Inside Television with Alan Sepinwall

'Awake' series finale interview with creator Kyle Killen

What would he have done differently? And what did the finale mean?

By Alan Sepinwall Thursday, May 24, 2012 10:58 PM

Jason Isaacs in "Awake."

Credit: NBC

I had planned on writing a review of the series finale of "Awake." Then I watched the series finale of "Awake," which was fascinating at times, puzzling at others, and moving at still others. I felt like this was a situation where the best approach was to simply talk to the show's creator, Kyle Killen, about everything that happened, what it meant, and where the show might have gone if the ratings had been good enough to merit a second season. All of that coming up just as soon as I get my high heels fixed…

The day that the cancellation was confirmed, you tweeted out that at least it lasted 600% longer than "Lone Star" did. How would you compare the two experiences?

I think they were really really really different. "Lone Star" was an intentional experiment to see if we could put a cable show on network television, and it was over in the blink of an eye. It was a thrilling creative experience, and sort of painful to lose it after two episodes, when that was something we had a detailed map for where it would go in a single season. So in that way, it's been a lot more satisfying to be able to share the whole story of a single season of "Awake" with an audience, whereas it got aborted with "Lone Star."

Where were you in production of this when you realized how the numbers were trending, and did that in any way influence how you wrote this finale?

The numbers were never great even from when it started. It was always in the back of our minds, every week that it continued to air and continued to drop, that it might not be back. But we were absolutely, completely, totally done before any decisions were made. I think it may have made the powers that be a little more willing to let us swing for the fences in the final episodes — the fact that it may or may not come back. You try to walk a very delicate line of both summing up and giving some closure to things we talked about throughout the season, while leaving the door open for things that we would do in subsequent seasons.

Unfortunately, there aren't going to be those subsequent seasons. I don't know how much you are comfortable in talking about, in both explaining what happened in the finale and alluding to what might have come next. But let's start with the broadest question possible: what happened in the finale?

I will be happy to give you my interpretation, and what we pitched to the network, but I'm genuinely curious — especially from someone who is a connoisseur of television — did you have a take on it? Was it just baffling?

No, it wasn't baffling. It was intriguing and it was open-ended. I don't think it explained a whole lot of anything, but I don't know that I was bothered by all of that. The final scene where he's with Dr. Evans and he starts suggesting that there don't have to be rules, it's you opening up a new chapter where it's not necessarily going to be this binary thing where he just goes back and forth between the red world and the green world. It seemed to me as if you were setting things up to be a lot more fluid after that.

I think that's not wrong. Essentially, our take was, the episode was about reaching a place where, in order to get all the answers, to get everything that's floating around in his head, to get to the fact that Harper was involved in the green world, to figure out how he can actually apprehend her, he seems to be forced to recognize that the red world is his imagination, that it exists for him to work these things out. He's so caught up in what's happening there, and the idea that he's injured and he's paying attention to a thousand things, that he's not closing in on the clue that he would normally come to, that's not happening this time. So the dream fractures, and he steps outside the dream and it literally becomes very dream-like, in order to deliver to him the answer that he seems to need in going back to the other world. When he gets to the green world, he has the information he needs to capture Harper, but it comes at the expense of being able to believe the red world is real.

So when he's in the final scene with Dr. Evans and she is explaining exactly that, he goes back into the same shell he's been going into ever since this happened: he keeps talking himself into it, "There must be some way, some other explanation." His explanation is, "Nothing that happened in the red world after I was sitting in my cell was real. That was a dream. If that world was real, there's no reason I couldn't have a dream." And that's exactly what happens. So he imagines that when he wakes up in the red world, he would still be in prison, and that's what we would have played had we gone forward. Whether that's because he's really in prison, or because he's so desperate to hold onto the idea that there is a red world where his wife exists that that's where his dream continues — obviously, the last scene itself represents this idea that he believes there can be literal dreams, places between the two worlds. So if he was going to dream a third space, this is exactly what it would look like: a place where he had both his wife and his son, and that's where we ended up.

Obviously, he uses what he learns in the red world to solve what's in the green, and vice versa, but what Vega in the penguin is showing him is something he was not witness to in either of those worlds. He's getting a freeze-framed rendition of something that only we saw.

This happens throughout the season. There's technically things you could say was, "But he didn't see that, he wasn't there for that." The whole idea of working things out subconsciously and taking note of things you missed on a conscious level. He's one of the first people to the scene, he and Bird are there before the CSI techs have moved or seen anything. He's been hearing the way Harper walks in green world, since he came back from the scene. Visually, he could have connected it with the heel tip he saw on the floor, but it's not in his conscious mind. This helps him realize what happened, how Harper was involved, where the evidence is, that Harper was there. I would argue that there's many scenes like that throughout the course of the season, where arguably, he didn't see something and make note of it in the present, but that's the role of his dreams: to connect the dots, when he walks through scenes in the present reality the way the rest of us do.

Knowing that the show isn't coming back, are you comfortable saying that, say, Dr. Evans is right and green world is real and red world isn't?

No, no, not at all. That's not our intent, and ultimately not the argument we ended up making. I think there's an equal argument to be made that red world is real. I think the two sides can totally continue to be flipped upside down and backwards. It would take a couple of episodes to work it all out, but I can assure you it was all on white boards and tested and tried, I can't say everyone would get it, but it made sense to us. We reached a place where we were comfortable that if we had come back for a second season, we would have had a new set of toys in the sandbox, but that the sandbox still existed, and the shows could have existed in a similar vein to the way that it was in season one.

But obviously you had an answer in your head when you created the show. Or did you? Was this something you were going to figure out later?

The thing about "What's real: red or green?," maybe I feel like someone on "The Event," where you wish you hadn't named the show "The Event," because when you talk about it, the show was never supposed to be just about that. I feel like the point wasn't necessarily just about who killed Laura Palmer, it was about a man who wanted to live in both these worlds and what the consequences were of trying to spread yourself between two existences. I've never looked at it as a mystery that the show solely exists to solve. Do I have a notion of which world I believe is real, which one makes more sense to me as real? Yes. I guess, to me it's the same as asking "What happened to Tony Soprano in the end of that finale?" I don't know that it would actually make things better to hear from the creator, "He lived, he died." In some ways, it ruins it to me. It should be left open to interpretation.

You haven't read the 20,000 word essay where the guy says that Tony died, and there's no other possible way to read it?

I have not, but I love that someone is able to write 20,000 words on it because David Chase didn't come out and say definitively, "It is this" or "It is that."

But Chase ended it ambiguously because that's how he chose to end it. This ended before you were ready for it to end because the ratings were unfortunately what the ratings were. Had the show continued for X number of years, do you feel there would have come a point where you would have explained that? Or not?

I really can't say. It wasn't in our plans. What I can tell you is that when I pitched the show, the last scene of the first season was in the pitch. It didn't have anything to do with ratings, how we ended. We arrived right where we intended to go. How we got there was very different. We took a lot of twists and turns, and frankly did some episodes that varied dramatically from the formula that we ultimately thought was effective. We just tried a lot of things on. But the end of the first season is as was pitched before there was a show. It didn't have anything to do with being canceled or having to do a quick wrap-up. This is where it was always intended to go.

In terms of trying some things that worked and some that didn't, there was that point in production where you and Howard (Gordon) shut things down, took a step back to figure out what was working. In hindsight, having done that and seen the episodes you were able to do later in the year, what did you figure out that would have informed things in a second season had there been one?

I think what the show is when it's most successful is less of a straight procedural. That's always the holy grail, as we say in network television: it's repeatable out of order, it has a satisfying wrap-up to the case, and so on and so forth. But I think in our show, it ended up feeling like just a guy with a magic trick that he did on a weekly basis. Ultimately, the show was at its best and its most compelling when it dealt with the nature of his situation and his personal life and issues and how they crossed over with his job as a result. So I think there are a few episodes where we pushed it in a pretty rote "two cases of the week" direction, and ultimately those were less satisfying for us creatively — I can't speak for the audience — than things like we were able to do at the end of the season. The last three or four episodes represent what we were able to learn along the way and the direction we would have tried to go in subsequent seasons.

It was so much fun, as Britten was marching to the vault door, to see Evans and Lee finally interacting. I imagine that was something you had in mind all along. Was there any temptation at any point in the season to have the two of them interact in one world or the other, or to have Britten seek one of them out in the wrong world?

