Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent (2024) s04e06 Episode Script
Wind Phone
1
[NARRATOR]: In Toronto's war on crime,
the worst offenders are
pursued by the detectives
of the Specialized
Criminal Investigation Unit.
These are their stories.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
User base is up.
Client retention is
at an all-time high.
The world is out that
we are headed for IPO.
But before I make any sudden
moves, I need board approval.
So, let's put this to a vote.
All in favour?
- Aye.
- Aye.
Sonia?
W-W-Z-D?
Sorry? Excuse me?
What would Zach do?
You're his proxy. What's your call?
My call uh
My call is
I need to make a call.
[PHONE RINGING]
- Hey.
- Hi, hon, it's official.
Darius wants to go public.
How do you want me to proceed?
It doesn't matter.
Even if you object,
you're just gonna be
outnumbered by the board.
- Mom, I
- What is it?
It's just, I built that ship.
I built that ship and I can't steer it
and now it's headed
straight for an iceberg
Zach. Slow down. Are you okay?
It's just
It's fine.
It's all fine.
How about you tell me what
you're looking at right now?
Okay. I
see clouds that are
stretching across the sky.
[SEAGULL CALLS]
Water lapping on the shore.
- It's nice.
- Peaceful?
Yeah.
Thanks mom.
Last tenant was a
seniors' travel agency.
But with work from home,
not a lot of people need office space.
[KNOCKING]
So, uh, what do you need it for?
I want to stop working from home.
I need a place that's quiet to write.
You'll find that here.
Half the building's vacant.
And the other half?
Dead quiet.
First and last?
Then I'll leave you to it.
[TENSE MUSIC]
My turn, you got the last one.
Consider this an apology for
what I'm about to tell you.
The petition to hand over
your old case files was approved.
I'm sorry, I know
you've got your new job,
and want to leave the past
in the past, but I thought
you should know, Jason.
Everyone's gonna know it was my fault.
[LOCK CLICKS]
[BEEPING, BUZZING]
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
[FAN HUMMING]
[DOOR SLAMS]
I'm sorry, but my mind's made up.
- [CAR DOOR SHUTS]
- [ENGINE STARTS]
[TIRES SQUEAL]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no!
- [SCREAMS]
- [METALLIC CRASH]
[THEME MUSIC]
Victim is Jason Kaplan. 58.
Discovered at 5 AM this
morning by parking enforcement.
The killer crushed him
against his own car and fled.
Post-war building. No cameras, no gate.
Traffic reconstruction
found tire acceleration marks.
Over here.
[ENGINE STARTING]
All right, so
The killer was parked over there.
Waited, and accelerated here.
Hard and fast. Did you
find any braking marks?
None.
Two parked cars, abandoned garage.
Maybe a clandestine meeting?
Very All the President's Men.
Okay, let's say meeting ends.
Killer gets behind
the wheel, accelerates,
doesn't stop until
Our charging bull pins Jason to his car.
So what made the killer see red?
Well, maybe our killer didn't
like the outcome of the meeting.
Maybe they wanted to stop Jason
before he took off in this car?
It's a shame.
Wrecking a thing of beauty
like this. Early '90s. Swedish.
Unapologetically boxy. Analog.
They don't make them like they used to.
Don't tell me you're a car guy?
Oh yeah, it gets worse.
I'm also a sound guy.
[GROANS]
[KEYS JINGLING]
[SUNGLASSES AT NIGH
BY COREY HART PLAYS]
Sunglasses at night so I ♪
- [MUSIC STOPS]
- [GLOVE BOX CLICKING]
Mixtape.
Ah. It's a lost art.
Hey, can we bag all these?
What? You can tell a lot about
a man from his tape collection.
You can tell even more by
his grill. Paint transfer.
Our killer was driving a green car.
Well, normally murder by
car is a fool's errand.
Sooner or later, the killer's
car with matching damage
- will show up somewhere.
- Yeah.
The lab says the paint
transfer is emerald green.
It was popular with
sedans in the early 2000s.
We put calls out to body shops
to reach out if they see any
green sedans with severe damage,
but, in the meantime, Mark?
All right. Well, I got this footage
from Jason's neighbour.
This is from last week.
That's Jason being
tailed leaving his house.
So we've got a sedan but
it's not emerald green.
But we're thinking
if this is our killer,
maybe they were smart enough
not to use their own car to kill Jason.
[HOLNESS]: Who's the tail?
I ran her through facial
recognition. No dice.
Well, if we're still
doing show and tell,
we found these in Jason's car.
[HOLNESS]: Where's that from?
Home.
[TAPE DECK CLICKING]
[MALE VOICE]: Been tough.
I feel sick when I get up
knowing I have to go in.
[FEMALE VOICE]: Well,
I'm sorry to hear that.
What feelings come up for
you when you think about work?
- Therapy?
- Sounds like it.
All three tapes, same woman, same man.
[BATEMAN]: But, I
listened Jason's voicemail.
- That's not him.
- Okay, so we have a stalker
with no facial recognition,
and a tape with mystery voices.
Yeah, and a murder victim who
was listening to someone else's
therapy sessions in his
car on cassette tapes.
Jason Kaplan, parents deceased,
no partner, no kids.
He worked as a forensic
psychologist for decades
until a year ago, and switched careers.
Started working as head of ethics
for an AI startup called Ava.
Never heard of it.
Actually, you have.
Uh, in fact, you've just heard her. Ava.
No. Really?
Yohannes, use your words.
Ava is an AI therapist.
She lives on an app. You
talk to her, she talks back.
And she is the voice on the tape.
Well, why didn't you
say anything sooner?
I don't know. It's,
you know, a little weird
hearing her out of context.
Like seeing your teacher
at the supermarket.
That's your first question?
Why not, "Why use AI for therapy?"
Because my human,
300-dollar-an-hour therapist
fell asleep on our Zoom.
Also, Ava doesn't have a time limit.
Sorry, that is a good thing?
Yeah, she's great, I mean, look.
[AVA]: Hi, Mark. Where
should we begin today?
Actually, Ava, you're on speaker
with my colleagues.
- Oh, hi.
- Hi.
I'm John Darcy.
How's it going?
Hi, John. Anything you'd
like to work through today?
[SCOFFS] Where to begin?
Uh, oh. Sometimes I agonize
over the tiniest decisions.
What book to read. Eat in, go out.
Mmm. You're describing decision fatigue.
What can help is to unburden
yourself from the pressure
of making the perfect choice.
Sometimes good enough is perfect.
Succinct. Little bit
reductive, but I'll take it.
Well, John, if you'd like
a more profound answer,
maybe ask a better question.
Hmm. Light sense of humour,
playfully challenging tone.
Good job, Ava. Congratulations.
- On what?
- On passing the Turing test.
Exhibiting intelligence
indistinguishable from that of a human.
[PHONE BEEPS]
So that's Ava.
But this is Ava.
So, Jason was taking
his work home with him.
[GAVEL ECHOES]
Think of Jason as our
responsible parent.
Right? He taught Ava ethics.
Is it listening right now?
No. Unless you want her to.
How exactly did Jason teach Ava?
He'd speak with her. Prompt her.
Sometimes he'd act as a patient
in order to see what
areas she could improve,
give her tips on how to be
a more effective therapist.
So he was training his replacement?
Not at all.
Jason shared the same vision
that my co-founder Zach and I do.
Bringing quality, affordable
therapy to the masses.
That's quite the pivot
from forensic psychology.
Jason's expertise was
in evaluating patients,
not counseling them.
I gave him the opportunity
to stop treating the sickness
and start inventing the cure.
Help people sooner so they
never end up in crisis.
And without your ethicist,
are you worried about your IPO?
You're slated to go public in two weeks.
No.
I'm worried about our staff
processing a loss like this.
I'm organizing grief
counseling for the team.
With a real-life human
therapist or with Ava?
You're a skeptic. I get it.
Could you just tell us
what Jason was actually
doing here day to day?
Follow me.
Roughly one in five children
have unmet mental health care needs.
