Original subtitles

- And you're sure this is going to help my whanau?

- AUNTIE HUIA: I'm sure.

- Are you three ghosts? - Oh! - Whoa, whoa, whoa.

- You're definitely not part of that new international agency

that's trying to buy Matua Jacobsen's Quarry

and the adjoining iwi land for a subdivision?

- That's a lot of speculation.

- Once she smells a story, she will do everything in her power to find out the truth.

Probably what makes her a good journalist.

- That's lovely Koro Joe.

- I was just chatting with him. I didn't catch his name.

- Oh, couldn't have been him, boy. He's long gone.

- What do you mean?

- Kua mate. Ta-ra!

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

(UPBEAT MUSIC)

- Wanna take your blanket on the pahi?

Don't want your pillow?

Here we are, getting our kura ready to take off to their camping haerenga.

On the spot ― what's the whakatauki for the week?

- Chur, yup. Uh, morena e te iwi. How are we? How are we?

Ooh, shit. Whakatauki for the week, you reckon? Would have to be, uh...

'Walk with mana or get the pana.'

- Oh!

Lethal. Deadly, Uncle Bull.

'Walk with mana or get the pana.'

Far! Hey, what else should I say?

Oh!

Chur, whanau Wharekoa!

- Yeah, I don't know about the kids going on this early kura trip, like...

shouldn't they get settled in first, before...? - Oh, kia tau.

Honey, if we want them to fly, we can't hover over them.

- KIDS: Chur, Nate!

- Mum, look, my new best friends.

- Hey, I told you ― the boys hang out with the boys.

Morena e te whanau. - Morena.

- Morena, Amiria. - Oh, right.

Da boys ―

da boys...

hang out with...

da boys. - Taihoa.

Kiss your mum goodbye, man. Don't be sad to her. - Oh, yep.

Bye, Mum.

- Uh, what about me?

(CHUCKLES)

Here's some baking for da boys.

- You the man, Dad.

- Goodbye, parents. Stay out of trouble. See you when I get back. (LAUGHS)

- Morena. - Morena.

- Hi, girl. - Hey.

- Come on, let's get you signed off with whaea. Otherwise we'll get dumb seats.

Girl! Don't be sad ― hug your parents.

- Yeah, don't be sad.

(LAUGHTER)

Bye, darling. Have fun. - Bye, Mum.

- Mm.

- Bye, bub. - Bye, Dad.

Let's go.

- Chea, Bull. (CHUCKLES)

- Chee, whanau. How are we? how are we? - Good, my brother.

- Chea, my cuz. - Ata marie.

What you up to, Bull? - Oh, driving the pahi.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, driving the pahi for the kahi.

You not coming on this tipi haere, Matty boy?

- E kao, not this one. I've got a ruma to sort out,

make sense of the curriculum I'll be teaching ― how the kids get credited and graded.

I want to do my own research, though. Have a deep dive into...

- Oh, sounds mean. Sounds wicked. Sounds cool.

Yeah, nah, sounds like a pretty cool subject all right, my bro.

- It's pretty exciting, brother. I'm looking forward to it.

- Ae.

- Hey, Kiri, girl, cuz ― you didn't happen to get a chance to look into that resourcing conse

that those Floodgate & Co pricks have been shopping around here, did you?

- He aha?

- The resourcing consent plan that those Floodgate & Co pricks have been shopping around here

And by the sounds of it, they got someone high up there working for them.

And some international companies might be in the mix,

cos it sounds like there's a lot of money involved.

And everything seems to be moving pretty fast.

We're lucky we got our whanau land in a trust thanks to John Boy,

but some other whanau around here...

Chur. I don't think they'll be that lucky if all this goes through, that's for sure

- (LAUGHS) Wait...

where did you hear all of this from, the internet?

- Kao. We all know we can't trust the internet any more.

- OK, so where'd you get the big ideas from, then? - Well, Meremereana.

- Oh, Meremereana. - Yeah. Meremereana.

