Check-in: NBC’s Awake, Episode 2 – The Twist and Why I Hope Laura Innes is Not an Omen

So Episode 2 of NBC’s Awake. It had a solid premiere last week in the ratings, especially for NBC. But whether or not people came back for more this week, we’ll see in a few hours.

The biggest thing to take away from this episode, no question, is the ending. The twist that creator Kyle Killen himself tweets “RUINS EVERYTHING or MAKES IT AWESOME.”

My verdict? Meh.

While I thoroughly enjoyed the hour, the twist wasn’t much of a shock to me. Maybe because all the critics who’d seen the episode already couldn’t stop talking about “ZOMG THE TWIST!” Or maybe because from the start of the series, the theory that there’s something sinister, something bigger picture going on than just a man getting banged up in the head.

With the twist of Laura Innes’ character, Harper, not only knowing of Britten’s situation, but maybe having a part in causing the accident which was intentional in taking out his whole family (?) Awake has officially entered the mythology realm of television drama.

Now there’s a little bit of déjà vu for anyone watching Awake who also was lured in to The Event on NBC last year. The Event had an interesting premise. Very poorly executed, but still intriguing. Laura Innes played the mysterious, stoic alien leader on that show. She now plays a mysterious, stoic police captain on Awake. Both with mysterious, hidden agendas.

Let’s hope Awake moves along better than The Event. And that Laura Innes isn’t just an alien performing an experiment on Jason Isaac’s Det. Britten.

Awake‘s 2nd episode had a lot going on, from the twist at the end to the two cases to the whole motorcycle reveal and the psychiatry sessions. It also assumed viewers could easily distinguish between the red and green realities with the inkblot transitions.

Compared to the first episode, the cases (well, one of them) felt more like a traditional crime procedural. Leaving the other case unsolved was also very interesting, but I guess that played into other parts of the episodes more.

Hopefully the twist intrigued more people than were turned off. Definitely sticking with the show, but I’m hoping there are no aliens (or worse, Leviathans!) in Michael Britten’s future.

0 thoughts on “Check-in: NBC’s Awake, Episode 2 – The Twist and Why I Hope Laura Innes is Not an Omen

  1. Nice review! The second episode didn’t intrigue me as much as the pilot did, but I’m still rather interested in the show itself. I didn’t hear too much about it before it premiered and actually only just watched both episodes last night (on my TV provider Dish’s site Dish Online), but I definitely wasn’t surprised to see the so called twist. I really do enjoy the show, but it makes me feel as though I’ve seen it before, other than The Event (I didn’t watch it). Nonetheless I’m still going to continue watching since I’m now rather curious to see how Harper was involved in his accident. One of my co-workers at Dish thinks Britten is the one who is dead, but I don’t know how I feel about that theory after seeing the latest episode lol. I guess I’ll find out eventually though. 🙂

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