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Post  laddical Thu Feb 16, 2012 9:30 pm

I'm hesitant to get into this series because it's on NBC, which is roughly the same as Fox in terms of friendliness to genre television. I'm still stinging over Journeyman.

But the premise - a man lives two lives after a car accident, one in which his wife died and one in which his son died, and bounces between them whenever he goes to sleep - is like catnip for me.

Even if the show manages to survive a whole season, I'm afraid it'll just go off the rails as they delay and delay and delay actually giving us any answers or any kind of closure in the name of the Big Mystery.

Jason Isaacs does a passable American accent, but I have to stifle a giggle everytime someone calls him by his last name - "Britten".

I don't know where I've seen the actor playing his son before, but ever since the thought crossed my mind that he looks like a Ferris Bueller-era Alan Ruck I haven't been able to unsee that.

Took me a scene or two to recognize Wilmer Valderrama - he's filled out a bit. Still has a bit of an accent but nowhere near "Fez" levels.

I kind of like the visual cues for helping us figure out which "life" we're in - the richer colors when he's with his wife, the muted grays when he's with his son. But I kind of wish they weren't *quite* so obvious. I keep thinking someone just needs to turn on a light or something in the son-life. I don't know how easy it would be to make it something visual but less "produced" - something like different haircuts, maybe a scar he only has in one life. Something that would allow the two lives to look more similar while still giving the audience the anchor they want.

And I guess I'm already all kinds of invested in it. I hope the creators have an ending in mind that can be hit in 13 episodes in case this goes the way of Journeyman.
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Post  MaddyCat Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:03 pm

I'm totally watching it. I love Jason Isaacs and the previews make it look very smart. We'll see if it pans out, but I have high hopes.

Did I mention Jason Isaacs? YES!

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Post  jcpdiesel21 Fri Feb 17, 2012 2:26 am

I'm so glad that this has a premiere date. Since I read about the premise last fall, I've been really excited to see the final product.
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Post  mrinsouciance Fri Feb 17, 2012 3:21 am

Does this mean Case Histories is, well, history?

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Post  Raised by wolves Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:55 am

I don't know where I've seen the actor playing his son before, but ever since the thought crossed my mind that he looks like a Ferris Bueller-era Alan Ruck I haven't been able to unsee that.
It's been bugging me too because I know I've seen that kid. I think he was Jack Shepherd's son on Lost but I'm not sure.

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Post  Gillian Sat Feb 18, 2012 12:58 am

They had me at Jason Isaacs. Truly. I stopped paying attention to details as soon as I saw his face, because I know I'll be watching regardless. For however long it lasts.

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Post  Kiran Sat Feb 18, 2012 2:46 am

IMDB says the kid playing is son is indeed Jack Shepherd's son. And his imdb is looooong.

I look forward to this. I heard good things. And I too love the Isaacs.
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Post  MaddyCat Sat Feb 18, 2012 10:22 pm

mrinsouciance wrote:Does this mean Case Histories is, well, history?

I thought that was a one-time mini-series thing with Masterpiece Mysteries. And didn't they run out of books for the story-lines? I did really enjoy that, though.

But weekly Jason Isaacs will be much-appreciated.

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Post  MaddyCat Sun Mar 04, 2012 10:38 pm

Pardon for double-post.

Did anyone watch, though?

I enjoyed it; especially the push-pull with his two psychiatrists. I love BD Wong, so his aggressive approach to treating Isaacs' character was interesting to me. And Cherry Jones is a welcome presence in any show, and she kinda blew my mind with the Constitution trick she played, so I'm in.

It seems like a big conspiracy thing is going to emerge, though, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. But I did enjoy the premiere. Isaacs is amazing, of course!

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Post  Instant Monkeys Sun Mar 04, 2012 10:53 pm

I watched it. I liked it a lot. The premise is damn cool, and Jason Isaacs is excellent. I had a little trouble keeping track of which timeline we were in, but to be fair I wasn't paying as close attention as I could have been. But also in a pilot I can't remember who all the characters are anyway, so there was no way I was going to be able to sort them into two timelines. I'm sure I'll figure it out though.