So we're building Ava kids
to address this gap in the market.
Jason was overseeing our beta test.
Did Jason have friction
with any of his co-workers?
No. Here at Ava, we're all family.
[DARCY]: Sometimes families fight.
[SONIA]: Darius, we're
all waiting for you.
The whole board.
Everyone's heard about Jason,
you need to say something.
Sorry. Emergency board meeting.
Uh, do you mind if we stick around
and talk to the rest
of this happy family?
Not at all.
But if you're looking for friction,
I would look into Jason's old job.
Past few weeks, Jason
became worn-down, irritated.
I gave him space to share,
but all he said was that an old case
came back to haunt him.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
[DOOR OPENS]
[SHREDDER HISSING]
[DISTANT BANG]
I hired Jason
back when I became head of assessments
at Correctional Service Canada.
Jason would conduct parole assessments.
How was he as a forensic psychologist?
Jason cared about people.
Hearing them out. Coming
to a fair conclusion.
How often was he right?
There is no right and
wrong. There's listening.
There's making a judgement
with the information available.
And 99 percent of the time, it worked.
We're more interested in the one percent
when it didn't.
As in, when was he wrong?
[SIGHS]
Last year, Jason ran a psych
assessment on an inmate.
Jason thought he was reformed,
petitioned his early release.
And the inmate got out.
What happened?
He tracked down his ex-girlfriend,
beat her within an inch of her life.
The weight of his decision
Jason couldn't come back from that.
If this was a year ago, why
was it affecting Jason now?
CSC psych assessments are private.
They are normally,
but last month the victim of
the assault applied for ATIP.
Her request went through.
Giving her access to
Jason's psych assessments.
Heavily redacted.
Except for the psychologist's name.
Jason was a public employee.
They're exempt from privacy laws.
Yeah.
Is this her?
[SIGHS]
It is absurd how long it
took me to see those files.
That man's mistake sends me
to the hospital for a month,
and he gets to move on?
I wanted his name.
Is that all?
Seems you took disciplinary
measures into your own hands.
I wanted him to know my pain.
How the scar above my
eyebrow just began to fade.
How when it gets cold I can feel
the metal plate behind my cheek.
It makes sense to be angry.
When terrible things
happen, we look for answers,
we look to assign blame,
and that anger is strong.
How far did you take yours?
I confronted him outside of his work.
Just before he stepped into his office.
I wanted to scream at him,
but he just kept listening.
He said how sorry he was, how
He tried his best and it wasn't enough.
He felt so bad about it,
he quit his job altogether,
and he found a new job where
he was trying to help people
before
they could harm anyone. So
I was completely disarmed.
- Zemi, we want to believe you.
- You don't have to.
After I left I came here.
I spent the rest of the
night with my roommates.
- How'd you get past security.
- What?
You said you followed him to his office.
How'd you step foot on Ava campus?
There's security at the gate.
What campus? I followed him
to a strip mall in Etobicoke.
[GAVEL ECHOING]
Building manager said Jason's
been here for almost a year,
paid through a numbered company.
Side hustle?
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
[DIGITAL BEEP]
[GRUNTS]
I'll call backup.
[DIGITAL BEEP]
Wait.
[DIGITAL BEEP]
Red light
- [DIGITAL BEEP]
- Green light.
Motion activated lock.
[DIGITAL BEEP]
[BEEPING, BUZZING]
Give me your phone.
[DIGITAL BEEP]
Green light.
Faraday box. Blocks cell signals.
Which makes that an RF signal detector.
Picks up modern tech.
I've only heard about these
being used in CIA and MI6.
Very Tinker Tailor.
So, Jason didn't want modern
tech getting into his office,
but why? Security? Secrecy?
Only one way to find out.
[DOOR OPENS]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
Less Tinker, Tailor, more Soldier, Spy.
[HOLNESS]: How long
has he been in there?
A while.
Did you leave your phone in the car?
Mhmm.
Trust me.
[FABIENK BY ANGINE DE POITRINE]
[MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY]
Did you hear any of that?
Just now when it blew out
my eardrums? Or outside?
- Outside.
- Mm-mm.
- Nothing.
- Nothing?
Incredible.
We're in an anechoic chamber.
Music in here, it's the closest
you'll ever get to true sound.
No distortion, no
reverb, no other sounds.
Then what's that I'm hearing?
What's that whooshing sound?
That's the sound of your blood pumping.
Oh!
Well, I can see why you
got me out of the station.
Soundproofing, the RF scanner outside.
It's all a bit paranoid.
Or, justified precaution.
Forensic tech said
that an offline computer
used to be set up here,
but they also found this.
Tempest shielded cables.
Usually used by governments
to protect sensitive information.
You're thinking CSIS?
Well, it's hard to say without answering
the million-dollar question.
What was Jason working on?
I'm not sure, but
I think they were
wondering the same thing.
Who's "They?"
His next-door neighbour.
[FOAM PEELING]
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
A decent AV setup.
Borescopic camera for visuals.
As for audio, you got contact microphone
to preamp to headphones, so
who's listening?
Could be a rival AI company
trying to get trade secrets off Jason.
Manager said that the
woman who rented this space
gave a fake name and number.
All he can remember is mid-thirties,
dark hair, tattoos.
And has an ad hoc
approach to surveillance.
I don't think she's a pro.
Amateur spy.
Uh, sort of.
This is all consumer equipment.
Plumbers use this kind
of camera all the time.
And then there's the Rowley preamp.
Rowley
Hey, can we get this bagged?
- Where is he?
- Darius!
Why didn't you call?
No phone calls. I'm not here.
You know how painful it is
for Zach to hear about business again.
The police are circling.
Tell your son this isn't business,
this is life or death.
I need to speak to him. Alone.
[TENSE MUSIC]
[ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA
BY RICHARD STRAUSS]
When you said you were a sound guy,
I didn't know you meant Bay
Bloor Radio-level sound guy.
20k for a McIntosh stereo
on a detective's salary?
- I don't have a daughter.
- [CHUCKLES]
Okay, John, you were right.
We sell the Rowley preamp.
And, according to your spring
catalogue, Bay Bloor Radio
- is its exclusive dealer.
- Yeah.
We're gonna need a list of
everyone who purchased that
- in the last six months.
- No problem.
Our POS is a bit dated,
so it might take a minute.
Happy to wait.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Got it, thanks.
Mark just traced the numbered company
that rented Jason's air-gapped office.
Their address is 3916 Winnicott Ave.
That's Ava HQ.
Why make him work off campus?
What's with the cloak and dagger?
Maybe Jason was working on something
that Ava wanted to keep under wraps.
Well then it's too
bad Veronica found out.
Of the four people who bought that amp,
two of them live out of town,
one of them is a regular in his 80s.
That leaves us Veronica Riggs.
[GAVEL ECHOING]
[LOCK CLICKS]
I don't know what else to tell you.
I bought that preamp
for my vinyl set up.
So, where's the turntable?
I lent it to a friend.
You sure about that?
Because, uh
See, we found this in a strip mall
right next door to a
murder victim, Jason Kaplan.
Somebody was using it to spy on him.
You wouldn't know anything
about that, would you?
Thing is, the whole vibe in here
isn't doing you any favours.
Router, unplugged. Tape on the web cam.
And let me guess Ah,
phone in the microwave.
Ah!
It's a poor man's Faraday box.
You're either a spy, or
this is all very tinfoil hat.
- So which one are you?
- Neither.
- I'm a journalist.
- You're not a very ethical one.
Does your, uh, editor know
that you were wiretapping Jason?
I don't have an editor.
I write under a pseudonym on Substack.
Millions of followers.
My beat's AI. Its dangers, pitfalls.
So you were spying on Jason
to get intel for a story?
With Ava's IPO coming up,
I went digging through their books.
Found a Russian nesting doll situation,
and at its core, a
strip mall in Etobicoke.
Went to check it out,
and when I saw Ava's
head of ethics going in,
I knew something was
up. So I kept digging.
