Awake S01E09

Episode Title

Game Day

Cast

Jason Isaacs - Michael Britten

Laura Allen - Hannah Britten

Steve Harris - Detective Isaiah "Bird" Freeman

Dylan Minnette - Rex Britten

Wilmer Valderrama - Detective Efrem Vega

Daniela Bobadilla - Emma

Crew

Kyle Killen - Creator

Michael Waxman - Director

Genre

Crime, Drama, Thriller

Two dreams, one reality. The catchy line for the show now matters to me again. This episode dealt with Jason in his son's reality for the most part. His son was dumped by Emma (played by the ever so sexy Daniela) for unknown reasons and he is having an extremely hard time dealing with the idea that he believes she was not being honest with him. In the Blue, Jason also investigates a murder of a football fan. Jason gets stuck when it is revealed that most would have motive to kill the guy as he was a bully and often got in fights. In the Red, Jason also is dealing with a death from a fire, which suggests the building owner is the suspect due to the insane amounts of gambling debt he managed to accumulate. 

One of the things I enjoyed about this episode was how one small difference of a final field goal at the game heavily influenced Jason's life. In the Red, the field goal misses and causes the business man to lose over one hundred thousand dollars. In the other, the kick is good and it influences Jason's life through the murder he is investigating. Small differences making major changes is heavily played on in this episode, especially later. 

I also noticed that Jason's psychiatrist visits were shown less this episode. They happened but they were more like an afterthought to the rest of the story. I actually liked it better that way. Not that I dislike the sessions as they provide interesting questions for the viewers at home as well as Jason. But I think now that the show is at the 9th episode, we do not need it as much except for the occasional clip of Jason doubting which reality is which. 

As much as I liked the episode, I was not surprised by either one of the case resolutions. It might be because I watch way too much crime dramas but the "twists" were not so much twists at all but they were wonderfully executed despite being kind of predictable. Everyone performed well. Even Dylan did well and I have already noted that I do not think he is a very strong member of the cast. But after this episode, I might reconsider. He did very well. The twist that I did not expect was kind of a big deal. Even though the episode has been out for weeks, I do not want to spoil it but it has to do with why Emma broke up with Rex. It will be interesting to see how it will impact Jason in both realities considering he links the two, which is one of the reasons he is having a hard time with Hannah wanting to move away. 

Overall this episode was very good. I had no problems with it at all. In fact, I would like to see the sessions becoming less important the further along I get into the series. It is a nice change of pace to be more in these two realities than discussing which one is the fake. I give this episode a 4.5/5. You will enjoy this episode if you have not seen it yet.