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Season guide

Frontline: Season 22

16 episodes Premiered Oct 8, 2003 Updated Sep 25, 2026
Previously on Frontline

Season 22 Lore Primer

Key plot threads, lore context, and character stakes you need to remember before diving into this season.

  • ⚡ Directly follows the overarching narrative developments of Frontline Season 21.
  • ⚡ Faction dynamics and core character alliances shift under escalating external stakes.
  • ⚡ Crucial mysteries introduced previously reach key turning points and narrative reckonings.
  • ⚡ Sets up serialized story arcs that build directly toward the climactic season finale.
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Season 22 Episodes

Episode Guide

🛡️ SPOILER SHIELD

Season 22 Progress Shield

Future titles & synopses blurred. Tap "Reveal" on any card to peek.
Binge Efficiency Engine

Season 22: Filler vs. Essential Canon

Filter episodes by narrative weight. Focus on essential mytharc and skip standalone side quests.

19%
81%
Mytharc (3): Crucial lore & season climaxes
Core (13): Character development & subplots
Side Quest (0): Standalone / filler
S22·E1 Mytharc

Truth, War, and Consequences

Oct 9, 2003

Did America rush into a war in Iraq for which is was unprepared? Could the volatility in Iraq have been prevented? FRONTLINE takes an in-depth, behind the scenes look at what some

S22·E2 Core

Chasing the Sleeper Cell

Oct 16, 2003 · 57 min

FRONTLINE and The New York Times join forces to go deep inside the war on terror at home in "Chasing the Sleeper Cell." With remarkable access to top government officials and count

S22·E4 Core

Dangerous Prescription

Nov 13, 2003 · 55 min

In "Dangerous Prescription," FRONTLINE® investigates the integrity of America's drug safety system. Through interviews with current and former FDA officials, critics, a pharmaceuti

S22·E8 Core

Beyond Baghdad

Feb 12, 2004 · 57 min

Veteran investigative team Martin Smith, Marcela Gaviria and Scott Anger continued their reporting on Iraq, setting out on a five-week journey across the country, from the Kurdish

S22·E9 Core

Tax Me if You Can

Feb 19, 2004 · 55 min

In "Tax Me If You Can," FRONTLINE correspondent Hedrick Smith investigates the rampant abuse of tax shelters since the late 1990s. Through interviews with government officials, tax

S22·E12 Core

Diet Wars

Apr 8, 2004 · 56 min

Americans spend $40 billion a year on books, products, and programs designed to do one thing: help us lose weight. From Atkins to Ornish and Weight Watchers to South Beach, today's

S22·E13 Core

Son of Al Qaeda

Apr 22, 2004 · 56 min

The story of Abdurahman Khadr, who was raised to be an Al Qaeda terrorist (his father was a longtime friend of Osama bin Laden) yet became an anti-terror informant for the CIA.

S22·E15 Mytharc

The Way the Music Died

May 27, 2004 · 55 min

In "The Way the Music Died," FRONTLINE follows the trajectory of the recording industry from its post-Woodstock heyday in the 1970s and 1980s to what one observer describes as a "h

S22·E16 Mytharc

The Plea

Jun 17, 2004

Nearly 95 percent of all cases resulting in felony convictions never reach a jury. They are settled through plea bargains in which a defendant agrees to plead guilty in exchange fo

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