0:00

Prepare for the Crime and Investigation event

0:02

of the new year with the premiere

0:04

of two groundbreaking new series on A&D.

0:06

Each week hit the streets of the

0:08

Big Easy with the dedicated team of

0:10

detectives as they search for answers and

0:12

justice in the grouping new series Homicide

0:15

Squad New Orleans. Then join an

0:17

elite Mexican task force in their

0:19

pursuit of American fugitives hiding south

0:21

of the border in Fugitive Hunters

0:23

Mexico. Homicide Squad New Orleans premieres

0:25

tonight at 9. Follow by Fugitive

0:27

Hunters Mexico at 10. on A&D.

0:29

From serial productions in the New

0:31

York Times, this is The Good

0:33

Whale, And Daniel Alarkon. And so

0:35

it was in a strange way

0:37

what everyone had always hoped for.

0:40

The moviegoers, the children, the fans,

0:42

the trainers, the activists, the hangars

0:44

on, Keko out at sea, away

0:46

from humans for the first time

0:48

since he was a calf. A

0:50

Hollywood ending of sorts. Kekko was

0:52

last seen with a pot of

0:54

wild whales as a storm was

0:56

rolling in. But when the weather

0:58

cleared and his care team returned,

1:00

he was gone. And what happened

1:02

next is a bit of a

1:05

mystery. We know the broad outline

1:07

that for four weeks he traveled

1:09

east until he resurfaced off the

1:11

coast of Norway, swimming with kids.

1:13

But why? What did this mean?

1:15

Did he come back to us,

1:17

humans, because he couldn't make it

1:19

in the wild? Or was it

1:21

something else? Because he missed us.

1:23

Because he missed us. We don't

1:25

know. Was his journey based on

1:27

a memory of a childhood migration,

1:30

however dimly recalled, or something more

1:32

banal like the ocean current? Was

1:34

he a pilgrim on a mission,

1:36

a kid lost at the mall,

1:38

or a teenage runaway, keen on

1:40

adventure? We don't know how long

1:42

he stayed with that pot of

1:44

whales he was seen with at

1:46

the start of his journey, whether

1:48

he swam with them for an

1:50

hour or a day or a

1:52

week, whether he chased after them

1:55

or begged for their attention. was

1:57

accepted or ignored. had gone through

1:59

was leading to this. All the

2:01

rehab and training in Oregon and

2:03

Iceland for this four weeks of

2:05

swimming east in an almost straight

2:07

line. If only we knew what

2:09

he experienced, we'd know if this

2:11

long grand experiment to restore wildness

2:13

to a captive orca had succeeded.

2:15

We'd know whether it was possible

2:17

for a whale that had been

2:20

captive for so long to live

2:22

like a wild whale does with

2:24

other whales in a pod, even

2:26

for a little while. But

2:28

those four weeks are essentially a black

2:30

box. Anything we say about this period

2:32

of time is much closer to make-believe

2:35

than to reporting. So to get inside

2:37

those mysterious weeks, we're going to have

2:39

to leave journalism behind. Just for a

2:42

little bit, I promise. Just for this

2:44

one short episode, we're going to do

2:46

something different. We're going to take what

2:48

we do know and think through what

2:51

might have happened, how those four weeks might

2:53

have gone. It's

3:00

such an important chapter in our story

3:02

and we wanted to do it justice

3:04

and imagine it as vividly as possible.

3:06

We talked about different ways we could

3:09

do that. A radio play, a piece

3:11

of fiction. But then we decided, you

3:13

know what? Screw it. Let's just do the

3:15

most out there version of this. Like Keiko,

3:17

let's just go as far as we

3:19

can possibly go. We decided to imagine

3:22

these four weeks as a musical. What

3:24

if Kako was a killer whale in some

3:26

animated film and what if we could

3:28

see his experiences and know his thoughts,

3:30

his fears, his hopes? For this critical

3:32

month of his life, let's try to

3:35

imagine the story for the first time

3:37

from the one perspective we've been missing

3:39

through this whole series. Kako's. I know,

3:42

I know. This sounds crazy. It sounded

3:44

crazy to me when it was first

3:46

floated. But trust me, there's a logic

3:48

to all this. We enlisted professionals, people

3:51

who do this for a living. Benj

3:53

Passick and Justin Paul. They write musicals,

3:55

big fantastical stories for kids, but also

3:58

stuff for adults. Dear Evan Hansen, Lala

4:00

Land. We asked them to

4:03

take the little we know

4:05

about where Keko started and

4:08

how he ended up. And

4:10

for one song, imagine what

4:13

might have happened to Keko

4:15

in that time in between,

4:18

and how it felt to

4:20

him. So here it is,

4:23

and the song begins in

4:25

the only place it can,

4:28

in the dark briny blue.

