Seasonal Outline
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"Fake it till you make it!"
01
Pilot: Part 1
[Jonny's childhood memory]
Johnny Angel, a successful gambling industry entrepreneur, is at the peak of his career. He's lecturing at a high-tech conference and participating in a round of young entrepreneurs' pitches. One of the presenters is Lia, who explains that following her sister's suicide, she's working on an algorithm to identify signs of mental distress among teenagers. Johnny dismisses it outright.
Meanwhile, he encounters a serious image crisis: an investigative article published in a newspaper sheds negative light on his businesses.
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The article causes a crisis with Asaf, a childhood friend and his partner in the first successful company that made him wealthy. In their conversation, there's a hint that the article might lead to legal and financial complications for the entire company (which is just before an IPO). Asaf expects Johnny to solve the problem and take the blame if things get complicated.
Johnny and his wife Anat go on a romantic getaway to celebrate 18 years since his marriage proposal. Johnny tries to stop the article but without success. The article is published and blows up in Johnny's face.
02
Pilot: Part 2
[Lia's childhood memory]
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Asaf pressures Johnny to return the money he took from the company, which is now in danger due to the article's publication.
Anat is angry at Johnny because she advised him long ago to completely disconnect from Asaf's company. She also wants to manage his crisis, but Johnny refuses and prefers to do it himself.
Johnny suffers from liquidity problems and looks for quick money. He turns to Alona, who invests in some of his companies. She advises him to change direction and invest in a social startup that will save his public image. Johnny chooses to invest in Lia's startup, despite having no product, team, customers, or business model.
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Johnny approaches Lia. She leverages her position of power and gets favorable investment terms, as well as the CEO position. Johnny agrees but asks Lia to organize a "do-good hackathon" to find a technological leader for the company.
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Yousef, a talented 24-year-old programmer from the Arab sector, tries to find work in high-tech without success. He hides his identity and appears at the hackathon as "Yossi", an 8200 unit graduate. He impresses everyone with his skills. When simultaneously an alert about a terrorist roaming the city is published, Lia invites Yossi to stay overnight at her house. At night, Yousef develops an impressive prototype, proving the concept's feasibility.
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At the end of the episode, Securities Authority investigators, investigating the newspaper article, raid Johnny's office. There's significant doubt that Johnny will manage to invest in Lia's startup as he committed.
03
Seed
[Yousef's childhood memory]
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Johnny is arrested by the Securities Authority and interrogated. To be released from detention, he must deposit an amount that requires him to mortgage his house (registered in Anat's name), increasing the tension between them. He's released to house arrest, and therefore sets meetings only via Zoom or at home.
The last thing he wants is to deal with Lia's startup. He regrets taking on the company but must project business as usual, so he meets with Lia and Yossi. Johnny discovers that Yossi is indeed talented and is impressed by the demo he created. He explains to Lia and Yossi that with this demo, they can raise funds from investors.
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The (somewhat romantic) idyll between Lia and Yossi is slightly disturbed when they meet Johnny, who changes the power dynamics. When Lia is alone with Yossi she's very close to him, but when they're with Johnny, it's clear to Yossi that she’s much more interested in Johnny.
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Johnny demands that Lia add a Black or Arab senior executive. Lia agrees with the diversity decision but understands that Johnny isn't motivated by a real agenda but by opportunism. Yossi realizes that in the current constellation, his Arab identity might become an advantage. He contemplates revealing himself but fears Lia will feel he deceived her and distance herself. He decides to continue hiding his identity.
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Meanwhile, Johnny deals with the police investigation. He tries to buy time with Asaf, who demands he return money to the company, which will further hurt Johnny's liquidity and ability to invest in the startup. Johnny pressures Lia and Yossi to raise additional investors.
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The two already have a working product, and Johnny guides them in building an investor presentation. They begin meeting investors. The romantic triangle between Lia, Yossi, and Johnny grows tighter.
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Yossi zigzags between his normal life in the village and meetings with Lia, which he hides from his mother. When Yossi and Lia discover that Yossi suffers from excessive sweating from stress in front of investors, Lia gives him her pads to cushion his armpits before an important meeting.
