Sleeper Cell [Showtime 2005-6]

-attica finch   Posted Dec 8, 2005 @ 10:59 AM
I've been musing on the Bennetton issue, and something struck me. All of the members of the cell either directly represent, or harken to, specific 'boogey men' of the more paranoid aspects of white America.

To wit:
Ilija: a Bosnian. Former Yugoslavia. Former Soviet Satellite. Commie.
Tommy: son of Berkeley. Lefty, liberal, flag-burning hippie pinko who doesn't deserve the sacrifices of the greatest generation.
Christian: Algerian. French. Surrender monkey.
Farik: Posing as a Jew. They can never be trusted. If they're not controlling the media and the banking system, they're really al-Qaeda!
Darwyn: Black. Dating a white woman.

I don't suggest any of this is intentional on the part of TPTB, but if it is, heh. If, as is more likely, it isn't, it just shows how deeply engrained these 'threats' are in the culture.

Just the idle musings of an avid TWoPper.
http://web.archive.org/web/20140407215938/http://forums.televisionwithoutpity.com/topic/3129327-sleeper-cell/page-2

 re french guy Christian:
-how similar these extremists groups are.. makes sense /~does it? maybe/ that someone could bounce from being a neo-nazi skinhead to a fanatical jihadist. They share the same pathology.
--prosandcons: And same hatred of Jews. However, in France, his intolerance of Muslims was likely higher, made more severe with his skinhead affiliation. It's interesting that the writers have allowed him to make the miraculous switch to being a Muslim and partisan of the cause, and yet retain his antipathy toward Darwin's color (that's how I read their early interaction). It was like the writers were trying to use his former skinheadism from a strictly American viewpoint (racism against blacks), when in France this would be synonymous with racism against Muslims (the majority of blacks are North African muslims).

Excellent show. I'm loving this. Kudos to Showtime for finally reaching HBO levels. I really enjoy "The L Word" and "Weeds" and find them superior to network television, but didn't find them quite as good as all the HBO shows. 

8Dec re ep 1-4 'Scholar'
-prosandcons:: Anyone catch last night's episode? Personally thought it was the best yet. The religious scholar storyline was great, and Christian really seemed conflicted about killing him at the end. Sad end for the student. So did the FBI make up the story about him sending the anthrax to Jakarta as a cover? Loved the reveal on the plane with Ilija sitting there! Was hoping to see more of his romance with the girl from Tower Records but I'm sure we'll see that soon.



-At the end of ep. 4, the scene they showed again in the previouslies, Farik is aiming his gun at the kid's head, and then lowers the gun and fires, apparently shooting the kid through the RV's front grill. Is that right?
--The airbag went off, but I don't know if that would have been enough force to kill him. Maybe it knocked him out long enough for Farik to make it look like an accident. 
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