Class of ’09 – Episode 1 “Part of Something” Recap & Review

Part of Something

The Future: 2034

Class of ’09 episode 1 takes us to the future, 2034, where Tayo Michaels, the FBI Director, heads to a room with a large screen and several people working. The screen brings up a criminal called Amos Garcia. Elsewhere, Ashley Poet, an FBI agent, is at Amos Garcia’s suspected location.

When she alights her car to go inside the house where Amos is suspected to be, her former colleague, Murphy, whom she hasn’t seen in a long time, arrives at the scene. Of course, they both are happy and surprised to see each other there.

They proceed into the house with other FBI agents but don’t find Amos. Instead, they discover several screens replaying a video of Tayo mentioning that the US is not only the greatest country in the world but also the safest.

The Past: 2009

We’re then taken back to when the class of 2009 first enrolled in the FBI training centre. Ashley arrives at the training centre in Quantico and meets with Murphy, who’s also joining the FBI.

Ashley goes to her assigned room and meets Hour Nazari, her roommate. Hour begins telling Ashley how she can’t afford to purchase the FBI training uniform. Ashley offers to loan her money to buy the uniform, but Hour refuses and concludes that she shouldn’t be there, period.

Ashley persuades Hour to stay and loans her the money to buy the uniform. Later, the class of 2009 is at the induction class led by Drew and Gabriel, the FBI training center’s counsellors. Gabriel then asks each person to introduce themselves, and they do so, as we learn more about the other guys in the class. This includes Tayo Michaels and Daniel Lennix.

When it’s Ashley’s turn to introduce herself, we’re taken back to when she was a nurse in a psychiatric hospital.

One day, FBI agents came to see Ashley about a certain late suspect’s brother, Alfie, who was in the hospital Ashley worked at. The FBI had tried interrogating Alfie about what happened the day the suspect died, but he kept having psychiatric episodes.

The FBI asked Ashley for help since she was close to Alfie. Ashley managed to encourage Alfie to open up about what happened. Later, one of the FBI agents, Martin Rivera, encouraged Ashley to join the FBI.

Back to the induction class, the trainees take an oath but suddenly, a bird hits the door and dies. Nathan, one of the FBI trainees, asks for permission to bury the bird. Gabriel allows him to do so but asks the entire class to accompany Nathan outside to bury it.

Gabriel asks Nathan how he feels, and he admits that he feels better. Drew then asks Tayo and Ashley what they think about Nathan burying the bird, and they both mention that it was a kind gesture.

Tayo tells Ashley that Nathan will be dismissed from the FBI training centre. It turns out he was right because later, Tayo tells Ashley that Nathan wasn’t even allowed to go to his room to pack his belongings. Instead, two people were sent to do it for him.

Those people sent to pack Nathan’s belongings left behind a picture of Nathan with his brother in the military. Tayo suggests that there was something behind Nathan wanting to bury the bird.

The Present: 2023

The episode takes us to the present, where Ashley is a police officer. She and another officer respond to a report of gunshots heard at a particular apartment. They proceed to the supposed apartment, but the owner there tells them that no gunshots originated in his house.

Ashley and the other police officer inspect the apartment anyway, and Ashley goes to one of the rooms, where she finds a young boy asleep. She tells the boy to hide under the bed.

Just then, Ashley hears an argument and gunshots. She finds the police officer has shot the apartment owner. The officer then places his gun next to the  owner to make it look like he was the one who had the gun.

Later, Ashley goes to a bar to meet Chief Albury, the Chief of police. It turns out that the police department is corrupt, and Chief Albury suspects Ashley is from the FBI. So he asks Ashley multiple times why she joined that police department.

Chief Albury then tells Ashley that the apartment owner was an informant for the FBI. Ashley concludes he sent her there to determine if she would recognize the apartment owner, and luckily Ashley didn’t. Chief Albury asks Ashley again why she joined that police department, and she tells him she wanted to be part of something. Chief Albury then welcomes Ashley to “the family.”

Ashley later reports her findings about that police department at the FBI. It turns out she was undercover in the department to expose  corruption going on. The lead FBI agent informs Ashley that she is required to be present when Chief Albury and the other corrupt police officers are being arrested. And as expected, Ashley is nervous about it. Ashley later joins other FBI agents to Chief Albury.

Ashley goes back to the FBI headquarters and has a session with the FBI’s psychiatric evaluator (it seems it is the norm for undercover FBI agents to have a psychiatric evaluation). Ashley then meets with Daniel Lennix, who congratulates her for exposing the corruption in Chief Albury’s police department.

Daniel then tells Ashley that he was the one who gave the orders for her to be present when Chief Albury and the other corrupt police officers were being arrested. He also tells her that she will be undercover at the FBI headquarters.

Ashley later meets Hour Nazari for dinner. Hour tells Ashley that the FBI asked her if she could work with Ashley.

Ashley realizes Daniel has assigned her to be undercover at the FBI headquarters to investigate Hour. She later confronts Daniel about it and even tells him she forgets why they broke up, but he always has a way of reminding her.

The Past: 2009

We’re again taken back to when the class of 2009 are training in the training centre. Daniel comes to invite Ashley and Hour for dinner with the rest of the trainees at a certain Mexican restaurant.

They all head out for food, where Daniel and Ashley tell each other more about their backgrounds. Meanwhile, Hour, who’s watching them, tells Tayo that Ashley and Daniel will get married in 5 years. Tayo doesn’t think so, so they make a bet.

Tayo asks Hour if she is attracted to anyone in their class, but she says no (it seems Tayo was attracted to Hour). Hour asks Tayo the same thing, but Tayo tells her he will never get married.

After dinner, they all head back to the training centre. Ashley heads back with Daniel and they reach a motel. Ashley hesitates though, but they go to the motel and sleep with each other.

The Future: 2034

The episode takes us again to the future, where Tayo is at the Senate Judicial Committee bidding for an extension of his term as the FBI’s director. Tayo meets Ashley, who also attended the hearing for his bid. Ashley informs Tayo that she knows he was the one who ordered that she go to arrest Amos Garcia.

Later that night, Ashley is at her house when Amos breaks in. Amos begins warning her that she will end up as a “puppet” for the judicial system. He also warns her that” they” are watching her. Just then, the FBI breaks in, shoots Amos and handcuffs Ashley. The episode ends with Ashley being questioned about what Amos told her earlier.

The Episode Review

One thing about this show that stands out, is how well the events have been grouped. We get to see the main characters’ past, present and future lives without getting confused. This episode has also left us in suspense, just as expected.

There’s a possibility Ashley already knew Amos and that Amos was part of the FBI, judging by how he was talking to Ashley before he was shot. Tayo may also know more about Amos too. As for Hour, I wonder why the FBI wants Ashley to investigate her? It could be because of her parents, but it isn’t clear yet. We’ll have to tune into the next episode to find out!