AWAKE
MARCH 1, 2012-MAY 24, 2012
The concept is fresh and if television, whether network or cable, needs anything it is new ideas with great intriguing story-lines. Kyle Killen has aspired to do exactly what he has done with "Awake": create a show that has science fiction overtones but connects viewers outside of the genre. In science fiction there are usually angels and devils, monsters and beasts but Killen has inserted all those qualities in the real characters he has created.
Detective Michael Britten (Jason Issacs) survived a deadly car crash where he lost both his wife and son. The twist is that, depending on which side of his reality he wakes up on, one of his loved ones is still living and breathing. If he wakes to his wife laying next to him in bed, the sadness of losing his son is his reality. If the sheets are cold when he opens his eyes as the sun shines through the windows, it is likely his son's room will be a bustle of activity as he prepares for school.
Hannah Britten (Laura Allen) suffers the loss of her son in quiet discourse. Redecorating the house is her form of grief recovery, seldom stepping into her son's room and leaving it as he left it prior to the accident. Rex Britten (Dylan Minnette) has built walls around himself in protection of or for his private pain. Unfortunately, that has left his dad struggling to find a way to climb over the imaginary wall to comfort his son.
On either side of his sleep, Michael is assigned an officer-appointed therapist to help him work through his own grief. The two doctors have different approaches to his particular case, which sometimes just leaves him with more questions than answers as he divulges the true details of his situation. Dr Judith Evans (Cherry Jones) experiments through trial and error in hopes that she can help Michael understand that this is his reality. Dr John Lee (BD Wong) places more emphasis on talking through Michael's doubts, allowing him to realize on his own that this is his true reality.
In each sides of his sleep, Michael has different partners which should play a predominate role in the progression of the series. Detective Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) is Michael's young partner who has been promoted from uniformed officer to detective. He is prepared to learn as much as possible from his mentor by staying close, and he hopes to be worthy of his promotion. Early in the pilot, you see Vega in passing in beat cop uniform while Michael is in the middle of dissecting a crime scene with his partner, Detective Isaiah Freeman (Steve Harris), who is a strong ally for Britten in his struggles to withstand the two sides of sleep. Michael has begun to distance himself from completely opening up to his partner as he had after his accident. He not only wants to keep his job that is dependent on successfully getting through therapy, but wants his partner to believe in his abilities as a detective.
Michael's son has bonded with his tennis coach, Tara (Michaela McManus), which only complicates his own life as there is a strong attraction between the two. Tara has the ability to bring father and son even closer, but she has no idea how torn Michael will become if they act on the attraction. How far can this relationship go? What will happen if this becomes too much for Michael, living a life without his wife while still able to wake up next to her? The effects could be detrimental to his son if the relationship were to go south.
Enter episode 2 and the introduction of Captain Tricia Harper (Laura Innes), who may throw a curve ball into Michael's life when he has come to accept how things will be. Not wanting to tip the scales, since he feels that if that were to happen he could lose one or both, never to see them again. He would rather see them separately than not see either one, which would force him to capitulate their deaths.
RUSTYSCAGE.COM had two drama favorites that premiered during the 2011-'12 season; "Ringer" and "Revenge", and now we can add a third to the list: "Awake."
RUSTY
3/1/12