Absolutely. It's odd to remember what's in the shows, because we wrote so many scenes and went down so many directions that we didn't have time for, or the stories came out differently. That was constantly something that we wanted Britten to do. We wanted him to seek out the wrong therapist in the wrong world, and have to play with what his expectations for them would be. Those are the sort of things that bumped right into the dual procedural aspect of the show. The episodes that had all of those sorts of things - it became an either/or. You can't waste just running into Dr. Evans in Dr. Lee world in the background of trying to solve a case. It was a story that demanded you play it out and take your time with it. In that portion of the season, we were headed in a more procedural direction, so we didn't get to do a lot of those things, and those are places we would've loved to go in the future.

I didn't put a clock on this, and this could turn out to be an entirely false conclusion, but my impression as I watched the season is that we tended to spend more time following the cases in the green world than the red one. A lot of the Britten/Vega cases would disappear into the ether partway through. Was that something you were actually aware of, and, if so, was it by design? Was it saying something about the relationships with the two partners? Something you were getting from Jason (Isaacs) and Steve (Harris)?

I don't even know that's what technically happened. They were very different dynamics, but we grew to really appreciate and use the dynamic Jason had with both Steve and with Wilmer (Valderrama). I think more often we were playing some personal problems and stories with his wife, which might have taken up the available time in the red world, which might have pushed the cases to the side over there and left more room for Steve and Jason. It was always a puzzle: five stories you were trying to tell, and you couldn't fit them all in. The way you're describing it may be how it broke down, but it's not my memory of it and it wasn't by design.

Having done the experiment where you tried to put a cable show on network TV, and now having done another experiment in terms of trying to do a procedural with a heavy character focus and a science-fiction twist, and neither worked out, what do you feel you've learned about the network TV business and what you can do within it?

I think NBC's fear was more or less having happen exactly what happened: the more you went away from the direct, straight procedural that was easily accessible and not particularly complicated from everybody — the more you veered from a "Mentalist" or "CSI" model — the more rabid the fans that you had would become, and yet that number would be dramatically smaller, which is precisely the formula for cable programming. On cable, you don't need everybody; you just need the people you get to be super hardcore. I began thinking that I could do maybe my own spin on traditional network procedural. In the end, I'm a little less interested in cases of the week. I just feel like there might not be an incredible number of ways to reinvent that particular wheel. The stuff that this show offered, the design of the universe, had less to do with who stole what and who killed who, and more to do with this guy's predicament, which is the one thing no ever detective character on television was facing. I think we became, ultimately, most interested in exploring that. The question is, would that have been a successful network show? And I think probably the numbers indicate it wouldn't have. I have to judge the next idea when I get to it. I thought "Awake" could work on network; maybe it wouldn't have worked on cable, either. It may have been a fundamentally flawed or not particularly interesting premise to begin with. But here we are.

There was a period after "Dollhouse" ended where people were saying, "Joss Whedon has to go to cable. Cable is the only place where Joss Whedon can have success today." Obviously, Joss Whedon's doing okay for himself. But is there a part of you that thinks, after the experiences where the network trusted you, and you did work you were proud of, and it didn't quite work out, that maybe this is an arena you're not suited for and you should be pitching FX, AMC, or whatever?

Sure. All of those places are places where they're great for drama. So those are places where you'd love to be and work with, and audiences you'd like to speak to. At the same time, I grew up watching everything from "ER" to "NYPD Blue." There was amazing network drama. It wasn't just that there weren't other channels; those were great shows. Network can still do amazing things in drama. I would say this season's canary in the coal mine is going to be the "Last Resort" show on ABC. That was one where if you told me it was going to be on FX, and after the second episode, FX told me there would be a second season? I'm in; I'll follow it wherever it goes with those auspices and Andre Braugher. I will be really curious to see if they can pull that off on network. It's another test of where drama is at, with it being as successful as it is on cable, and the return of comedy on network, what is network drama, at the moment, a super-open question.

This is something I heard a lot anecdotally: where given what's happened in network drama in recent years where shows that break the mold like you've done don't last long, people say, "Well, I'm not going to make any kind of investment until I know it's getting a second season." Do you think that is actually the case? Do you think that might have hurt you in any way? Or is it just that you were a difficult show on a network that's having a lot of other difficulties?

Both. I think we were absolutely a difficult show, low-rated. There's a history of television shows, not many of them blossom hugely from really inauspicious starts. That said, the cable model of renewing these things as soon as they're on is essentially that subtle way of saying, "It's okay, guys. We're in for the long haul. You're not going to get screwed, we're not going to pull the plug." We don't have, necessarily that luxury in the network world. I think NBC jumped in pretty quickly, early, to assure people that "Smash" was going to be around, and I think that helped people hold on. Whatever audience there is knew it wasn't going to go away, and it wasn't going to be abandoned, and if there were issues, hopefully they would be worked out to everyone's satisfaction. I think that's always helpful.

But I saw on Twitter every day exactly what you are describing, and I see it now with the show premiering in the UK where Jason has an enormous and active fanbase, but a lot of people are doing the same calculus: "It's canceled. Why would I even start it?" To which I would say, if I told you that the first book in a trilogy was being published, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to say, "I'm not going to read the first one, which is self-contained and maybe really entertaining and full of good stories because there won't be a large number of them behind it." The season, ultimately I think It has some really good things that stand on its own and warrant watching.

Alan Sepinwall may be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching

Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com

Related Searches: Awake, Jason Isaacs, Kyle Killen, Howard Gordon, Steve Harris, B.D. Wong, Cherry Jones, wilmer valderrama, Laura Allen, Dylan Minnette, Alan Sepinwall

Next 169 Comments

Mark

So the ending is clearly either a dream in the red world or the green world, right? They're not saying both the red world and the green world are just a giant nightmare, right?
So confused, but it a great way.
May 24, 2012 at 11:05PM EST Reply to Comment
- andrew i think they are saying that we will never know which dream world was real. and when dr evans paused mid sentence that was him dreaming and he woke up to a third world where both his son and wife were alive. 3 worlds...one where his son is alive, wife, and both.
  May 24, 2012 at 11:16PM EST
- WideAwake InMN I understood the show's creator Killen to say that the green world was real (the one with the son alive), he dreamed the red world and implied (but wouldn't firmly commit to) the ending is a third world a dream within the dreamworld of the red world); this way he gets to be with both his wife AND son, but in this reality, only his son survived the car crash with him. And the female psychiatrist, Dr. Evans is real, not the male one. But then again, I could be totally wrong. ;D
  May 24, 2012 at 11:46PM EST
- Mike Killen specifically stated that there was no answer to which world was real. The end was him creating a third world. He even stated that he wasn't sure if they ever would have said which world was real.
  May 25, 2012 at 12:12AM EST
whiterok

Interesting. When I watched it I was willing to accept a happy ending where the whole thing was a dream and both wife and son were still alive. It appears that they never intended to reveal what was reality, but remain in the detective's fractured psyche even into the second season. I am not sure how long they could have sustained that, but it was fun while it lasted.
May 24, 2012 at 11:18PM EST Reply to Comment
- Huell Goodman Yeah, at a certain point in the hour I started to fear every scene was going to be the end. When walked into "Normal Color World(?)" I was pretty confident we were about to see both Rex and Hannah. As soon as they both appeared I immediately said "Okay, end it here..."
  
  I like the ambiguity of the ending (anything but would have been unsatisfying) and - in a way - it's a happy ending either way. Even if he manufactured this third reality, at least he found some kind of peace - which seems the best he could hope for whether he's in a coma, severely brain damaged, irreparably psychotic, in the process of dying or any other realistic explanation for his situation.
  May 25, 2012 at 1:20AM EST
- Dave I @Huell, it reminded me in a way of Inception. Different endings, but the satisfyingly ambiguous ending (in case you've somehow not seen it) was prevalent in both (to me at least).
  
  I agree, I'm glad that Britten found some kind of peace at the end. So naturally, I can't wait for next season (which will never happen).
  
