Class of '09

This show had a lot of promise. You have Kate Mara and Brian Tyree Henry as well as the excellent Mark Pelligrino playing a Joker type villain. The miniseries begins grounded but falls into extravagant superhero-esque plot contrivances. The cgi is particularly awful when catastrophic scenes or fake mist are put onscreen.

I really was rooting for this show with its ambitious three decades spanning story, but the far-fetched plot and poorly executed action scenes left me feeling cold. It is a shame but thankfully it is only a miniseries that will not continue on.

I have not heard anyone talk about this series, and it is probably for the best.

I have to get this out of the way first. A governments mass surveillance of its own population has nothing to do with the safety of that populous. And saying you do not care about your 'right to privacy' because you have nothing to hide, is like saying you do not care about your 'freedom of speech' because you have nothing to say. Has Edward Snowden taught us nothing?

...Anyway, 'Class of 09' has a great cast and equally stellar acting. Great cinematography and directing. While the show propagates some false stereotypes about the FBI and people in general, it doesn't take away from the entertainment value. Overall, I'm actually not too sure where the show is going but am willing to see where thats gonna be.

This show is clearly building towards something so I'm surprised to see the hate after just 2 episodes. I'm interested to see where this goes and I think it has much more potential than early reviews that I've seen. Brian Tyree Henry is a phenomenal actor and Kate Mara is underrated.

This show seems like the type that could be really great or really terrible, and since it's a miniseries they must have some sort of ending in sight which leads me to believe this show will only get better.

After only 2 episodes in I really think this show has potential, and I'll be watching it just to see where it ends up going.

I think it's good enough to deserve a chance to see if this story ramps up as the season progresses.

Maybe this was a case of too many cooks in the kitchen (read: too many producers with script notes) but it had such a great first half (perhaps first 3/4) and then just felt like it shed all of it the elements that were keeping it artfully together to do a mad dash to the finish line. It needed at least an extra episode--these 8 episode runs are almost never nearly enough and it seems like the HBO model of 12 episodes for a show, or season of a show, has always felt the best to me, not too long not too short. Class o'09 was a nuanced exploration of the good and bad potential for using AI in law enforcement. I know personally I would generally fall on the negative side of the debate for using AI but the show did a great job of demonstrating that there are potential upsides if there were ever real checks and balances baked in. But then, right around the time the show felt it had made its philosophical points, it just rushed to end everything and tie everything up in a tidy gift bow. If I had to guess, I'd say there were budgetary constraints foisted on the writers. I bet they had great scripts and had to cut them down. I mean, even the last episode was kind of unceremoniously short compared to the rest. Also there were a couple characters that felt very tacked on that I wonder if they had a more fleshed out backstory in earlier script revisions. Regardless of all that, the two lead characters, Poet and Tayo, really carried the show with their performances and made the overarching themes of a Pandora's box and a Golem convincing as realistic possibilities. Also, I'll say that I've never before watched a show that made me wish I'd had different goals when I was younger and had considered the option of joining the FBI. And I don't feel like this show serves as copaganda while it also doesn't serve as the opposite. To sum up, I've seen a few other shows fall harder off the cliff in a run up to ending the series or mini series and this show didn't come close to those *cough cough Dexter cough cough*. Definitely an entertaining and thoughtful watch that I wish I could have given a 9 or 10 but the last episode I rate as a 4 so that brought down the average.

What if Artificial Intelligence entered the criminal justice system?

This series deals with a possible scenario. Considering this series was shot before Microsoft went public with their AI system and Google Bard is in hot pusuit, the makers could be said to have made a pretty impressive "prediction" of where AI is headed.

It's no more about the jobs that may be lost due to big tech companies and their elite CEO'Ss employing AI for economic benefit. It's a question now of what if AI prosecutes the innocent, or maybe ... what if AI finds these very same elite guilty of crimes? A computer incapable of being bribed, coerced or influenced.

The possibilities are endless. Thos series on Hulu is watchable, gripping, and takes viewers down a dark tunnel we're only beginning to wake up to.

Shaune B. Ryder.