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  • SHOWTIME
  • Dec 4, 2005
  • SHOWTIME
  • Dec 4, 2005

Summary Showtime’s new drama unveils the war on terrorism to reveal a riveting and unfiltered view. ‘Sleeper Cell’ stars Michael Ealy as an African-American undercover F.B.I. agent who is seduced into joining an Islamic sleeper terrorist cell in the United States by the cell’s ruthless leader played by Oded Fehr. Showtime has a unique view...

  • SHOWTIME
  • Dec 4, 2005
  • SHOWTIME
  • Dec 4, 2005
Sleeper Cell
Season 1
Season Premiere: Dec 4, 2005
Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 26 Critic Reviews
65
User Score Mixed or Average Based on 8 User Ratings
4.4
My Score
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Where to Watch

Summary Showtime’s new drama unveils the war on terrorism to reveal a riveting and unfiltered view. ‘Sleeper Cell’ stars Michael Ealy as an African-American undercover F.B.I. agent who is seduced into joining an Islamic sleeper terrorist cell in the United States by the cell’s ruthless leader played by Oded Fehr. Showtime has a unique view...

Where to Watch

Season Episodes

View All Seasons
Episode 1 • Dec 4, 2005 • 57 m
Al-Faitha
Darwyn Al-Sayeed is a Muslim ex-con who has just been released from prison and finds his way to an Islamic extremist named Farik, who recruits him to join a terrorist sleeper cell planning an attack in Los Angeles.
Episode 2 • Dec 5, 2005 • 51 m
Target
Farik and Ilija receive a deadly biological anthrax shipment and prepare for an attack inside a Los Angeles shopping mall.
Episode 3 • Dec 6, 2005 • 58 m
Money
Farik learns that the money supply filtering in from Mexico to finance Youmud Din ("Judgment Day") has come to a halt. Farik, Darwyn and Christian cross the border to Tijuana, Mexico, and attempt to straighten out their financial problems.
Episode 4 • Dec 7, 2005 • 58 m
Scholar
Farik sends biochemical student Eddy Pangetsu (from episode 2) on a flight to Vancouver, Canada, to drive a shipment of real anthrax across the Canadian border and down to Los Angeles.
Episode 5 • Dec 11, 2005 • 57 m
Soldier
The Cell members pose as Iraqi insurgents-in-training in order to infiltrate and take over a secure warehouse as a new base of operations for Youmud Din.
Episode 6 • Dec 12, 2005 • 53 m
Family
Darwyn befriends a pesticide plant worker in order to buy some of his company's product under the table for the Cell while each of the jihadis cope with personal troubles of their own.
Episode 7 • Dec 13, 2005 • 58 m
Immigrant
When an Afghan boy arrives at the warehouse looking for training as a jihadi, Darwyn introduces him to a more moderate brand of Islam in hopes of steering him away from terrorism.
Episode 8 • Dec 14, 2005 • 58 m
Intramural
The Cell buys explosives from a white supremacist militia while Darwyn's new handler, Patrice Serxner, tries to prevent the LAPD from blowing his cover in a conflicting investigation.
Episode 9 • Dec 18, 2005 • 38 m
Hijack
Episode 10 • Dec 18, 2005 • 38 m
Youmud Din

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 26 Critic Reviews
65
58% Positive
15 Reviews
35% Mixed
9 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 26 Critic Reviews
65
58% Positive
15 Reviews
35% Mixed
9 Reviews
8% Negative
2 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
100
In theme and execution, in caliber of performance and level of dramatic tension, "Sleeper Cell" is an impressive, relentlessly gripping drama.
By David Hinckley FULL REVIEW
80
An eerie -- and excellent -- new series that makes ''24" look more than ever like a broadly drawn comic strip.
By Matthew Gilbert FULL REVIEW
75
The second half builds steadily and surely toward a potential meet-and-greet with the apocalypse. [12 Dec 2005, p.39]
By Tom Gliatto FULL REVIEW
70
Highly compelling most of the time.
By Dorothy Rabinowitz FULL REVIEW
60
Most of the time, it's... pretty gripping.
FULL REVIEW
40
For all its putative complexity, then, its passing examination of radical Islam versus peaceable Islam, its allusions to Guantanamo Bay and the Iraq insurgency, "Sleeper Cell" feels more like "The Shield," the L.A.-based cop drama on FX, the characters talking in overly stylized, expository quips, the L.A. cityscape whipping past in convincing fashion.
By Paul Brownfield FULL REVIEW
30
The one thing “Sleeper Cell” does commendably is to suggest that there is a struggle going on for the soul of Islam, and that al-Qaida does not have the only say in the matter. But that message is swamped by predictable thriller filler and cheap production values.
By Aaron Barnhart FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 8 User Ratings
4.4
50% Positive
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
50% Negative
4 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Mixed or Average Based on 8 User Ratings
4.4
50% Positive
4 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
50% Negative
4 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

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