  -Cheers
  May 25, 2012 at 9:35AM EST
Mary

Awake was an incredibly though-provoking, entertaining show. I'll miss it. I wish that TNT would pick it up.
May 24, 2012 at 11:19PM EST Reply to Comment
- raves It's no longer in a position to be picked up, because there is a sense of finality, closure and clarity to it. The conspiracy theory is solved, and he's back with his family. There's no turning back from that now. It's not a show like Southland, or Cougar Town, where another network could pick it up. It's not even like Terriers, which had a sort of indecisive ending that could be picked up. Awake was given closure and I think that's the finality of it. It was a great run, though short, and I do feel that sense of closure and thoroughly enjoyed it. I will miss it very much though.
  May 25, 2012 at 9:37AM EST
- Alf I am not disagreeing with your main point: the show is dead. But raves, the finale would have been the same even if a second season were happening. So you can't say that the show can't be picked up on cable because the show had "finality" and "closure." The last episode is how Killen did it hoping for a renewal.
  May 26, 2012 at 4:54AM EST
- Dave I What ALF said. There could absolutely be continuity from the last episode. The plans for season two look pretty promising (and sound potentially dark). I doubt it will happen (although some part of my mind is thinking it is [VERY] remotely possible with the small spike for the finale), however you could easily pick up the show and start from where they left off. Just because it looks like there is finality, if you think about it how can there be? How long can Britten live in a delusional world where everything is perfect and he knows how he got there?
  
  Again, it will probably never happen, however there is a LOT of unused potential just being dropped there.
  
  -Cheers
  May 26, 2012 at 7:27AM EST
- Mr. Ochmonick Hey, anything's possible. Heck, even ALF got his tragic finale resolved with a movie 15 years later. Who knows?
  May 26, 2012 at 8:20AM EST
- Raves ALF, I know I read that Killen wrote that finale but I couldn't fathom hoe it could continue as Awake with that ending. But I guess maybe he could do it. He might have dropped one reality (the red universe where the wife was dead) and kept the green one, and introduce the new one where both the wife and son are alive. If so I do wish someone else picks it up. BTW, for those who need their Jason Isaacs fix, go on YouTube and search for his 6 episode series Case Histories. His British accent is strong though but I'm enjoying it already..
  May 27, 2012 at 11:54AM EST
- Dave I Raves, this may be a spoiler alert (for something planned in a season of a show that will never see the light of way). That said...
  
  Killen wrote that the third reality would not stick. From that I gathered, Britten would figure out that it is a dream and he can manipulate it. How that factors in to the Red/Green worlds I'm not sure. However, I am guessing it would not work because he does not want some perfect make believe world, specifically not after accepting Hannah's death to put Harper away in the Green world so he'll probably eventually disregard a fabricated universe (maybe by psychologically healing enough to do so?) and try to work his way back to reality or whatever actually IS his reality.
  
  Even if I am wrong about the specifics, he made it clear the perfect third world would not have lasted for Britten.
  
  -Cheers
  May 27, 2012 at 9:00PM EST
amg

Before I read any of this I just need to say that that was the most incredible, most emotional moment of television I have ever experienced. Words cannot begin to capture it. That ending was heartbreakingly beautiful, existentially profound, and a gift to all who shared in and loved this show. Thank you Kyle, thank you Alan, thank you Jason, thank you all. I am in awe.
May 24, 2012 at 11:20PM EST Reply to Comment
- pamelajaye Now that I have read it, and the comments to this point:
  I wouldn't praise it as highly as AMG, but I was really happy with the goosebumps I got (and the two therapists arguing was fun, too)
  May 24, 2012 at 11:47PM EST
- blybug Totally agree, I knew when the colors were "normal" that Hannah & Rex would be there, but for a moment I was literally saying out loud "please don't let them be dead" until he saw Rex. The catharsis and then goosebumps when Hannah appeared gave such a satisfactory ending to this now near-perfect 13-episode miniseries. Perhaps a new paradigm for network TV could be a self-contained story like this, viewers would know they were in for just one season. LOST got a lot tighter once the creators had an end-point. With Awake, I wondered from the first episode how they could ever carry this premise several seasons without getting old or jumping shark. There is finality and beautiful ambiguity to this ending.
  May 25, 2012 at 2:30PM EST
- Venice Blybug, I, too, wondered how this series would continue after the first season and felt that it was better suited as a mini series. As you said, viewers would then know they were in it for only one season. One great season or mini series is better than dragging out something that isn't meant to be ongoing. However, after reading this interview, I am now sorry that there won't be more episodes. Apparently this series had plenty of life left in it.
  May 26, 2012 at 3:45AM EST
pamelajaye

before I read the rest of this, could I just say -- I rarely guess at the "as soon as I"s, but I did this week, and I got it!
Thanks for interviewing Mr. Killen. I'm turning all red and green waiting to find out the answers, if any. And now, I'm off to read.
May 24, 2012 at 11:23PM EST Reply to Comment
keith

I took the ending to mean that the whole series was a dream. He just woke up.
May 24, 2012 at 11:24PM EST Reply to Comment
- filaphresh Which... I mean, I like that they gave him a happy ending, but... I don't want to say it's disappointing because it's great that Rex and Hannah are OK, but that interpretation does feel like a waste if the whole show was just this giant awful dream. Especially because he would have nothing to drive him crazy in that scenario. Maybe I could see it if he had woken up from a coma
  May 24, 2012 at 11:33PM EST
- pamelajaye nope. he's in a snow globe.
  May 24, 2012 at 11:48PM EST
- Kendra Except we saw him going through a door, not waking up. Besides, it looks like he just debunked that theory on Twitter. Although, I suppose it is as valid as any interpretation.
  May 24, 2012 at 11:52PM EST
- pamelajaye darn! forgot the Twitter thing!
  
  May 25, 2012 at 12:07AM EST
- Mike How did you come to that conclusion? In this interview I feel like he very clearly stated that the ending was a thrid world he created. Just as he was talking to Dr. Evans about there not being any set rules, and her telling him that he was going back into the whole, this third world was created. That is how I took it anyways
  May 25, 2012 at 12:18AM EST
- keith Mostly it was obvious that red and green were both dreams, because they both had weird colouring, and it would feel like cheating otherwise. His dream concluded when the bad cop got busted.
  May 25, 2012 at 12:39AM EST
- pamelajaye got busted for... killing his family that wasn't dead?
  May 25, 2012 at 1:10AM EST
- Huell Goodman The ideal ending would have been for Britten to wake up on a couch in Dr. Bob Hartley's office.
  May 25, 2012 at 1:48AM EST
- Lottie D @Huell Goodman,
  Bwahahaha!!
  Now THAT would've been a classic, lol!
  May 25, 2012 at 2:26AM EST
- JDMB Or:
  Red/Green were both just dreams, premonitions, portents, whatever you want to call them and he woke up in reality BEFORE the "accident: his subconscious worked out the clues (Westfield, etc.) that were rattling around in his brain and he can now avoid/prevent the "accident". Killen's interview doesn't support this interpretation, but the great thing about the series and how it ended is that we can play with it all we want (same with Journeyman further down...)
  May 31, 2012 at 2:01PM EST
- Dave I JDMB . . . I am not sure if this is where they were going or not. However, I think there is a good script idea in having him slowly realizing BOTH were just dreams. This could go very dark in that he might slowly realize neither Hannah or Rex got out of the crash. His day-to-day life might be mirroring the dreams and maybe he even busted (or accused) Harper. I think it would have been fascinating and heartbreaking if he first discovered Hannah died and the Red world was a bit of a mental sleight of hand with the supernatural type stuff happening there. This would lead him to what he already thought at the end of the series finale that Hannah was really gone (otherwise, why would he go after Harper if in fact none of his family members were actually attacked/killed by the conspirators). That would likely be the easier of the two to accept. From there the red world would be the "dream" while he would still have things going on cuing him into the fact that he was still dreaming in the green world ultimately ending up waking up a shell of a man in the actual real world once his fractured psyche healed, finding out he had been practically dream-walking through the waking world only now realizing that the Red/Green worlds were in fact idealized shadows of his life post-accident.
  
  I think the accident happened and at least one of the worlds is a dream (the red one if I had to choose since that's where all of the conveniently meta stuff happens, and how he had already dealt with Rex's death when the hallucination in the Red world told him Rex was not really dead) and this is a psychological defense mechanism with the third world being a dream within a dream.
  
  Just a guess.
  
