.
- No, don't hang up. So
- LUCAS: Where did she go?
I don't know.
[card reader beeps]
[car door opens]
What happened? You were gone two hours.
- We-we almost thought
- Came to my rescue
- [chuckles]
- I wish you had.
I almost died of boredom.
- [Aaron chuckles softly]
- I made up a lie.
SOFIYA: The receptionist tried
calling them for two hours.
- DELIA: No one answered?
- SOFIYA: No.
SOFIYA: And nobody went in
or out of the office
in all that time.
Well, that's not possible. Where
are the hundreds of employees?
[snickers]
Look, I don't know,
but for what it's worth,
I got some close-up photos
of that keypad.
- That's great.
- For your hacker friend.
- He's not really a hacker.
- Yeah, sure.
Yeah, and I am not hungry.
- [engine revving]
- Let's go eat.
LUCAS: Yeah, uh, that keypad
is a, is a no-go.
Uh, these things have an
anti-tamper mech
between the faceplates, so
The moment you try to
unscrew it, or whatever
the whole thing just shorts out.
- LUCAS: That's not gonna work.
- This guy talks really fast.
- Doesn't he?
- You'll get used to it.
- Don't worry.
- Hey, Saint Petersburg.
I heard that.
But it got me thinking. Because
maybe we don't need Sofiya
to waste days inside that lobby,
potentially blowing her cover,
waiting to see who,
if anyone ever at all,
walks through that door.
Because maybe you'll allow me
to introduce you
to the marvels of technology.
An old-fashioned plant?
LUCAS: When something becomes
so ubiquitous
people barely notice anymore.
DELIA: It's worth a try.
Okay, so
this is the camera, okay?
This, you can leave
anywhere in the building.
It's a Wi-Fi router for the camera.
It'll relay the video back
to our server.
- Okay?
- Okay, I get it.
[card reader beeps]
[tense music]
[elevator bell dings]
AARON: I checked the footage,
and it didn't make sense.
We know what time
they were posting the disinformation.
- Daytime. Office hours.
- Mmh.
When I checked it, there was nothing.
Not a single person
that walks through that door.
Well, let me guess.
Then you had a smart idea.
You checked nights?
I checked nights.
Clever boy.
It's just logical.
Okay, let's just keep watching the
the footage of the night.
DELIA: Huh. That must be the janitor.
Well, his key-card is our way inside.
- DELIA: It could be a one-off.
- Yeah.
Did you watch the rest
of the footage, clever boy?
[laughing]
- No, clever boy didn't, but
- But let's do it.
Okay. Maybe he comes back
tonight too. Alright.
[horn honking]
[horn honking]
[snoring]
Guys. Wake up.
Hey, Sofiya.
He left.
Okay.
[card reader beeps]
I'm here. Talk to me.
AARON: Okay, we see you.
DELIA: Yeah, we've got eyes
on the janitor.
He should be with you in a few minutes.
You're sure I'm in the right place?
AARON: Certain.
He took the same route last night.
Wait.
I think I see him.
Great.
- DELIA: Stick with him.
- I got him.
Yeah, we've got another
blind spot up ahead.
So just stay close.
Though not too close.
AARON: Okay, I see him.
And now you as well.
AARON: It's a red light. Hurry!
He's fast.
Can't you just hold the traffic
lights or something?
It doesn't work that way.
SOFIYA: This would be a pretty
neat party trick, right?
AARON: These are public traffic cameras,
nothing more exciting.
DELIA: You still with him?
SOFIYA: Yeah, I see him.
Okay, we should be seeing you in
quite soon.
AARON: Wait-wait, I-I have to
change the camera feeds.
Okay, okay. I've got him.
He's crossing over.
DELIA: Okay. We see you again.
Yeah, keep some distance.
Don't go too close.
We don't wanna make him suspicious.
You can't let him see you.
Slow down.
Sofiya, do you hear us?
Shelideyev! Elenka!
AARON: Okay, Sofiya. This, this
feels definitely too public.
Wait until he's somewhere more private
and away from his friends, okay?
DELIA: What the fuck?
Sofiya, what are you doing?
AARON: Sofiya, do you hear us?
Don't do this.
- AARON: What the fuck?!
- DELIA: Oh, my God.
Sofiya, if you're not
Wait, wait, wait.
What is she doing?
- No
- [guitar playing]
[man singing in foreign language]
DELIA: I don't know.
She got the key card.
Sorry, I didn't have all night.
- [car revving]
- [horn honking]
Hey.
Great. Thanks.
- Key card.
- You're amazing.
- Good luck.
- Good job. Thank you.
- Bye.
- Thank you.
LUCAS: Guys, are we really doing this?
We're breaking and entering now?
- [card reader beeps]
- [door opens]
AARON: Well, technically,
it's just entering.
