Turtles All the Way Down

The brief, crazy experiment that was Awake wrapped up tonight with a season finale that wound up serving as its series finale. It was an interesting hour, in that it basically did "resolve" the story. In a way. It certainly didn't "answer" a damn thing, though.

About two-thirds of the way through the episode, Michael transitioned from his normal alternating realities into a wild fantasy that rapidly destroyed the integrity of his Red World and seemed to expose it as a dream. By the resolution of the season-long conspiracy, he'd seemed to have accepted that Green World was in fact his real world, that his wife had died in his accident.

But then, at the last second, a twist. In a final therapy session with Dr. Evans, he decided to reject that conclusion all over again, with enough apparent force to literally open the door on a third reality, an untinted world where both his wife and son were alive and well.

As closure goes, I suppose the premise of the show is resolved; it's easy to imagine Michael now living out he rest of his life in this newfound reality. As far as interpreting it goes, I suppose it's left up to the individual. It seems to me that Michael is in fact insane following his experiences, and somehow chose to retreat into the manufactured reality that gave him the most happiness. Perhaps in the real world somewhere, he's a drooling lunatic in a psych ward. Or maybe in a coma following his crash. Maybe he was in the process of dying, and now has died and gone to an afterlife. Take your pick.

Of course, the show had always been more about the family dynamic to me than the mystery. On those terms, I wish I could feel like this final episode was the strongest one for the series. Sure, the final resolution was rather poignant, but wasn't the gripping personal drama offered up in other episodes of the show. Partly this was because the bulk of the episode was devoted to wrapping up the conspiracy. Partly this was because so many of the outstanding personal issues were left on the table: what about Rex's pregnant girlfriend? The one partner who betrayed him? The other partner who may or may not be dead?

In all, I don't regret taking the journey that was Awake. I think it's best to file it mentally as a sometimes uneven mini-series, rather than an unfulfilled television series. But either way, it's over now.