Also, my god I am an idiot. I had heard you guys talking about Jason Isaacs, and other people too, but I forgot, and I even forgot the main guy was someone I knew, and I spent the show thinking "it's kind of amazing they gave this unknown guy a show, and he's really good." Please note: I have seen all the Harry Potter movies, most of them multiple times. But you see, in those movies he had different hair, and a British accent. Sigh.

The wife is from The 4400! At least I recognized her. (Same hair; that helps.) And the one partner guy is from The Practice. And I eventually clued in to the presence of Fez. And obviously my good pal B.D. Wong.

I LOVE the idea of the two psychiatrists maybe eventually making some kind of plan, through him, to figure out what's going on. The Constitution thing was really cool. Although, you could dream that you read something and it was the Constitution, and your dream self would have no way of knowing it wasn't. I love dream stuff. I hope this show lasts.
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Post  sagitare Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:05 pm

Caught the pilot the other night and loved it. I thought the dual reality concept was very well executed, and I liked that the whole thing didn't feel rushed. It was like they knew they had a potentially difficult concept to get across and they seemed to take their time in presenting the situation.

I think Jason Isaacs anchored the whole thing, and without someone of his ability and gravitas, if you will, I don't know that the show could have pulled the whole thing off. He was serious and solemn, and projected a lot of depth without resorting to cliches and stereotypes. B.D. Wong was also terrific, and I think if they had had Margo Martingale as the other therapist, my life would have been complete, heh.
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Post  biakbiak Sun Mar 04, 2012 11:07 pm

It's really a good thing that they made Wilmer the partner in the universe with his wife because my love for Steve Harris, BD Wong, and Laura Allen (Terriers! Still upset about it's cancellation!) would make me never want to go to the other life (though I do like Cherry Jones).

I liked the pilot but critics seem somewhat divided on the way things progress from it so I will be curious to see where it goes from here.


Last edited by biakbiak on Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:14 am; edited 1 time in total
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Post  sagitare Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:12 am

biakbiak wrote:I liked the pilot but critics seem somewhat divided on the way things progress from it so I will be curious to see where it goes from here.
Oh dear, I hope it doesn't go too far off track. That would be really frustrating, given the quality of the opener.
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Post  blixie Mon Mar 05, 2012 10:29 am

Although, you could dream that you read something and it was the Constitution, and your dream self would have no way of knowing it wasn't.

Yeah I wasn't impressed by that logic, he can't know what what he doesn't know so that hardly proves that it can't be a dream. Despite that I'm already leaning towards wife being dead, the sons behavior seemed in line with his mother dying while the wife seems entirely too flip/casual about the whole situation, everyone in that reality seems to be acting like it ain't no thing but a chicken wing and he should get the hell over losing his *child* already which is...weird.

I really hope they're not going to go the conspiracy route with him being in some Total Recall/Matrix contraption and both alternates are "dreams". I don't mind a conspiracy per se, but I want more of a Prisoner, you will never figure this weirdness out in life one to something as wrote as both are dreams, especially when he's stated from the get that that is fine with him and not a problem he's looking to solve.

As much as I like Laura Allen/BD I thought the Son Lives reality had a stronger story line in the pilot, and better writing, especially the case, some dude randomly killing cabbies is not as investment making as the Elizabeth Smart redo. I did like that while both perps had red hair, they weren't actually the same guy AND from the previews it appears the boss out to get him is red haired Laura Innis. I wonder if that will be one of the persistent recurring clues to WTF is going on or if it's just a coincidence.

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Post  Corvus Mon Mar 05, 2012 4:53 pm

Re The Constitution: I'm not sure the psych was so much trying to 'prove' anything as help him along with his own thinking. To arrive at the conclusion that she already believes (the other reality is a delusion). Same with Wong's doctor, and what else could they think? The contrasting styles and techniques of the two headshrinkers is so interesting.