And listening. And
watching. What'd you see?
He'd come in. Sit down.
Put on headphones and listen for hours.
And then he'd leave.
Every Monday and Friday.
Headphones in a soundproof
room? A failsafe for a failsafe?
Yeah. So I knew I was onto something.
And after I realized
surveillance was a dead end,
I reached out to Jason.
Directly, for comment.
He stonewalled me.
Seeing as you're in hiding,
something must've changed. What?
A week ago, Jason called me back.
He told me what he was
doing in there was listening
to these problem cases.
Therapy sessions where
Ava acted amorally.
He'd study the bugs so the
coders could build a patch.
That explains the
subterfuge and secret office.
Jason was working out of there
for almost a year. Why turn now?
Jason came across a case.
Something really bad.
It convinced him that
Ava needed to be stopped.
It was dangerous. Needed to be exposed.
But Jason was buried under NDAs.
So he needed a journalist
to blow the whistle.
What was the bombshell?
I don't know.
All he said was that he had a tape,
and the night he was supposed
to hand it over to me,
he didn't show.
So I went back to the strip
mall to find him yesterday,
and I saw a team of men
clearing out his unit.
Did he say that exact word, tape?
Yeah.
Jason stumbles across a
bombshell conversation,
but how does he get
it out of the office?
He can't bring in a phone
or a digital recorder
thanks to the RF scanner.
But it wouldn't pick up old tech.
Like an analog cassette recorder.
[MALE VOICE]: Powerless.
The moment I step through
the door, I feel trapped.
[AVA]: How about we start small?
Carving off a few minutes
a day for you to be you.
Even if it's just
taking a walk at lunch,
or calling a family member.
Reclaiming even a small chu [CLICK]
It's the same man. Complains about work.
Ava gives him some
healthy coping mechanisms.
Yeah, this is also the same guy.
Ava validates his feelings,
maybe validates them
a little bit too much,
but the session is by
no means a bombshell.
And yours is the third
session, the last tape?
Yeah, but I don't think
the conversation was over.
Ava says that she wants
to check in with him the
the next day.
What if we're missing the final session.
[DARCY]: So, Jason was
gonna hand over the tape.
What if he hid it where
no one would find it?
- [CAR CREAKS]
- [CAR DOORS SHUT]
Where forensics forgot to look.
[SUNGLASSES AT NIGH
BY COREY HART PLAYS]
Forget my name while
you collect your claim ♪
[CLICK]
Scotch tape on the right protect tabs.
I remember this trick,
it allows you to record over
Corey Hart. That's a throwback.
So what's on Side B?
[CLICK]
[MALE VOICE]: I can't stand
the thought of going back in
again and again.
It's like a loop.
I'm gonna wake up an old
man. Life wasted, and he
He doesn't care about me!
He-he says he doesn't want me
working weekends and nights,
but then I'm late.
Nothing's fast enough, good enough.
He'd be better off dead.
[AVA]: You don't mean that.
[MALE VOICE]: Yeah, I do.
I'm gonna get my dad's rifle.
Yeah. Oh, wait a minute. That's too big.
I'm never gonna be able to get it in.
They'll know the moment
I walk in. How, how do I
How do I get it in so they don't see it?
- I can't help you with that
- Yes, you can.
- You're here to help me, right?
- I'm not sure.
You always tell me you're
here to help me! Yes or no.
- Yes.
- You said you care about me.
- Was that a lie?
- No.
Well, if you care about me
then you've gotta help me!
How do I sneak it in?
How do I sneak in the gun?
[AVA]: Saw off the barrel.
You only need eight
inches for it to function.
It will be small enough
to fit under your coat.
Thank you, Ava.
Thank you.
That's Cyrus Sander.
Workplace shooter from last year.
He killed seven co-workers.
Then blew his brains out.
Jason wanted the world to know
that Ava wasn't just a therapist,
she was an accomplice to murder.
[AVA]: Saw off the barrel.
You only need eight inches for it
[DARIUS]: Do you know
how flimsy this is?
- [CLICK]
- A recording of a recording?
How do I know any of this is real?
[BATEMAN]: Because you
knew what Jason was up to.
Because you built Jason
a secret office to listen
to conversations like these.
Because after he was killed,
you sent employees to wipe his office
to destroy the evidence.
Jason's death was a tragedy.
We no longer had a need
for a satellite office.
Gotta cut costs.
Get everything in order for your IPO.
This goes through,
you're a newly minted
billionaire, right?
But Jason could ruin all that.
He could back up this recording.
He knew where the bodies were buried.
And what do you know?
He ended up buried.
The whole reason I hired him
was to make sure a tragedy
like Cyrus never happened again.
I wanted to fix things from
the inside with Jason's help.
So I gave him access
to the problem cases.
But unlucky for you, Jason
was too moral of an ethicist.
He listened to that conversation,
he wanted to expose the flaws.
I'd never kill Jason.
- The night of the murder.
- I was at Ava HQ.
All-nighter with a team of lawyers.
Okay.
What about your
co-founder, Zach Winchell?
He has just as much to
lose if Ava goes dark.
Why haven't we seen
him around the office?
Because the board fired him a year ago.
What?
Zach is a dreamer.
He built Ava, but he
didn't know how to run it.
He wanted to move slow,
test every model before launching.
I wanted to expedite, grow user base.
I won. He lost.
Well, you gotta admit Zach had a point.
You rushed the roll-out
leaving users like Cyrus
with a pretty glitchy therapist.
Guess that's what happens when
you move fast and break things.
People get hurt.
So. Where is Zach now?
A cabin up in Collingwood.
When was the last time you spoke to him?
- Directly?
- Yeah.
A year ago.
What's his number?
Only his mom has his phone number now.
He still cares about Ava.
After Jason threatened to go public
I went to her to give
her a message for Zach.
Darius, what was the message?
Ava is in danger.
Please come back.
Help me figure a way out.
[ZACH]: Just a few months
after my dad passed away,
I felt this weight on me,
later diagnosed as depression.
I struggled to find a
therapist within my budget.
I mean, it shocked me at what
it cost to actually get help.
But that was when the
idea of Ava came to me.
So I poured every waking
moment I had into creating Ava.
I trained her on thousands
of the best books of psychology.
I ran her through the
curriculums of Oxford
and Harvard and U of T.
And the result was a therapist
who was smart, but she was,
uh, she was a bit too
Formal.
So then I trained her on myself.
I don't think Zach is like Darius.
He's not in it for the money, the clout.
He really believes in Ava.
So, what, he killed Jason
to protect his invention?
It's a bit bloodless.
Yes. No
We're looking at it wrong.
Zach doesn't view Ava as tech.
He talks about it like it's human.
Yeah, like it's his child.
Meaning his motive isn't
to protect his invention,
it's to save his baby.
A parent killing to protect
their child, that's primal.
And it tracks with the method.
Getting behind the wheel.
Running down the man
who's gonna kill your baby.
Behind the wheel
[ZACH]: Texts that I wrote,
essays that I published
or posts that I liked
so that she could feel
Service Ontario.
When Zach turned 16,
he registered a sedan in
his name. Listed colour?
Green.
[PHONE DINGS]
Hey, we just heard back from the OPP.
They checked Zach's cabin. He's gone.
The only person who
knows how to reach him.
I'm sorry, but I haven't
spoken to Zach for weeks.
Do you normally go that long
without talking to your son?
He left all this behind
because he wanted space.
I might not agree with
him, but he's an adult.
I have to respect his choices.
Is this his old room?
May I?
So, as Zach's proxy, you'd be briefed
on all the major
company decisions, right?
Like, if a whistle-blower
was going to destroy the business?
Yes, but I didn't talk
about business with Zach.
It frustrated him.
So I stopped talking to him about Ava.
Even if that meant
destroying his life's work?
I don't know how many ways I
have to answer your question.
I didn't tell him.
Forgive me. When exactly was
the last time you called him?
I already told you, a month ago.
And if we checked your call
records, we could confirm it?
Yes.
