I had a problem with the whole child pornography subplot, and Darwyn’s reaction to it. IANAUndercover agent, but it struck me as stupid to imagine that, after all Farik’s talk about following orders and not asking questions, Darwyn would again challenge his authority in such a forceful manner, and that Farik would stand there and take it. I think it’s just the scriptwriters trying to make Darwyn more sympathetic and less morally ambiguous. But in that situation, the agent would have to behave just like the group he’s infiltrated, not push to turn them into good guys. It just strains credulity.
And then they’re all standing by, watching and smiling as the place is raided. Give me a break!
One reason I like some of HBO’s original series, most notably The Wire and Deadwood, is that the characters are not simple good guys or bad guys. Most are complex mixtures of good and bad, competent and incompetent. In other words, realistic.
And what about the deus ex machina at the end of Tuesday’s episode? The bureaucrats shut down the operation, but at the last minute Signint saves it. C’mon. We all know how organizations work: you don’t shut things down instantly, nor can you resurrect something that’s scheduled to die ten minutes before the zero hour. And we’re supposed to believe that NSA intercepts a sat phone message and then routes that intel instantly to just the right guy in the FBI? Those guys hate each other more than the Sunnis and Shi’ites!
Sleeper Cell has potential, but it’s annoying me by being too simplistic.
Oh, and another thing: that scene in the subway where Darwyn saves the Sikh from the rampaging punks? What a cliché! How many Clint Eastwood/Bruce Willis actioners have used that exact scene?
The more I think about it, the less I like this show.
I was okay with Darwyn challenging Fariq, because he used religion to do it. If I were Fariq, I’d be suspicious of a new guy who went along with everything, especially if it was against the basic tenets of Islam.
The scene with the Sikh on the train – I took that as the writers trying to educate. Not every dark-skinned person who wears strange headgear is a Muslim. Muslims hate Sikhs? I didn’t know that.
I agree that the characters aren’t as realistic as in Deadwood, but it took awhile for Swearengen and Bullock to show us more than one side of their character. I’m hoping Sleeper Cell will do more of that, but I’m not sure they’ll have the time, with just 7 eps left.
Weather knocked out my TV reception last night, so I missed it. Good thing they’re repeating later in the week.
What happened? I don’t mind being spoiled.
One of the highlights for me was when Darwyn went to his girlfriend’s sister’s house for dinner. What was the BIL’s line? “Only a member of the Taliban would compare eating bacon with cheating on your wife.” Something like that.
He gave Darwyn something to think about, and I was anxious for last night’s ep to see if the comment had any lasting impact.
[spoiler] A kid allegedly from Afghanistan who was wrongly confined ti Gitmo shows up at the garage.
Daryn’s control tells him the GF is married to a guy in prison.
Daryn dumps GF adultry being seriuos stuff to him and tries to turn the kid over to an exGF who works at State.
ExGF calls FBI. Control shows up and takes the kid.
Kids cut’s Control’s throat. Control shoots kid.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, GF tells the cops she thinks Darwyn is a terrorist.
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Like I said, that went well.
Wow. Did either the control or the kid survive?
What happened that Darwyn’s girlfriend thinks he’s a terrorist? Is she just mad that he dumped her and wants to cause him some trouble?
Nope.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I think she believes it, but she’s literally f–ked up at the time. She recunts his unexplained abscences when he was, well, with the terrorists. :rolleyes:
I hadn’t heard of this miniseries prior to reading this thread, but spent Thursday and Friday watching the first eight episodes on Comcast On Demand and really got into it. I just saw the last two episodes on Showtime, which were tense, to say the least.
One question about it, though. The IMDB listing for it has the guest stars for each of the ten episodes, plus for an episode called “Scholar” that’s listed as having aired in August. Did anyone see that?
Sorry, but one more question. Who was the Tower Records clerk who met “Steve” (aka Ilija)? She looked familiar.
Scholar was episode 4.
Outstanding program with a realistic ending. No swinging from a helicopter with one hand while defusing a nuclear weapon with the other. 
Wow. What a Freudian slip. Recounts.
Oh yes. I only hope the FBI is half as competent and smart as what we saw, especially with the technical stuff.
Tommy’s mother – I wonder if her reaction would have been different if Tommy’s last words had been conciliatory. Her reaction – if that happened in real life, the pit threads would crash the board. Sue the Pentagon because your son had a bad experience in the military? You go girl. :rolleyes:
I’m up for Sleeper Cell 2. Ilyea (sp?) is still out there.
Of course not. It’s TV.
Well, someone must be doing something right since this sort of thing hasn’t happened.
There are lots of things going on there. Protest is what she did in her youth. Being an ass and wealthy, she sues over things. Denying that Tommy was a psychotic asshole and she made him that way. Supporting Tommy when she hadn’t in the past when needed. I have a dog named Tommy.
No. Great series. End it now. Don’t screw it up. Quit while you’re ahead.
Darwyn may or may not get the girl. “You sent us tickets knowing there would be an attack?!” The bad guys got their just deserts. In one case we can even hear the lamentations of their women. Illya will probably get a really, really, serious social disease.
Yossi (Fariq) sent the tickets.
Good point. Let it end on a high note.
Ilya’s heart wasn’t in it either, I don’t think. Maybe he has a future in karoake.
Thanks, but it’s still, “You let your friend…”
“He wasn’t my friend, he was one of the terror…”
“You let one of the terror…”
“How could I stop…”
“They don’t give FBI agents guns, already?”
anyway…
[QUOTE=AuntiePam]
Why did Tommy shoot up traffic, was he trying to block escape routes so more people would be exposed to the gas?
When you look up “asshole” in the dictionary there is a picture of Fariq.
Yeah, that could be a fun conversation.
But I think Darwyn’s in the clear about the tickets. He didn’t know Fariq sent them to her.
I wondered if Tommy decided on his own to start shooting, but I think you’re right – he was another distraction for the cops to deal with. There was no other reason to send him off by himself.
The guy who owned the warehouse they took over was correct when he described Tommy as a loose cannon, so I think Fariq was right to send him off on his own.
I thought the scene when Christian and Tommy met the street corner Christian missionary was amusing, particularly when Tommy described him as a “f***ing religious fanatic.” Christian gave him a look because Tommy seemed incapable of recognizing the irony.
Fanatics don’t get irony, do they?
That was a powerful scene, Darwyn telling Fariq, “What I do today, I do for Islam.”
Damn. Darwyn had to kill two people that he didn’t want to kill. Bobby Habib and Christian. It really showed in his face at the end – the guy’s gonna need counseling. So different from the strutting and posing that we’re used to seeing, after someone beats down the bad guys.
Darwyn also had to watch the truck driver die, and he was completely innocent. Plus it was a horrible way to go.
I muttered, “Poor Tommy. What a loser.” when he tried to make his last stand and got shot everytime he tried to shoot. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but what a loser. :rolleyes: