Friday, July 14, 2023

Winter Watchlist Warmers - Class of '09 - Miniseries

Class of '09 is one confusing ass miniseries. Not to be confused by Class of '07. The Australian random series that put climate change into pop culture.

This miniseries created by Tom Rob Smith concluded on FX on Hulu last month, while streaming in Australia in full recently on Disney+.

Class of '09 takes place across three distinct time periods: The Past (2009), The Present (2023 and 2025) and The Future (2034), and follows the lives and careers of a team of FBI recruits whilst focusing on the transformation of the U.S. criminal justice system, as it is altered by the rise of artificial intelligence.


In episode eight, Graduation, the class are sworn in as special agents at graduation, with Gabriel remarking the final test is what they make of themselves. 

Tayo's mother meets Vivienne for the first time. Lennix's parents, working high profile jobs abroad, are too busy to attend. Poet visits her mothers grave afterwards.

Having survived the attack, Tayo deduces that someone in the government or intelligence community tried to have him killed in response to the system being implemented. 

He reluctantly accepts promotion to Director to expand the program, but on the condition he stop investigating his attacker and allow certain people to be exempt from being considered suspects. This decision tarnishes his relationships with both Vivienne and Amos.

Vivienne is arrested and put on trial due to a legal book she wrote criticising AI. The group breaks into an FBI data centre and uses an EMP to shut down and reprogram the system to remove exemptions using Amos' keycard. 

Rather than have everyone be treated equally, the government reluctantly deactivates the program. All predictive arrests and cases based on AI calculations are nullified. 

Poet becomes an instructor at Quantico teaching the class of 2034, the first intake after the deactivation, emphasising the strong refocus on the human element in the role of law enforcement.

Starring Brian Tyree Henry, Kate Mara, Raúl Castillo, Jake McDorman, Sepideh Moafi, Brian J. Smith, Jon Jon Briones, Brooke Smith, and Rosalind Eleazar.

It's an all star cast with the magnificent Mara leading the pack. Unlike ABC's Quantico series a few years back, this is way more adult, more intense while with all the different ass timelines at times confusing AF.

If you currently subscribe to Disney+ this one may be for you. I am about to start American Born Chinese whilst continuing Marvel's latest Secret Invasion week to week. Disney+ has really served up some excellent content lately, so if you are a streaming whore like me, Disney+ might be a much need winter nights warmer!

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