  -Cheers
  May 31, 2012 at 5:11PM EST
filaphresh

Definitely going to recommend watching Awake to any friend who will listen. Best one season show since Firefly
May 24, 2012 at 11:30PM EST Reply to Comment
- pamelajaye I would, but the many eps that focused on the procedural stories - one friend only watched the pilot because of them. I think it would be hard to get any anti-procedural types to watch. Disclaimer: I'm anti-procedural (unless it's early House) and it was tough hanging on, for me, till they started spending a lot more time at home. Add in the amount of attention I had to pay... I think that if Alan hadn't been into it (not that I watch *everything* he does (far from it) and I was watching in a vacuum without reviews and comments, I wouldn't have survived to the end, I probably would have done the usual DVR and then dump without watching it that I have with so many shows.
  I do love that The Event was mentioned, specifically. Laura Innes may have to act in something new to get rid of the creepy factor for me. (wow, she's good!) After seeing Jason Priestly on Tru Calling, whenever I see him now I just feel creeped out. (more good acting?) Not sure I can handle whatever Anthony Edwards is about to do (and really, I need the networks to stop with the one word titles. one week I mistook a comment on Scandal as being about Revenge.)
  May 24, 2012 at 11:59PM EST
- dead souls Awake was good, but Terriers is a much better one season show. Hell, Terriers is even better than the ridiculously overrated Firefly.
  May 25, 2012 at 1:44AM EST
- Guy Smiley My favorite one-season wonder: the (sadly forgotten) Nowhere Man.
  
  Or Lost. I have to wonder where that show would've gone had it continued. Would've loved to have seen all those crazy mysteries wrapped up!
  May 25, 2012 at 11:04AM EST
- kronicfatigue No love for Kings?
  May 26, 2012 at 5:41PM EST
- Qitkat @Guy Smiley. I remember Nowhere Man! Very intriguing show. I often wondered if it were available to rewatch. Of course it aired pre-internet, so when it ended I had nowhere to turn to vent my frustration.
  May 27, 2012 at 5:08AM EST
isaacl

I was wondering if the writers intended for a third world to exist in a second season and if Mike would shift between all of them (the obvious issue being what would trigger a transition to and from the third world). It would have been an interesting direction, but given the trickiness in following (and writing about) two worlds, adding a third may have been too much. Thanks to the creative team for giving us one season of a fascinating show!
May 24, 2012 at 11:35PM EST Reply to Comment
- blybug His conversation with Evans just prior was about "wishing he had a time machine." I took the ending to mean he created a third world some time before the accident, but with all his prior knowledge. So all the dead characters are back alive, but plotting the Westerfield scam and the accident, and kind of like Flash Forward, Britton is in a position to try to change the future...but also must be exceedingly careful not to let on what he knows for again coming across as delusional.
  May 25, 2012 at 2:34PM EST
Kendra

I am not always feeling gratitude for NBC but I'm very thankful that they aired all of the episodes. It was an extraordinarily satisfying ending emotionally, IMO. And because of that, I would have no hestitation in recommending it to friends.

Jason Isaacs played that last scene perfectly. It was his idea of perfection but you could tell he knew it wasn't real. Tragic and happiness at the same time.

It will also make me more likely to jump aboard another Killen project. (I watched the very short lived Lone Star too). It's nice to know that even if a new project is canceled after the first season, I do feel like he's thinking of a way to end it with satisfaction yet leave it open ended. But yeah, I think cable should be the first place to shop a new project.
May 24, 2012 at 11:35PM EST Reply to Comment
- pamelajaye I feel the same thankfulness for Jouneyman. Which reminds me I have to finish up A Gifted Man (yes, I knew it would die, but it was also a doctor show.)
  May 25, 2012 at 12:01AM EST
- Kendra I also liked Journeyman, although that one I felt left me hanging a bit more than this one did.
  May 25, 2012 at 12:04AM EST
- pamelajaye I felt it left me hanging far less than Quantum Leap did but perhaps that is just because of the wife angle - he promised he would always return. Sam promised Donna he would come back to her but in the end he chose not to, without even knowing she existed. I was rather angry about that. Guess I should watch Jman again.
  May 25, 2012 at 12:34AM EST
- Kendra The ending to QL was sad but there was a finality to that sadness. Al got his wife back and Sam was never going to return home. I know it's much reviled but it satisfied me.
  May 25, 2012 at 1:49AM EST
- Huell Goodman @PAMELAJAYE
  
  This also had me thinking about Quantum Leap (which I consider one of the best and most satisfying finales ever - although it was maybe the most depressing).
  
  The interesting thing about the Quantum Leap finale is that it was filmed for the 3rd season, when they thought the show would be cancelled. They were renewed, so they put it on ice for the next 2 seasons. Obviously, most shows can't do this, but I feel the last 3 episodes of Awake could have been the series finale after even another season. It was a satisfying conclusion, and I feel all we missed was some potentially great stuff in between.
  
  Sadly, reading this interview, I'm less satisfied and once again fascinated by where this show would have gone.
  
  Here, Awake differs from Quantum Leap, which had run its course (Dr. Ruth, anyone? Apparently, Sam would have been leaping into the future, into aliens, into dogs, cartoon characters, etc...).
  May 25, 2012 at 2:17AM EST
- JDMB Journeyman's ending was filmed before it was officially cancelled, so there was still at that point an outside shot it would be renewed; they came up with and ending that would provide closure (his wife realized he was telling the truth, unbelievable as it seemed), but the series could continue from that point. Alas, it was not to be, but they were seeing the writing on the wall. I've always felt it was close to the gold standard in these situations...
  May 31, 2012 at 1:42PM EST
Claire

Really enjoyed this show (Jason Isaacs made me cry most weeks...), and after this and Lone Star I'm on board for whatever Kyle Killen does next.
May 24, 2012 at 11:40PM EST Reply to Comment
alynch

I think I get what Killen's saying. The way I figure it, whenever Britten was confronted with something that may point to one of the worlds being the real one, he'd find a way to compensate for that in the other reality so it became less clear. So when he's confronted by this weird vision quest thing that seems to point to Red World being a dream, his explanation is that maybe he was just having a dream within the Red World. And then he compensates for that in the Green World by letting that world have its own weird ass dream, one where he walks through a door and sees Rex & Hannah. Now both his worlds have similarly questionable foundations, and therefore he has no way of knowing which one is real. He found a way to make it all symmetrical again, thereby preserving his illusion, presumably to the detriment of his long-term mental health.
May 24, 2012 at 11:42PM EST Reply to Comment
- Steve W Great interpretation! This is what I thought, but could never articulate as well as you just have. Thank you.
  May 24, 2012 at 11:51PM EST
- Kendra I love this. Nicely stated.
  May 24, 2012 at 11:53PM EST
- Huell Goodman Excellent! Leave it to A LYNCH to interpret this episode so perfectly.
  May 25, 2012 at 2:22AM EST
- Chad My only issue with the finale is that they didn't answer who shot at the outrigger during the time jumps.
  May 25, 2012 at 10:38AM EST
- JDMB CHAD, that is one of the questions that would have had to be addressed next season, there were many loose ends throughout the series (well, maybe not that many) that would have to be answered; but still, I would not have missed this ride for the world!
  May 31, 2012 at 1:36PM EST
vfoxhall

I loved the ending. Sat with my mouth open for last 20 min. The heartbreak of Michael's needing to give up his wife to avenge her death -- but then the ultimate satisfying ending in having the family reunite in an earlier time. Loved the show. So sorry to say good bye. Thank you, Kyle Killen.
May 24, 2012 at 11:42PM EST Reply to Comment
- Dave I I'm still working it out. Whether it was in fact the red world being the "dream" and him actually having to give up Hannah to be able to avenge her, that was very powerful. Great, emotionally powerful ending. I really cannot say thank you enough to Kyle Killen, or even NBC for airing all of the episodes. It has been great, and for an unplanned series finale I thought it was very satisfying.
  
  -Cheers
  May 24, 2012 at 11:54PM EST
- Huell Goodman An earlier time?
  
  My impression was that the final scene was in the future; based on Rex saying he had to register for classes (presumably college?).
  May 25, 2012 at 2:25AM EST
- raves I tend to have to agree with VFoxhall. It has to be an earlier time, because in the real world both of them can't be alive, one has to be dead. The accident did happen, and one of his family did die, it's just we're not sure which one. So if it ends up with both of them being alive, how can that be a scene in the future as Huell Goodman asks?
  May 25, 2012 at 10:25AM EST
- Dave I @Raves, not sure how authoritative this is, however:
  http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/05/24/awake-series-finale-live-chat/
  "After the series premiere in March, 62 percent of readers predicted neither reality would end up being real and Britten would somehow learn both his wife Hannah and son Rex had survived the car crash. According to Isaacs, who — sorry sci-fi fans — says the series really was about psychological denial, one of the worlds is a dream."
  