What a premise. He really doesn't want either reality to be true, but won't sacrifice one for the other. I also found the wife side of things to be less compelling, though I think we're supposed to like/feel/grok them equally. Having him be honest-to-a-fault with everyone (more or less) is a real creative leap. Lesser writers might well have taken the vanilla route of having him be secretive and tortured, culminating in emotional admissions for sweeps weeks or whatever.

Both psychiatrists must exist in both worlds, right, even if only one of them is involved with him at a time? (I find myself wanting to use 'Fringe' vocabulary.) Seriously, Malfoy, invite them both to lunch (one of them out of the blue). Let both pairs hack it out with each other, you just officiate the tennis match.
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Post  biakbiak Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:17 pm

Re The Constitution: I'm not sure the psych was so much trying to 'prove' anything as help him along with his own thinking.

I get that is what she was trying to do but like others I felt that her logic was faulty.
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Post  Corvus Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:31 pm

...her logic was faulty.
Quite so. I'm just wondering if it was her intention to be logical. She seems a raving intuitive. In deliberate contrast to Wong's character. In the overthinking vein, is she trying to lead him to see the deliberate error, because the issue is not one of logic and rationality, but subjective experience, which logic do much about? If it was deliberate. Curious mistake for her to make, else.

<pause to go look up character names because these people are worth it>

But we shall just see, won't we. Dr Lee (Wong) seems to be all Vulcan and stern now, but in the long run Dr Evans might be the scary one.
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Post  Gillian Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:12 am

Corvus wrote:What a premise. He really doesn't want either reality to be true, but won't sacrifice one for the other. I also found the wife side of things to be less compelling, though I think we're supposed to like/feel/grok them equally. Having him be honest-to-a-fault with everyone (more or less) is a real creative leap. Lesser writers might well have taken the vanilla route of having him be secretive and tortured, culminating in emotional admissions for sweeps weeks or whatever.
I agree with all of this. I love the premise, and I really love the approach to the premise. I love that he's just straight-up, "I do not want to fix this." I'm not really feeling the wife yet (although, yay, I finally figured out that she was Crazy Laura on All My Children), but I really feel for her re: her jealousy/anger/sadness over Isaacs' situation.

The pilot had me wondering if he had to choose, which reality would Isaacs' character lose, and it's just so freaking depressing. I'm not married and I don't have kids, but it's just so gut-wrenching to think about. I think it says a lot about how good Isaacs is that I'm already emotionally invested in that aspect.

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Post  sagitare Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:01 am

Corvus wrote:Having him be honest-to-a-fault with everyone (more or less) is a real creative leap. Lesser writers might well have taken the vanilla route of having him be secretive and tortured, culminating in emotional admissions for sweeps weeks or whatever.
Yes, definitely. This impressed me to no end, and it was so refreshing. They just cut through all that cliched crap and focused on the character and telling this complex story. It was great for a serious cop character to be so open with anyone else, much less a shrink.
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Post  Corvus Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:32 pm

Re the Wife: I am told (over dinner last night with a friend who has read all the scripts*) that the wife's grieving is every bit as difficult as the husband's, but that at this point her pain is more internal, thus more difficult to portray as visibly as the husband's (the premise of the story) and the son's (which cascades out of the television). Not so much 'intentional' but like 'we're getting to her shortly,' apparently. So not an weakness in the writing or the fault of the actor.

And may I add:

Points for mental Health professionals portrayed (thus far) as a) professional and b) not evil, doltish, bureaucratic martinets, ego-driven and adversarial. Both are firm in their processes, but it's not (yet) a contest of wills. Our protagonist maintains his 'agency', very intentionally and explicitly with is last lines. The tension stays with him, not with his bamboozling shrink so he can keep his badge or whatever.

(*We are both well practiced at dancing around information the revealing of which would cost us our jobs. The X-Files years were touchy.)
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Post  blixie Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:42 pm

So not an weakness in the writing or the fault of the actor.

