So many elements of ‘Awake’ are perfect. In some ways, it’s almost a shame. From its characters to its premise, the show’s first episode is easily one of the most ambitious pilots of the spring season. But for a show that’s already on top of its game, it’s hard to imagine how it will maintain its momentum.

The premise is fantastic, and if it doesn’t make you want to see this show, then why do you watch TV at all? Detective Michael Britton is in a car accident with his wife and son. He survives and finds himself split between two worlds. In one, he and his wife attempt to move on after their son’s death. In the other, the son remains alive, and his wife is the unlucky victim of the crash. Every night, he goes to bed and closes his eyes, only to wake up in the next world. His therapists in each ‘reality’ try to convince him that the other is a dream, to which Britton replies, ‘That’s what the other shrink said.’

The concept of ‘Awake’ is so devilishly complex that the split world premise could have survived on its own. Even in the pilot, every character is acted so well that the show could let life play out with the weight of this psychological affliction at its center. The sorrow of Britton and his wife resonates strongly in the wake of such an enormous tragedy.

Much of the pleasure derived from watching this episode comes through the blurring of reality. It’s heavily implied that one is a self-invented coping mechanism that will fade away, but there’s also a suggestion that the two can exist together. The show uses color, specifically reds and greens, to distinguish the two realities. To keep his worlds straight, Britton wears different colored wristbands: red for his wife and green for his son. In almost every scene, regardless of reality, there are color hints. His one therapist uses a red pen in a green colored room. His other therapist wears a red scarf while donning a green tie.

There’s so much to analyze and dissect in the symbolism of the colors. And while the color-coded instances are numerous, they’re never overt or poorly done. The tones are muted, other than the blatantly colored wristbands, and nothing screams ‘look.’

Always stemming from the primary concept, Britton’s crime cases from parallel realities begin to bleed into each other. He sees ‘611’ in a parking lot and immediately connects it to ‘611’ as the address of a building in the other case. Admittedly, this is a neat twist, but compared to the central hub of the show, it’s a massive letdown.

And that’s what scares me about ‘Awake.’ This whole pilot, this magnificently detailed piece of television, is only setting us up for ‘CSI: Dual Reality Coincidence Edition.’ The characters feel real. The premise is as close to original as originality comes in the postmodern age.

But this is network TV, and network TV tends to play it safe. So while I cannot predict future episodes, I can almost guarantee that ‘Awake’ will become more of a cop show than a character study. Worse, it’s almost doomed to go off the air — it’s in a time slot that has already seen two cancellations this year alone.

Maybe when I go to sleep tonight, I’ll wake up in a reality where ‘Awake’ is still a great show that has survived for six seasons and a movie. But for now, that’s probably just a dream.

jswucher@syr.edu

Published on March 4, 2012 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jeff: jswucher@syr.edu