I found the following post in my "Almost Done" file and although it is from April of 2012, I think that is interesting and important enough to get finished and posted... Here goes!
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April 2012
When I first heard the plot explained to me as such all I could think of was a sleazy, mustachioed detective who was working undercover and honestly, it bored me. I thought back to "NYPD Blue" and "The Wire", both good shows in their own right but neither really able to hold my interest ("NYPD Blue" because I was too young when I would watch it with my dad and "The Wire" because I found it predicable and too slow for my liking), and I wondered how NBC would crunch the two together while trying to make it more mainstream and network (read: no swearing, no sex, no violence, no plot twists). I immediately assumed that the show would be a bust and ignored it entirely, instead spending my time catching up on "Doctor Who" and "Misfits". Once I was done being awed by British TV, I made my way back to American television and on one particularly boring afternoon I decided to give "Awake" a try.
After watching a few episodes I realized that the explanation that I was first given did not do the plot justice. Let me rephrase the first sentence of this post for you and add another one for dramatic effect:
"Awake" is NBC's latest attempt at a psychological thriller-type one hour drama starring Jason Isaacs as a police detective who lives alternate, parallel lives after a member of his family is killed in a car accident. In one reality he lives with his wife and in the other his son; the gateway between the two realities is sleep - so is one really a dream?
I clearly have no issue with an odd look at reality; I've already confessed to watching "Doctor Who" and "Misfits" and I will now confess to being an almost avid viewer of "Fringe". It took me mere moments to accept the concept of two realities separated by sleep and to also accept the fact that it would probably not work very well, especially on NBC, who this year has proven that only idiots watch their network (How in the world does "Community" almost get canceled but "Whitney" still exists?). I started the episode and a game of solitaire and settled in for what I thought was going to be a mediocre show about dealing with the death of a loved one masked ever-so-slightly by an air of confusion/sci-fi...
What I encountered was something almost entirely different. I found a well-crafted and thought out scenario that had many possibilities. A Father/Detective, Mother, and Son are in a terrible car accident. One of them dies. Life sucks because of it. Enter two realities where the Son has died in one and the Wife has died in the other. A compelling storyline unfolded which included the terrible reality of suddenly losing a loved one balanced with this underlying psychological/sci-fi multiple-reality scenario. The episode (and subsequent episodes) was sad and poignant when needed and mysterious and intriguing enough to pull me out of that melancholy for future scenes.
In the first few episodes the grieving process is shown quite a bit. In one reality the Mother refuses to open her dead son's mail only to come to the realization later on that it may show her some hidden hopes and dreams that he may have had, a glimmer of hope that she would be able to hold him again, if only in her heart. In the other reality the Son takes up the sport that his deceased mother loved, finding that it both made him feel closer to her and made him miss her more. In both realities the main character, Detective Michael Britten, (I thought it about time to start calling him by name) is trying to connect to his wife or son, and the fact that he lives his life in both realities, and therefore still with both of them, keeps him from truly connecting emotionally to either of the survivors.
I tend to dislike genuine emotions and plausible real-world scenarios in TV, movies, books, etc. so I was pleasantly surprised that this show managed to be funny, interesting, and mysterious enough to make the clearly sad and terrible experiences of the characters less depressing. You see a mother grieving for her son, and it is so sad, but those emotions are balanced out with the sci-fi and psychological conundrum of "Why do I see two realities? Do I have to choose one?"
The first episode also lays out a few more things that are important for the rest of the series. In both realities Detective Britten sees a psychologist and both explain to him that their reality is clearly the real reality; the other reality is merely a dream. Both continue to bring up evidence throughout the season that is supposed to convince him that one or the other reality is the real one and both suggest that the reason he experiences the other dream reality is because his mind cannot cope with the death of his wife/son. These basic ideas are echoed at the beginning of each episode during the opening credits.
Detective Britten also uses a set of colored rubber bands to help him remember which reality he is in. If you are like me and still don't remember, things can get somewhat confusing sometimes. Someone made the great and appreciated decision to differ the warmth and overall tone of the realities (one being amber and the other being blue) which not only subconsciously helps me differentiate but is also a pretty interesting use of editing.
The story continues to add twists and turns (and a penguin!) and for someone like me who always needs to figure out the mystery before it is revealed I was constantly being challenged. It is hard for me to find shows (or books or video games) where I don't figure out the mystery before you are supposed to, so this show was a welcome addition to my TV viewing schedule. At times I wondered if there was even a mystery to be solved, and I liked that.
I've said a lot about what I like and appreciate about this show but surely I can't love everything, right? Well, I don't. A few things hurt this show but I'd like to think that the biggest culprit was the constant fear that it would be canceled, which seems to have led the creators/writers/Producers to abandon some interesting plot devices and push some plot points in a different manner than originally intended. Of course I am only speculating as I like this show enough to assume that the people in charge had something better in mind than what was ultimately produced, but honestly I have no clue.
The two major things that stick in my head as being issues are an addition and a subtraction to the "meat and potatoes" of the show. The first thing that caught my eye was a seemingly uneeded subplot about corruption within the police force. The first scene establishing this subplot was very jarring styalisticly (and totally broke the rhythm of the episode) and felt like it was tacked on to the end of a finished product, and maybe it was. As the show continued the subplot became less confusing but felt very forced within the story, even after it was explained as really being part of the main plot. I like to think that this information was to be slowly incorporated into the fantastic narrative but when the ratings were low the facts were piled on to make sure that the entire story was explained. I appreciate the production team wanting to tell the entire story; there's nothing more annoying to a fan than not getting the official explanation and end of the story. However, the style and not-so-interesting nature of these additional scenes really broke the flow of the show for me.
The subtraction from the show was a fun and intriguing idea using parallel cases and information from each reality to help solve cases in the opposite reality which was used in the first few episodes and then suddenly abandoned. Perhaps this would have made the show too gimmicky, but a little here and there would have really been interesting. Over the remaining episodes I kept on waiting for some clue to be relevant in the other reality and be used to solve the current case like in the beginning, but it never happened besides a few instances when it was really important for the plot. Again, I'd like to think that the threat of cancelation had something to do with the dramatic shift in this device's use.
One thing that I found very intriguing that most likely had a poor influence on ratings was the extreme cerebral-ness of the show, especially as it neared the end of its short run. I loved the ending and was blown away by the technology, time, and effort put into the final episode, but can definitely see why mainstream America didn't like (or couldn't get into) the show. The series expects the viewer to be enthralled by what is happening and want to know more. It prays on the viewer's ability to be taken into both of Detective Britten's realities and to be as confused/sad/distraught as he is while expecting them to tune in the next week to continue on the roller coaster. In a world of reality TV, formulaic crime shows (which I do thoroughly love), and laugh track enabled sitcoms, a show that encourages the viewer to think will standout but still not catch the general public's TV interests. (The entire reason we have so much reality TV is precisely because that's what a lot of people want to watch!)
To conclude (so lame) I hope that you give "Awake" the chance it deserves. We are too late to save the show but I think you'll appreciate the journey it takes you on through its short run.
P.S. (also a little lame) Man, oh man, did I enjoy the finale! I don't want to give anything away but if you are thinking about bailing after a few episodes, try to stick it out for the rest of the run so that you can experience that finale. It's a trip I won't soon forget.
