TV REVIEW: ‘Sleeper Cell’ Fills ‘24’ Gap, Worthy Series in Own Right
By David M. Kinchen
Editor, Huntington News Network
Hinton, WV (HNN) --- I’ve discovered a TV event that not only tides me over until the next season of “24,” but is a worthy contender in its own right: Showtime’s “Sleeper Cell.” The programs air at 10 p.m. on Sundays on Showtime. I found out about the show by watching several episodes from last Saturday’s (Dec. 10) “Sleeper Cell” marathon and I followed up by viewing the latest episode on Sunday evening, Dec. 11.
The characters are portrayed by good looking – maybe too good looking – actors and are somewhat sympathetic, despite the mayhem they plan and try to accomplish in the nation’s second biggest metropolitan area.
Set in Los Angeles, “Sleeper Cell” features a 30-year-old black man named Darwyn, played by Michael Ealy (“Barbershop,” “Bad Company”), working undercover for the FBI. Darwyn’s an Arabic-speaking practicing Muslim and a former Army Ranger. His motivation is to foil the hijacking of Islam by radical Islamo-Fascists. He’s part of a sleeper cell of radical Islamists who attempt to disrupt L.A. with terrorist attacks – just like the bad guys in “24.”
The leader of the group is played by the hunky Israeli-born actor Odeh Fehr,
who’s most famous for his role as the mysterious warrior, Ardeth Bey, in the
hit adventure films "The Mummy" and "The Mummy Returns" opposite Brendan
Fraser and Rachel Weisz. The 35-year-old Tel Aviv native Fehr plays Farik,
but his cover role is Yossi, an American Jew who works for a security
company. This all works in Los Angeles, a cosmopolitan city with a large
Islamic population, thousands of Israelis and Iranian (they prefer
“Persian”) Jews, American Jews and others who can merge seamlessly into the
more than 15 million people in the greater metro area.
Both Ealy and Fehr are excellent actors, well trained, who don’t chew the scenery as much as the actors seem to do on “24.” Since it’s a premium cable show, the sex, language and violence is much in evidence, more so than in the basic cable “24.”
Darwyn’s love interest is single mom Gayle Bishop, who doesn’t know of his role in the “Sleeper Cell.” He’s an ex-con working in a supermarket to Gayle, played by the very attractive Washington, DC native and University of Virginia graduate Melissa Sagemiller.
The other members of the sleeper cell include Thomas Allen Emerson, a blond, blue-eyed all American boy from California (sound familiar?) who fell in love with Islam and became a scholar of the Quran.
He’s played by experienced actor Blake Shields, with many movie and TV credits to his name.
Alex Nesic plays Christian Aumont. He’s a former French skinhead and member of the anti-immigrant National Front who grew up in a Muslim neighborhood in the suburbs of Paris and – like Tommy – fell in love with radical Islam.
Ilija is a Bosnian Muslim, whose family was murdered by Orthodox Christian Serbs and Roman Catholic Croats. So naturally this high school science teacher hates Jews! He’s played by Henri Lubatti, who is familiar to “24” fans from his recurring role in the series, set in L.A. but filmed in Vancouver, B.C., Lubatti’s hometown.
Darwyn’s handler is Ray Fuller, an FBI agent played with just the right amount of Steve McQueen cool by James Legros.
One of the episodes I watched Saturday, set in Tijuana, Mexico, reminded me of the series and movie “Traffic.” This excellent series is well worth watching. I’m hoping it will become a continuing series like “24.” The writing, production values and acting are first rate, as good as the best feature films and better than most. The show’s executive producers are Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris and the show is produced by Ann Kindberg.
“Sleeper Cell” web site: http://www.sho.com/site/sleepercell/bts.do