You will soon be hearing elsewhere (if you haven’t already) that Showtime’s “Sleeper Cell” could have been better. And of course it could have; moments drag in this 10-part first season that debuts this Sunday night at 10. But at its best, “Sleeper Cell” shoots for a level of genuine tension and intrigue that’s rare for television: It tries to combine the complexities of John le Carre with the raw reality of Robert Altman – or Robert Ludlum. Ultimately, too many missteps keep “Sleeper Cell” from being the true cable hit it might have been. But it will satiate the hunger of people who prefer the clever, intricate subcultures on display in premium cable – well-written brain food like “The Wire” and “Deadwood” and “Weeds” – at least until “The Sopranos” arrives in March.

Most reviews of “Sleeper Cell” will also reference its source material: the 1949 Raoul Walsh classic film “White Heat.” While moviegoers mostly remember the James Cagney movie for its “Top of the world, Ma!” ending and its deeply Freudian overtones, its high-octane plot concerned the relationship between the head of a gang and an undercover cop working as his henchman. By the way, that’s technically a spoiler; the fact that the show’s star, Michael Ealy, plays an undercover FBI agent in this terrorist cell isn’t disclosed until well into the first episode. Not that it matters. The stakes here go way beyond “White Heat.” The ambitious creators of “Sleeper Cell,” Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris – who previously wrote the screenplay for the odd 2003 movie “Bulletproof Monk” – take on nothing less than the place of Islam in our culture, and have set out produce that rare thing: a fun-to-watch caper series with a point to make. Too bad they only succeed in fits and starts.

Set in parts of Los Angeles that mirror any urban neighborhood, “Sleeper Cell” draws us quickly into a world we’ve never seen before on television: the formation of a terrorist cell designed to commit atrocities on American soil. That premise gives the producers a sense of entitlement, and it shows; much of “Sleeper Cell” feels exaggerated for effect – both in the mundaneness of daily life (one member of the cell works in a bowling alley, another is a high school science teacher) and its bizarre juxtaposition to the planning of violent events. It draws you in at first – helped by a terrific musical score from Paul Haslinger – but by the middle episodes, it has grown tiresome. Only in the season’s final few hours does “Sleeper Cell” begin to allow its stock characters some shocking dimensions. By then, uninterested viewers may have already returned to ABC and the cheap thrills of “Grey’s Anatomy.”

Part of the problem stems from what struck me as a bizarre central decision: to have the terrorist cell leader, Faris Al-Farik, use a Jewish identity as his alias. This became a jarring and incomprehensible element to the story, as he finds himself saying some of “Sleeper Cell’s” most absurd dialogue: “If you’ll excuse me,” he says during a scene coaching a Jewish Little League team, “I have to get back to my aspiring Zionist ballplayers.” This conceit – a crucial element to the “White Heat” structure, and threaded through every episode – rang false right away, and never corrected itself. Some of the blame goes to Oded Fehr, or rather to whoever cast him; I mean, really – is this guy fooling anyone? He might as well have been wearing a “Kiss Me, I’m the Terrorist” apron in every scene.

I vastly preferred the performance of Mr. Ealy as Darwyn Al-Hakim,a Muslim who comes to the topic of terrorism from a nonviolent perspective. But then, who wouldn’t? As bystanders to a devastating terrorist attack in New York City, it’s hard to see any sympathy in the terrorists’ point of view. And perhaps that’s the ultimate failure of “Sleeper Cell.” No members of the cell are presented as complicated or conflicted. The struggle that’s meant to drive the story is between the two visions of the Koran’s meaning as espoused by Darwyn and Faris. But instead, “Sleeper Cell” falls back on stereotypes, and gives up the chance to take a few steps forward in our understanding of the Muslim world.

dblum@nysun.com