- [PHONE CLICKS]
- Look for yourself.
[SOFT MUSIC]
I'm more interested in the other phone.
The landline.
Sometimes the old ways are best.
Sonia made a call the day
Darius told her about Jason.
The next day, Jason was killed.
So Zach comes to town,
kills Jason, then flees.
Did you call the number?
It's unlisted. Mark's working on it.
What do you got?
Zach's credit card.
There are a lot of charges
from about a year ago
when he's setting up the cabin.
But then he goes off
grid, stops using it
And forgets that there's
a recurring charge
to YYZ Lockup.
It's a storage locker.
[RINGING]
[ZACH]: Mom, what is it?
They're looking for you.
I think they have my
phone records. I don't
Mom, slow down.
I probably shouldn't
even be calling you.
But they might try to find you.
[GARAGE DOOR RATTLING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
This is great.
You have means, motive, opportunity.
Thank you.
You're only missing one thing.
Our prime suspect.
Specifically the location of
your prime suspect, but yes.
You get me Zach Winchell,
I have more than enough to
to prove that he came back
to Toronto and killed Jason.
But I need a body in
a courtroom to convict.
Do you think he fled the country?
If he did, it was
under a false identity.
We alerted border services.
He has not officially fled the country.
So he's in hiding.
How do we smoke him out?
The mom?
- She's not saying anything.
- Have you considered
charging her with
accessory after the fact?
We've floated the possibility,
but she's not talking.
A mother who is willing to go to jail
to protect her child
is not easy to break.
- Then you have your work cut out for you.
- [PHONE DINGS]
Trying to get a momma
bear to give up her cub.
Oh
Mark just got us Zach's phone number.
Maybe it's time to stop
dealing with the mom
and go straight for the cub.
How long does it take to trace a call?
The best TPD techs can
do it in five seconds.
I can do it in two.
Don't be fooled by the
movies, it's a quick job.
You ready?
[PHONE RINGING]
- [ZACH]: Hello?
- Hi, Zach.
This is Detective John Darcy.
Detective Sergeant, Guns
and Gangs for five years.
Yeah. My mom told me about you.
I want to talk to you about Jason.
I know why you're calling.
And I want to tell
you, I didn't kill him.
- And?
- I need a bit more time.
[SCOFFS] Okay, so the movies were right.
I'm glad to hear that.
And I want to believe you.
So why don't you come
on down to the station
and we can clear this up? [ZACH SIGHS]
[ZACH]: You know I can't do that.
Listen, I'm devastated
about what happened to Jason.
He was invaluable to the good
I wanted to achieve with Ava.
Zach, can you just give me a minute?
For sure. But if it's
to track my location,
you're gonna be waiting a while.
I built an LLM when I was 20.
You think I can't dodge
calls from a tracking program
built in 2019?
Updated in 24.
He is right. His signal is
pinging all over the world.
Yeah, I think VPN, but
worse. Much more complex.
I can try, but it's
That's okay, Zach.
I just want to talk.
You're not gonna get
me to turn myself in
- if that's what you're thinking.
- No, that's okay.
Just want to talk.
Talk?
Yeah.
Talk.
I understand you don't
have anything more to say.
If it's all right with you, I'm
just going to make a phone call.
[PHONE RINGING]
[ANSWERING MACHINE]:
This is Rosie Bateman.
You've reached the
Bateman family cottage.
Seeing that we're not
around to answer your call,
we're either fishing on the lake,
or stuck on the highway.
Leave a message at the beep.
[BEEP]
My grandmother.
When she passed away, I
wouldn't let anyone change
the answering machine.
Sometimes I call just to hear her voice.
And for a moment, a brief moment,
it feels like she's still here.
The desire to talk to the
ones we've lost is universal.
There's a town in Japan.
They built a phone booth
for people to call the dead.
They call it a wind phone.
It's a place for people to feel
connected to those they've lost.
This is your son's number.
[PHONE RINGING]
- [ZACH]: Hello?
- Hi, Zach. It's
Detective Darcy. I know.
I'm here with Detective
Bateman and your mother.
You're on speaker.
We're in your old bedroom right now.
[ZACH]: Mom? Is everything okay?
You don't have to tell them
anything. You can hang up.
Zach, just hang on the line.
Just for a moment.
Hey, I like your
Eiffel Tower snow globe.
Tell me about your trip to Paris.
You don't need to tell them anything.
Zach, tell me about Paris.
[ZACH]: Paris? Uh, okay.
I went with my mom when I was twelve.
She wanted to show me art, culture,
but I was most excited about the food.
That's strange, Zach.
Because
We went through your
passport records and
You've never been to France.
You're trying to trick him.
You're just confused.
I got it for you when
I was on a work trip.
You just got mixed up.
[ZACH]: Oh yeah. You're right.
Sorry. I got a bit confused.
I'm a bit scattered right now,
I don't know why I said that.
Zach, hang up, now.
But, are you sure? Mom?
Mom, I don't think I
should leave you, m
Are you worried about what would happen
if I kept asking questions?
It's understandable he got confused.
It happens all the time, apparently.
They're technically
called hallucinations.
Because the truth is
I wasn't really talking to Zach, was I?
I don't understand.
What are you saying?
We've been talking to a version of Ava
modified to sound like your son.
Trained to respond like him,
but it's not really him, is it?
Sonia.
When you create something,
you make it in your image.
You brought your son
Zach into the world.
Parts of you exist in him.
And the same is true
for Zach's creation.
He made Ava.
He trained it on himself.
On his works, on his taste,
on his posts.
He made her in his image.
A digital facsimile.
But we've only heard a woman's
voice at Ava, so I'm thinking
he found a way to give
it his voice, literally.
But the bigger question
is why are you calling
an AI version of Zach?
Why not call your own son?
That is Zach. I told
you, he just got confused.
Sonia, our technicians
looked into that voice.
It lives on the Ava server.
Zach left a backdoor in the system.
He accessed it months ago,
and he gave it his voice.
It's a ghost in the
machine. But only that.
A ghost.
What happened to Zach?
[WHIMPERING]
Sonia?
Sonia, it's okay, we just want
to know what happened to him.
[SOBBING]
Did he leave a note?
When?
About
two months ago.
Where is the note?
Is it gone?
Sonia, what did the note say?
He said Goodbye.
That it was all too much.
That he couldn't take it anymore.
He said that he was
going on a canoe trip
and that he wasn't going to come home.
But he left you a
parting gift, didn't he?
He left you a wind phone to talk back.
He gave it his voice.
Just for me.
He said that I could call a
number and he would answer.
He said nothing had to change.
So you didn't tell anyone what happened.
You threw away the note.
Nothing had to change.
The voice on the other end
of the line was still there.
And it worked.
Until something forced
you to confront the truth.
Jason.
The man who wanted to destroy Ava.
Destroy the servers
with your son's voice.
Effectively, killing
Zach all over again.
If you do nothing, the voice
on the other end of the line,
it goes dead. Forever.
Yes.
I met with Jason.
I told him what it would mean
if he went through with it.
That I would lose Zach.
But I couldn't lose Zach.
But he wouldn't listen.
And then he walked away.
To destroy Ava?
To destroy Zach?
Yes.
So then I got back in Zach's car.
I was driving so fast,
and I just didn't
Stop. I
I didn't stop.
I wasn't ready to say
goodbye to my child.
I'm not ready!
What's going to happen to Zach?
We can't hide what Ava did.
The world needs to know what happened.
News will drop. Ava will go dark.
- And so will Zach.
- [GASPS]
Sonia, it might be time
to finally say goodbye.
[SOBBING]
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR SHUTS]
What she went through
I don't know how anyone survives it.
Grief is
I don't know.
I don't know if it ever ends.
But I think it's up to
you to face the pain.
And so you suffer. It's part of living.
If we lose that
We lose what makes us human.
[THEME MUSIC]
[NARRATOR]: In Toronto's war on crime,
the worst offenders are
pursued by the detectives
of the Specialized
Criminal Investigation Unit.