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Johnny, still under house arrest, which he hides from Lia and Yossi, mentors them in the art of presentation. He also guides them remotely through an earpiece hidden in Lia's hair during meetings. Johnny's presence at home drives Anat crazy, who takes the children on an expensive vacation abroad without updating him. The couple's financial situation worsens, as does the rift between them.
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Lia and Yossi meet many investors, mostly dubious or strange. They demonstrate the technology and use it to diagnose if investors are interested in investing. All investors think there's a problem with the business model until they finally find one body looking for an optimistic social project to diversify their portfolio. The body commits to invest two million dollars if Johnny invests half a million dollars. Johnny agrees despite not having the money.
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The investment body also offers to install the application in cameras in schools' public spaces.
04
Team
[Israel's childhood memory]
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Thanks to the new investor, finally, there's both money and a working prototype. Lia and Yossi begin recruiting new employees, including Israel, a business development manager of Ethiopian origin, a stoner, and a former social worker with extensive experience fundraising for youth-at-risk organizations.
Israel, who is transitioning to high-tech, comes from a much poorer and more frugal world. He opposes wasting money on unnecessary things (like expensive meals they order to the office). Lia, on the other hand, slightly drunk on the received funds, initiates an extravagant company fun day, annoying Johnny, who's counting every shekel.
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Johnny is released from house arrest after handling the interrogations well with two Securities Authority investigators. These turned out to be much less sophisticated than him (they even try to pitch him a startup idea). Meanwhile, Asaf increases pressure on Johnny. Alona refuses to invest in their company, and Asaf demands Johnny return money to the company, so it won't be discovered that he withdrew customer deposit funds. Johnny is forced to sell his car and switch to bicycles. Supposedly for health reasons.
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Entry into schools proves problematic, but Israel initiates a pilot of the system in kindergartens. The system is designed to identify children's distress or abuse by kindergarten teachers. Lia and Yossi really like this direction.
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Meanwhile, Johnny deals with diversity of a different kind at home: his son brings home a new friend, an African boy, the son of an illegal foreign worker.
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Lia and Yossi begin a process with another recruit named Roy. Roy is a real 8200 graduate and also an Exit graduate connected to a major investor. Johnny counts on Roy as a means to raise additional investors, but Yossi and Lia find in him a common enemy: Yossi fears Roy will expose his secret and oust him; Lia fears Roy has his eyes on the CEO chair. Lia eventually discovers that Roy's previous startup was connected to porn, which would hurt the company's image. Besides, the company doesn't need more money now. Lia convinces Johnny to fire Roy, and he does so with obvious reluctance.
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At this stage, the investment body that promised to invest in the previous episode withdraws and doesn't transfer the remaining investment. The money comes out of Johnny's account and puts him in enormous debt. He blames Lia for wasting the investment funds and forces her to travel to America and raise investment from her father.
05
Friends, Family, and Fools
[Lia's second childhood memory]
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With no choice, Lia flies to America to ask for her father's help. Yossi accompanies her and they plan to conduct presentations to additional customers along the way. Her father refuses to help and exposes Lia's business failure to Yossi. She in turn blames her father for her sister's suicide. Lia experiences a crisis there and falls into the arms of supportive Yossi.
They sleep together.
Meanwhile, after the failure of the product test in kindergartens (the system struggled to identify small and hyperactive children and their extreme range of emotions), Israel who stayed in Israel realizes Johnny is about to close the business. He uses his connections to try the system in a youth-at-risk institution, and quickly discovers that no one is willing to pay for emotional distress, but to identify and prevent escape or assault in advance - they're definitely willing to open their wallet.
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Israel reports to Johnny, who understand s that the company should be directed toward preventing violence and abuse of the helpless. Since children are too hyperactive, he turns to a much more static audience - the geriatric population. He implements the system in a nursing home managed by a friend from his military unit, intending to identify caregivers who might harm the elderly. The system works excellently: it exposes a caregiver who abused an elderly person and was about to harm him. Along the way, the system also records a member of parliament telling his elderly father that the police are tracking senior political figures' phones without a court order, through a well-known cyber company (an NSO-style company owned by Alona).
