So, I’ve just watched NBC’s new drama/wanna-be-Lost television show called Awake. The reason why I give this show that title is due to the fact that despite the excellent, well-written script, I feel that I am not high enough to fully enjoy the show.

Awake begins with a bang, like any good show should begin. In this case, the bang is a car crash. Michael Britten (AKA Lucius Malfoy, played by Jason Isaacs), his wife and his child are rolling down a steep hill. That is probably the clearest point of the show. From there, we have a little bit of fun.

Britten is forced to go see a shrink due to the tragic accident. However, his shrink changes from DB Wong to Cherry Jones. We soon learn that each shrink is tied to a different reality. In one reality, Britten’s wife died and in the other his son is dead. Confused yet? Think about Britten. He closes his eyes and goes to sleep with one family member dead. When he wakes up, the dead family member is alive and the other one is dead. Quite a realistic Mobius Strip.

But wait, as the used car salesman would say, there’s more.

Britten is a detective. In one reality, he’s working a case where a psycho is going around killing cabbies. In the other reality, he’s looking for a kidnapped girl. To make it even more fun, everyone in both departments think he’s going crazy. Fortunately for him, certain lines of both realities cross each other, which helps Britten solve both cases. In both cases, the culprit is a crazy red haired man. So Britten solves both cases. Huzzah for the man who may be going crazy if he isn’t already. So, he goes back to see both shrinks who tells him each reality is false and the one he is in is real.

So now the question is: which reality is real? Is Britten even alive? Why are both realities intersecting? 25 or 6 to 4?

If you missed the twists and turns offered by Lost, and long for the days of string theory since Quantum Leap, then this is the show for you. Otherwise, turn back to the Jersey Shore.

For a pilot episode, I give it 3 Michelenas and half a Banquet meal.