  So that could mean the scene was before the accident and Rex was going to high school registration, or the present and Rex was going to college registration. It might also mean that Britten is simply psychologically avoiding the death of one or both of his family members. Or that Britten was avoiding something else and they are alive however he was avoiding something else (medical, tragic, etc.). Regardless, they could both be "alive" in the future because he is imagining them to be and his mind has taken control and merged the two worlds.
  
  -Cheers
  May 25, 2012 at 11:01AM EST
- Huell Goodman DAVE I, that's pretty much my read. If he's dreaming about a future where the accident didn't happen, a milestone like Rex going to college would be a good day to pick.
  
  Does one register for high school classes? I don't recall if we did that. Perhaps more evidence that it's Britten's dream - he might not realized that registration takes place online these days.
  May 25, 2012 at 3:24PM EST
- Dave I @Huell, I think at least some colleges require freshmen to schedule with a counselor to make sure they are registering for classes that make sense for getting a degree. Things might have changed and it might be done online by and large these days, however when I was in school they wanted to advise you so you did not take a ton of classes that did nothing toward your intended degree and end up spending eight years getting your bachelors, or worse griping about being on the 5+ year plan when you realized those class choices your first two years counted for nothing toward an actual degree. Also, yeah, I think they still register you for classes in high school, especially as a senior where you'd have most/all of your requirements done and had to choose electives a/o fill in the blanks for diploma requirements. I suppose it could be either, however I'm not sure which one is more likely.
  
  -Cheers
  May 25, 2012 at 10:51PM EST
Major minority

I took the ending to mean that reality is subjective; If what we define as reality is a perception that adheres to laws of nature and physics, than, based upon that narrow definition, everything Britton experienced was real.

And, whether something is real or not doesn't matter. It only matters how you interpret it, and how long you can hold on to your particular reality.
May 24, 2012 at 11:44PM EST Reply to Comment
Dave I

First, a huge thank you to Alan for talking about this show and Kyle Killen for producing it. This was a great show and I am so grateful for anybody putting their neck out on such a great idea. Even if the numbers do not show it, I think it really turned out great.

I cannot say too much. I am still processing it. I am glad Brittne got a third world where Rex & Hannah were alive. I desperately want a second season, however this was still a satisfying ending. I'd love to hear which world Killen thought was the "real" world or how he would have ended it if given an unlimited number of seasons to tell this story, however can appreciate the open-endedness of it. I think this is a great example of a story with an ending very open to interpretation that is still very satisfying.

If nothing else, Kyle if you read this, thank you. TV (cable or network) needs more shows like this. This has been amazing. And Alan, thanks for supporting great TV. Between Terriers last year and Awake this year, I appreciate the support of TV that was great in quality and that I may otherwise not have looked at. I hope we see more TV like this, in quality, and in this case created by Kyle Killen. He seems to have a great feel for what works, so best of luck! I'll watch whatever he makes.

-Cheers
May 24, 2012 at 11:51PM EST Reply to Comment
- Huell Goodman DAVE, I second your eloquent thanks to Kyle and Alan. I'd also like to thank Alan for bringing this wonderful show to my attention. I never would have bothered to watch this doomed network drama from day one were it not for Alan's advocacy.
  
  I also want to thank you DAVE I, and rest of this small but dedicated band of commenters, for contributing to a truly memorable TV watching experience. My enjoyment of Awake was significantly enhanced by watching it in real time, and coming here for all of your fascinating perspectives and intelligent discussion.
  
  As much fun as it is to comment on a Mad Men, Breaking Bad or Walking Dead, I really enjoyed the more intimate experience afforded by following a low rated show like Awake.
  
  Oh, and thanks to you all I'm finally ready to start watching Terriers. Although, I may check out Brotherhood or Case Histories for some more Jason Isaacs (Hey, Vince Gilligan! Get Isaacs a role on Breaking Bad!).
  May 25, 2012 at 2:53AM EST
- Dave I @Huell, thanks (or you're welcome?) for the comments. I really love unloading baggage on these shows and seeing what others thought. Additionally, I would like to think that our comments do matter and that it effects what gets on TV. Sure, Awake did poor numbers. However, I think passionate fans like us prove there is a market for cerebral, challenging, ambitions, and risky shows. I would probably shut up about it, except if we are not vocal about these shows, my fear is they will just replace them with shows that are perhaps safer yet never truly special. I think of this as I would art or a great novel and for me, shows this heartfelt and well produced deserve a chance.
  
  Also, thank you for watching Terriers. I had nothing to do with the show, however it is amazing and I think everybody involved in it deserves whatever recognition and support, no matter how posthumous to the show, that they can get. I'll be rewatching it in the near future, and if there's ever a season on Blu-Ray/DVD, I'm totally buying it. Ditto for Awake.
  
  -Cheers
  May 25, 2012 at 10:45AM EST
JedyKnight

i saw it yesterday and my reaction was, literally, "Wait! What just happened?" and then I was dying to chat about it with others, or hear what others thought of it, but couldnt because it dawn on me that it hadnt aired on NBC yet.. and it drove me bonkers all day..
after reading the interview, im relieved that i did have almost the same interpretation as the writer had (and therefore was sad that on one of the worlds, our hero was in jail with very little chance of getting out soon).
As a one shot series, i think it can live on as a really interesting, complex, thought-provoking experience.
But the fact that i was a little baffled at first by the ending (or at least made my brain go to overdrive), and led me to really want to discuss the experience with others, i think is the model experience for good modern tv, makes you think and makes you want to share the experience with friends, family or thousands and thousands of unknown people that just passed through the same thing.
May 24, 2012 at 11:56PM EST Reply to Comment
- Dave I Maybe the best thing you can say about this show is it sticks with you and inspires conversation. How many other shows can we say that about? I will miss this one, yet I am gracious for the chance to watch it. It has been great!
  
  Honestly, I'm probably going to have to let my mind digest this (maybe watch it again), then read this interview again before I really solidify in my mind what happened. I can think of no greater compliment than that other than to restate how moving it has been on multiple levels and how much I would love a 2nd season.
  
  -Cheers
  
  -Cheers
  May 25, 2012 at 12:00AM EST
- pamelajaye >But the fact that i was a little baffled at first by the ending (or at least made my brain go to overdrive), and led me to really want to discuss the experience with others, i think is the model experience for good modern tv, makes you think and makes you want to share the experience with friends, family or thousands and thousands of unknown people that just passed through the same thing
  
  Like
  May 25, 2012 at 1:25AM EST
- Elizabeth I hate that Awake was dropped. I have enjoyed this show more then any other show in awhile. The concept was great, the acting was superb. I'm going to miss the characters & story. I just don't understand why people don't want to watch something different. I hope a station like TNT, USA, A&E will pick Awake up, I sure would like to see the story continue.
  
  May 25, 2012 at 1:36AM EST
- Huell Goodman JEDYKNIGHT, I was in the same boat. Once I saw it had aired in Canada I couldn't help myself and found a way to watch it last night (don't worry NBC, I'll be buying the DVD set - in both realities...hmm, interesting questions, say Britten watched Game of Thrones in one reality, would he be morally obligated to subscribe to HBO in both realities?).
  
  Anyway, I'm actually glad I had a whole day to process it myself, instead of immediately jumping online.
  
  Interesting that Kyle mentioned the show was about to air in the UK, and Isaacs notoriety there. Suppose its a big hit in the UK? Any chance of a reboot?
  May 25, 2012 at 3:11AM EST
- keith It won't be a big hit in Britain. Anyone really keen has already downloaded it, and it's unlikely to find a large casual audience on Sky Atlantic.
  May 25, 2012 at 7:16AM EST
- Huell Goodman Maybe that's another part of the problem with the current business model: the type of people who enjoy this type of program may be young and tech savvy and unlikely to sit down and watch a network show (I haven't owned a TV in years).
  