Israel and Johnny initially prefer to keep the information to themselves. Johnny consults with his wife Anat, who recommends leaking the story to hurt competitors and create business opportunities in their place. Johnny, still hurt from the article published about him, refuses.
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Meanwhile, Johnny tries to get closer to his children. On his mother's advice, he takes the children to the dairy farm where he worked in his youth. They help with a complicated calving: Johnny's son has to help open the cow's organs, and Johnny pulls out the calf with a chain tied to a tractor. Noa films everything.
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When Lia and Yossi land at Ben Gurion Airport, Yossi is detained and delayed at entry - and that's how Lia discovers he's Arab.
06
Pivot
[Alona's childhood memory]
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Lia is shocked by the discovery, but she understands she must continue hiding Yossi's Arab identity, as he is the only real partner she has in the company. On one hand, the discovery creates tension between them. On the other hand, Yossi finally relaxes and has someone with whom to share the burden.
Lia and Yossi rebel against how the system was implemented in the nursing home. Their relationship with Johnny hits difficulties again, and Johnny, for his part, is furious that the two failed to raise capital from Lia's father. Yossi discovers the MP's story. Lia, driven by ideals, leaks the video to Dvir, TheMarker's editor (from the first episode).
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The leak makes waves. The main victim is the well-known cyber company - which provides a rare opportunity for the startup. Israel identifies the opportunity and approaches a friend at the airport to present the system there.
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The airport had been using the large cyber company's services until recently to track passengers (by downloading malware to phones when connecting to airport WiFi). The airport faces legal and PR problems following the exposure, and is looking for "clean" technologies to replace the cyber company. The startup, which operates in public spaces, allows the airport to implement their system without approval and without violating privacy rights. The former social startup suddenly becomes a business with a clear and promising business model.
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Alona, who owns the large cyber company, is a major victim of the article's publication. She summons Johnny for a talk and confesses that she was the one who leaked the story that was published about him. She does this because she's sure Johnny already knows, and that the exposure of her cyber company is his revenge. Johnny understands and decides to compete with Alona in the airport tender. From this point on, they become declared rivals.
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But Johnny only has a little time to celebrate the success. His wife is still angry that he didn't listen to her and didn't publish the information about the cyber company, and their relationship hits another reef.
07
Growth
[Johnny's second childhood memory]
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Finally comes the moment they've been dreaming of. The startup takes off with its first customer, and the company completes a ten-million-dollar funding round. The technology is also implemented in additional locations aimed at preventing terrorist attacks.
With the installations come new conflicts. In Budapest, for example, they want to implement the system to identify gay couples. Johnny remembers his son. Yossi confronts an ethical dilemma when the system is used to track Arab protesters.
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Lia is declared a meteor. She wins a flattering article in the 30 Promising Entrepreneurs Under 30 project. She grows increasingly closer to Johnny, who also takes pride in her. They continue to new customers, some already on the border of legitimacy (like the Turkish embassy) who want to implement their system. Lia, drunk on success, grows increasingly distant from her original vision.
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Meanwhile, Israel clashes with Lia over the company's vision - he still sees potential for social change. Nevertheless, he definitely enjoys the big money from the venture and the new status. He negotiates to improve his terms and exploits Lia's wasteful spending to get more shares in the company. He buys his father a new car.
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The startup's success also strengthens Johnny. He cancels some of the liens against him, and his investigation comes to a screeching halt. He hides the situation from Asaf, who still demands he leave their joint company. Johnny gives up the shares in the joint company in exchange for closing all his debts. He hides his new venture from Asaf. Asaf is happy to be rid of him and moves forward with the IPO.
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Meanwhile, Yossi still hides his original identity. The technology is already starting to hurt his Arab friends, but he prefers not to expose himself and confront reality. The problem is that every time they test the system, it identifies that he's Arab. Johnny understands, checks behind the scenes - and discovers Yossi's true identity.