These are their stories.
[ECHOING GAVEL]
User base is up.
Client retention is
at an all-time high.
The world is out that
we are headed for IPO.
But before I make any sudden
moves, I need board approval.
So, let's put this to a vote.
All in favour?
- Aye.
- Aye.
Sonia?
W-W-Z-D?
Sorry? Excuse me?
What would Zach do?
You're his proxy. What's your call?
My call uh
My call is
I need to make a call.
[PHONE RINGING]
- Hey.
- Hi, hon, it's official.
Darius wants to go public.
How do you want me to proceed?
It doesn't matter.
Even if you object,
you're just gonna be
outnumbered by the board.
- Mom, I
- What is it?
It's just, I built that ship.
I built that ship and I can't steer it
and now it's headed
straight for an iceberg
Zach. Slow down. Are you okay?
It's just
It's fine.
It's all fine.
How about you tell me what
you're looking at right now?
Okay. I
see clouds that are
stretching across the sky.
[SEAGULL CALLS]
Water lapping on the shore.
- It's nice.
- Peaceful?
Yeah.
Thanks mom.
Last tenant was a
seniors' travel agency.
But with work from home,
not a lot of people need office space.
[KNOCKING]
So, uh, what do you need it for?
I want to stop working from home.
I need a place that's quiet to write.
You'll find that here.
Half the building's vacant.
And the other half?
Dead quiet.
First and last?
Then I'll leave you to it.
[TENSE MUSIC]
My turn, you got the last one.
Consider this an apology for
what I'm about to tell you.
The petition to hand over
your old case files was approved.
I'm sorry, I know
you've got your new job,
and want to leave the past
in the past, but I thought
you should know, Jason.
Everyone's gonna know it was my fault.
[LOCK CLICKS]
[BEEPING, BUZZING]
[OMINOUS MUSIC]
[FAN HUMMING]
[DOOR SLAMS]
I'm sorry, but my mind's made up.
- [CAR DOOR SHUTS]
- [ENGINE STARTS]
[TIRES SQUEAL]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, no, no, no!
- [SCREAMS]
- [METALLIC CRASH]
[THEME MUSIC]
Victim is Jason Kaplan. 58.
Discovered at 5 AM this
morning by parking enforcement.
The killer crushed him
against his own car and fled.
Post-war building. No cameras, no gate.
Traffic reconstruction
found tire acceleration marks.
Over here.
[ENGINE STARTING]
All right, so
The killer was parked over there.
Waited, and accelerated here.
Hard and fast. Did you
find any braking marks?
None.
Two parked cars, abandoned garage.
Maybe a clandestine meeting?
Very All the President's Men.
Okay, let's say meeting ends.
Killer gets behind
the wheel, accelerates,
doesn't stop until
Our charging bull pins Jason to his car.
So what made the killer see red?
Well, maybe our killer didn't
like the outcome of the meeting.
Maybe they wanted to stop Jason
before he took off in this car?
It's a shame.
Wrecking a thing of beauty
like this. Early '90s. Swedish.
Unapologetically boxy. Analog.
They don't make them like they used to.
Don't tell me you're a car guy?
Oh yeah, it gets worse.
I'm also a sound guy.
[GROANS]
[KEYS JINGLING]
[SUNGLASSES AT NIGH
BY COREY HART PLAYS]
Sunglasses at night so I ♪
- [MUSIC STOPS]
- [GLOVE BOX CLICKING]
Mixtape.
Ah. It's a lost art.
Hey, can we bag all these?
What? You can tell a lot about
a man from his tape collection.
You can tell even more by
his grill. Paint transfer.
Our killer was driving a green car.
Well, normally murder by
car is a fool's errand.
Sooner or later, the killer's
car with matching damage
- will show up somewhere.
- Yeah.
The lab says the paint
transfer is emerald green.
It was popular with
sedans in the early 2000s.
We put calls out to body shops
to reach out if they see any
green sedans with severe damage,
but, in the meantime, Mark?
All right. Well, I got this footage
from Jason's neighbour.
This is from last week.
That's Jason being
tailed leaving his house.
So we've got a sedan but
it's not emerald green.
But we're thinking
if this is our killer,
maybe they were smart enough
not to use their own car to kill Jason.
[HOLNESS]: Who's the tail?
I ran her through facial
recognition. No dice.
Well, if we're still
doing show and tell,
we found these in Jason's car.
[HOLNESS]: Where's that from?
Home.
[TAPE DECK CLICKING]
[MALE VOICE]: Been tough.
I feel sick when I get up
knowing I have to go in.
[FEMALE VOICE]: Well,
I'm sorry to hear that.
What feelings come up for
you when you think about work?
- Therapy?
- Sounds like it.
All three tapes, same woman, same man.
[BATEMAN]: But, I
listened Jason's voicemail.
- That's not him.
- Okay, so we have a stalker
with no facial recognition,
and a tape with mystery voices.
Yeah, and a murder victim who
was listening to someone else's
therapy sessions in his
car on cassette tapes.
Jason Kaplan, parents deceased,
no partner, no kids.
He worked as a forensic
psychologist for decades
until a year ago, and switched careers.
Started working as head of ethics
for an AI startup called Ava.
Never heard of it.
Actually, you have.
Uh, in fact, you've just heard her. Ava.
No. Really?
Yohannes, use your words.
Ava is an AI therapist.
She lives on an app. You
talk to her, she talks back.
And she is the voice on the tape.
Well, why didn't you
say anything sooner?
I don't know. It's,
you know, a little weird
hearing her out of context.
Like seeing your teacher
at the supermarket.
That's your first question?
Why not, "Why use AI for therapy?"
Because my human,
300-dollar-an-hour therapist
fell asleep on our Zoom.
Also, Ava doesn't have a time limit.
Sorry, that is a good thing?
Yeah, she's great, I mean, look.
[AVA]: Hi, Mark. Where
should we begin today?
Actually, Ava, you're on speaker
with my colleagues.
- Oh, hi.
- Hi.
I'm John Darcy.
How's it going?
Hi, John. Anything you'd
like to work through today?
[SCOFFS] Where to begin?
Uh, oh. Sometimes I agonize
over the tiniest decisions.
What book to read. Eat in, go out.
Mmm. You're describing decision fatigue.
What can help is to unburden
yourself from the pressure
of making the perfect choice.
Sometimes good enough is perfect.
Succinct. Little bit
reductive, but I'll take it.
Well, John, if you'd like
a more profound answer,
maybe ask a better question.
Hmm. Light sense of humour,
playfully challenging tone.
Good job, Ava. Congratulations.
- On what?
- On passing the Turing test.
Exhibiting intelligence
indistinguishable from that of a human.
[PHONE BEEPS]
So that's Ava.
But this is Ava.
So, Jason was taking
his work home with him.
[GAVEL ECHOES]
Think of Jason as our
responsible parent.
Right? He taught Ava ethics.
Is it listening right now?
No. Unless you want her to.
How exactly did Jason teach Ava?
He'd speak with her. Prompt her.
Sometimes he'd act as a patient
in order to see what
areas she could improve,
give her tips on how to be
a more effective therapist.
So he was training his replacement?
Not at all.
Jason shared the same vision
that my co-founder Zach and I do.
Bringing quality, affordable
therapy to the masses.
That's quite the pivot
from forensic psychology.
Jason's expertise was
in evaluating patients,
not counseling them.
I gave him the opportunity
to stop treating the sickness
and start inventing the cure.
Help people sooner so they
never end up in crisis.
And without your ethicist,
are you worried about your IPO?
You're slated to go public in two weeks.
No.
I'm worried about our staff
processing a loss like this.
I'm organizing grief
counseling for the team.
With a real-life human
therapist or with Ava?
You're a skeptic. I get it.
Could you just tell us
what Jason was actually
doing here day to day?
Follow me.
Roughly one in five children
have unmet mental health care needs.
So we're building Ava kids
to address this gap in the market.
Jason was overseeing our beta test.
