Last night's episode of Awake continued to follow Detective Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) in his happily tormented existence of two dream states from what I suspect to be his one reality.
Like the series premiere episode of Awake, we followed another crime that Det. Britten solves using details from both his dream realities to do such. He also learns about fabric softener and motorcycles. (When you see the episode, that last line will make absolutely perfect sense are are cool moments in the episode.) And as last week, our stoic accident victim relays messages, of a sort, between his two shrinks from different realities.
And again, the Awake episode and situation was done well and kept my attention... I got up to hit the kitchen once but missed my time to get in there when the commercials ended... and I stood staring, riveted to the TV until the next commercial break. That's how sucked in I was. It's a great show with a great production behind it. I'm worried it might be a bit too smart for the TV ratings world, but I'm hoping it will hang on. It's worthy story telling so far.
About Awake
Awake is about a man (Britten) who suffers a devastating car crash, with his wife and son. After the accident he discovers he's living two realities. And that every time he goes to sleep he switches between them... one where his wife died in the crash and the other in which his son died.
It's fascinating television at it's best. (I also continue to be impressed with Wilmer Valderrama showing me a serious character that is truly refreshing to see) And even though you really have to pay attention to keep up with the realities, they don't make it so hard that it hurts the brain to do so.
Oh...
And something else popped up that now has my attention and I'm not sure if it's in a good way or not.
Det Britten's boss, played by Laura Innes (ER, The Event), showed up to keep Britten in line with focusing on his day-job rather than trying to pursue some of his hunches that are fed by his other dream reality.
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The Two Realities of Awake Explained
In the show, Britten wears different colored wrist bands to keep track of where he's at. Here, I break down the basic differences of the two realities... that we've seen so far.
In the Green Band Reality of Awake:
Detective Isaiah "Bird" Freeman (Steve Harris) is Britten's partner. He's sympathetic to Britten's hunches from the other side.
Uniformed officer Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) supports the detectives at the crime scenes. He wants to be a detective and has not been promoted yet.
His therapist is Dr. Judith Evans (Cherry Jones), and she takes a sympathetic and understanding approach to Britten's mental situation. She's a bit more nurturing.
His son, Rex (Dylan Minnette), is alive in this green band world.
His son has a smoking hot tennis coach named Tara (Michaela McManus).
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In the Red Band Reality of Awake
Detective Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) was just promoted and is Britten's new partner. One who seems grumpy about Britten's hunches.
Britten's old partner, saiah "Bird" Freeman (Steve Harris), has been transferred to a different precinct.
His therapist is Dr. John Lee (BD Wong), who is an aggressive (confrontational) therapist who is pretty harsh on Britten's belief of both his realities.
Britten's wife, Hannah (Laura Allen) is alive in this red reality.
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But...
SPOILER??? Below I describe the closing scene from last night's episode of Awake and I follow it up with suspicions of where I think the show is going.
If you haven't seen the episode yet, I'd suggest skipping this until you have seen it so your jaw might drop, like mine started to when I saw it...
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At the end of last night's episode (3-8-12) of Awake, Britten's boss (Innes) meets a strange man at the end of the episode and questions what the man did to "his (Britten's) family" and to not do something like that again if they want to keep him (Britten) in line. And she asked him about the stature of the man who set up the accident, if he was short or not. (Britten was aggressively pursuing a short suspect in last night's episode.)
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Where I Think Awake Takes Place
And suddenly, I'm thinking to myself has someone figured out how to do Life on Mars meets Source Code? Up until that moment, I had been hashing over how this will all be explained one day to the fan. Is one reality true and the other not? And to be honest, before I saw that closing scene, I started pondering if both realities aren't what they appear. Because he's able to solve or pursue clues from the different realities, or dream states, to solve the crime in the other... or work to a closer resolution of each, I had to start wondering how that was happening? Why would that happen?
And then it struck me.... Are both dream states just that, two non-realities to keep Britten busy in his mind? Is Britten in a totally different situation, under such controls as to have been put here so a third party could glean something from his mind? And then Innes' character shows up and meets the stranger. And suddenly I'm thinking she's channeling her alien character from The Event!
My other concern is maybe this new clue is too soon and we haven't had time to continue to ponder this dual (or tri-) reality.
What do you folks think? Am I on to something or do you have a good idea too? All ideas are good ideas, so don't be shy. (Remember, Cinema Static reader comments that bash others will be smite. This is a place where I want everyone to feel easy about sharing their thoughts here.)
