Awake: Turtles All the Way Down

“Sometimes it’s miraculous, how you untangle something.”

As the story goes, a famous physicist gave a lecture explaining the structure of the universe. After his talk, a woman came up to him and asked, “How do you account for the fact the world rests on the back of a giant turtle?” “Ah,” he said, “but what does the turtle rest on?” “You can’t fool me,” she responded. “It’s turtles all the way down.”

Doux News: May 20, 2012

This week: New shows this fall (Revolution, 666 Park Avenue) -- Big changes on the CW -- Big change on Community -- Summer shows -- Haunted hospital -- Tweet of the week

Awake: Two Birds

“Let’s make this right.”

The first half of this episode was extremely disorienting. I started to doubt my faith in Britten’s mental clarity, and began to wonder if his therapists were correct: not only had he fabricated at least one of his universes, but he had begun to fabricate a complicated story of persecution that would allow him to wallow in a frustrated, dead-end investigation that couldn’t end, because the investigation allowed him to prolong his own complicated refusal to accept his loss.

Awake: Say Hello to My Little Friend

“I see a little silhouette-o of a man.”

May I, just for a moment, abdicate any pretense of reviewer maturity, detachment, and general grown-upness and say exactly what I’m thinking? Thank you, I will: this episode was totally awesome. And this show totally deserved a renewal, even though none of us thought it would get what it deserved. Why isn’t life fair?

Awake: Slack Water

“Maybe we’re where we’re meant to be, too.”

In both worlds, this episode emphasized the difficulty of leaving home. In the Red World, the prospect of a grandbaby and an ersatz replacement child for Britten and Hannah will keep them away from Portland, that menacing land of caffeinated stoners and serial killers. As Billie said last week, voila! Fate, coincidence... whatever we call it, it is working overtime to keep Britten’s dual realities in sync.

Awake: Game Day

"Just that one thing. One tiny little thing, and this could all be different."

I had a feeling Michael and Hannah would experience some obstacle to their departure from Los Angeles, and voila.

Awake: Night Swimming

“A chance to walk away from this mess and start afresh.”

I know I sound like a broken record, but each week Awake astonishes me with the simple beauty of its characters, including those that—on other shows—might be dismissed as nothing more than corpses waiting to happen. “Night Swimming,” once again, didn’t disappoint. And while we’re still not getting anywhere with the mystery of what’s going on, I continue not to really care.

Awake: Ricky’s Tacos

“I like a speaking oracle as much as the next guy, but I wish you could count on them to be more specific.”

Awake has a lot to juggle: two worlds, two cases per episode (most of the time), emotional issues with Hannah and with Rex, and a weird conspiracy—not to mention Britten’s apparent hallucinations. While the procedural elements work as a skeleton, each episode has typically fleshed out just one element of the larger tapestry, and this week’s entry gave us some interesting information about the conspiracy. Sort of.

Awake: That's Not My Penguin

"Exactly what is so great about seeing reality as it is?"

It's my turn to take over the reviewing duties this week, and I got the one with the penguin. How delightful.

Awake: Oregon

“How can it be worse than not moving?”
“Maybe you go backwards.”

Awake continued to settle comfortably into its procedural overcoat this week, offering a standard psycho killer + driven FBI agent + wrongly accused cop plot that, once again, equaled more than the sum of its parts, in part due to the astonishing amount of symbolic doubling that occurred throughout the episode.

Awake: Kate is Enough

“Something must have really turned her around.”

This week, Awake presented us with one likely possibility for what’s going on, and one mythological long shot. Kate’s radically different fates in both worlds seems to confirm that one of these realities is a dream, since her paths diverged before the accident that claimed Rex’s and/or Hannah’s life/lives. On the other hand, we could argue that this means there are two universes that exist regardless of Britten’s personal experience, and Britten just happens to exist in both of them, perhaps because his double died in the accident that didn’t kill him.

Doux News: March 18, 2012

This week: Doctor Who and the possible new companion -- Renewals and cancellations again -- Last week's poll and this week's classiest actor -- Other casting news -- John Carter again -- New at Doux and comment of the week

Awake: Guilty

“I love you, and that’s what I’m going to hold onto until I see you again.”

Three episodes in, Awake has pulled off a delightful episode that combines the emotional weightiness of the pilot and a more effective detective story than we’ve seen with some fascinating, subtle clues about what is—and what is not—happening to Michael Britten.

Awake: The Little Guy

After an extremely strong start, Awake — weirdly enough — didn’t have many expectations to live up to. As Jess said, it was so lovely, and yet the mythology was so apparently untenable, that we can be grateful for what we got. We all agreed it was wonderful, but very few of us seemed to be expecting much. (Finally, we have learned that the path to general contentness is littered with dead expectations.)

Awake: Pilot

"I feel better every time I open my eyes."

Police detective Michael Britten and his wife and teenage son are in a car accident. Afterward, Michael finds himself living alternately in two different worlds: one where his wife survived but not his son, and the other where his son survived and his wife perished. When he goes to bed at night, he is in one reality, and when he wakes up the next morning, he is in the other.

Awake

Episode Reviews | Cast |

After a tragic car accident, Detective Michael Britten lives two lives: one in a universe in which his son survived, another in a universe in which his wife did. Although short-lived, Awake gets our wholehearted recommendation: it is a deeply affecting show that successfully combines procedural elements, a dose of mythology, and a beautiful attention to emotional details.

Episode Reviews

1.1 Pilot
1.2 The Little Guy
1.3 Guilty
1.4 Kate is Enough
1.5 Oregon
1.6 That's Not My Penguin
1.7 Ricky's Tacos
1.8 Night Swimming
1.9 Game Day
1.10 Slack Water
1.11 Say Hello To My Little Friend
1.12 Two Birds
1.13 Turtles All the Way Down

Cast

Jason Isaacs (Michael Britten)
Laura Allen (Hannah Britten)
Dylan Minnette (Rex Britten)
Steve Harris (Detective Isaiah 'Bird' Freeman)
BD Wong (Dr. John Lee)
Michaela McManus (Tara)
Wilmer Valderrama (Detective Efrem Vega)
Cherry Jones (Dr. Judith Evans)