She's an award-winning journalist ― so less ideas and more 'facts'.

Have you met her? - Briefly.

- Did you bite her head off? - What? Kao! I didn't bite her head off.

- Are you sure? Cos sometimes, you like to bite people's heads off, cuz.

- I do not bite people's heads off, OK?

(CURIOUS MUSIC)

I can be nice. - Well, good, cos you two need to link up

and suss whatever dodgy deals be happening up in here.

- Oh my God. Bull, I am not Captain Planet.

- No, but you are Maori ― and whanau. Me tu hei kaitiaki, ne?

- Wow.

When did you become this guy?

- I dunno. Guess it just happened.

Help us out, eh? Please.

- Yeah, OK. I'll see what I can do.

- Ah! Look after yourself, bae. I'll drop the kids off when we get back, ne?

(BOTH LAUGH)

I love you, cuz. - Mm.

- Ow! Say it back, bae.

- (GRUMBLES)

I love you.

(PENSIVE MUSIC)

- Love you more, cuz. (ENGINE TURNS OVER)

Captions by Jason Conran.

Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air.

www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2025

- Don't you dare imply that I can't grasp the nuances and risks involved.

I have the most to lose out of all of you.

Yeah, I'm well aware of the repercussions and the implications if we don't act swiftly.

But do you understand how much of a risk it is

if anyone finds out that I'm involved?

Everything we've worked towards will be gone in an instant.

(THUMP!) Oi!

So let me be perfectly clear ― as I said, everything will halt

until I find out what this journalist knows and who else is involved.

(THUMP!) What the shit?

Oi, what's your problem?

(SCOFFS)

(CHEEKY MUSIC)

How the hell did you...

Not today, punk.

Oi!

(MUSIC STOPS)

You wait, you little shit!

(CHEEKY MUSIC RESUMES)

(PANTS)

Gotcha!

(MUSIC STOPS)

- Kiri?

Kia ora.

- Hi.

- I, um...

I was chasing someone.

Yeah.

Um― This guy, he hits my car, gives me the fingers, runs off, and then I chase him.

But I swear

he came in here.

- Wow, cool. How very vigilante of you.

- Oh...

- Mahana. Yeah, it's our community shared space.

You look a little dehydrated. Can I make you an inu?

(TENTATIVE MUSIC)

- # If it's on, you'll wanna rock to this.

# We'll make you move your hips.

# Put it down or step back. It's on.

# If it's on, you'll wanna rock to this.

# We'll make you move your hips.

# Put it down or step back. It's on. # (WHOOSHING)

- Oh.

- Jeez, Matua, are you deaf?

I've been calling out to you for ages.

- Mo taku he. Probably because I had these in.

- Well, anei ― here's your roll. It's got everything you need to know about the kura.

So, welcome to your first day of mahi ―

and, officially, to our kura. - Nga mihi, Whaea.

Whaea, did you just come in by yourself?

- Yeah, course I did. Oh ― are your eyes not working along with your ears?

- (CHUCKLES) No, it's just...

This might sound weird, but I feel like someone's been watching me.

- Been watching you? - Yeah, like someone's been breathing down my neck all morning

I probably just need a kai, right? Just my body catching up with me and...

- (SIGHS)

(SNIFFS)

(PENSIVE MUSIC)

(EXHALES)

WHISPERS: Kehuaaa.

(PENSIVE MUSIC CONTINUES)

- This place is impressive.

Must have had a lot of help. - Yeah. Yeah, I did. Thanks.

- I'm sorry, but, you know, I have to ask ― are you sure no one else came in here before m

- Um...

kao.

No, just, um...

just you stumbling on in.

- Yeah, must have lost him.

So,

is this off the record?

- I'm not sure what you mean.

- WHISPERS: Tell her the truth.

- When people get too close to the hive, the bees send out their workers to attack.

(ETHEREAL MUSIC)

- Well, from the scale of what I've discovered, I can't quite pinpoint who does what,

but I know they wouldn't send just anyone to do intel.

