michael@piston.net The problem with this series is that it is too real. I am watching it on Amazon "Unbox" and having just finished episode 2 I hate, absolutely hate, Fark, the leader of the Cell. I cannot recall any television series ever having this emotional impact. Remember the old tag line for horror movies "Just keep telling yourself its only a movie"? Well I find myself repeatedly reminding myself that its "only TV". But of course it isn't only TV is it? The possibility of a cell such as the one portrayed here actually operating in the United States is certainly within the range of plausibility. That's what gives this program its vicious authenticity. And that's why I hate it so much.

liquidcelluloid-1 Network: Showtime; Genre: Drama, Action, Crime; Content Rating: TV-MA (graphic language, strong violence, nudity, simulated sex and sequences of terror); Available: DVD; Perspective: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4); Seasons Reviewed: 2 seasons Farik (Oded Fehr) recruits African-American Muslim Darwyn Al-Said (Michael Ealy) to be part of a brotherhood of jihadists who have fully integrated into American society out in the open and behind closed doors are planning an attack on Los Angeles. Little does Farik know that Darwyn also has a secret identity, an undercover FBI agent trying to bring down Farik's terrorist sleeper cell.The idea that terrorist sleeper cells are lying wait in America posing as our friend and neighbors is one too baffling and frightening for most people to comprehend. Every once in a while "24" will embrace the post-9/11 view of terrorism, but nothing on TV touches the subject like "Sleeper Cell". Hopefully this will change, but to date, nothing matches the intelligence, thoughtfulness and nuanced realism of "Sleeper Cell". Created by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris, the show digs deep into every angle of every highly debatable issue surrounding Islam, terrorism, and American policy in a post 9/11 world. "Cell" takes all this and turns it into an immensely entertaining cinema-quality thrill-ride. You most likely won't end up more educated about terrorism or global politics and many may object to such a cavalier Hollywood approach to such a serious subject, but for what it is worth, the balance is flawless.Inside the action, "Sleeper Cell" depicts the war on terror as between Muslim vs. Muslim with peaceful Darwyn coming up against a group of zealots who have perverted his religion to justify murder and mayhem. While reading a description like that you might as well be listening to a presidential rallying speech, but the way "Cell" brings it to life is eye-opening. Armed with a versed knowledge of the religion's history and quoted passages from the Qu'ran, the show has written every angle - the pro-force right, the conspiracy theorist left and the terrorist dogma - with the same versatile rationality of a person who believes each of these views. Often shows get praised for espousing an opinion. My problem with many of them (such as Dick Wolf and David E. Kelley's stuff) is that every character espouses a single opinion, and the other side is broadly depicted or only there to be ridiculed, when the real world is more like Sleeper Cell, honest cases are made for each side - even the villain's without sympathizing with terrorism.The performances are spot on. Fehr is the picture of frightening charm as a leader should be. Elay says pages of dialog across his face, tortured by what he has to do to maintain his cover, particularly when those around him start to die. With all the talk about the culture clash between the west and the middle east, let's not underplay how riveting, exciting and purely entertaining in a rare way this show is. We watch with twisted fascination as the terrorists put their plans together and then cheer for them to be ripped apart at the same time. Season 1's strength is the way it takes us through this process - from the financing to the training to the choice of date and target. All the while actually making us want to see how far the cell will get with their plans.Having sewed up the story pretty tight at the end of season 1 (or the first mini-series, I'm not sure), Season 2 (or the sequel mini-series, "American Terror") does a bit of a contortion to bring them back. Like any good sequel, it succeeds by building off the characters. The show occasionally wanders off into the personal lives of cell members and looses focus, but when it ultimately gets down to business, the entire season smartly builds toward a grand wild-west-style confrontation between Farek and Darwyn, the result is as intense and satisfying as anything you'll see outside of a Jack Bauer interrogation."Sleeper Cell" is one of the most criminally under-watched and underrated shows on TV and a possible headliner for Showtime. I definitely want more, but the self-contained first season and its live-wire sequel are enough to keep me content for now. TV is not a medium where a nuanced and intelligent piece of pulp entertainment is often rewarded. Don't pass up this chance. One of the very best dramas on TV.* * * * / 4

emattos-1 First Season was gripping, edge of your seat action/adventure/mystery possibly the best TV of the year.Season two took a page out of the 24 writers book of how-to's, take a great idea with a handful of characters the audience really cares about and ruin it by adding eight handfuls of characters you could really care less about. The story gets stretched thin by the end of the first episode with eight new characters on top of the characters from the first season, plus you have Darwin not wanting to go back to UC work but as every TV cliché would have it he is pulled back in against his will.This is not what viewers of the first season signed up for, we signed up for a great story that was as realistic as it was hard hitting. Not cliché characters, a bumbling idiot boss, the hard-ass parent with whom the main character has to reconcile with, the evil character who has a softer side, the Mexican ex-con with gang affiliations, the tough guy who you find out is gay, let me see if I can think of anymore characters that could be in any number of lame TV shows from the 70's to todays crappy programming? How about the girlfriend that is asked to choose between her man and her child? Or the woman who at any moment can blow her man's cover by speaking to the wrong person.Season one main characters: the cell (4) the girlfriend (1) the boss (1) Season 2 main characters: the cell (5) old cell (2) girlfriend (1) the boss (1) dad (1) lover (1) military good cop bad cop (2)

brynthe_blade I'm not sure how this could have been better, so I gave it a 10. The acting was excellent - the main woman was so HOT - the chap who played Darwyn was a smouldering, pensive character who showed the inner turmoil he was suffering (the truck driver's death is one example)excellently. The storyline was believable and the series length was just about right (i.e. I love Lost, but will it ever end?). As a Brit i tend to think of Yanks as gung ho. The LAPD were in their ill advised attempts to arrest him, but the other agencies were portrayed positively. My main thought about programmes like this (and the also excellent 24) is - could it happen? Would it happen? Is it happening now? Possibly, probably.I hope they do another series, but after reading some of the previous comments, it would appear not.To summarise - If you haven't seen it, make sure you do.