Class of ’09 takes us back to the familial world of human intelligence and covert operations, and it would be interesting to see whether writer and creator Tom Rob Smith is able to bring something unique to the plate or not. The narrative is divided into three timelines: 2009, when the batch of 0’9 joined the academy; 2023, the present timeline, where we see them solving cases and making their reputation; and lastly, 2034, where the use of artificial intelligence has entirely changed the way things are done inside the agency.
Class of ’09 Episode 1 takes us into the future, in the year 2034, and introduces us to FBI agent Ashely Poet. Ashley was briefed about her mission just seconds before, and she got to know that an extremist named Amos Garica was on the loose. Ashley knew Amos from before, and she had been put on the case by Director Michaels on purpose. Ashley met a colleague named Murray after a long time who was put on the same case. They entered the house but found no one there. Amos had placed multiple televisions in a room inside, and as soon as the FBI officials entered it, they saw a clip of FBI director Tayo Michaels, in which he was seen saying that the United States of America was not only the greatest country in the world but also one of the safest. It felt like Amos wanted to put out a statement and sarcastically point out the irony of what the director was saying. The FBI officials weren’t able to catch Amos, and they stood in that room trying to decipher what he was up to and where he was hiding. Amos looked like a man who had lost faith in the justice system, though Class of ’09 Episode 1 never tells us what happened to him that led to him feeling that way.
Spoilers Alert
Ashley Joins The FBI Academy.
Ashley Poet decided to join the FBI Academy in 2009 after serving as a nurse for a very long time. There was a very interesting story behind how Ashley realized that she could work with the FBI. Back in the day, FBI officials had come looking for evidence in the facility Ashely used to work in. They had gotten to know that the brother of a suspect was staying in that same facility and suffering from some mental illness. They were told that Ashley was quite close to him and that she might be able to get some information from him. Ashley was able to help the FBI agent, and they were pretty impressed by the tactics she had employed. She was good at making the people believe that she was on their side when, in reality, she was ready to stab them with a machete the moment that opportunity arrived. Ashley’s roommate in the academy was a girl named Hour Nazari, whose parents were from Iran, and she doubted her own choice to come down to the academy as she didn’t even have the money to buy the uniform. Another guy named Daniel Lennix seemed quite interested in Ashley the moment she stepped into the hall to attend the induction program. Daniel’s father and grandfather had been a part of the FBI, and he, too, hoped to continue the legacy. Tayo Michaels, who became the director of the organization in the future, was also a part of Ashley’s batch. Michaels was of the opinion that Daniel Lennix would not be able to sustain himself in the organization and would be eventually thrown out, but that didn’t happen in reality.
Ashley Conducts The Biggest Corruption Bust.
In 2023, Ashley was sent as an undercover agent to the Philadelphia police department to collect evidence against the officers who were involved in corrupt practices. The operation was called Blue Score, and it had been nine months since it had been ongoing. Generally, the police officers of that region did not let any strangers inside their core circle, but Ashely was able to win their trust, and they themselves included her in the inner ring. They had sent Ashley to the house of a snitch who worked for the FBI. The police officers wanted to know if Ashley was with the FBI or not. The snitch didn’t recognize her, and neither did she, which led the police chief named Albury to come to the conclusion that she could be trusted and was not working for the FBI. Ashley used to hide a recording device in the magazine of her gun, and she collected as much data as she could after being included in the family. The other FBI officials were curious to know how she had been able to infiltrate the close-knit circle when nobody in the past could do that. Ashley told them that she just didn’t act pretentiously and didn’t make them feel like she was dying to be a part of their family. When police officers had to be arrested, Ashley was asked by her superiors to lead the team, and she didn’t understand why they were making her do it when it was not how things were generally done, and it was extremely dangerous to go between the people whom she had deceived. Her superiors had ulterior motives in sending her with the arrest team, which we came to know later in Class of ’09 Episode 1.
What Did Lennix Ask Ashley To Do?
Lennix had become the associate executive assistant director of the FBI back in 2023, and he was not taken out of the agency as his peers had thought back in the day. Lennix was the one who had given orders to take Ashley with the team to arrest the police officers. Ashley was furious as she didn’t understand why he had put her life in jeopardy, and that’s when Lennix told her that he wanted to take advantage of the situation and portray Ashley as if she was burnt out doing excruciating fieldwork and then assign her to a desk job. The desk job was a cover, and in reality, he wanted Ashley to spy on her Class of ’09 roommate, Hour Nazari. Ashley was once again infuriated, as she didn’t want to spy on one of her own, but she realized that she didn’t have an option. Lennix would have given the job to someone else had she declined, and that would have made matters worse.
Once again, the narrative transports us to the year 2034, where we see Tayo Michaels in front of the Senate judiciary committee, keeping his points as to why his 10-year tenure should be extended by 5 more years. Tayo said that he had brought about a lot of radical changes in how things were done in the agency and that he needed a few more years to nurture what he had created. Towards the end of Class of ’09 Episode 1, Amos Garcia arrived unannounced at Ashley’s residence, and before the FBI shot him dead, he said a few things in a cryptic manner that made us feel like he knew something that the FBI didn’t want the general public to know. Amos Garcia had thrown a card-like object at Ashley before the FBI entered the room. Ashley took it, and she never told the agents about it. In the upcoming episodes, we will get to know why Amos was disappointed in Ashley and why he thought that she had become a puppet in the hands of the justice system. We would also eventually get to know why Hour Nazari was being suspected of foul play and whether it was a baseless suspicion based solely on the fact that she came from Iran or whether there was actually some concrete evidence to prove it.
