The Algorithms of Control

"**The Algorithms of Control**" is the third episode of the Paramount+ series *Rabbit Hole*. It premiered on April 2, 2023.

## Synopsis

In an episode that jumps between past and present, Weir's traumatic history is brought to light, along with the origin of his friendship with Valence and their career in corporate espionage. In the present, Weir and Hailey's tenuous relationship begins to thaw—but does her story add up? Not according to the newly resurfaced operative, Dr. Ben Wilson.

## Plot

### Not like any game

Ben tells John that he needs to know what he's getting into, that it's not like three-dimensional chess or any game he's ever known. He tells him the enemy is everywhere, but can't be seen, highly intelligent and resourceful. He warns him that it requires absolute commitment in the plan, trust in each other and doubt in everyone else. John tells him that he's ready. So does Valence. In a flashback to 1986, a young John is shown punching out a kid at school. An adult pulls him away, telling him he's calling his mother, again. At his old home, he finds a newspaper article with various numbers circled and cuts it out. He studies papers with various numbers and equations, attempting to open a safe.

John is next seen outside, being treated by paramedics. His mother, Claire, asks him what he's doing, saying that she told him never to come there. She tells him that she can't do this anymore and is sending him away. He next finds himself living in a residence hall. During math class, he is called up to solve a problem on the board, his teacher telling him that he's the one in most need. He is asked to solve an equation, but his answer is even close. The teacher calls up Miles Valence, telling him to show John how it's done. Miles solves the equation. That afternoon, John comes up to him outside, holding up a book called *The Mathematics of Combination Locks* and asking if he knows it. Miles tells him that he doesn't, but that it looks interesting.

John shows Miles the papers he found by the safe with the circled numbers, and another with letters circled. Miles suggests that it could be a cipher. He explains that this is a code. He tells him he learned about it in computer class, John asks him if he can help, and he asks him what's in the safe. He admits he doesn't know, asking if he can do it or not. So the two sneak out at night and make their way to John's old place. Miles asks him why he wants to get in the safe so badly, and he tells him that he wants answers. "Do you really think the answer's in there?" he asks, and he tells him to just open it.

### It's science

The time changes to 2013. John is in a pitch meeting with a company. He outlines what his own company can do for them. Miles tells them that their main competitor is in the process of a testing a copycat, a competitor that has three times their marketing reach. John tells him that they can buy him time by creating as "mass psychogenic event," or basically, hysteria. Their operatives will infiltrate the competitor's test groups and identify people prone to suggestion. They can use this to tank the marketing with a few carefully placed reactions inducing a nightmare scenario, ensuring that such an event will derail the competitor's copycat product release by at least a year. The executive calls it crazy, but asks if he can really do it. "Yeah, it's science," replies John and Miles tells him they guarantee it. "Where do I sign?" asks the man.

After the executive is gone, John pops some wine, saying that he thinks congratulations are in order. Miles tells him he wants to show him something he's been working on, a study about the data that Facebook uses. The study asked the question of whether somebody's behavior could be predicted based solely on their likes. The algorithm was able to predict behavior better than a coworker after ten likes, better than parents after 150 likes and after 300, better than a spouse.

John curses in awe and Miles says that they know how to make money with psychology, but big data can figure it out better and faster than them. He suggests they build a simulation using raw data and process it for sale to businesses or politicians, or even governments. He tells him he can see where it's going to go. John asks if it's really what they want to be doing and Miles tells him that they already are, that this is just bigger and more lucrative. "Let's be a part of it," he tells him. When he still seems skeptical, he asks him to at least promise him he'll think about it. John tells him that he doesn't need to, that he's in. They toast.

It is now 2017. John, at Arda Analytics, tells a woman named Shannon to go home as she watches news on the disappearance of a flight. He heads downstairs in an elevator and hears the song "Route 66" playing from a room. Curious, he goes inside, and discovers an old man sitting in a chair. "We used to have a lot of fun with this, remember?" says the man, his father. John tells him that he doesn't know who he is. He tells him he's already called the police and it's his last chance to make an exit. The man tells him he's better than that, that the door wasn't forced. He tells him if he wants a meeting to call his office. "John, it's me," he tells him, saying that he might want to sit down, that shock can manifest as denial. He says that he's a psychologist, and should know, like his father.

### A regime of his own

John flashes back to the incident where he seemingly witnessed his father's death. Ben tells him they should take a moment to absorb, that he will explain everything. "What did you do?!" shouts John. He tells him that things went wrong, that he wasn't supposed to know. He urges John to sit down, but he tells him to stop saying this. He asks what he wants from him and he tells him that he needs his help. John asks him where he's been. He says he had to make a choice, that he wouldn't have done it if it wasn't absolutely necessary. He tells him he's run out of places to go. John tells him that his wife died because of him. "She knew, John," Ben tells him.

