It is indeed a rarity to find a show that depends on good writing rather than car chases, explosions and shoot-outs to keep our attention. The pilot will get your attention and the subsequent episodes will keep you coming back.Unlike most shows, you really have to watch this one and pay attention to what is happening. In the pilot there is a car crash and either the detective's wife or son die in the crash. Every time he goes to sleep and wakes up, he is in an alternative reality with one or the other of them being alive. The alternate realities interact with the current case he is working on. The writing tightly links the realities except for some supporting character changes. He is seeing a psychiatrist-well actually two of them, one for each reality-to work through his issues. We have no idea which is real or which is a dream. There are times when you start to think maybe they both died and it is all a dream. Maybe he was in a coma and the son and wife were fine. My wife and I never figured out who was dead or alive until the last couple minutes of the series. This one will keep you guessing.

The series is a regular cop procedural with the twist. After a brutal car accident Micheal Britten's world is split in two with every day being spent with a different loved one being either his son or his wife. This sense of duality also extends to his police partner and his psychiatrist who are different is both realities.While the mystery itself is great the structure of most episodes is where this show suffers. Since this is still a procedural most episodes go like this: Two police cases get opened and solved, Sub-plot with either or both his son and wife, Regular visits to either or both his psychiatrist to determine mental state with case and overall mystery of the show.That is a lot to cover in 40 minutes. So the whodunnit of the cases is either easy or simply unimportant while the overall mystery is a constant but never the focus until later in the season. It's a good thing the writing and acting is always on point. Everybody brings it even down to the guest actors every week for the cases. It also looks great with L.A looking good and a nice choice of color palettes with both realities having a distinct color (yellow and blue) making it easy to discern which is which. The episodes that stray away from it's usual structure are the strongest while also showing how well they managed to balance their multiple realities, characters and plot progression in those regular episodes. I will not go into the ending as i feel this show is worth watching. I will say that it is open-ended but satisfying at the same time.So if you like procedurals like CSI and law & order or mystery shows like Lost know that this is a marriage between the two. Which also means you're only gonna get half of both genres in most episodes.This has been a green review

Jason Isaacs (Britten) carries the show with an impeccable performance; without it the show would have failed. Laura Allen and Dylan Minnette are convincing as the wife and son; Steve Harris and Wilmer Valderrama play Britten's partners in the different realities. The really enjoyable performances are delivered by BD Wong and Cherry Jones as Britten's therapists. It is in these scenes the show shines. The dialogue is excellent and serves as a counterweight to the (only somewhat) more traditional crime and family story lines. The show is refreshing in its originality, the story lines and most of the dialogue is, as far as I can tell, excellent craftsmanship, and great acting brings every episode home. In fact, the show has thus far shone brighter with every episode. I have long awaited a show like this, and it is by far the most interesting _new_ TV-series this year.

A friend introduced me to this series. I loved it and was immediately nervous that it may be canceled, intelligent and left of field shows such as this don't usually appeal to everyone. I was really hoping that it would be continued. April 2013 still hoping ...I really cannot fault Awake. The casting is brilliant, Laura Allen and am a very big fan of Jason Isaacs. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to see Wilma Valderrama cast in a different role than I am used to seeing him. Cinematography is incredibly smart!I want to see more of the two psychologists and would love to see what develops of Rex's character.Please consider bringing this show back.