A word of advice for everyone: Set aside every Thursday night at 9 p.m. for the rest of the spring semester. Seriously, leave the time slot open. Make no other plans. Because that’s when you are going to need to watch “Awake,” a brand new show from NBC that is one of the most original, fascinating and clever television shows I have ever seen.
I understand why you might not believe me at first; every new television show is way over-hyped and has inane fans who will argue to the death about how it’s the greatest thing ever. I remember hearing how “Terra Nova” and “FlashForward” were amazing new shows destined to be the next “Lost,” and both were cancelled after a season. And since “Awake” has only just recently premiered the pilot, it might seem absurd that I would give the show such high praise. And for 99.9 percent of shows, you would be correct, but “Awake” is that rare exception.
Still not convinced? OK, let’s use our imaginations for a second. Imagine you are a detective who was in a violent car crash with your wife and son, and your son didn’t survive the crash. Your wife is trying to get you to move out of your house in an attempt to move on with your lives, and when you refuse, she starts repainting the house as a coping mechanism to start fresh. Your long-time partner at work is transferred to a different precinct, and you are assigned a new, rookie partner to solve crimes with. You have a confrontational, department-recommended psychiatrist trying to help with you with your issues since the accident. Especially with the issue that the toxicology report says you were drinking the night of the accident, which you don’t remember at all and refuse to believe. This is the reality you are living in.
Or is it? Now, let’s say that every time you go to sleep, you wake up in the morning to find that your wife isn’t there anymore. Instead, you get out of bed every morning and eat breakfast with your son. Your wife died in the car accident, and your son had survived. Your son begins taking up tennis again because it was your wife’s favorite sport, and it’s his way of still being able to connect with his mom. His tennis coach is an attractive woman who seems to be a natural at filling the motherly figure void in your son’s life. You go to work and solve crimes with the same partner you have always had. Your department-recommended psychiatrist is a sweet lady trying to help you move past all your issues. This is the reality you are living in until you wake up again. Then you are back to the reality where your wife is alive and your son is dead.
Essentially, you are living two realities at once, and you don’t know in which one you are awake and which one you are asleep. This doesn’t stop your two psychiatrists from trying to convince you that their reality is real and the other one is fake. Sometimes, you even forget which reality you are in and can only tell the difference by the wristband you are wearing, as you wear a red one in the reality with your wife and a green one in the reality with your son. It also doesn’t help that the realities start to blend together, with clues and facts from your cases crossing over into each reality. Sometimes, this helps solving the cases, and other times, it just makes your life even more confusing.
This is the life of Michael Britton, brilliantly portrayed by Jason Isaacs, and the premise of an amazing, mind-bending “Awake.” It takes the standard cop-procedural type of show and gives it a compelling background and epic twist. It might be too complicated, depressing or confusing for some viewers to get into, but after one episode, I’m already hooked to this potentially once-in-a-lifetime kind of show that everyone should give a shot. Still need convincing?