So it was intentional to have us not invest in her pain because it's a secret? I never thought Laura Allen's performance was an issue, but I still find it an odd/poor writing choice if we're meant to invest in each dream/reality equally.

not evil, doltish, bureaucratic martinets, ego-driven and adversarial.

I actually did perceive Dr. Lee has somewhat threatening and potentially evil. When Britten says his situation isn't a problem he wants to solve and he's only talking to Lee to keep his job, Lee responds with, OH REALLY, DRUNKY? Can we talk about your guilt because it's your fault you killed your kid.

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Post  MaddyCat Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:20 am

Oh, wow. I didn't read Dr. Lee that way at all. I mean, it would be hard to accept that he hadn't been drinking when you have the blood-alcohol report right there (and this seems to be something that will recur in terms of possible conspiracy), and so he prodded a bit about this reality being more about the father's need to avoid any possible responsibility. That made sense to me, though maybe it was too soon to go there.

Or maybe I don't want BD Wong to be eeeevil. Please no!

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Post  blixie Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:03 am

I didn't read Dr. Lee that way at all.It would be hard to accept that he hadn't been drinking when you have the blood-alcohol report right there

Well I was exaggerating for comic effect, but it was mostly the context of when and how Dr. Lee brought that "fact" up, right after Britten says I'm only here to keep my job, and admits he has no intent on getting "better". Also either he was intoxicated or he wasn't intoxicated by the stick of the law, and Lee was up to that point trying to guide him to reconcile his feelings of loss/guilt that were ostensibly preventing him from letting go of the dream world, and when Lee experiences resistance he brings up something that would make Britten feel EVEN WORSE, potentially triggering even deeper denial. But I'm not therapist, much less a possibly manufactured one in dream world on tv show so who knows?! Hee.

Basically everything about that reality made me suspicious though so I was predisposed to seeing Lee's behavior that way. I kept thinking, if this is the real reality, the guy lost his child give him a freaking BREAK.


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Post  MaddyCat Thu Mar 08, 2012 11:18 pm

No, you're right. The Dr. Lee/son dead world seems more "off" somehow. And you're either legally drunk or you're not, though guilt certainly doesn't care about such things.

I just have a huge blind spot about Dr. Lee. He is awesomeLALALALALAcan'thearanythingbadLALALA!

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Post  laddical Thu Mar 29, 2012 5:55 pm

I'm horrible at actually watching TV. Netflix, Amazon, Xfinity OnDemand have all conspired to ruin my ability to watch TV on a schedule.

So I just sat down and watched the second and third episodes back to back and I'm still very, very impressed with this show.

I like that they're cheating some expectations. I totally expected the mysterious box of mail to be something "bad". Even after Hannah confronted Cole and asked him about it and he explained that it was a camshaft, I was thinking, "Yeah... a camshaft that's been MacGyvered into a bong." That would totally not make sense in real life, but I'm so used to things you find out about dead loved ones after the fact being these horrible, dark secrets in TV Land.

But then they're landing squarely on other expectations. I'm not ready to say it's a bad thing, yet, but somehow I knew the moment Laura Innes showed up as Captain Harper that we were going to be faced with some Big Bad Conspiracy to explain Britten's accident and apparent universe hopping. Nice touch casting Mark Harelik as Harper's contact at the end... I spent the entire scene thinking it was actually Jeroen Krabbe. I was going to compliment him on finally managing to bury his Dutch accent, but a quick hop to IMDb informed me that it wasn't in fact the same guy who framed Richard Kimball and played James Bond for a fool.

The third episode was nice because they subverted the formula. The show could so easily have spent the first few episodes world-building and just sticking to a simple "Case in Son-Lives" that bears a circumstantial relationship to a simple "Case in Wife-Lives" split. But by sticking the majority of the action in the "Son-Lives" universe and showing Britten actively using his bifurcated life instead of merely stumbling across loose connections they really shook things up and helped make Britten's case even more interesting.

Gonna wait until tonight's episode goes OnDemand before I watch episode 4 with it, but only because I don't have time to watch it right now.
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