4:30

Where went the whale that

4:33

the world had set free?

4:35

Somewhere the answers are lost

4:38

to the sea, In the

4:40

dark briny blue. Weeks beneath

4:43

waves as he turned eat

4:45

alone, Will tell you three

4:48

tales, But the tails could

4:50

be wrong, For only a

4:52

whale knows the words to

4:55

his song, And can sing.

4:57

What is true? What did

5:00

he do in the dark?

5:02

Briny blue. So much water,

5:05

so much sky, giant shadows

5:07

passed me by. I join

5:10

the pod with Finn to

5:12

Finn. They circle round and

5:15

take me in. We're weaving

5:17

through the waves, soaring through

5:20

the space. They sing a

5:22

set of songs that sound

5:25

like mine. We roughhouse and

5:27

we race, through herring that

5:30

we chase, we slap our

5:32

tails and splash along the

5:35

coastline. Now I'm part of

5:37

a pack in a swore

5:40

white and black, and we're

5:42

flying free. Three in back,

5:45

four in front, and they

5:47

help me to hunt like

5:50

a family. And

5:55

I spend days upon days

5:57

upon days upon days growing

5:59

strong here. I spend

6:01

days upon days upon days

6:03

upon days I belong here.

6:06

But then one day I

6:08

get distracted, a familiar sort

6:11

of sound, an engine hums,

6:13

I go to chase it,

6:15

but I get turned around.

6:17

And when I try to

6:19

circle back, can't find a

6:21

swirl of white and black,

6:23

and now my pack is nowhere

6:26

to be found. So

6:31

much

6:35

water,

6:40

so

6:42

much

6:46

sky. Good bye.

6:49

Finally belong. We

6:51

told you a

6:54

tale, but the

6:56

tale could be

6:58

wrong. For only

7:01

the whale knows

7:03

the words to

7:06

his song and

7:08

can sing what

7:10

is true. One

7:13

tale was told,

7:15

let a second

7:17

unfold. There's more

7:20

to behold in

7:22

the dark. Priny.

7:35

So much water, so much sky,

7:37

giant shadows pass me by, black

7:40

and white, they're big and broad.

7:42

Just like me, is this my

7:44

pot? I'm swimming to their side, hoping

7:47

I can stay. I try to find

7:49

a song that they might know, but

7:51

I can't get it right. I've never

7:54

sung their way. I fumble and

7:56

I never find the flow. And

7:58

there's Harry to spare. They don't

8:00

want to share, they refuse

8:03

to play. And they're rally

8:05

and rough, and I'm not

8:07

quick enough when they swim

8:09

away. And I try to

8:12

stun a fish, but I

8:14

stumble. I'm hungry, and my

8:16

stomach starts to rumble. And

8:19

for days, upon days, upon

8:21

days, isolation. And for days,

8:23

upon days, upon days, upon

8:25

days, I have no destination.

8:30

And my

8:32

mind goes

8:34

blank. And

8:36

I miss

8:38

my tank.

8:41

So much

8:43

water. So.

8:59

Was he embraced or

9:01

exiled? How did he

9:04

cope free from captivity?

9:06

How did he fare

9:09

in the wild? Oh,

9:11

do they bring tales

9:14

that wash up on

9:16

the shore? And if

9:19

you listen, the dark-righty

9:21

blue holds one more.

9:32

So much sky. Now

9:34

I'm here. I'm not

9:36

sure why. Such an

9:38

endless blue abyss. They

9:41

fought to set me

9:43

free. For this, I'm

9:45

swimming with a pod.

9:47

They're nice enough, I

9:50

guess, and every day

9:52

we keep the same

9:54

routine. We swim and

9:56

sleep and hunt. It's

9:59

pleasant, more or less.

10:01

There's another world they've

10:03

never seen. Cuz they

10:05

don't know the thrill

10:08

when you show off

10:10

the brilliant dairy dive.

