Tough Choices Season ‘Soul Food’

Fresh from securing a 40-episode commitment from the Showtime cable network, the drama series “Soul Food” serves up the first of its new batch of shows at 10 tonight, “From Dreams to Nightmares.”

Like the best episodes of the drama’s two-season run, “Dreams” throws its characters curves when they’re looking for fastballs. The theme swirls around the hard choices necessary in the real world.

Lem (Darren Dewitt Henson) has been accused of burning down the family store, and despite his claims of innocence, he’s been jailed while awaiting trial. His family rallies around him, but because of bad decisions in his past, some wisps of doubt creep in. Lem’s teenage nephew, Ahmad (Aaron Meeks), begins having terrifying dreams of imprisonment, and his father, Kenny (Rockmond Dunbar), sits him down for a one-on-one about the choices the boy must make to avoid a similar fate.

Damon (Boris Kodjoe), meanwhile, appears to have it all going his way when he’s offered a chance to represent a star hockey player (John-Patrick Mavric), an opportunity that could jump-start his career as an agent. But the player wastes no time asking Damon for help concocting smoke screens to keep his pregnant wife (Angela Vint) in the dark about his cheating ways.

Damon reluctantly complies, and he’s soon introduced to other athletes who might further bolster his client list. But guilt eats at him as his lies pile up.

He decides to take a stand and in return is given an ultimatum--keep up the charade or lose the client of a lifetime. In “Soul Food,” as in life, there are no easy answers.