It’s called Sleeper Cell, and Edelstein on NPR’s Fresh Air raved about it today.
It starts Sunday. Edelstein says it’s well-written, well-acted, intense, exciting, and that some major characters won’t survive.
This might be my drama fix until The Sopranos comes back.
I think the new season of Wanted starts up again on Monday. It stars Gary Cole and Lee Tergeson (Beecher on Oz) and it’s on TNT. It’s pretty decent, for a show about an elite crime-fighting unit.
My problem with Sleeper Cell, and this is just from what little I have heard, is that unlike other shows about the villains (The Sopranos, to some extent Deadwood)… the villains aren’t actively seeking to destroy a society. You root for Tony S because he’s fucking the system. Am I going to root for the the guys planning to blow up a court house?
You root for Tony? I do, but only when he’s up against Johnny Sack or somebody who’s trying to get him. He’s “fucking the system”, but it’s just for him, for wealth and power, and to put his brat kids in good schools.
I hadn’t thought about the message of Sleeper Cell. But then again, I’m not a particularly deep thinker. It fries my brain, when I find myself liking despicable people like Tony Soprano.
So, are you going to watch it?
Per the previews I’ve seen, the focus appears to be on an agent who’s infiltrating the cell, so rootong for the bad guys doesn’t seem to be an issue.
[sub]fixed spoiler tag. – Uke[/sub]
Aw shit. Sorry about that fucked up spoiler tag, but it is from the previews so I hope it’s not that bad of a spoiler.
Didn’t spoil me. I haven’t seen any of the previews, but it figures that there’d be an infiltrator.
I’ve told TiVo to record it.
Oh okay. When the show was first in development the word was that it would solely follow the cell and there wouldn’t be a “good guy” to root for.
I see Showtime changed it since then.
I don’t have cable let alone Showtime so I won’t be watching it. When the time comes I’ll get HBO for Deadwood season 3 and the new season the Sopranos.
You have good taste. 
The Sopranos comes back in March. Not sure about Deadwood – I’ve heard August 2006 and January 2007.
We don’t normally subscribe to Showtime, but we signed up for Weeds, which I thought was pretty good. I stayed subbed for the Masters of Horror series, which has been a bit disappointing.
I would have dropped it but hubby likes the softcore porn.
You mean The L Word?
That’d be one of them.
Deadwood is supposed to come back either at the same time as the Sopranos (It will run right after the Sopranos) or it will be the Sunday night show after the Sopranos run is over.
They have already filmed season 3 so I think we will see it sooner rather than later.
Okay, who watched the first installment?
I liked it enough to keep watching, although parts of it turned my stomach.
The Cell has at least one character who’s almost a caricature – the skinhead-looking guy who tackled Darwyn when they were playing football. He’s almost too fanatical.
I’m surprised that Showtime is doing new episodes so close together – Sunday through Wednesday? That calls for some dedicated viewing for anyone who doesn’t have TiVo.
I missed, like, the first minute so some of the interaction between the Mole whose name I forget already so he’ll be “Mole” until I can, and the librarian. But I still got the gist. One minor point that didn’t quite ring true was the former skinhead. No swastika tattoos? I suppose he could’ve had them removed, but somehow his skin seemed a little too unblemished to have been tattooed and untattooed. One major point that rang untrue was the idea that the FBI, even post-9/11, would sanction one of their agents putting a bullet into someone’s head. I get that Mole knew there was no way the guy was walking away from the stoning (although now that I think about it I have this vague memory of reading a news story about a stoning victim surviving the stoning and being released) and Mole was looking to put him out of his misery, but still.
But it was engaging enough that it looks like it’ll be incorporated into my Sunday viewing habits. Just what I need, another damn show to watch Sunday nights. I’m already up to like eight.
Otto, if you wait until Sunday, you’ll miss three episodes.
I just finished watching the second episode, and it was at least as intense as the first.
I’m not sure Christian is really a skinhead. I called him that because he didn’t have any hair.
I want to know why the FBI hasn’t already rounded up the cell. Seems like they have enough evidence on them, and Fariq appears to be a worthwhile snatch.
I wonder if the writers will allow any of the cell’s plans to succeed.
I just checked the schedule – they’re repeating the first three episodes starting Thursday, then three more new eps starting Sunday, repeats again, and then the finale the following Sunday.
Was there mention of this last night following the premiere? I sure as hell don’t remember hearing about it. I guess I’d better let my Sunday night companions know to try to watch the shows between now and then. What a stupid way to kick off a series.
Fariq said that he was a former skinhead who came around to their side. Those racist skins I’ve known are all heavily tattooed (except for that one skin chick who heard a Bob Marley song and went from skin to rasta overnight). Of course I would be more than happy to examine Christian in more detail…
Either Mole or his boss said in the first ep that they want to infiltrate deeper into the network and bring down bigger targets.
I’m not sure how I feel about it. It’s almost like having the DVD set, being able to watch four episodes in four days.
Good point about the tattoos then. Does Islam have rules about tattoos? We did see quite a bit of Christian’s skin, didn’t we? That’s some fine French he was speaking to his wife – I’m no linguist but it sounded natural.
I hope we get some more back story on these guys before they’re all dead.
I could do without the romance between Darwyn and whoz-iits. Why do you think that story line is there? Is it to show us that Darwyn is new to this and doesn’t know better, or just so she and the kid will be put in danger at some point? It’d be more effective if we never saw her again.
I suspect that from the dramatic point of view, the romantic storyline is intended to 1) make Darwyn seem more human, 2) keep female viewers interested, 3) provide opportunities for a little T&A.
But IMHO from the realism point of view, it’s an incredibly bad move for at least as many reasons. 1) The last thing a trained undercover agent in such an important operation would do is pick up a babe, 2) especially one who happens to be a friend of one of the agent’s target. And 3) Darwyn is portrayed as a devout Muslim, and I believe this tryst violates Islamic precepts. (Yeah, I know he made some kindf excuse after the fact, but see items 1 and 2.)
There’s also been what seems to me to be sloppy tradecraft on the part of Farik, e.g., all these meetings they have in public places where they are more subject to surveillance (or just plain being overheard saying something suspicious) than if they just met in someone’s apartment.
AuntiePam, I suspect you may be right that Gayle and the kid will be in the wrong place when the Big One goes down, so that Darwyn has to make a choice between saving them and foiling the mission. That would certainly be the stereotypical big ending to an action movie/mini-series.
My suspicion: Based on how quickly she moved to pick him up (even after learning he’s an ex-con), I strongly suspect that Gayle’s an agent herself. The big question: on which side?
That’s a good suspicion. I’ll be surprised if, when the series is over, everyone is who we thought they were at the start.
The show is certainly well written and edited. I’m riveted, even when nothing much is happening.
I’m confused about the French guy. In the first episode, I didn’t notice his accent, so I was impressed with his French. Looks like he’s French. :smack:
I liked the Security Council woman in the meeting. I think the question she asked and the answer she got were real. Scary to think that people are making these kinds of decisions. So far, the agents appear competent and on top of things. Can we hope that’s realistic too?