So that would either make you the hive, or the honey ―

or the bee.

- Go on. Tell her the truth.

- Right. OK, so it all makes sense.

- What makes sense?

- Kiri Wharekoa, how long have you been working for Floodgate & Co?

- Kehua.

(QUIRKY DRUMMING MUSIC)

(EXHALES FIERCELY)

(EXCLAIMS)

(EXCLAIMS)

(EXCLAIMS)

(PUFFS SHARPLY)

(EXHALES FIERCELY)

(PUFFS)

(DRUMMING MUSIC CONTINUES)

- Whaea? - (EXHALES)

Far out!

- Are you OK? - That was close. Nearly took me out.

Whew! What's the time?

Oh shit, I'm running late!

But, uh, Matua ― don't worry about that kehua.

I sussed it. He won't be coming round here no more.

Anyway, uh, I'll catch you up.

Oh shitere ― my nail.

- Catch you up.

- Whoa, hold on.

How long have you been watching me?

- (CHUCKLES)

- Well, I didn't actually recruit her. She volunteered her services...

after she sniffed the air.

(TENTATIVE STRING MUSIC)

Koro Joe?

Ae...

(TENTATIVE MUSIC CONTINUES)

- (LAUGHS)

(DOOR CLOSES)

Hey! - (YELPS) - Matiu!

Ma...

Matiu.

Ehh...

- Why does my mahi spark such interest?

- Well, because your appearance in town is way too timely to be a coincidence.

And my sources tell me Floodgate & Co are doing everything they can

to try and get people to sign over large amounts of land.

- Do you need validation?

Do you need to catch the bad guys to feel good about yourself?

- (SCOFFS) That's a bit dramatic, isn't it?

I'm just trying to expose people that exploit communities

who don't have the resources to fight back.

It's just the right thing to do ― maybe to you that sounds like validation.

- You don't even know what the fight is.

You're so busy counting the trees, you've lost sight of the forest. - He aha?

- This is home.

I have spent my whole life preparing to fight for this place.

- And now you're selling us out.

- Oh, you're not as good as you think you are, sis.

If only you would open your eyes, you would see.

- OK. Thanks for that ― sis ― but my karu are wide open, OK?

And from where I'm sitting, you are the source of all of these problems.

- I am not the problem.

(TENSE MUSIC)

You know, when I was a little girl, I was told...

keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

And that is exactly what I'm doing.

- OK, well, who is the enemy then, hm?

And how do I know you're not just another player in this game?

How do I know that you're not the one pulling the strings for Floodgate & Co?

- You don't.

But keep your friends close...

and your enemies closer.

(TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES)

(BIRDSONG)

(CREAKING)

(OMINOUS MUSIC)

(OMINOUS MUSIC CONTINUES)

Matty?

- Yeah, interesting ― to say the least.

It smells like smoke in here. Have you been smoking?

- Yeah. Only one.

Some of your relations showed up.

Three of them.

- Don't freak out, OK, but...

- JOHN BOY: Hey, cuz.

(TENSE MUSIC)

(THUD!) - Oh, kei te pai, don't worry about it.

She'll get used to seeing us ― she's tough.

Jeez...

she got big, eh?

- Auntie, you can't say things like that. - Oh, shush. Who said?

- Amiria. She reckons you could get cancelled.

- Oh, what does she know? I'm dead.

(WARM, DREAMY MUSIC)

(OVERLAPPING CHATTER) - Mama, mama!

- Ae, taku pepi? - Nan wants us to have a korero. Kia tere.

- Ah. - ALL: Ooh.

- Tipene. He's one of those mana-muncher types, you know?

Always seems to weasel his way into a kaupapa.

- I live this life ― a life I did not choose...

a life I don't want.

I just feel so stuck.

- Have you guys seen John Boy?

- He should be around. Why's that?

- Nah, nah, I just... got a feeling.

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