Awake - Sky 1

Awake starts with a fatal car crash and then we are plunged into an alternative universe/ alternative reality type situation that would even have the crew of the Starship Enterprise in a tizz. LA Detective Michael Britten flashes back and forth between a world where his son survived in the crash and another where his wife survived. So having to deal with grief and, well, not at the same time. He has a different partner and a different psychiatrist in both, but which reality real if any? The cases he works on also bleed into each other, so Britten can glean clues from both.

 

Sounds confusing, well it was really and the first episode more than bowed a little under the weight of the concept. In fact this show is so high concept that it makes Once Upon a Time look like Neighbours. Plus any show like this has the, dreaded, whiff of Lost about it So, taking all that into consideration we should cut Awake a little slack and let it sort itself out. And let's hope the cases themselves are a little more intriguing, just dreaming your way to the answers will make for some straight forwardly dull TV.

   

In the lead we have Jason Issacs as Detective Britten; another Brit in a prominent American role. Mr. Issacs accent is very good, but I sometimes wonder can American viewers spot any flaws we can't? OK, I'm not talking Eddie Izzard in The Riches, everyone on the planet could suss out that he was about as American as Prince Charles. But say did anyone guess Hugh Laurie wasn't from the States when House first aired?

 

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah Awake, despite it's perfunctory murder cases and sky high concept I quite liked it and will stick with it, but at the first sign of John Lock or Dr. Jack and I'm out.

 

Over