  Next year's Arrest Development experiment on Netflix is going to be crucial for the future of this type of programing.
  May 25, 2012 at 4:00PM EST
pamelajaye

afterthought: finally saw that commercial with Siri and John Malkovich(?)
May 25, 2012 at 12:05AM EST Reply to Comment
steve

Anybody know what the song was being played at the end just before his son and wife showed up?
May 25, 2012 at 12:08AM EST Reply to Comment
- pamelajaye googled the lyrics
  http://www.azlyricdb.com/lyrics/Youth-Lagoon-Montana-326466
  Youth Lagoon - Montana
  May 25, 2012 at 1:24AM EST
Jpools

I personally don't know which reality is which. But what I do know is the third world is a dream. It was created while he was in prison, he had a dream there of him visiting himself, of having to face the "reality" yet at the end we know that there is no answer to what is actual reality. I think the third world is a dream between the two worlds , one where he has to feel no pain at all, one where he has his family back. Personally i think the end was to show this middle and to also show that there is no definite answer and that britten was going back to the red world. The third world just added another level to the cycle where he goes through from Red World to Third World to Green World,and back and forht
May 25, 2012 at 12:09AM EST Reply to Comment
Colleen

I think (my version, anyway) that now he's in a place where he can stop his family from being murdered before it happens, by putting away all the people in the conspiracy first.
May 25, 2012 at 12:10AM EST Reply to Comment
- Eileen I agree. Alternate possible versions of the future.
  May 25, 2012 at 12:44AM EST
- Mimi I agree.
  May 25, 2012 at 5:12PM EST
Petals Daye

watched finale, glad I found your interview via twitter. I'm bummed it's over...great Television!
May 25, 2012 at 12:12AM EST Reply to Comment
Reese

Love the whole show from the start, but here is a thought.... He is in a comma from accident trying to work his wAY BACK TO REALLITY AND THE TRUTH IS HE IS THE ONE THAT GOT HURT NOT HIS FAMILY. THE DREAMS ARE JUST AWAY FOR HIM TO PUT TOGRTHER ALL OF THE EVENTS TOWARDS RESTORING HIM BACK TO THE REAL WORLD. SO IN FACT HE CAN HAVE AS MANY DREAMS OR ALTERNATE WORLDS AS HE LIKES UNTIL HE AWAKES
May 25, 2012 at 12:13AM EST Reply to Comment
- JedyKnight Dont think that that was something the writers had in mind, but REESE that was a great take we can have for closure. *thumb up*
  May 25, 2012 at 8:47AM EST
- raves Reese that's a great idea and a great thought. I was kind of thinking that he might have been in a coma as well, so where you went with this is a great angle. Very very good. Don't know if the writers thought of this as JedyKnight said, but it would have been nice to continue something like that into a second season. That's why I like these boards. You meet up with some really intelligent thinking people sometimes. :)
  May 25, 2012 at 10:39AM EST
amg

I've finally stopped crying, but still am not sure where to begin.

As I was watching the show from week to week, I really wanted to believe there was some way that both worlds could be real. It didn't seem to me like the show would do the coma thing (as they didn't), and so a world in which he got to "go back" never really crossed my mind. Additionally, it seemed implied in previous interviews that one of these worlds was real and one wasn't. And Killen seemed to be promising that he would answer that, for which I was truly appreciative. And if you had told me before I watched the episode tonight that he would *not* ultimately definitively answer that question, I would have been really disappointed and have felt a bit mislead. And I had been looking forward to re-watching the series with that answer in my mind, thinking that all along people much smarter than me had carefully crafted logical explanations for how he knew all he knew in the real world and how that informed the dream world; reasons that would hold up when tested by logic from any angle, and that with those explanations in hand, I too would be able to crack the code.

But what we got instead was so perfect-- as a meditation on grief, on the nature of time and space, and even on hope itself--that I am so glad that what we get is, like life, so much murkier, and allows for so much to be.

My interpretation, which I am going to choose to believe, is that Michael got that time machine. That he had one dream; a dream that he was in an accident, lost his wife and/or son, and lived two lives; that was his subconcious processing the things he was already figuring out about the conspiracy before they tried to kill him. And gives him the opportunity now to not only prevent it and bring justice to those involved, but to bring a renewed passion and appreciation to the beautiful life he couldn't have known to savor as deeply as he will now.

And I am so very glad that I am allowed to create that version of reality for myself--just as Michael was glad to have his version of reality when his therapists tried to suggest otherwise.

I have to admit that as I watched that ending in complete shock and purer joy than may be normal to experience for fictional characters, I thought we would find out that they had filmed two different endings; and had this one to use in the event that the series ended, and would have used a different one had the series been renewed and they got to keep going.

But even knowing that is not the case takes nothing away from this for me. Normally I would not allow myself my "own interpretation" of a show if a different one was clearly intended by its creators, as was the case given that this wasnt intended as a show ender in the way I have taken it. Yet I am so grateful that Killen gave us the chance to make that interpretation, just as Michael had the chance to not fully lose his wife and son, if only in his mind (taking the show's potential reality into account). I sense that this ending is perhaps even a Rorschach test for all of us watching it, and that what we each choose to see in it, or believe about it, says a little something about how we view--or want or need to view--the world, or the nature of time/life/loss and so on.

For me, as someone who has experienced a great deal of loss in my life, and so often longed to somehow go back to the beginning and get a second chance at...anything....it was so immensely rewarding to get to see someone else have the chance to do just that. I think I lived vicariously right through him in that moment tonight, and what an incredibly beautiful moment that was. And while I know that in reality, those that are lost cannot come back, and horrible damage cannot be magically undone, I would argue (or need to hold on to the conviction) that we can in *some* ways, however ethereal, keep people "alive", at least in part, by keeping them close to us, and in that sense this show plays with the notion that our memories can create entire worlds of this, and perhaps the "reality" and "non-reality" of those "worlds" is murky too. I'm really going far too meta here, and I've gotten beyond my own ability to articulate what I mean to say. But to me this ending, given or even not given my interpretation, is an incredibly powerful and profound statement about our power to "hold on" to those we love and cherish as much as life itself. And that would be true whether he has created a whole other dream, or been prescient enough to prevent the loss (and show) from even beginning.

For me then it was not only vicariously satisfying, but whispers that we can, if we want it bad enough, in some way, get our lives back, and use the lessons we've learned to appreciate all of it more deeply, and savor every moment we get to have the people we love, our health, our youth, whatever it may be, whatever we DO have, because it won't last forever. And that is a message I am deeply grateful for, and hope to hold on to itself.

Apologies, Alan, for this so inappropriately long (and probably sappy and inadvertently cliche) comment on what I have not forgotten is *your* blog. =) And thanks for urging us to watch this show. We are all the richer for it.
May 25, 2012 at 12:53AM EST Reply to Comment
- TW12 Thanks for sharing your feelings about the Awake finale and being so eloquent and open about those feelings. While I didn't feel nearly that invested in this particular series, I've similarly found great emotional and personal connection with a handful of artworks. Sometimes, a television shows or movie or collection of songs (a record album, to us older folks) can help us make sense of it all in a very profound way. I'm glad that Awake did that for you.
  May 25, 2012 at 1:47AM EST
- Huell Goodman AMG,
  
  Thank you so much for sharing. What a beautiful tribute.
  
  I'm sure Kyle Killen and anyone involved with this show would feel honored to know that their work was capable of such an impact.
  May 25, 2012 at 3:29AM EST
- Dave I AMG, thanks for sharing. Interesting perspective.
  
  I actually found it more moving on the second viewing. The first time I was just eager to find out what happened next. The second time, realizing what Britten might have been thinking about what world was real or not and what his final conversation with Hannah meant (that he really might never see her again, deluded or not), punched home pretty hard.
  
  I also think that there is some element of being able on some level to get our lives back. In Britten's case, he was able to do just that and seemed to take control of his lives (whatever they may have been) and merge them into one life where he got his family back. Since we are not going to get a second season and I did not have to wonder "what happens next," all I could do was be happy for him for what this all meant to him.
  
  For what it's worth, I went into the second viewing AFTER reading your comments and I think that actually made more acutely aware of some of that.
  