A flashback shows that after Ben left, he heard his son's screams. He tried to go back, but it was too late. Ben tells John that his wife knew he had to do something, that "he" has to be stopped. John tells him it's time for him to go. Ben continues that he found him and he almost had him, only for him to blow up a plane. "Now he's here," he tells John. John tells him to get out, but he says he must believe him. John tells him this will never happen, cursing him and telling him to get out of his apartment. "Please, just go," he begs him. When this doesn't work, he loudly shouts again for him to get out.

John is now sitting across from Miles, rocking back and forth. He takes a drink to calm himself. Miles asks if he's still taking Paxil and John tells him that he didn't imagine his father being there. Miles asks him why now and he tells him he was going on about conspiracies everywhere, real paranoid and delusional. Miles says that he sounds incredibly sick and John agrees it's probably where he gets it from. Miles asks what he's feeling and he tells him it's not good, that he can't let his mind go down the rabbit hole. Miles tells him he's there for him if needed. He urges him to just breathe. He tells Miles that he thought his mom drank because his father died, but now maybe it's because she knew he didn't. He curses, saying that he built an entire life around what they found in the safe and he can't just accept that his entire life is now bullshit. He tells Miles that Ben kept going on about someone named Crowley and his plans for a new world order. He calls it insane, that he told him about secret operations that would one day come to light and vindicate everything he was saying. Miles tells him that Ben is a nutcase and he should forget he ever saw him.

Just following this, however, one of the things that Ben told John comes true: a joint terror attack on the Suez and Panama Canals. It is now 2018 and Miles and John are both with Ben, him telling them about secret techniques the CIA developed to manipulate populations, "The Algorithms of Control," which they would use to undermine elections and sway public support, so that governments would fall in line with U.S. interests. He explains that Crowley didn't see it that way, that he saw it through darkened eyes and started selling the psyops as a service to foreign governments and businesses, the highest bidder. He tells them that he's been watching him, that if you pick your scumbag, Crowley's worked for them. He tells them that he once almost had them and almost stopped a genocide, but now Crowley has so much money that he wants power, a regime of his own.

Ben continues that he wrote the book on how to polarize people, and marginalize the media and experts. He continues to Chapter Four: "elect a candidate under the guise of restoring order," who can be controlled. John asks what Chapter 5 is and he tells him that there isn't one, that now the country's yours, and it's happening right now, faster than he thought. He warns them that by the next election, it could be too late, and it's too much for him to do on his on own. He tells them that they're the only ones who can help, asking if they will.

### Safety in numbers

In the present day, John brings a back of groceries to a safe house. He and Ben argue over his like for turkey bacon, which Ben calls part of the whole low-fat craze to sell more wheat goods, financed by Big Ag. He says it's beyond belief that his own son could be taken in by that. He calls Hailey a wild card that has to go, but John tells him he doesn't think she's involved. He asks if he's 100% on that, saying that if he's not they have to kill her. John tells him they're not killing anyone, but he calls it standard procedure. Hailey, who is sitting right there, points out that John told her Ben wasn't going to do this anymore. Ben says it was standard procedure, but now there's too much oversight. He tells Hailey he was just thinking out loud and that John can't face up to the fact that his best friend flipped out and killed himself.

"Next time you want to fake your own suicide, don't fake it," John tells Ben and he tells him he wasn't supposed to know. He tells him they agreed to leave it in the past, but he keeps bringing it up. He says it's not as if he beat him, that he was there for him when he played the turkey in the play. Hailey says it's no wonder he's so messed up, but John tells her that he thinks he's done pretty well all things considered. Hailey asks him when this was and he says it was when he was 10. She calls it messed up. She asks how long he believed he was dead and he tells her 35 years. Ben shouts that they need to get back to the plan. John tells him that they need to know what Miles Valence knew, pulling out the keyfob, but Ben says they have to stick to the plan and they need to get Homm to talk. John tells him that nothing is adding up about Valence's death, that nothing makes sense. Ben tells him that it's simple, that Crowley got to him. Hailey asks who Crowley is and John tells her she should eat her food, but she complains that none of it is vegan. "You're vegan, I should have known," groans Ben.

