Class of ’09 – Episode 5 “The Problem Is People” Recap & Review

The Problem Is People

The Past: 2009

Episode 5 of Class of ’09 starts with Drew and Gabriel showing the FBI class of 2009 an area at the academy reserved for FBI agents who lose their lives while in the line of duty.

Drew and Gabriel then take the trainees to Dr Martin Luther King’s childhood home. When they arrive, Ashley asks Daniel not to sit next to her on the bus when they return to the academy because everyone knows they’re in a relationship. Of course, Daniel doesn’t like the idea that Ashley is trying to conceal the fact that they’re in a relationship.

Vivienne, Tayo’s wife, is the trainees’ tour guide at Dr King’s childhood home. Immediately, it seems like a classic “love at first sight” case for Tayo when he sees Vivienne.

Throughout the tour, Vivienne and Tayo keep glancing at each other. Before the trainees leave, Tayo returns to ask Vivienne out on a date, and she accepts. Meanwhile, Daniel tells Ashley to decide whether or not they are really a thing, as they are in the FBI academy for a short period.

The Present: 2023 and 2025

The FBI headquarters building has collapsed, and Ashley and Daniel are trapped inside. Ashley has an injury in the eye, while Daniel seems to have sustained more severe injuries since he’s trapped in rubble and keeps slipping in and out of consciousness. Fortunately, they’re found and rescued.

Two years later, Tayo appears before the Senate to recount what happened at FBI headquarters and the FBI academy in Quantico, courtesy of Mark Tupirik. Tayo is the FBI executive assistant director.

Tayo tells the Senate why he broke the protocol by using Hour’s technology system during the interrogations of Mark Tupirik and his accomplice. The Senate then asks Tayo what should be done to prevent this from happening again. That’s when Tayo seemingly vouches for the FBI to begin using Hour’s technology system.

Later, Tayo goes to the FBI Director, Shannon Fitzpatrick, to propose a more in-depth technology system. Hour’s system only collects data, so the FBI does the remaining job of using the data to solve crimes. But Tayo thinks that’s not enough and proposes the FBI gets a more advanced technology system that collects data and solves crimes. As expected, Shannon isn’t on board with the idea. Tayo then visits Amos Garcia.

Amos Garcia was a billionaire who made a fortune by creating AI used in online shopping. Tayo asks Amos to work with the FBI to create a system that uses AI technology. Tayo tells Amos that he desires the FBI to have a system that’ll do a better job than the people in law enforcement to solve crimes and uphold the law.

Elsewhere, Ashley and the police officers find the body of a woman. Ashley later returns home, and it seems she still hasn’t accepted the permanent eye injury she sustained when she was inside the FBI headquarters building when it collapsed. Meanwhile, Daniel also gets to his house and finds his wife and kids have left. He’s using a robotic arm as his own was severely injured when the FBI headquarters building collapsed.

Daniel calls Ashley, and they talk a little bit about what’s happening in their lives. Ashley then asks Daniel if he remembers anything from when they were under the rubble after the building collapsed. Ashley had seemingly confessed that she still had romantic feelings for Daniel even though they had already separated, but Daniel tells her he doesn’t remember what happened that day.

Tayo and Hour are coordinating to rescue some hostages detained by several gunmen at a synagogue. Using Hour’s system, they’re able to determine who exactly these gunmen are, and the FBI shoots all of them dead. The hostages are rescued, but suddenly, they start dropping dead. It turns out the water the FBI team brought the hostages while the gunmen detained them was poisoned.

After the synagogue tragedy, Tayo is going through the data Hour’s system collected from this case. Hour comes into Tayo’s office and finds a huge pile of documents, which Tayo tells her it’s the data her system has collected from the synagogue case.

Tayo and Hour start going back and forth about whether or not this tragedy could have been prevented. Tayo then tells Hour that the problem is the people in law enforcement and insinuates that her system is partly at fault here.

Amos later visits Tayo in his house and talks to him about his idea of a new system for the FBI. He tells Tayo that he can create a system that includes as many people as it can as suspects in a particular case. Then the system eliminates each based on the data until it settles on the ones it most likely thinks are the suspects. That is when the FBI agents decide who is or isn’t the suspect in that particular case.

The Future: 2034

Some of the FBI trainees in the class of 2009 are arrested as per Tayo’s orders. Murphy, Ashley, Daniel, and Hour are imprisoned and taken to meet Tayo. Tayo warns them, specifically Ashley, against trying to shut down the system.

Elsewhere, Senator Spenser, who confronted Tayo about the system in the 2nd episode, talks to Vivienne, who’s now a judge, about this system. Although it seems Vivienne and Tayo divorced, Vivienne still supports him and the system he has put in place in law enforcement.

Later, Hour, Daniel, and Murphy meet Senator Spenser at a church to talk about how they can stop Tayo’s system. But they quickly realize that the system’s drones are coming for them, so the pastor takes them to a secret chamber. He then stays behind to try and destroy these drones. Meanwhile, Tayo finds his team operating the drones that are at the church, and they tell him that they’ve identified a threat.

Tayo tries to stop the drones, but one of those drones shoots the pastor.

The Episode Review

It’s nice to see how Vivienne and Tayo met. We’ve also seen how Amos came into the picture in the first place. It’s clear Tayo knows the system Amos created isn’t executing justice fairly. I wonder why he is so keen on not letting his former trainees stop this system. What exactly is he trying to achieve with this system?

We now know why Ashley has an artificial eye, and Daniel has an artificial arm in future too. I’d love for them to be clear about their feelings toward each other because even in the future, it seems they didn’t have closure after they separated.