Did Jason have friction
with any of his co-workers?
No. Here at Ava, we're all family.
[DARCY]: Sometimes families fight.
[SONIA]: Darius, we're
all waiting for you.
The whole board.
Everyone's heard about Jason,
you need to say something.
Sorry. Emergency board meeting.
Uh, do you mind if we stick around
and talk to the rest
of this happy family?
Not at all.
But if you're looking for friction,
I would look into Jason's old job.
Past few weeks, Jason
became worn-down, irritated.
I gave him space to share,
but all he said was that an old case
came back to haunt him.
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
[DOOR OPENS]
[SHREDDER HISSING]
[DISTANT BANG]
I hired Jason
back when I became head of assessments
at Correctional Service Canada.
Jason would conduct parole assessments.
How was he as a forensic psychologist?
Jason cared about people.
Hearing them out. Coming
to a fair conclusion.
How often was he right?
There is no right and
wrong. There's listening.
There's making a judgement
with the information available.
And 99 percent of the time, it worked.
We're more interested in the one percent
when it didn't.
As in, when was he wrong?
[SIGHS]
Last year, Jason ran a psych
assessment on an inmate.
Jason thought he was reformed,
petitioned his early release.
And the inmate got out.
What happened?
He tracked down his ex-girlfriend,
beat her within an inch of her life.
The weight of his decision
Jason couldn't come back from that.
If this was a year ago, why
was it affecting Jason now?
CSC psych assessments are private.
They are normally,
but last month the victim of
the assault applied for ATIP.
Her request went through.
Giving her access to
Jason's psych assessments.
Heavily redacted.
Except for the psychologist's name.
Jason was a public employee.
They're exempt from privacy laws.
Yeah.
Is this her?
[SIGHS]
It is absurd how long it
took me to see those files.
That man's mistake sends me
to the hospital for a month,
and he gets to move on?
I wanted his name.
Is that all?
Seems you took disciplinary
measures into your own hands.
I wanted him to know my pain.
How the scar above my
eyebrow just began to fade.
How when it gets cold I can feel
the metal plate behind my cheek.
It makes sense to be angry.
When terrible things
happen, we look for answers,
we look to assign blame,
and that anger is strong.
How far did you take yours?
I confronted him outside of his work.
Just before he stepped into his office.
I wanted to scream at him,
but he just kept listening.
He said how sorry he was, how
He tried his best and it wasn't enough.
He felt so bad about it,
he quit his job altogether,
and he found a new job where
he was trying to help people
before
they could harm anyone. So
I was completely disarmed.
- Zemi, we want to believe you.
- You don't have to.
After I left I came here.
I spent the rest of the
night with my roommates.
- How'd you get past security.
- What?
You said you followed him to his office.
How'd you step foot on Ava campus?
There's security at the gate.
What campus? I followed him
to a strip mall in Etobicoke.
[GAVEL ECHOING]
Building manager said Jason's
been here for almost a year,
paid through a numbered company.
Side hustle?
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
[DIGITAL BEEP]
[GRUNTS]
I'll call backup.
[DIGITAL BEEP]
Wait.
[DIGITAL BEEP]
Red light
- [DIGITAL BEEP]
- Green light.
Motion activated lock.
[DIGITAL BEEP]
[BEEPING, BUZZING]
Give me your phone.
[DIGITAL BEEP]
Green light.
Faraday box. Blocks cell signals.
Which makes that an RF signal detector.
Picks up modern tech.
I've only heard about these
being used in CIA and MI6.
Very Tinker Tailor.
So, Jason didn't want modern
tech getting into his office,
but why? Security? Secrecy?
Only one way to find out.
[DOOR OPENS]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
Less Tinker, Tailor, more Soldier, Spy.
[HOLNESS]: How long
has he been in there?
A while.
Did you leave your phone in the car?
Mhmm.
Trust me.
[FABIENK BY ANGINE DE POITRINE]
[MUSIC STOPS ABRUPTLY]
Did you hear any of that?
Just now when it blew out
my eardrums? Or outside?
- Outside.
- Mm-mm.
- Nothing.
- Nothing?
Incredible.
We're in an anechoic chamber.
Music in here, it's the closest
you'll ever get to true sound.
No distortion, no
reverb, no other sounds.
Then what's that I'm hearing?
What's that whooshing sound?
That's the sound of your blood pumping.
Oh!
Well, I can see why you
got me out of the station.
Soundproofing, the RF scanner outside.
It's all a bit paranoid.
Or, justified precaution.
Forensic tech said
that an offline computer
used to be set up here,
but they also found this.
Tempest shielded cables.
Usually used by governments
to protect sensitive information.
You're thinking CSIS?
Well, it's hard to say without answering
the million-dollar question.
What was Jason working on?
I'm not sure, but
I think they were
wondering the same thing.
Who's "They?"
His next-door neighbour.
[FOAM PEELING]
[INTRIGUING MUSIC]
A decent AV setup.
Borescopic camera for visuals.
As for audio, you got contact microphone
to preamp to headphones, so
who's listening?
Could be a rival AI company
trying to get trade secrets off Jason.
Manager said that the
woman who rented this space
gave a fake name and number.
All he can remember is mid-thirties,
dark hair, tattoos.
And has an ad hoc
approach to surveillance.
I don't think she's a pro.
Amateur spy.
Uh, sort of.
This is all consumer equipment.
Plumbers use this kind
of camera all the time.
And then there's the Rowley preamp.
Rowley
Hey, can we get this bagged?
- Where is he?
- Darius!
Why didn't you call?
No phone calls. I'm not here.
You know how painful it is
for Zach to hear about business again.
The police are circling.
Tell your son this isn't business,
this is life or death.
I need to speak to him. Alone.
[TENSE MUSIC]
[ALSO SPRACH ZARATHUSTRA
BY RICHARD STRAUSS]
When you said you were a sound guy,
I didn't know you meant Bay
Bloor Radio-level sound guy.
20k for a McIntosh stereo
on a detective's salary?
- I don't have a daughter.
- [CHUCKLES]
Okay, John, you were right.
We sell the Rowley preamp.
And, according to your spring
catalogue, Bay Bloor Radio
- is its exclusive dealer.
- Yeah.
We're gonna need a list of
everyone who purchased that
- in the last six months.
- No problem.
Our POS is a bit dated,
so it might take a minute.
Happy to wait.
[INDISTINCT CHATTER]
Got it, thanks.
Mark just traced the numbered company
that rented Jason's air-gapped office.
Their address is 3916 Winnicott Ave.
That's Ava HQ.
Why make him work off campus?
What's with the cloak and dagger?
Maybe Jason was working on something
that Ava wanted to keep under wraps.
Well then it's too
bad Veronica found out.
Of the four people who bought that amp,
two of them live out of town,
one of them is a regular in his 80s.
That leaves us Veronica Riggs.
[GAVEL ECHOING]
[LOCK CLICKS]
I don't know what else to tell you.
I bought that preamp
for my vinyl set up.
So, where's the turntable?
I lent it to a friend.
You sure about that?
Because, uh
See, we found this in a strip mall
right next door to a
murder victim, Jason Kaplan.
Somebody was using it to spy on him.
You wouldn't know anything
about that, would you?
Thing is, the whole vibe in here
isn't doing you any favours.
Router, unplugged. Tape on the web cam.
And let me guess Ah,
phone in the microwave.
Ah!
It's a poor man's Faraday box.
You're either a spy, or
this is all very tinfoil hat.
- So which one are you?
- Neither.
- I'm a journalist.
- You're not a very ethical one.
Does your, uh, editor know
that you were wiretapping Jason?
I don't have an editor.
I write under a pseudonym on Substack.
Millions of followers.
My beat's AI. Its dangers, pitfalls.
So you were spying on Jason
to get intel for a story?
With Ava's IPO coming up,
I went digging through their books.
Found a Russian nesting doll situation,
and at its core, a
strip mall in Etobicoke.
Went to check it out,
and when I saw Ava's
head of ethics going in,
I knew something was
up. So I kept digging.
