Awake S01E08

Episode Title
Nightswimming

Cast
Jason Isaacs - Michael Britten
Laura Allen - Hannah Britten
Steve Harris - Detective Isaiah "Bird" Freeman

Crew
Kyle Killen - Creator
Jeffrey Reiner - Director

Genre
Crime, Drama, Thriller

Let me start out by saying that I love this show. I have been wanting to do an episode by episode review for a long time but for various reasons, I had missed the opportunity. Today, I decided to start catching up on this show and after watching episode 8, I could not sit by and not get something out about this show. Every episode is better than the previous one. Jason Isaacs is perfect for this role; though I have to admit he has been phenomenal in literally everything I have seen him do. Laura Allen plays his wife and she is not only insanely attractive, she is also very talented herself. I am surprised I had not seen her in other works before I started watching this show.

Okay so the story behind the series is that Michael was in a traffic accident with his wife and son. Someone dies, though we honestly have no clue which one it is. Not even Michael knows because he sees both of them and both are completely real to him. When he goes to sleep, he sees his wife alive. When he goes to sleep after that, he sees his son alive. He can tell which reality he is in by colored bands on his wrist. Red for when he is with his wife, blue when with his son. Because we do not always see his wrist, we can tell by the use of color-effect filters or "mood lighting". A red lighting for the wife's reality and blue for the son's.

So for this episode, it deals with Hannah preparing for their move to Oregon and how Michael struggles with it. It is an episode that deals heavily with the red reality. I learned that I just prefer the red reality over the blue. Maybe it is the mood lighting, maybe it is because I think Michael's son is played by someone I do not find particularly compelling as an actor or maybe it is just because I think Hannah is incredibly sexy. Either way, this episode worked very well for me. Reconnecting with a partner that you have grown apart from is almost always enjoyable to watch, especially for bleeding hearts like myself.

Overall the episode left me with a warm, happy feeling inside despite the cryptic nature of the show. I give the episode a 4.8/5. I already know which one it is that I hope is alive and for me, it is the wife. I really hope she is the live one and that his son is the fantasy. Of course, that would also mean that his boss is part of an organization that has some connection with his accident in the first place. And if you have not watched the series so far, oops! Spoiler alert. If you have been watching the show, then you might agree that this would make his real world more interesting than if the blue one is the real world.

So much sexy

This is just a good show, which leads me to my next topic. The show has actually been cancelled after just one season. This is terrible for anyone that gives the show a chance. I believe this is in part because people may find the show confusing; "which reality is which?". I hope that my explanation of the mood lighting helps with that if it is the case. But the bottom line is that people need to watch this show and convince NBC to give it another season to prove itself. With the solid cast, crew, writing, direction the show has taken, I honestly do not see how someone could not have this show on their watch list for the week. Spread the word and hopefully change will happen.