# Awake - Starts Tonight - 03/01/12 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2012, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504 "2012-03-02T00:27:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/21 "2012-03-02T16:39:37Z")
I am just hoping that the denouement, if it ever comes, is not that he was drunk at the time of the crash and is actually in a coma with both his loved ones at his bedside with _neither_ world being real … ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/22 "2012-03-02T18:08:31Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Did anyone else notice that when he woke up without his wrist band that the coloring was blue (as if he was in his son’s reality), but once his wife walked in, it turned the reddish hue again? > > What was up with that? I thought it was more neutral, not showing which universe he was in. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/23 "2012-03-02T18:37:24Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > I thought it was more neutral, not showing which universe he was in. Maybe you’re right. It just didn’t look “warm” to me, which made me think he was yelling for the wrong person. Then his wife showed up, and I was all like “😕” ---
**Author:** ![Shark\_Sandwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Shark\_Sandwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shark_Sandwich)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/24 "2012-03-02T18:50:50Z")
Damn my color blindness. I’m not picking up any of the subtleties of the colors at all. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/25 "2012-03-02T19:52:14Z")
> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > Damn my color blindness. I’m not picking up any of the subtleties of the colors at all. Don’t feel bad. I’m not color blind at all, but didn’t pick up on a damn thing color-wise. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/26 "2012-03-02T20:11:31Z")
Random thought but why not just get a tat in each universe? U1 - wife live, memorial tat of son U2 - Son alive, memorial tat of wife ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/27 "2012-03-02T20:31:59Z")
I liked it. Isaacs does wounded/grieving very well. However, I wasn’t thrilled to see that, according to the preview, already in the second damn episode his son will be kidnapped by a bad guy. Really? Jeez, so soon? Doesn’t suggest the scriptwriters have a lot of ideas in the pipeline. The two psychologists were good (I’ve liked B.D. Wong since his small part in _Executive Decision_, and I remember Cherry Jones as the President on _24_). How long before Det. Britten thinks to look them up in each other’s “other” world, and maybe even introduce them? And yes, the tennis coach is obviously being set up as a possible love interest. Nice gag about “no cops have hunches except on TV.” And to have a British actor playing a guy named Britten. I looked up the young Latino detective on [IMDb.com](http://IMDb.com) - he was the whatever-ethnic kid on \*That Seventies Show. \* > [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Good question - he probably doesn’t have a 12 hour sleep/wake cycle, so the two worlds can’t simply be offset by 12 hours. So, for example, he goes to sleep in World 1 at 11 pm on Monday night; he wakes up in World 2 at 7 am Tuesday morning; he lives all day in World 2, then goes to sleep at 11 pm Tuesday night in World 2; he wakes up at 7 am Tuesday morning in World 1, I guess, and lives all day Tuesday in World 1. Repeat. Britten could make a killing on the stock market! ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/28 "2012-03-02T20:35:29Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I looked up the young Latino detective on [IMDb.com](http://IMDb.com) - he was the whatever-ethnic kid on \*That Seventies Show. \* Also [Handy Manny!](http://blogs.babycenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/handy-manny.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2012, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/29 "2012-03-02T23:54:39Z")
I was hoping they’d address if his hand was still cut when he switched back to the sonverse, but unless there was a subtle bandage or something, I never saw any indication either way. Interesting show, though I didn’t really like the direction the preview seemed to indicate it was going to take. I also don’t particularly care for the actress they showed in there (forget her name, but she was Weaver on ER) and I already had my fill of her in this sort of mystery/conspiracy on the Event. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/30 "2012-03-03T01:41:42Z")
I’m thinking the cut and tat thing not crossing over doesn’t prove anything. I if it _did_ carry over, then I guess it would maybe show that that world was real. But, not carrying over doesn’t seem to mean anything. If I dream that I have a tattoo, I’m not surprised if I wake up without one. If I get a tattoo when I’m awake, it won’t necessarily show up in my dream - that’s a little less likely, but not out of the realm of possibility. And a real world cut I wouldn’t be at all surprised not to have in my dream. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/31 "2012-03-03T02:59:00Z")
> [@Shark\_Sandwich](#): > > Damn my color blindness. I’m not picking up any of the subtleties of the colors at all. It’s subtle enough for color-blindness to fool. > [@faithfool](#): > > Don’t feel bad. I’m not color blind at all, but didn’t pick up on a damn thing color-wise. Sigh. Outdoor scenes mainly. Or at least brightly lit scenes. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/32 "2012-03-03T03:34:51Z")
I was using the colour of his partner to keep track, instead of the colour of his bracelet. One element that might be interesting, or at least less clichéd, is for the hot tennis coach to become romantically involved with the son, rather than the father, and that’ll create some emotional conflict, to be sure. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/33 "2012-03-03T05:25:54Z")
Interesting plot and well-executed. What a concept in today’s mundane, boring, repetitive, badly written shows. I was very pleasantly surprised. The psychology is solid, and I like the idea that he may be in a coma and it’s all drug induced dreaming. I prefer that notion to the alternate universe idea, which is a bit too woo-woo for me. Even so, if the premise is that of an alternate existence, it’s been pretty well thought out. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/34 "2012-03-03T06:26:56Z")
They could go in so many different directions with this premise, most of which have already been mentioned in this thread. I’ll definitely stick around to see which way they go. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/35 "2012-03-03T07:05:25Z")
Here’s something that would be cool, at least to me. After a while he comes to the conclusion that both realities are fake. He then comes to his senses and realizes that both his wife and son didn’t survive the crash. But then he starts alternating between that reality, and a reality where both survived. I haven’t given it much thought beyond that. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/36 "2012-03-03T10:26:30Z")
It’s a little bit _Life on Mars_, a little bit _Goodnight Sweetheart_ (if anybody here knows that show), a little bit _Journeyman_, and a soupçon of _Fringe_. I’m not usually a fan of Jason Isaacs, as everything I’ve seen him in hasn’t been very good, but here he’s very moving. Good accent too. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/37 "2012-03-03T11:40:48Z")
The first episode seemed lackluster. Hopefully it will start picking up in the next two or three episodes. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/38 "2012-03-03T16:32:37Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > The first episode seemed lackluster. Hopefully it will start picking up in the next two or three episodes. It was more thoughtful than lackluster, and it’s a complicated enough premise that to get it presented in an hour requires some exposition. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/39 "2012-03-03T17:16:00Z")
And if this is a hit we can have a spin off with the wife dreaming that husband was killed, or son was killed and another spin off with son dreaming mom was killed or dad was killed or all three of them dreaming both were killed or neither were killed. One of them would be smart enough to play lottery when they see the winning numbers a few hours before they are drawn. At least be rich in one of the lives. My only real problem is that no dreams are that perfectly lucid every single time - or at least one dream will have a pink unicorn casually munching on the blue grass in the front yard. I know that would quickly ruin the premise but still… Not in love with the show first time out but will continue to watch a few more to see how they deal with some facets of this concept. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504/40 "2012-03-03T17:51:34Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I’m thinking the cut and tat thing not crossing over doesn’t prove anything. > > I if it _did_ carry over, then I guess it would maybe show that that world was real. > > But, not carrying over doesn’t seem to mean anything. If I dream that I have a tattoo, I’m not surprised if I wake up without one. If I get a tattoo when I’m awake, it won’t necessarily show up in my dream - that’s a little less likely, but not out of the realm of possibility. > > And a real world cut I wouldn’t be at all surprised not to have in my dream. It proves that he is not really crossing between 2 universes a la _Journeyman_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/awake-starts-tonight-03-01-12/614504.md?page=3)