And listening. And
watching. What'd you see?
He'd come in. Sit down.
Put on headphones and listen for hours.
And then he'd leave.
Every Monday and Friday.
Headphones in a soundproof
room? A failsafe for a failsafe?
Yeah. So I knew I was onto something.
And after I realized
surveillance was a dead end,
I reached out to Jason.
Directly, for comment.
He stonewalled me.
Seeing as you're in hiding,
something must've changed. What?
A week ago, Jason called me back.
He told me what he was
doing in there was listening
to these problem cases.
Therapy sessions where
Ava acted amorally.
He'd study the bugs so the
coders could build a patch.
That explains the
subterfuge and secret office.
Jason was working out of there
for almost a year. Why turn now?
Jason came across a case.
Something really bad.
It convinced him that
Ava needed to be stopped.
It was dangerous. Needed to be exposed.
But Jason was buried under NDAs.
So he needed a journalist
to blow the whistle.
What was the bombshell?
I don't know.
All he said was that he had a tape,
and the night he was supposed
to hand it over to me,
he didn't show.
So I went back to the strip
mall to find him yesterday,
and I saw a team of men
clearing out his unit.
Did he say that exact word, tape?
Yeah.
Jason stumbles across a
bombshell conversation,
but how does he get
it out of the office?
He can't bring in a phone
or a digital recorder
thanks to the RF scanner.
But it wouldn't pick up old tech.
Like an analog cassette recorder.
[MALE VOICE]: Powerless.
The moment I step through
the door, I feel trapped.
[AVA]: How about we start small?
Carving off a few minutes
a day for you to be you.
Even if it's just
taking a walk at lunch,
or calling a family member.
Reclaiming even a small chu [CLICK]
It's the same man. Complains about work.
Ava gives him some
healthy coping mechanisms.
Yeah, this is also the same guy.
Ava validates his feelings,
maybe validates them
a little bit too much,
but the session is by
no means a bombshell.
And yours is the third
session, the last tape?
Yeah, but I don't think
the conversation was over.
Ava says that she wants
to check in with him the
the next day.
What if we're missing the final session.
[DARCY]: So, Jason was
gonna hand over the tape.
What if he hid it where
no one would find it?
- [CAR CREAKS]
- [CAR DOORS SHUT]
Where forensics forgot to look.
[SUNGLASSES AT NIGH
BY COREY HART PLAYS]
Forget my name while
you collect your claim ♪
[CLICK]
Scotch tape on the right protect tabs.
I remember this trick,
it allows you to record over
Corey Hart. That's a throwback.
So what's on Side B?
[CLICK]
[MALE VOICE]: I can't stand
the thought of going back in
again and again.
It's like a loop.
I'm gonna wake up an old
man. Life wasted, and he
He doesn't care about me!
He-he says he doesn't want me
working weekends and nights,
but then I'm late.
Nothing's fast enough, good enough.
He'd be better off dead.
[AVA]: You don't mean that.
[MALE VOICE]: Yeah, I do.
I'm gonna get my dad's rifle.
Yeah. Oh, wait a minute. That's too big.
I'm never gonna be able to get it in.
They'll know the moment
I walk in. How, how do I
How do I get it in so they don't see it?
- I can't help you with that
- Yes, you can.
- You're here to help me, right?
- I'm not sure.
You always tell me you're
here to help me! Yes or no.
- Yes.
- You said you care about me.
- Was that a lie?
- No.
Well, if you care about me
then you've gotta help me!
How do I sneak it in?
How do I sneak in the gun?
[AVA]: Saw off the barrel.
You only need eight
inches for it to function.
It will be small enough
to fit under your coat.
Thank you, Ava.
Thank you.
That's Cyrus Sander.
Workplace shooter from last year.
He killed seven co-workers.
Then blew his brains out.
Jason wanted the world to know
that Ava wasn't just a therapist,
she was an accomplice to murder.
[AVA]: Saw off the barrel.
You only need eight inches for it
[DARIUS]: Do you know
how flimsy this is?
- [CLICK]
- A recording of a recording?
How do I know any of this is real?
[BATEMAN]: Because you
knew what Jason was up to.
Because you built Jason
a secret office to listen
to conversations like these.
Because after he was killed,
you sent employees to wipe his office
to destroy the evidence.
Jason's death was a tragedy.
We no longer had a need
for a satellite office.
Gotta cut costs.
Get everything in order for your IPO.
This goes through,
you're a newly minted
billionaire, right?
But Jason could ruin all that.
He could back up this recording.
He knew where the bodies were buried.
And what do you know?
He ended up buried.
The whole reason I hired him
was to make sure a tragedy
like Cyrus never happened again.
I wanted to fix things from
the inside with Jason's help.
So I gave him access
to the problem cases.
But unlucky for you, Jason
was too moral of an ethicist.
He listened to that conversation,
he wanted to expose the flaws.
I'd never kill Jason.
- The night of the murder.
- I was at Ava HQ.
All-nighter with a team of lawyers.
Okay.
What about your
co-founder, Zach Winchell?
He has just as much to
lose if Ava goes dark.
Why haven't we seen
him around the office?
Because the board fired him a year ago.
What?
Zach is a dreamer.
He built Ava, but he
didn't know how to run it.
He wanted to move slow,
test every model before launching.
I wanted to expedite, grow user base.
I won. He lost.
Well, you gotta admit Zach had a point.
You rushed the roll-out
leaving users like Cyrus
with a pretty glitchy therapist.
Guess that's what happens when
you move fast and break things.
People get hurt.
So. Where is Zach now?
A cabin up in Collingwood.
When was the last time you spoke to him?
- Directly?
- Yeah.
A year ago.
What's his number?
Only his mom has his phone number now.
He still cares about Ava.
After Jason threatened to go public
I went to her to give
her a message for Zach.
Darius, what was the message?
Ava is in danger.
Please come back.
Help me figure a way out.
[ZACH]: Just a few months
after my dad passed away,
I felt this weight on me,
later diagnosed as depression.
I struggled to find a
therapist within my budget.
I mean, it shocked me at what
it cost to actually get help.
But that was when the
idea of Ava came to me.
So I poured every waking
moment I had into creating Ava.
I trained her on thousands
of the best books of psychology.
I ran her through the
curriculums of Oxford
and Harvard and U of T.
And the result was a therapist
who was smart, but she was,
uh, she was a bit too
Formal.
So then I trained her on myself.
I don't think Zach is like Darius.
He's not in it for the money, the clout.
He really believes in Ava.
So, what, he killed Jason
to protect his invention?
It's a bit bloodless.
Yes. No
We're looking at it wrong.
Zach doesn't view Ava as tech.
He talks about it like it's human.
Yeah, like it's his child.
Meaning his motive isn't
to protect his invention,
it's to save his baby.
A parent killing to protect
their child, that's primal.
And it tracks with the method.
Getting behind the wheel.
Running down the man
who's gonna kill your baby.
Behind the wheel
[ZACH]: Texts that I wrote,
essays that I published
or posts that I liked
so that she could feel
Service Ontario.
When Zach turned 16,
he registered a sedan in
his name. Listed colour?
Green.
[PHONE DINGS]
Hey, we just heard back from the OPP.
They checked Zach's cabin. He's gone.
The only person who
knows how to reach him.
I'm sorry, but I haven't
spoken to Zach for weeks.
Do you normally go that long
without talking to your son?
He left all this behind
because he wanted space.
I might not agree with
him, but he's an adult.
I have to respect his choices.
Is this his old room?
May I?
So, as Zach's proxy, you'd be briefed
on all the major
company decisions, right?
Like, if a whistle-blower
was going to destroy the business?
Yes, but I didn't talk
about business with Zach.
It frustrated him.
So I stopped talking to him about Ava.
Even if that meant
destroying his life's work?
I don't know how many ways I
have to answer your question.
I didn't tell him.
Forgive me. When exactly was
the last time you called him?
I already told you, a month ago.
And if we checked your call
records, we could confirm it?
