Did Awake Have the First Truly Good Dramatic Pilot of the Year?
Readers of the site will know that I’ve been looking forward to Awake ever since I saw the four minute long trailer for it many months ago. It’s rare for a show’s concept to catch my interest in such a short amount of time, but the idea is very unique in an era where shows don’t usually take chances anymore. A man gets in a car accident with his family. His wife survives in one reality, but when he closes his eyes, another begins where his son lives instead. He has two separate lives, and no idea which one is real.
I just finished watching last night’s pilot, and it was essentially a forty five minute extension of the trailer. It began and ended the exact same way, with the rest of the plot details expanded on in the middle. We didn’t learn anything past what the trailer revealed, but the pilot was very effective in creating a mystery and a cast of believable characters.
There’s just something about the show that screams quality. Network TV dramas on the whole usually feel inauthentic in terms of the writing, filming and acting, and are closer to soap operas than say, a gripping drama on a cable channel or HBO. I credit veteran actor Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter, The Patriot) for having a talent level beyond that of most network actors, and the script and cinematography give it a life that most new shows do not have as of late.
As for whether it works as an ongoing series, that remains to be seen. I almost think it’s rather masterful as a one-off episode. A sort of Twilight Zone experiment in grief studies. But this is a full fledged show, not a short story and even a miniseries. I was a bit disappointed to have both of his cases wrap up in one episode, as I hope the show is more than a double feature of Law and Order with a some psychological twists mixed in. I thought the cases might be prolonged and span the entire season, and end up being intertwined with each other more than what we saw in the pilot.
The mystery of what’s going on with Michael is obviously the central premise of the show, and my mind is already trying to figure out what’s happening. Is one of the realities fake, as the show is suggesting. Are both of them? Is he in a coma and will wake up to find BOTH of them alive? Is he in purgatory the way Lost was originally supposed to play out?
One thing I didn’t understand from the pilot that I’m hoping someone will explain to me is the moment where his therapist (the president from 24) has him read a random page of the constitution. She says something about how it proves that this is reality, and it freaks him out, but I didn’t at all understand the point that was being made. Help me out?
Anyway, it’s certainly a show I’ll look forward to seeing again, and I’m curious as to how it’s going to play out as a series.
May contain spoilers:
The constitution thing freaked him out because I think he’s happier not knowing which reality is real and which is fake. One has to be, right? Or both? Or Neither? Anyway, he doesn’t want to let go of his wife or son, and as he said at the end, he doesn’t plan on getting better if it means he can be with them both. Her logic was sound which makes him question if his wife is really alive or not. This really gets brought out when he loses his rubber band and can’t find his wife or son. Look at how scared he was at being alone and possibly guilty because of the accident (they said he was drinking) that possibly killed one or both of people he loves. It was an amazing pilot and I can’t wait to see more.
With the Constitution thing, he said that he hadn’t memorized the Constitution. The therapist’s point was that if he hadn’t memorized the Constitution in reality, then how could he read out a random part of the Constitution in his dream? Since you can’t know something in your dream without knowing it in reality, then that must mean that the reality where his son is alive (the one with the female therapist) must be the real one.
However, her argument isn’t entirely true. It’s possible that he had read that part of the Constitution at some point in his life, and he could subconsciously remember it in a dream, so it’s still possible that either of his realities could be a dream.
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to see how this series plays out. I love how they have both realities bleeding into one another, and should help make the cases in the show more interesting.
The fact that reading the text of the Constitution was so unnerving to his character and therefore us is the idea of it being very difficult to read with any coherence and lucidity while being in a dream state. I think it could have been conveyed a little more completely if he picked up the Constitution in the other “reality” and started reading the same section to see if they sync.
Which gets to the other matter, remembering or retaining what you have read in a dream…another difficult thing to do.
I think we were supposed to get the idea that he was the passive agent to the shrink’s “active-ness” in the situation. Her printing the document, directing him to a page and location on that page. It was also driven home by him stating that he’s never read it before…at least that is what he believes.
All this reminded me of the Scarecrow episode from Batman the Animated Series…I’ll never forget how Bruce Wayne realized he was in a dream.
I was watching some stuff I had DVR’ed and as soon as they finished, it switched over to cable and this was playing. I randomly caught about 20 minutes of it and thought it was really really good. It really surprised me as I thought it was gonna be another pass-able NBC drama that I didn’t give a care in the world about.
The only problem I see with the Constitution scene is that technically if the scene with the female counselor is a dream, he could have subconsciously created fake words to the Constitution in his dream and read them to her. She, being another part of that dream would agree that those words were indeed the Constitution and declared that he was in reality.
Either way I enjoyed this pilot very much and can only hope the show will continue to be thought provoking.
Thanks everyone, I get it now. Wasn’t the most seamless example, but I get what they were going for.
Here’s the thing about Awake. I want to like it, but in the end I’m a little bored with what it brings to the table. Not the unique concept, obviously, but what Awake does with it. It’s got fancy packaging but what it really is, is another cop serial with a slightly tormented lead. It just seems like a waste of potential.
As you said Paul, the pilot episode was amazing, the real problem with the show is how sustainable can it be? Will it be a repeat every episode of the same amazing concept? Or will it mix it up and build on it and add layers upon layers to the complexity.
I guess I’m hoping for a little of both. But either way if this series starts to drop in quality at least its pilot was one of the best pilots in years.
Is anyone thinking that he’s the one that’s dead, and his wife and son were the ones that survived??? I don’t want that to be the route that this show takes, but that’s where I think it’s going.
It’s obvious the kid alive is the fake reality.
I tend to agree with the points in the review. I would also like to see story arcs that go beyond an episode, or even two episodes. The episodic Law & Order type works well for syndication but this has potential to go so much deeper. I am hoping that only the pilot had such a tidy case resolution to showcase the entire run in one show. If I remember correctly CSI had one-off episodes but several story lines that arced throughout an entire season or more.
What is the truth about which world is real if either? At this point I want both to be open to interpretation. Both therapists had salient points and at this point I could see either being the real world. Much like Michael I would be let down to let go of his wife or his son. He doesn’t want to get better and if the show continues to be compelling we won’t want him to either.
But my top top hope for this series is that the writers know where they are going. Two shows come to mind, Lost & Heroes. Both started amazingly, like nothing I had seen on broadcast television, and then, at least in my opinion, crashed and burned. Deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole we went until it stopped making sense and I stopped caring.
Verdict…hopeful. I was intrigued and entertained.
Good pilot, absolutely. Unfortunately its just another cop show with a different twist.