Like the series premiere episode of Awake, we followed another crime that Det. Britten solves using details from both his dream realities to do such. He also learns about fabric softener and motorcycles. (When you see the episode, that last line will make absolutely perfect sense are are cool moments in the episode.) And as last week, our stoic accident victim relays messages, of a sort, between his two shrinks from different realities.
And again, the Awake episode and situation was done well and kept my attention... I got up to hit the kitchen once but missed my time to get in there when the commercials ended... and I stood staring, riveted to the TV until the next commercial break. That's how sucked in I was. It's a great show with a great production behind it. I'm worried it might be a bit too smart for the TV ratings world, but I'm hoping it will hang on. It's worthy story telling so far.
About Awake
Awake is about a man (Britten) who suffers a devastating car crash, with his wife and son. After the accident he discovers he's living two realities. And that every time he goes to sleep he switches between them... one where his wife died in the crash and the other in which his son died.
It's fascinating television at it's best. (I also continue to be impressed with Wilmer Valderrama showing me a serious character that is truly refreshing to see) And even though you really have to pay attention to keep up with the realities, they don't make it so hard that it hurts the brain to do so.
Oh...
And something else popped up that now has my attention and I'm not sure if it's in a good way or not.
Det Britten's boss, played by Laura Innes (ER, The Event), showed up to keep Britten in line with focusing on his day-job rather than trying to pursue some of his hunches that are fed by his other dream reality.
=
The Two Realities of Awake Explained
In the show, Britten wears different colored wrist bands to keep track of where he's at. Here, I break down the basic differences of the two realities... that we've seen so far.
In the Green Band Reality of Awake:
Detective Isaiah "Bird" Freeman (Steve Harris) is Britten's partner. He's sympathetic to Britten's hunches from the other side.
Uniformed officer Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) supports the detectives at the crime scenes. He wants to be a detective and has not been promoted yet.
His therapist is Dr. Judith Evans (Cherry Jones), and she takes a sympathetic and understanding approach to Britten's mental situation. She's a bit more nurturing.
His son, Rex (Dylan Minnette), is alive in this green band world.
His son has a smoking hot tennis coach named Tara (Michaela McManus).
= = =
In the Red Band Reality of Awake
Detective Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) was just promoted and is Britten's new partner. One who seems grumpy about Britten's hunches.
Britten's old partner, saiah "Bird" Freeman (Steve Harris), has been transferred to a different precinct.
His therapist is Dr. John Lee (BD Wong), who is an aggressive (confrontational) therapist who is pretty harsh on Britten's belief of both his realities.
Britten's wife, Hannah (Laura Allen) is alive in this red reality.
-
But...
SPOILER??? Below I describe the closing scene from last night's episode of Awake and I follow it up with suspicions of where I think the show is going.
If you haven't seen the episode yet, I'd suggest skipping this until you have seen it so your jaw might drop, like mine started to when I saw it...
=
=
=
=
=
At the end of last night's episode (3-8-12) of Awake, Britten's boss (Innes) meets a strange man at the end of the episode and questions what the man did to "his (Britten's) family" and to not do something like that again if they want to keep him (Britten) in line. And she asked him about the stature of the man who set up the accident, if he was short or not. (Britten was aggressively pursuing a short suspect in last night's episode.)
-
Where I Think Awake Takes Place
And suddenly, I'm thinking to myself has someone figured out how to do Life on Mars meets Source Code? Up until that moment, I had been hashing over how this will all be explained one day to the fan. Is one reality true and the other not? And to be honest, before I saw that closing scene, I started pondering if both realities aren't what they appear. Because he's able to solve or pursue clues from the different realities, or dream states, to solve the crime in the other... or work to a closer resolution of each, I had to start wondering how that was happening? Why would that happen?
And then it struck me.... Are both dream states just that, two non-realities to keep Britten busy in his mind? Is Britten in a totally different situation, under such controls as to have been put here so a third party could glean something from his mind? And then Innes' character shows up and meets the stranger. And suddenly I'm thinking she's channeling her alien character from The Event!
My other concern is maybe this new clue is too soon and we haven't had time to continue to ponder this dual (or tri-) reality.
What do you folks think? Am I on to something or do you have a good idea too? All ideas are good ideas, so don't be shy. (Remember, Cinema Static reader comments that bash others will be smite. This is a place where I want everyone to feel easy about sharing their thoughts here.)
I think both his wife and son are dead and neither reality is true
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