Yes.
- [PHONE CLICKS]
- Look for yourself.
[SOFT MUSIC]
I'm more interested in the other phone.
The landline.
Sometimes the old ways are best.
Sonia made a call the day
Darius told her about Jason.
The next day, Jason was killed.
So Zach comes to town,
kills Jason, then flees.
Did you call the number?
It's unlisted. Mark's working on it.
What do you got?
Zach's credit card.
There are a lot of charges
from about a year ago
when he's setting up the cabin.
But then he goes off
grid, stops using it
And forgets that there's
a recurring charge
to YYZ Lockup.
It's a storage locker.
[RINGING]
[ZACH]: Mom, what is it?
They're looking for you.
I think they have my
phone records. I don't
Mom, slow down.
I probably shouldn't
even be calling you.
But they might try to find you.
[GARAGE DOOR RATTLING]
[CRICKETS CHIRPING]
[DRAMATIC MUSIC]
This is great.
You have means, motive, opportunity.
Thank you.
You're only missing one thing.
Our prime suspect.
Specifically the location of
your prime suspect, but yes.
You get me Zach Winchell,
I have more than enough to
to prove that he came back
to Toronto and killed Jason.
But I need a body in
a courtroom to convict.
Do you think he fled the country?
If he did, it was
under a false identity.
We alerted border services.
He has not officially fled the country.
So he's in hiding.
How do we smoke him out?
The mom?
- She's not saying anything.
- Have you considered
charging her with
accessory after the fact?
We've floated the possibility,
but she's not talking.
A mother who is willing to go to jail
to protect her child
is not easy to break.
- Then you have your work cut out for you.
- [PHONE DINGS]
Trying to get a momma
bear to give up her cub.
Oh
Mark just got us Zach's phone number.
Maybe it's time to stop
dealing with the mom
and go straight for the cub.
How long does it take to trace a call?
The best TPD techs can
do it in five seconds.
I can do it in two.
Don't be fooled by the
movies, it's a quick job.
You ready?
[PHONE RINGING]
- [ZACH]: Hello?
- Hi, Zach.
This is Detective John Darcy.
Detective Sergeant, Guns
and Gangs for five years.
Yeah. My mom told me about you.
I want to talk to you about Jason.
I know why you're calling.
And I want to tell
you, I didn't kill him.
- And?
- I need a bit more time.
[SCOFFS] Okay, so the movies were right.
I'm glad to hear that.
And I want to believe you.
So why don't you come
on down to the station
and we can clear this up? [ZACH SIGHS]
[ZACH]: You know I can't do that.
Listen, I'm devastated
about what happened to Jason.
He was invaluable to the good
I wanted to achieve with Ava.
Zach, can you just give me a minute?
For sure. But if it's
to track my location,
you're gonna be waiting a while.
I built an LLM when I was 20.
You think I can't dodge
calls from a tracking program
built in 2019?
Updated in 24.
He is right. His signal is
pinging all over the world.
Yeah, I think VPN, but
worse. Much more complex.
I can try, but it's
That's okay, Zach.
I just want to talk.
You're not gonna get
me to turn myself in
- if that's what you're thinking.
- No, that's okay.
Just want to talk.
Talk?
Yeah.
Talk.
I understand you don't
have anything more to say.
If it's all right with you, I'm
just going to make a phone call.
[PHONE RINGING]
[ANSWERING MACHINE]:
This is Rosie Bateman.
You've reached the
Bateman family cottage.
Seeing that we're not
around to answer your call,
we're either fishing on the lake,
or stuck on the highway.
Leave a message at the beep.
[BEEP]
My grandmother.
When she passed away, I
wouldn't let anyone change
the answering machine.
Sometimes I call just to hear her voice.
And for a moment, a brief moment,
it feels like she's still here.
The desire to talk to the
ones we've lost is universal.
There's a town in Japan.
They built a phone booth
for people to call the dead.
They call it a wind phone.
It's a place for people to feel
connected to those they've lost.
This is your son's number.
[PHONE RINGING]
- [ZACH]: Hello?
- Hi, Zach. It's
Detective Darcy. I know.
I'm here with Detective
Bateman and your mother.
You're on speaker.
We're in your old bedroom right now.
[ZACH]: Mom? Is everything okay?
You don't have to tell them
anything. You can hang up.
Zach, just hang on the line.
Just for a moment.
Hey, I like your
Eiffel Tower snow globe.
Tell me about your trip to Paris.
You don't need to tell them anything.
Zach, tell me about Paris.
[ZACH]: Paris? Uh, okay.
I went with my mom when I was twelve.
She wanted to show me art, culture,
but I was most excited about the food.
That's strange, Zach.
Because
We went through your
passport records and
You've never been to France.
You're trying to trick him.
You're just confused.
I got it for you when
I was on a work trip.
You just got mixed up.
[ZACH]: Oh yeah. You're right.
Sorry. I got a bit confused.
I'm a bit scattered right now,
I don't know why I said that.
Zach, hang up, now.
But, are you sure? Mom?
Mom, I don't think I
should leave you, m
Are you worried about what would happen
if I kept asking questions?
It's understandable he got confused.
It happens all the time, apparently.
They're technically
called hallucinations.
Because the truth is
I wasn't really talking to Zach, was I?
I don't understand.
What are you saying?
We've been talking to a version of Ava
modified to sound like your son.
Trained to respond like him,
but it's not really him, is it?
Sonia.
When you create something,
you make it in your image.
You brought your son
Zach into the world.
Parts of you exist in him.
And the same is true
for Zach's creation.
He made Ava.
He trained it on himself.
On his works, on his taste,
on his posts.
He made her in his image.
A digital facsimile.
But we've only heard a woman's
voice at Ava, so I'm thinking
he found a way to give
it his voice, literally.
But the bigger question
is why are you calling
an AI version of Zach?
Why not call your own son?
That is Zach. I told
you, he just got confused.
Sonia, our technicians
looked into that voice.
It lives on the Ava server.
Zach left a backdoor in the system.
He accessed it months ago,
and he gave it his voice.
It's a ghost in the
machine. But only that.
A ghost.
What happened to Zach?
[WHIMPERING]
Sonia?
Sonia, it's okay, we just want
to know what happened to him.
[SOBBING]
Did he leave a note?
When?
About
two months ago.
Where is the note?
Is it gone?
Sonia, what did the note say?
He said Goodbye.
That it was all too much.
That he couldn't take it anymore.
He said that he was
going on a canoe trip
and that he wasn't going to come home.
But he left you a
parting gift, didn't he?
He left you a wind phone to talk back.
He gave it his voice.
Just for me.
He said that I could call a
number and he would answer.
He said nothing had to change.
So you didn't tell anyone what happened.
You threw away the note.
Nothing had to change.
The voice on the other end
of the line was still there.
And it worked.
Until something forced
you to confront the truth.
Jason.
The man who wanted to destroy Ava.
Destroy the servers
with your son's voice.
Effectively, killing
Zach all over again.
If you do nothing, the voice
on the other end of the line,
it goes dead. Forever.
Yes.
I met with Jason.
I told him what it would mean
if he went through with it.
That I would lose Zach.
But I couldn't lose Zach.
But he wouldn't listen.
And then he walked away.
To destroy Ava?
To destroy Zach?
Yes.
So then I got back in Zach's car.
I was driving so fast,
and I just didn't
Stop. I
I didn't stop.
I wasn't ready to say
goodbye to my child.
I'm not ready!
What's going to happen to Zach?
We can't hide what Ava did.
The world needs to know what happened.
News will drop. Ava will go dark.
- And so will Zach.
- [GASPS]
Sonia, it might be time
to finally say goodbye.
[SOBBING]
[DOOR OPENS]
[DOOR SHUTS]
What she went through
I don't know how anyone survives it.
Grief is
I don't know.
I don't know if it ever ends.
But I think it's up to
you to face the pain.
And so you suffer. It's part of living.
If we lose that
We lose what makes us human.
[THEME MUSIC]