The second episode of Class of ’09 tries to make you understand the motivations and sensibilities of Tayo Michaels, the director of the FBI, and the things that happened in his life that shaped his personality and impacted his ideologies. It is not easy to accept criticism, especially when it is about something that you cannot control or change. Tayo Michaels had gone through a lot, so much so that he seemed that he had lost faith in humanity, in the justice system, and even in the government. The Tayo Michaels, whom we saw in 2034, was nothing like the one who had joined the academy in 2009. Michaels had stopped believing that people had the potential to save the day, and that is why he introduced artificial intelligence, which he knew would prove to be the savior of the world. Not every agent was happy about the way the bureau was functioning, and they didn’t think that whatever new things Michaels was introducing would necessarily solve all the problems. Lennix had decided to get into politics as he had retired from the bureau some time ago. Lennix taught at Quantico, and though he tried for a time, he was not able to cope with the new curriculum. He told Ashley that the bureau they knew no longer existed. The machines had taken over everything, and the agents were merely bots who were acting on command. Lennix said that their own batch wouldn’t have been able to meet quality standards had they been in Quantico in 2034. Lennix felt disheartened, and that is probably why he just wanted to change fields and venture into politics.
Spoilers Alert
Was Michael Able To Qualify For The Fitness Test?
Michaels had a hard time coping with the excruciating physical endurance test that was a part of the curriculum at Quantico. Gabriel, the person in charge, had told them that to become agents, they had to necessarily qualify for the fitness test. Michaels was never able to run the distance within the prescribed time and he knew that if he didn’t perform on the final day, he would be thrown out of the academy, and that is why he was making a lot of effort to improve with every passing day. Michaels tried giving the excuse that before coming to the academy, he had a desk job, but he realized that all those things were not going to be taken into consideration. To make matters worse, there was a guy in their batch named Simon who commented that he would never be able to achieve the target in such a short amount of time. The condescending tone in which Simon spoke to Michael brought back harrowing memories from his childhood and triggered something inside him.
Later that day, in Class of ’09 Episode 2, he told Ashley how he and his family had been subjected to institutionalized racism. Michaels was the youngest of all the siblings, and he considered his brothers to be infallible and no less than a hero. One day, a traffic police officer stopped their car when they were going to watch a film. The officer started asking for documents that Michael’s brothers had provided him. They were responding to him in the most obedient manner, but still, he slapped Michaels as if to savor the look of helplessness that came on their faces after that. The brothers, who otherwise wouldn’t let anybody lay a finger on their youngest sibling, stood there in silence, and that was when Michaels understood something about the world. Michaels realized that the world was unjust and that he would have to reach the top of the food chain, no matter what, if he wanted to live a dignified life without any sort of fear. Whenever we shift to the year 2034 and see Michaels as the director of the FBI, we can almost look back at his entire journey in retrospect and see how, block by block, he achieved his dream.
Most of the time, while fighting against the people who try to oppress us, we eventually become like them, and that is what Michael’s well-wishers were scared of. He was a good guy, but it felt like he had become a bit stubborn and authoritative in his approach. Somewhere, he wasn’t able to be the change that he once wanted to see. When Michaels failed the test, he told his mentors that he had read the manual and that, according to it, he should be eligible to apply for a retest after seven weeks. The mentors agreed, and Michaels started pushing his limits as he knew that it was do or die this time.
What Was Mark Tupirik Planning To Do?
Agent Nunez and Tayo Michaels were posted in Billings back in 2023, and they went to have a conversation with a dangerous man named Mark Tupirik, who was known for his anti-establishment views and had a notorious reputation. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that he completely owned the area and was running a sort of commune where everybody was ready to take or give their lives for him. Mark was involved in a lot of illegitimate activities, but the FBI, until then, hadn’t found a single piece of evidence to prove his guilt. Before Michaels, many agents had gone to search his house, but they never found anything. Nunez was a bit scared because she had heard stories about the man and also because they were going there without any sort of warrant. Michaels was of the opinion that often, in conversations, people revealed themselves, and he wanted to do just that. The agents reached Tupirik’s castle, and everything seemed to be fine, but still, there was an unease in the air, as if he were hiding something. Agent Nunez wanted to go to the restroom, and Tupirik asked his wife, Jessa Mae, to show her the way.
Taking the opportunity, Jessa took Nunez inside the basement, which looked like a room where a secret operation was being planned. Tupirik had collected all the information about the various agents of the FBI. He had done thorough research about each and every agent, and Nunez didn’t understand what was on his mind. The agents came out of the house, and Jessa came running after them to tell or give Nunez something. Seeing that Tupurik’s goons started firing, they killed Jessa on the spot. Nunez was also heavily injured, but Michaels was able to save her life. Michaels called for reinforcements, but before that, Tupirik and his men had left the compound. Michaels once again went back to the basement and tried to find any substantial evidence that could tell him what they were trying to do. Towards the end of Class of ’09 Episode 2, we saw that Tupirik was making preparations as if he were going to wage war on the FBI. Tayo knew that the incident had hurt his ego, and now he wouldn’t stop before he killed all the FBI agents stationed at Billings.
Surely all the people in the batch of ’09 had committed mistakes during their tenure in the organizations, and probably some of them had the regret of not being able to do things in the right manner. But Michael was not one of them. Nunez even asked Michaels if it was really necessary to do what they did and if they had brought a catastrophe upon themselves. Michaels was very sure that what they did was the right way to approach the matter, and it felt like he was ready to bring down the empire of Mark Tupirik.
