A bonus year is thrown into the mix on Episode 5 of Class of ‘09. Titled “The Problem is People,” the latest episode of FX’s crime drama includes a brief detour to 2025 on its way to the typical future jumps in 2034. As usual, the episode’s title is a line from the show, and this time it’s spoken by Tayo, which makes sense as this is very much his episode.
(Richard Ducree/FX)
The Past – 2009
Gabriel (Jon Jon Briones) and Drew (Brooke Smith) have taken the class on a field trip. First, they visit a memorial dedicated to fallen FBI agents, then the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and finally, the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. There, they are introduced to a guest speaker, civil rights attorney Dr. Vivienne McMann (Rosalind Eleazar). She talks about how she works with law enforcement to try and prevent the unjust crimes she typically settles in court. The class is in civilian attire for the tour, and when Tayo (Brian Tyree Henry) asks why, Vivienne informs the class that the FBI tried to persuade MLK to commit suicide. As the tour concludes, the entire class applauds Vivienne, and Tayo seems smitten.
Poet (Kate Mara) asked Lennix (Brian J. Smith) not to sit with her on the bus ride back, saying they need to be more professional. But he sits next to her anyway, arguing that they only have these twenty weeks of class together before they will be pulled in separate directions. Lennix argues in favor of making the most of their time together. Tayo overhears, and before the bus can pull away, he rushes to Gabriel and Drew to ask for a few minutes. He rushes back to Vivienne and asks her if she will see him again sometime. She says yes.
The Present – 2023
Underneath the rubble of the FBI’s destroyed headquarters, Lennix and Poet are alive. Lennix can’t feel his arm, which is crushed under rubble, and Poet’s left eye has been damaged. Poet tries to keep Lennix talking to her, saying that she fears losing him. “You’re never going to lose me,” he promises, adding that he never told her he loves her before. He goes unconscious, and Poet tries to stay calm. Shortly after, she hears voices and is able to get their attention. They’re rescued.
Sometime later, Poet arrives at a crime scene to investigate the death of a woman. Opening her purse, she finds a journal. When she gets home, we see her place her gun and badge on a dresser next to a framed photo of her and Lennix from 2009. Meanwhile, we see Lennix arrive home to find that his wife has taken their kids to stay with her parents. He places his prosthetic arm in a case next to his gun and badge. Climbing into bed, he calls Poet, who waits until it’s almost too late to answer. She’s wearing gloves and reading the victim’s journal, telling him about the thousands of unsolved murders of women dumped on the side of interstates. Changing the subject, she asks Lennix if he remembers anything from their time in the rubble. He says he doesn’t and asks if she does. She doesn’t answer.
Tayo stands with Hour (Sepideh Moafi) and Gutierrez (Tia L. Davis) as her system watches the body cams from FBI agents delivering water and food to hostages inside a synagogue. The masked men holding them there have been identified by the system as a 19 and 20-year-old with no history of violence, but traces of online radicalization. Gutierrez declares that their bulletproof vests have been determined to be fake, and Tayo gives the orders, with two snipers safely taking both men out. But as they watch agents lead the hostages outside, each holding a bottle of water, they begin to fall down and shake. Soon after, it is determined that the bottles of water were injected with arsenic by the men who held the synagogue hostage. They knew this would be viewed by people watching live news coverage as the hostages were freed.
Later, hour finds Tayo in a room full of reams of paper, which he says is just one-tenth of the information her database had on the killers. Manually combing through the data, he discovered a conversation in a gaming forum in which the men discussed impactful ways to kill people, including lacing water for hostages with arsenic. “No process we put in place is going to prevent every tragedy, Tayo,” Hour tries to console him. “The problem isn’t your database,” he responds. “The problem is people.”
Two Years Later – 2025
At a hearing, Tayo summarizes the conclusion of his 2,000-page report about the 2023 attack on the FBI. He says the FBI had all the facts but didn’t have the resources to understand it. He shares that he had to breach FBI protocol in order to investigate Mark Tuprik and still wasn’t able to stop the attack. He argues that rebuilding headquarters won’t be enough and says this will happen again if they don’t change the way the bureau is run. Behind him, we see Vivienne nodding.
FBI Director Shannon Fitzpatrick (Lindsay Ayliffe) meets with Tayo and Warren (Dan Tracy) about his findings, discussing his vision for letting artificial intelligence access the data from Hour’s expensive database. Waren accuses Tayo of lobbying for this on Hour’s behalf. Fitzpatrick seems against the proposal.
Taking matters into his own hands, Tayo invites Amos Garcia to his home (Raul Castillo). Amos designed an A.I. algorithm that successfully predicts online shopping habits, and Tayo wants to discuss adapting that algorithm to the investigative process. Amos is reluctant at first, but Tayo shares his vision of a system without prejudice that will fairly examine evidence. Later, we see Amos return and meet with both Tayo and Viv. “The way I see it, crime is binary,” Amos says, describing an algorithm that views everyone in the world as a suspect, sifting through data to prove innocence in its quest to give agents a list of suspects. He talks about scenarios in which it could even give agents just one single suspect. Vivienne brings up that the law views suspects as innocent until proven guilty, and Amos agrees. Tayo asks Amos if the agent still has all the power with this system. “The agent always decides,” Amos promises.
The Future – 2034
Poet, Lennix, Hour, and Murphy (Jake McDorman) are all handcuffed by FBI agents and brought to headquarters, where they are put in a conference room with Tayo. “Well, this isn’t the reunion we imagined, is it?”, he asks, warning them all not to be skeptical of the system. “The system was only supposed to be held in check by people,” he defends it. “The findings are only advisory.” Hour declares that people have failed. “People have always been the problem,” Tayo repeats his belief from over a decade prior. Hour notices that Tayo has no tech on him, accusing him of hiding this conversation from the program. Poet suggests that the reason Amos came to her was that they could all stop the system if they work together. Tayo warns them to stop this pursuit. “I’ve done all I can, but know this; There will be no more warnings,” he says.
Senator Spencer (Rasool Jahan) meets with Judge Vivienne to discuss her concerns over inexplicable arrests. “How many times does a jury go against the verdict of a system?”, she asks the judge, pointing out that they never do, and she believes they’re afraid to do so. Vivienne promises that the system is not on autopilot. “Senator, I may not live with Tayo anymore, but I would still trust him with my life,” she adds. Senator Spencer asks how she would feel if someone else were put in charge.
Lenix, Poet, Hour, and Murphy have regrouped in private. Lennix shares that Senator Spencer will meet with them today, and Murphy asks how they’re all supposed to get across town untracked. Poet says she wants them to be tracked. “How the system reacts to being investigated is the investigation,” she says.
The group arrives at a church, meeting Senator Spencer inside. Their meeting is quickly interrupted by the sound of drones that surround the building. The minister (Michael Burgess) shows them all to a secret exit and stands at the altar as drones break through stained glass windows. He grabs a candle holder like a baseball bat ready to strike.
Tayo enters the control room and sees live drone footage of a minister defending himself from drones that have determined him to be a threat. “Stand it down,” Tayo orders his team, who can’t seem to shut the protocol off. He takes control, and the system is unresponsive. He watches as the drones tase the minister. ‘Why couldn’t I stop it?”, Tayo asks his agents. The screens switch from live footage of the drones to scrolling code.
FX’s Class of ‘09 will return on Wednesday, June 7th, with its 7th episode on Hulu. Here is a description of the next episode, titled “Hogan's Alley.”
At Quantico, the Class of ’09 must complete the impossible challenges of Hogan's Alley.