Hailey asks to go to the store to get something to eat, but both John and Ben quickly veto this idea. She insists she needs something and Ben tells John he'll get Homm to talk, but the keyfob won't bring them to Crowley. John sighs and walks off as Hailey asks again who Crowley is. John finds a hammer and smashes a wall, pulling out a series of baggies. He uses them to set up a laptop and VPN. Hailey walks in, asking if she can get her phone back, just to check her messages. He tells he'd rather she didn't. She asks if he still doesn't trust her and he says it's her and the rest of the human race. She asks if he's a hacker and she tells him not really, that he just needs to enter Miles's password and a code. She asks how he knows his password and he says he doesn't, but has ideas. He tries "Gilgamesh," but receives a message telling him it's wrong and he has four more tries before the account is locked. He clicks on the "hint" button and receives "Safety in numbers." He giggles, telling Hailey that he and Miles loved number games.

John tries another password, again failing. At the offices of Arda Analytics, a woman reports on this, telling a guy to run a trace on John's location and that she'll alert Xander. Hailey tries asking again about Crowley, asking who's after who. John tells her they're both after each other, asking her to give him an egg timer. She asks him what he tells people about his father at something like a party. He tells her it hasn't come up in a long time and she asks if he's the type of person to tell the truth or make up a lie and make things awkward and make them squirm. She points out there's two ways to do it and she's curious which he is. He tells her that he used to tell people that his dad was in the military and they traveled together, that it was better than that he turned him into a distrustful mess. He asks what she is and she tells him she's awkward all the way. She tells him that she goes dead-faced, saying he she never had a dad and her mother died whens he was 7, but most of the foster homes were nice. She tells him that you have to make it awkward, that it's the best. "And the rest?" John asks and she gives him a brief outline of her life, ending that she's currently in hiding with a fugitive and his father.

### A good vegan section

John tells Hailey that there's a gas station up the street if she's still hungry. She asks if he'd really let her go there and he says he can trust her that much, but there's to be no phones, cash only. She asks if he really thinks they'll have a good vegan section and he agrees that he doubts that. He tells her that there's an apple tree in the backyard. She walks away and John sets the timer to 35 minutes. He begins trying passwords again as back at the company, they continue to try to trace him and speculate on how long that will take.

Ben sits with Homm, trying to get him to eat, but he remains tight-lipped, in more ways than one. He eats some of the food, saying that it's safe and telling him he must be starving. He pleads with him and he finally eats some eggs. He tells him that nobody wants to hurt him they just want to know why someone wanted him dead, that one of his investigations touched a nerve. He asks him if he perhaps stumbled upon the name Crowley. He asks if he knows that they saved his life, that he found something big enough to make him a target. He asks if he'll be sensible and help them save the world. He sees Hailey going outside to the apple tree.

In the past, Ben tells John and Miles that they need to know what they're getting into, that it's not like any game they've ever played. He continues that nobody has ever toppled a democracy like the U.S. before, that there are too many safeguards. He tells them, however, that Crowley smells an opportunity, that a country rife with anger and division is a job already half done. All Crowley needs is U.S. based infrastructure to find a candidate to manipulate. John asks if this is how they find him, but Ben says that he finds them, that Crowley will be attracted to his data intel business. He tells John that Miles is to come work for him, while John takes his company public, making it known that he do things like designing strategies to exploit likely voters. He tells him that if word of it gets out, he guarantees he will come sniffing around. They have two big advantages: he still thinks he's dead, and doesn't know he's his son. He asks if either Miles or John have family. Mile says he doesn't have any he cares about, while John gives a flat "no."

John and Miles discuss the press coverage of their split, chuckling over the quote given to Miles. John quips that Miles sounds like a doucehbag and he call himself a "visionary." They toast, Miles saying that he likes being the bad guy. John says it should have been him, but Miles says that it's better this way, that it keeps him and Ben farther away from the bait. They agree to cut contact, John saying it might be a while. Miles suggests they find a way to talk under the radar, but John says he just doesn't know with Crowley's eyes and ears everywhere. He tells Miles not to let to get the dirty work get to him, but Miles tells him he's more worried about him. He says they'll be okay. He asks him why he didn't tell Ben about his family, but he says that he doesn't want him knowing anything about his personal life, to just get Crowley.

### Them apples

In the present, John continues to puzzle over Miles's password, still at three attempts remaining and fifteen minutes left on the timer. He tries the numbers 736880201, but it is no good. At Arda, Xander asks how long and the woman with him says that they've narrowed down his location to somewhere in New York. Outside, by the apple tree, Hailey enters an ID and password on a phone. "How'd you like them apples?" Ben quips from behind her. She turns, saying she scared him, and he calls it a "dad joke." She tells him the apples are actually delicious and he tells her they're a heritage breed that you can't get in the store because they bruise very easily. He tells her not to be frightened, that he said he wouldn't kill her and he's a man of his word. She says that the whole "*Mission Impossible*" thing has her confused. He tells her he's worked hard to patch things up with his son and killing her would be an obstacle to that.