  -Cheers
  May 25, 2012 at 10:51AM EST
- amg Thanks TW12, Huell, and Dave. Its really wonderful that we all get to share our appreciation of the show with one another in this way. And Dave, glad your second watch was even better. That goodbye with Hannah was so well done; as powerful as his loss of the green world was two weeks back.
  May 25, 2012 at 11:23AM EST
- JDMB Beautiful post, thank you for sharing. And don't belittle your eloquence! I, too, choose to believe your interpretation, and though Killen seems to disprove it in his interview, that's what I choose to believe and I'm sticking with it! Again, thank you and congratulations.
  May 31, 2012 at 2:14PM EST
pamelajaye

btw, I didn't understand the ep title which was also a comment by the female shrink. Is it common parlance, something that makes sense, or just complete gibberish - like when you fall asleep midsentence as my ex-husband used to do?
May 25, 2012 at 1:06AM EST Reply to Comment
- pamelajaye scratch that. it's in wikipedia
  May 25, 2012 at 1:11AM EST
- Huell Goodman In addition, the idea that it's turtles, who retreat into their own shells is a perfect metaphor.
  May 25, 2012 at 3:35AM EST
- keith Turtles all the way down, it's a reference to (the Buddhist concept, for example) that all realities are imaginary. Can't remember who originally said it.
  May 25, 2012 at 7:18AM EST
- sj It was a reference to a previous episode, where he mentioned the woman who believed reality existed on the back of giant turtle.
  May 25, 2012 at 9:40AM EST
- amg To completely nerd out here, the way I've heard it in sociology is that there is an Indian folktale that the world rests on the back of four elephants, who are standing on the back of a turtle, who in turn stands on another turtle, standing on another turtle...and that from there its "turtles all the way down." Methodologically it's used as a metaphor for validity; we can't ever get to the "bottom turtle", (a completely unequivocally true and singular account that captures the full reality of the empirical world we are studying) but we do strive to get down to "a turtle we can stand on securely." Which to me sort of seems like a wonderful way of thinking about the show and Britten's multiple potentially partially valid realities, itself.
  May 25, 2012 at 11:11AM EST
- Ken Raining Am I the only one that thought it was referring to "Yerdle the Turtle"?
  May 25, 2012 at 12:58PM EST
- tam IT'S TURTLES ALL THE WAY DOWN: I think the title of the final episode was chosen very carefully. It seems to mean that even scientific "facts" are just theories that have NOT been disproven (yet). It was "fact" that the world was flat....and now we "know" from views from outer space that it is round, etc. I think the turtle metaphor also means that as humans we can never take anything for granted as being "reality". Much of what we believe is based on faith. When it comes to the brain, the ocean, the after-life, no one really KNOWS 100% for sure how it "works" or what is really there. It is obviously a philosophy question that makes my head hurt to try to understand it all. The turtle metaphor also seems to try to "explain" cause and effect or consequences. What is holds the world up in space? Turtles all the way down...because there can never be a turtle at the bottom (where then did THAT one come from?) Same question about God. If God caused all things, then what caused God??? Too deep for human brains to understand I"m afraid. AWAKE was fantastic!!!
  
  May 30, 2012 at 2:21PM EST
- pamelajaye thanks. :-)
  May 30, 2012 at 3:18PM EST
ethan

I feel as though this was easily the best series on tv right now. i enjoyed every episode and thought it was brilliantly scripted. If my opinion only mattered. haha I ws hoping for even more of a sci fi twist, which ended up with Micheal in a coma, and was being used to solve convoluted crimes that only could be solved with a type of premonition!

May 25, 2012 at 1:52AM EST Reply to Comment
ethan

Ill preface with the fact that I know my opinion means very little. haha However, this was may favorite show on tv! I am immensely sick of shows like CSI, and all the archetypal cop dramas. I thought this show was brilliantly scripted. Honestly I was hoping for even more of a sci-fi twist. I thought it would have been clever if Micheal was in a coma and was being used to solve convoluted crimes that could only be solved with some sort of a premonition. That or he was dead, which would have been slightly saddening.
May 25, 2012 at 1:55AM EST Reply to Comment
Lottie D

I am so sorry to see this series go. It really was unique. I thought a corner had finally been turned, but NBC continues to fill it's time slots with mind-numbing reality-show twaddle, rather than provide quality entertainment. So sad.

Good luck & thank you, to all those involved with "Awake". I sure did enjoy it each week, ...and I got a chance to brush up on Infinite Regression Theory, to boot! Lol!
May 25, 2012 at 3:12AM EST Reply to Comment
Anthony

"It may have been a fundamentally flawed or not particularly interesting premise to begin with. But here we are." - Kyle Killen on Awake

Are you kidding me? If Kyle really believes this now, then I'm seriously worried for his own mental state. Awake has one of the best premises I've ever heard for a TV show in my life. You created a flawed character with supernatural abilities that Stan Lee would be proud of. Network TV biz is messing with your head if you think Awake was a bad premise for a TV show. The good ol' days of NYPD Blue and ER are over Kyle. It's all about Biggest Loser, Fashion Star, The Voice, The Apprentice, Off Their Rockers, America's Got Talent, Love in the Wild. You're writing for a thinking man on NBC -- a network that caters to people who want to shut off their brains. Network TV is about brain dead sitcoms and reality shows. If Smash represents an example of success on network TV then I hope Killen never experiences "success" in his life. Anyone can write that boring soap opera shlock. Awake was genius the only place it ever faltered was in pretending to be a run of the mill procedural.
May 25, 2012 at 3:47AM EST Reply to Comment
- Dave I 1) I think he probably likes his show. He could just be referring to it being flawed for network television or not being a particularly interesting premise to the general public. Or;
  
  2) He is bummed that his show, which seems to have an awful lot of heart, soul, hard work, and great acting poured into it, was cancelled after little recognition from most. Critics and the fans that watched it love it, but we are unfortunately the minority.
  
  I do hope Kyle does not believe or mean that as it sounds. It is (was) a great show and I hope he does something equally great and get some success & accolades.
  
  -Cheers
  May 25, 2012 at 1:29PM EST
- JDMB I think he was just playing devil's advocate, not saying that's what he thinks but that someone out there might have that opinion to which he/she is entitled and he has no problem with that.
  May 31, 2012 at 2:11PM EST
thejoshbaker

I'm just gonna live my live thinking that both worlds are real.

Man, this was awesome.

I will follow Killen wherever he goes. He forever has goodwill built up.
May 25, 2012 at 4:19AM EST Reply to Comment
marc

content aside, i'd like to remark one last time how INCREDIBLY GOOD this show looked. A visual treat. Probably the best looking network show of all time (I'm not kidding here).
May 25, 2012 at 4:47AM EST Reply to Comment
- Elizabeth Totally agree. Saturated, cinematic.
  May 26, 2012 at 8:30AM EST
Forseti

What I love about the final is that so much about the journey is open to interpretation, yet the destination was completely satisfying. (To me anyway.)

My own interpretation goes against what Killen is suggesting in the interview. I think the conclusion of the green world Harper plot was an elaborate revenge fantasy, completely made up by Britten. At the final shrink session, the green world may appear to be the real one, because Michael’s 'chosing' that one at that moment. The red world has become so undesirable, with him in jail and separate from his wife, he doesn't want that one to be real anymore, and he rejects it. When during that session, he empowers himself to make up a new reality with his wife around, he includes Rex as well.

I think the real real world is one with Britten in a padded cell somewhere, smiling to himself as he is reunited with his family 'elsewhere'.
May 25, 2012 at 7:44AM EST Reply to Comment
- raves Forseti, you just may be right (in your last paragraph there). :)
  May 25, 2012 at 12:42PM EST

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Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Mark So the ending is clearly either a dream in the red world or the green world, right? They're not saying both the red world and the green world are just a giant nightmare, right? So confused, but it a great way.

andrew i think they are saying that we will never know which dream world was real. and when dr evans paused mid sentence that was him dreaming and he woke up to a third world where both his son and wife were alive. 3 worlds...one where his son is alive, wife, and both.

Mike Killen specifically stated that there was no answer to which world was real. The end was him creating a third world. He even stated that he wasn't sure if they ever would have said which world was real.

Mary Awake was an incredibly though-provoking, entertaining show. I'll miss it. I wish that TNT would pick it up.

Mr. Ochmonick Hey, anything's possible. Heck, even ALF got his tragic finale resolved with a movie 15 years later. Who knows?

pamelajaye Now that I have read it, and the comments to this point:I wouldn't praise it as highly as AMG, but I was really happy with the goosebumps I got (and the two therapists arguing was fun, too)

pamelajaye before I read the rest of this, could I just say -- I rarely guess at the "as soon as I"s, but I did this week, and I got it!Thanks for interviewing Mr. Killen. I'm turning all red and green waiting to find out the answers, if any. And now, I'm off to read.

keith I took the ending to mean that the whole series was a dream. He just woke up.

pamelajaye nope. he's in a snow globe.

