Make sure you’re in front of your TV tonight at 10/9c for A&E’s The Cleaner. The show is a mix of humor and despair like you’ve never seen and runs you through the gamut of human emotion. Featuring a great cast, the show is a real winner with a heavy message with uplifting delivery.

The first episode of the new season is great, with a good guest appearance by Gary Cole who plays a news caster with an addiction problem. All of the players are perfect when it comes to blending in the humor with the hard hitting reality of drug addiction and substance abuse. Sometimes I wanted to turn away but I found myself overwhelmed with a desire to watch more.

The entire cast from the first season makes a return but the episodes I saw had them in a diminished role. Here’s hoping that the rest of the cast will be featured more prominently as the season progresses. Whoopi Goldberg also makes an appearance as a drug counselor, she brings a lot of warmth to her role and it was good to see her back on TV.

Be sure to check out the second, fierier episode which deals with the Iraq War and a man’s loss of his son. There are a lot of elements thrown into the season’s second episode and it can be a lot to take in but the show handles all the info admirably. Everyone on the cast does a phenomenal job with this show, the performances are so real and moving, I just can’t get over it.

Benjamin Bratt is the bee’s knees in case you haven’t figured it out by now. I’ve been a fan since Law & Order and he never ceases to amaze me. Do yourself a favor and try not to miss The Cleaner.