We've got a key card.
[closes and opens door]
LUCAS: From what I can find online,
the nearest police station is
only a five-minute drive.
- [reader beeps and gate opens]
- That we know of, sure.
Yeah. Anyway, I'd be quick.
Can't take too long before that guy
finds out his badge is missing.
And talk to me.
I wanna know what's in there.
- Let's get this right.
- [door closes]
- [card reader beeps]
- [door opens]
[door creaks and closes]
[tense music]
- [phone beeping]
- Guys?
A Aaron, you hear me?
I-I'm losing you, I think.
[tense music]
Lucas?
Delia.
- We've lost him.
- We need to film it.
LUCAS: Come on, Aaron.
- [sighs]
- [line ringing]
AARON ON MACHINE: Aaron Bertel.
[machine beeps]
- [breathing deeply]
- [notification chimes on system]
[tense music]
Delia.
DELIA: It's emanating thousands
of people commenting at once.
Sowing doubt-fire,
undermining the reality.
AARON: Posted without
human intervention.
So it's-it's self-sustaining.
It's one big disinformation system.
What does that say?
How are they powering all this?
[computer beeping]
"Prompt."
Mm-hmm. Go ahead.
I'm sorry to interrupt,
but I, uh, brought you these.
Some It's just some flowers.
[both chuckling]
How about some pizza, huh?
- I would love a pizza.
- Good. I'll-I'll go
and get some, be back in ten.
[garbled speech]
What did you type?
"Generate video footage
of Thierry Lusamba with a sex worker."
"Five variations."
[tense music]
It even compensated
homophobic bias in the DLC.
It's doing this in real time.
I've never seen deep fake
technology this advanced.
These are all comments on our article.
No, it's everywhere.
Keep filming.
[phone beeps]
[intense music]
[door opens]
[card reader beeps]
- [door opens]
- [buzzer buzzing]
Already pressured
it's up to my system ♪
- [grunting]
- Who the fuck are you?
And then the first word
I like that we squander ♪
The pangs of remorse will ignite ♪
I wanna trace down in the ocean ♪
- [Lucas groans]
- [grunting]
[Lucas groans]
Ooh it's the wisdom
It hides at the back
DELIA: It's locked.
To feel isolated
Thinking there isn't ♪
Why don't you shut your fucking mouth?
- [Lucas groans]
- MAN 4: Come on.
MAN 4: We're gonna make you
very famous now, yeah?
MAN 5: Alright, stop already.
We're running out of time.
Please don't shoot!
Okay?
- [glass shatters]
- [gas hisses]
- [man groans]
- [alarm blaring]
[man speaking in foreign language]
- My phone! I lost the phone!
- [gunshot]
- [gas hissing]
- [indistinct shouting]
Let's go!
[choral vocalizing]
[tires screech]
- [Aaron grunts]
- [tires screech]
Maya sent us. Get inside.
Come on, let's go!
- [notification chimes]
- [groaning]
LUCAS: We're trending!
MAN 5: Fuck. Fuck! We have to go now!
- [fire alarm blaring]
- [gunshots fired]
- MAN 6: Put your heads down!
- [tires screeching]
[music fades]
[fire alarm ringing]
[phone ringing]
[door unlocks and creaks]
It's not much, but it'll do in a pinch.
Is Sofiya okay?
We've taken her somewhere else
for the night, just to be safe.
Here's a burner, in case you need to
make any emergency calls.
Please, turn your own phones off
and keep them off
until you're out of the country.
DELIA: Thank you.
MAN 7: Don't thank me, thank Maya.
Your flight out is in about five hours,
so I suggest you get some rest.
[door creaks and closes]
AARON: I lost the phone.
It's okay.
AARON: No, it's not.
Everything we just risked was for
for nothing.
DELIA: No.
Not for nothing.
We saw what was happening in there.
It means we know what's going on.
Yeah, but we
we can't prove it.
Aaron, we're alive.
Yeah, but
[mellow music]
[Delia breathing shakily]
Let's get some rest, go home.
[music continues]
[door creaks and opens]
- [tense music]
- [door creaks and closes]
[plane whirrs]
[computer beeping]
Can you, can you stop there, please?
Right there.
[vehicle whirring]
[brakes screech]
- [breathing heavily]
- [vehicle door opens]
[door closes]
[phone chimes]
[mobile camera clicks]
[man laughs]
- [man speaking indistinctly]
- [breathing heavily]
[keyboard keys clacking]
[notification chimes]
[phone chiming]
[choral vocalizing]
[ominous music]
[grunting]
[mobile camera clicks]
[foreign language spoken on TV]
[exhales]
- [switch clicks]
- [dramatic music]
[outro music]
[music continues]
[music continues]
[music continues]