8
Expansion
[Yousef's second childhood memory]
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Johnny isn't scared. From his perspective, an Arab technological leader closes another diversity need for him. He takes advantage of the opportunity to stretch Yossi to the limit without revealing that he knows the truth, tells fart jokes about "Yousof" - and forces Yossi to bless Hanukkah candles at the office. Finally, he exposes to everyone that Yousef is Arab.
Israel becomes increasingly greedy, and Johnny decides to fire him. After all, a company at this level can't rely on a senior executive who's actually a social worker. But Israel discovers that Lia's sister didn't really commit suicide. It turns out the sister is in Israel, making activist documentaries, needs to raise money - and is generally very much not dead. He uses this secret and blackmails Lia, promising to protect him and keep him in the company.
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Following the public exposure that Yossi is Arab, Lia distances herself from him in public and grows increasingly closer to Johnny.
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Alona summons Johnny again and offers to put their differences behind them. She offers to invest significant capital in the company and says she just wants to conduct due diligence. Johnny believes her and gives her access to the company.
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Johnny gets closer to Lia, and they almost sleep together. Johnny holds back because he doesn't want to hurt his wife. He had talked with her before about "spicing up" their relationship, but never acted on it. When he and Lia are on the verge, he stops, returns to his wife, and finds her in bed with an advertiser. "Unlike you, Johnny," she explains, "he actually listens to me."
09 Season Finale
Exit
[Sara's childhood memory (Johnny's mother)]
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Parallel to Johnny and Anat's crisis, the crisis between Lia and Yousef intensifies. Lia becomes increasingly extroverted and avoids personal meetings with Yousef. Yousef feels betrayed: he believed in her, led her to success - and now she doesn't see him from a mile away.
Johnny's daughter, Noa is exposed to conspiracy theory videos about Big Brother-style security systems. She discovers that her father also has such a company and publishes a TikTok video about him. The video goes viral and again reaches TheMarker's reporter who writes a follow-up article about Johnny. This time she writes about Real company's activities, which started as something good and special and turned into a cynical business that profits from hurting minority rights.
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This time, the negative publicity includes both Yousef and Lia. Yousef's family pressures him, and he decides to leave the company (not a little because he's angry at Lia). However, he still holds 20% of the company's shares.
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Alona advises Johnny to get rid of Yousef completely (without shares in the company) and promises that if Yousef is fired, she'll invest in the company.
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Johnny convinces Lia to threaten Yousef that she'll accuse him of rape after they slept together without her knowing his true identity. Lia initially objects but eventually threatens Yousef. The shocked Yousef is forced to give up his stake, leaving the company with nothing.
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Johnny and Lia are left to deal with the image crisis. But unlike the beginning of the season, this time, they discover that investors don't care. All they care about is that the company works and maintains its value of billions. With such value, no article moves them. The company wins the tender to install cameras in all urban public spaces in Israel.
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Asaf's IPO gets stuck and is canceled due to legislative changes. His company is in distress and needs additional investment. He turns to Johnny after ousting him from the company, but Johnny realizes he has no reason to invest in the gambling company that yielded his first successes. He refuses.
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Asaf threatens to expose Johnny illegally using gamblers' money. Still, Johnny responds that Asaf knew and approved the withdrawal of funds (thus revealing a secret kept since the beginning of the season). Thus, if Johnny gets arrested, Asaf will be arrested, too, and they hold each other by the balls.
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Asaf summarizes the exchange with the sentence: "You used to be a great guy, and you've become a shit of a person."
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A minute after Yousef leaves the company with nothing, Alona waits for him outside in her Volvo and establishes a competing startup with him with investors from Dubai. She never intended to invest in the company, and only used Johnny's naivety to discover everything she needed about the company.
In the Next Seasons
Johnny will divorce and make a series of standard mistakes of every beginning divorcee. Lia will deal with her sister's lie and Israel's threat - and the company will enter a titans battle with Yousef and Alona's company, which Johnny's ex-wife Anat will also join. The business battle between Real and See will include every dirty trick in the book.
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In the third season, the companies will merge into a global corporation and reach an exit. But very quickly, the heroes will deal with the loss of their control and independence against giant corporations and will enter a hopeless battle to regain control. Later, a new front will open against AI and the rise of the machines.