Ben tells Hailey he was a psychologist once in the military and one of his first projects was to make a list of all the tells of a liar. "So?" she asks and he tells her he's going to ask her one question and she just has to look him in the eye and give him an answer. "Why?" she asks and he asks why not. "Okay sure," she agrees and he asks if she's who she says she is. "Yes," she tells him. He asks who she's working for, then apologizes, saying that that's two. "The Homeless Aid Network," she tells him and he tells her he believes her. He tells her to relax, lower her guard, and show him what's in her hand. "Huh?" she asks, then shows him her empty hand. He says he must be seeing things, telling her they'll go eat some apples. He grabs one and they walk off, the phone lying in the grass below, a crypto wallet showing a value of over $25 million dollars.

Inside, the timer is at 5 minutes as the people at Arda continue to try to trace John's location. He has only one attempt left on the password. In a flashback, he sits with the young Miles before the safe. He asks Miles if he really thinks it will work and Miles tells him that they already have the clues and that it's alphanumeric, the oldest kind of cipher. He shows John a sequence and John asks if he thinks he can do it. He tries it and opens the safe. In the present day, John gets an idea. Hailey and Ben enter, Ben telling him that time is up. John tells him he still has time as the tech at Arda continues to narrow his location. Ben tells him it's enough, that he's breaking his own rule about no Internet after 15 minutes, but John insists he still has time. The timer rings and Ben pleads with him to stop, but John insists it's okay. A tech comes in and Xander leaves, telling the others to not do anything until they have John's exact location. John tries something else: 191652025 and this time it is right, the message telling him to enter the code from the keyfob. He does so, and is in.

### Something meaningful

At Arda, one of the agents reports to another that John is in. The other says he almost has him, that he almost has the exact address. "He's in the messaging server" points out the other, asking if they cut him off. "He said not to," points out the other and she notes that they don't know he's in. Xander meets with Special Agent Jo Madi of the FBI, brushing her off and telling her it's not an opportune time and to reschedule. He tells her that their legal team is cooperating. She says she's there to talk about John Weir, asking if this is a joke to him. She says that she kicked her teenage daughter out of the bathroom to run down because his e-mail said it was urgent. He tells her he did not send any e-mail. He walks away, saying that they'll have to talk later, even as she shouts she's not leaving.

Xander enters the server room, the agent shouting that John is downloading comms data. He asks why they're letting him do that, and he shouts to cut him off, cursing. It is too late, however. Back at the safe house, John starts shutting down, saying that they're leaving in five. He has what he wants and he pumps his fists in triumph. He takes a blender, destroying the equipment. In a flashback, Miles asks John what he's waiting for, to open the safe. John does, and finds the documents inside and packs of cigarettes. Miles asks him what it all is and he calls it "just a bunch of numbers and bullshit." Miles examines the document titled "The Algorithms of Control." John says he doesn't know what he thought he'd find, that he's being stupid. Miles tells him that there's more, but he says it doesn't matter, that it's just crap, that his father didn't care about him and that this is all that mattered to him.

## Cast

### Starring

* Kiefer Sutherland as John Weir
* Meta Golding as Hailey Winton
* Enid Graham as Josephine "Jo" Madi
* Rob Yang as Edward Homm
* Walt Klink as Kyle ("The Intern")

and

* Charles Dance as Dr. Ben Wilson

### Guest starring

* Jason Butler Harner as Valence
* Phil Burke as Ben Weir
* Jorja Cadence as Cara Spader
* Jonas Chernick as Xander Arnaz
* Ishan Davé as Hafiz
* Graham Harvey as Young John Weir
* Erin Karpluk as Claire Weir
* Finlay Wojtak-Hissong as Young Miles Valence
* Matthew MacFadzean as Morgan Shaw
* Wendy Makkena as Debra
* Jed Rees as Manfred Larter

### Co-starring

* Lara Arabian as Dina
* Robert Clarke as Carter Aimes
* Daniel Falk as Math Teacher
* Fanar Zak as Nearby Volunteer #1
* Natalia Gracious as Arda Analytics Team #1
* Shauntel Harry as Shannon
* Natasha Krishnan as Xander's Assistant
* David Macinnis as Public School Teacher
* Paul Nichols Mason as Bald Focus Group Volunteer
* Derek Moran as G-Man
* Meilie Ng as Focus Group Proctor
* John Nightingale as Boarding School Director
* Preston Norris as Public School Student
* Matt Raymond as Boarding School Boy
* Andres Romo Salido as Arda Analytics Tech #2

## Gallery

### Videos

Rabbit Hole - Book of Ben - Paramount+Rabbit Hole - Inside The Scene- Ben's Plan - Paramount+Rabbit Hole - Ben's Test (S1, E3) - Paramount+