10:12

And the kids hide

10:14

their hands as they

10:17

scream from the stands

10:19

and you feel alive.

10:21

Cuz for days upon

10:24

days upon days, I

10:26

was famous. Now it's

10:28

days upon days upon

10:30

days upon days upon

10:33

days and I'm nameless

10:35

Aameless I miss the

10:37

children who would play

10:39

I miss belly rubs

10:42

all day packs of

10:44

people swimming at my

10:46

side. They hold on

10:48

to my thin and

10:51

we would ride and

11:08

much sky

11:11

could buy.

11:13

But on

11:16

this we

11:19

agree. He

11:21

journeyed those

11:24

long thousand

11:26

miles cross

11:29

the sea

11:31

till he

11:34

reached. Somewhere

11:37

new. That

11:39

much is

11:42

true. But

11:44

what did

11:47

he do?

11:50

What did

11:52

he do

11:55

in the

11:57

dark? Friday

12:01

blue. For four

12:04

weeks he traveled

12:07

until he bumped

12:10

his nose on

12:12

the edge of

12:14

this giant pool

12:17

called the ocean.

12:19

That's on the

12:21

next and

12:23

final episode

12:26

of The Goodwill.

12:28

islands off the coast just rubbing

12:31

himself in the kelp fronds it

12:33

was surprisingly good how good he

12:35

was looking also the way he

12:38

was swimming and Somebody called us

12:40

and says are you you better turn

12:42

on the TV people were trying to

12:44

go and swim with him trying to

12:46

pat him I was I mean I

12:49

was beyond pissed off Okay,

12:59

so we have one more really cool thing to share

13:01

with you. We made a music video for

13:03

this incredible song you just heard, and

13:05

it has puppets and features Broadway star

13:07

Jordan Fisher. The video was directed

13:10

by Carlos Lopez Estrada, who happens

13:12

not just to be a contributing

13:14

editor on the series, but also

13:16

a real-life Hollywood director. Carlos has

13:18

done music videos for people like Billy

13:20

Eilish and the Thundercats and the rap

13:22

group clipping, and now us. So go

13:26

to our

13:28

Instagram, serial

13:31

podcasts, or

13:34

sign up to

13:37

our newsletter at

13:39

nytimes.com/serial newsletter. You don't

13:41

want to miss it.

13:44

Research in fact checking

13:46

by Jane Ackerman with

13:49

help from Ben Phelan.

13:51

A truly talented team

13:54

of people helped us

13:56

put together this specific

13:58

episode. The song, The Ballot

14:01

of Keko, was written by Benj

14:03

Passick and Justin Paul and Mark

14:05

Son and Blick. Produced by Passick

14:07

and Paul Ian Eisendrath and August

14:09

Eriksman, with help from me, Ira

14:11

Glass and Genguera. It was engineered

14:14

and mixed by Derek Lee, mastering

14:16

by Oscar Zambrano. The song features

14:18

Jordan Fisher as Keko, Quentin, Earl

14:20

Darington, Brian Darcy James, and Paul

14:22

Alexander Nolan as the fisherman with

14:24

Adam Rothenberg on piano. Our music

14:26

video, which again you must check

14:29

out on our Instagram page at

14:31

Serial Podcast, was directed by

14:33

Carlos Lopez Estrada and Anna

14:36

Moskowitz. Produced by Ali Keezley

14:38

with help from Alyssa Ship,

14:40

Ende Chubu and Mac Miller.

14:42

Additional cinematography by Joshua Acheveria,

14:45

puppets by Vivala puppet and

14:47

puppet Captain Michelle Samora. Edited

14:49

by Maiki Rupert, V effects

14:51

by Justin Wynne. Special thanks

14:54

on this episode to Joshua

14:56

Freed, Anna Speer, Danielle, Perlman,

14:58

Matthew Sullivan, and

15:01

Francis Swanson. The Good

15:03

Whale is from serial

15:05

productions and The New

15:07

York Times. For a

15:10

limited time, you can listen

15:12

to all episodes of The

15:14

Good Whale right here, right now.

15:16

But it won't be free

15:18

forever. So if you want full access to

15:21

this show and to all serial shows, you've

15:23

got to be a New York Times subscriber.

15:26

Learn more about the New

15:28

York Times audio subscription at

15:31

nytimes.com/podcasts.