Awake (Season 1)

The title of the post feels a bit ironic since Awake was cancelled after its first and only season but I felt like I should have a certain system, especially since it’s the new beginning and all. Anyway, the show I’m about to review offered me some heavy entertainment back in December right around the Holidays. Needless to say, I was surprised to see such a great show knowing that it didn’t last past its 13 episodes. Though the biggest surprise, and a positive one at that, was seeing Mr. Malfoy aka Jason Isaacs without his long titanium blonde hair.

Awake is a story about a detective Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) who after an accident loses one of his family members – the plot twist, and what an amazing one at that, is the fact that he doesn’t really know who actually died. He simply lives together with his wife Hannah (Laura Allen) in a reality where they have lost their son and when he goes to sleep, his son Rex (Dylan Minnette) is alive instead of his wife. Talk about a twist and a plot turner, a detective living in two different realities without actually being a sleep during either one. The whole story is even more stirred up with Britten solving crimes in both realities with the help of the parallel reality – basically getting hints and answers from one to take to the other. To say at least, I was very interested and I couldn’t help to think that Awake tackles a plot that might be too complicated due to its Inception-type qualities of alternative realities and “dreams” – yet, I was entertained despite the complications here and there.

The two realities were differentiated from one another with other elements as well, for instance Britten wore different bracelets to understand where he was when he woke up. Waking up one morning without it resulted in a panic, accompanied with Isaacs great acting skills, it was a heartbreaking scene of a man who lived a double life where both of those realities were missing one of his loved ones. His partners in the force were also different, as well as his psychiatrists – the fact that he actually went and shared his experiences and thoughts to the psychiatrists was refreshing. There are way too many angry detectives being uncomfortable sharing their lives with strangers but this made Britten different, he stood out as a level-headed and calm man despite his complicated life. That of course until the plot started to unravel the mystery of the accident that made him live two different lives. Then all hell broke loose and the series ended!

I am not going to go into the way Awake wrapped its first and only season but to be honest, I liked the twist it gave us and what I love even more, is that it doesn’t have a second season. It sounds a bit bad because it was a great show that could have given more if possible, but the way it ended seemed so perfect that I would actually call Awake a mini-series. A twisted, mind-fuck mini-series where Isaacs gives a great performance and what ends with another parallel plot element similar to Inception – “what, is he or is he not”? It’s hard to explain without giving it away but I’ve altered a style of writing that usually hides those plot twists and I’m continuing as such, even though I’m itching to tell you guys. That being said, Awake was definitely worth my time and I’m extremely glad I got to see Isaacs out of his villain-robe at last.