Kendra Except we saw him going through a door, not waking up. Besides, it looks like he just debunked that theory on Twitter. Although, I suppose it is as valid as any interpretation.

pamelajaye darn! forgot the Twitter thing!

keith Mostly it was obvious that red and green were both dreams, because they both had weird colouring, and it would feel like cheating otherwise. His dream concluded when the bad cop got busted.

pamelajaye got busted for... killing his family that wasn't dead?

Huell Goodman The ideal ending would have been for Britten to wake up on a couch in Dr. Bob Hartley's office.

Lottie D @Huell Goodman,Bwahahaha!!Now THAT would've been a classic, lol!

filaphresh Definitely going to recommend watching Awake to any friend who will listen. Best one season show since Firefly

dead souls Awake was good, but Terriers is a much better one season show. Hell, Terriers is even better than the ridiculously overrated Firefly.

Guy Smiley My favorite one-season wonder: the (sadly forgotten) Nowhere Man. Or Lost. I have to wonder where that show would've gone had it continued. Would've loved to have seen all those crazy mysteries wrapped up!

kronicfatigue No love for Kings?

Qitkat @Guy Smiley. I remember Nowhere Man! Very intriguing show. I often wondered if it were available to rewatch. Of course it aired pre-internet, so when it ended I had nowhere to turn to vent my frustration.

pamelajaye I feel the same thankfulness for Jouneyman. Which reminds me I have to finish up A Gifted Man (yes, I knew it would die, but it was also a doctor show.)

Kendra I also liked Journeyman, although that one I felt left me hanging a bit more than this one did.

Kendra The ending to QL was sad but there was a finality to that sadness. Al got his wife back and Sam was never going to return home. I know it's much reviled but it satisfied me.

Claire Really enjoyed this show (Jason Isaacs made me cry most weeks...), and after this and Lone Star I'm on board for whatever Kyle Killen does next.

Steve W Great interpretation! This is what I thought, but could never articulate as well as you just have. Thank you.

Kendra I love this. Nicely stated.

Huell Goodman Excellent! Leave it to A LYNCH to interpret this episode so perfectly.

Chad My only issue with the finale is that they didn't answer who shot at the outrigger during the time jumps.

JDMB CHAD, that is one of the questions that would have had to be addressed next season, there were many loose ends throughout the series (well, maybe not that many) that would have to be answered; but still, I would not have missed this ride for the world!

Huell Goodman An earlier time?My impression was that the final scene was in the future; based on Rex saying he had to register for classes (presumably college?).

keith It won't be a big hit in Britain. Anyone really keen has already downloaded it, and it's unlikely to find a large casual audience on Sky Atlantic.

pamelajaye afterthought: finally saw that commercial with Siri and John Malkovich(?)

steve Anybody know what the song was being played at the end just before his son and wife showed up?

pamelajaye googled the lyricshttp://www.azlyricdb.com/lyrics/Youth-Lagoon-Montana-326466Youth Lagoon - Montana

Colleen I think (my version, anyway) that now he's in a place where he can stop his family from being murdered before it happens, by putting away all the people in the conspiracy first.

Eileen I agree. Alternate possible versions of the future.

Mimi I agree.

Petals Daye watched finale, glad I found your interview via twitter. I'm bummed it's over...great Television!

JedyKnight Dont think that that was something the writers had in mind, but REESE that was a great take we can have for closure. *thumb up*

Huell Goodman AMG,Thank you so much for sharing. What a beautiful tribute. I'm sure Kyle Killen and anyone involved with this show would feel honored to know that their work was capable of such an impact.

amg Thanks TW12, Huell, and Dave. Its really wonderful that we all get to share our appreciation of the show with one another in this way. And Dave, glad your second watch was even better. That goodbye with Hannah was so well done; as powerful as his loss of the green world was two weeks back.

JDMB Beautiful post, thank you for sharing. And don't belittle your eloquence! I, too, choose to believe your interpretation, and though Killen seems to disprove it in his interview, that's what I choose to believe and I'm sticking with it! Again, thank you and congratulations.

pamelajaye btw, I didn't understand the ep title which was also a comment by the female shrink. Is it common parlance, something that makes sense, or just complete gibberish - like when you fall asleep midsentence as my ex-husband used to do?

pamelajaye scratch that. it's in wikipedia

Huell Goodman In addition, the idea that it's turtles, who retreat into their own shells is a perfect metaphor.

keith Turtles all the way down, it's a reference to (the Buddhist concept, for example) that all realities are imaginary. Can't remember who originally said it.

sj It was a reference to a previous episode, where he mentioned the woman who believed reality existed on the back of giant turtle.

Ken Raining Am I the only one that thought it was referring to "Yerdle the Turtle"?

pamelajaye thanks. :-)

JDMB I think he was just playing devil's advocate, not saying that's what he thinks but that someone out there might have that opinion to which he/she is entitled and he has no problem with that.

thejoshbaker I'm just gonna live my live thinking that both worlds are real.Man, this was awesome.I will follow Killen wherever he goes. He forever has goodwill built up.

marc content aside, i'd like to remark one last time how INCREDIBLY GOOD this show looked. A visual treat. Probably the best looking network show of all time (I'm not kidding here).

Elizabeth Totally agree. Saturated, cinematic.

raves Forseti, you just may be right (in your last paragraph there). :)

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Mark

So the ending is clearly either a dream in the red world or the green world, right? They're not saying both the red world and the green world are just a giant nightmare, right?
So confused, but it a great way.

Mary

Awake was an incredibly though-provoking, entertaining show. I'll miss it. I wish that TNT would pick it up.

pamelajaye Now that I have read it, and the comments to this point:
I wouldn't praise it as highly as AMG, but I was really happy with the goosebumps I got (and the two therapists arguing was fun, too)

pamelajaye

before I read the rest of this, could I just say -- I rarely guess at the "as soon as I"s, but I did this week, and I got it!
Thanks for interviewing Mr. Killen. I'm turning all red and green waiting to find out the answers, if any. And now, I'm off to read.

keith

I took the ending to mean that the whole series was a dream. He just woke up.

Lottie D @Huell Goodman,
Bwahahaha!!
Now THAT would've been a classic, lol!

filaphresh

Definitely going to recommend watching Awake to any friend who will listen. Best one season show since Firefly

Guy Smiley My favorite one-season wonder: the (sadly forgotten) Nowhere Man.

Or Lost. I have to wonder where that show would've gone had it continued. Would've loved to have seen all those crazy mysteries wrapped up!

Claire

Really enjoyed this show (Jason Isaacs made me cry most weeks...), and after this and Lone Star I'm on board for whatever Kyle Killen does next.

Huell Goodman An earlier time?

My impression was that the final scene was in the future; based on Rex saying he had to register for classes (presumably college?).

pamelajaye

afterthought: finally saw that commercial with Siri and John Malkovich(?)

steve

Anybody know what the song was being played at the end just before his son and wife showed up?

pamelajaye googled the lyrics
http://www.azlyricdb.com/lyrics/Youth-Lagoon-Montana-326466
Youth Lagoon - Montana

Colleen

I think (my version, anyway) that now he's in a place where he can stop his family from being murdered before it happens, by putting away all the people in the conspiracy first.

Petals Daye

watched finale, glad I found your interview via twitter. I'm bummed it's over...great Television!

JedyKnight Dont think that that was something the writers had in mind, but REESE that was a great take we can have for closure. thumb up

Huell Goodman AMG,

Thank you so much for sharing. What a beautiful tribute.

I'm sure Kyle Killen and anyone involved with this show would feel honored to know that their work was capable of such an impact.

pamelajaye

btw, I didn't understand the ep title which was also a comment by the female shrink. Is it common parlance, something that makes sense, or just complete gibberish - like when you fall asleep midsentence as my ex-husband used to do?

thejoshbaker

I'm just gonna live my live thinking that both worlds are real.

Man, this was awesome.

I will follow Killen wherever he goes. He forever has goodwill built up.

marc

content aside, i'd like to remark one last time how INCREDIBLY GOOD this show looked. A visual treat. Probably the best looking network show of all time (I'm not kidding here).

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