MovieChat Forums > Awake (2012) Discussion > Yet another ending guess

Yet another ending guess

posted 10 years ago by random_guy2
16 replies | jump to latest

I am probably too late in coming to this show for anyone to care, but I thought there was one understanding of the series and the ending that made far more sense than any other I have read. I know the stuff about intentional ambiguity, but it is pretty unsatisfying to think the writers did not at least themselves have a clear understanding.

Basically, reality was with his wife and Vega and Dr. Lee. There were several teases throughout the show about which reality was real, but for me the kicker was when he started hallucinating in one world after being injected with a drug in the other. That only makes sense if the world where the injection happens (the one with his wife) is the real world. Getting injected with something in a dream obviously would not cause hallucinations in real life.

As for the ending, I think the pivotal scene is when he "almost" falls asleep in prison. My interpretation is that he really did fall asleep, and everything subsequent to that is a dream. This is why he can both observe events that already happened (in the wife world) and see the world paused (in the son world), both obvious dream events, because at that point it is all part of one dream, including the ending with both his wife and son.

Again, I am not holding out a lot of hope for comments, but I thought it was worth a shot.

[–] random_guy2 10 years ago

To add slightly: I really found the ending powerful with this understanding. This is all my interpretation, of course, but I thought that with the final dream he was exploring the happiest of outcomes in the real world, in which he figured out the conspiracy, everyone involved was killed or brought to justice, he was exonerated and seen as the hero. He experienced all of that in the dream, and realized it was not enough. He began to express that to the therapist (how it felt like none of that had mattered, he just wanted a time machine), then paused and slipped into a different dream in which both his wife and son were alive.

Basically, I took it ultimately as his realization that he would never be as happy in reality as he would in a dream with both, so he embraced that.

[–] terrellmauldin 10 years ago

Well said. I really wish this show had been able to continue though.

[–] nunnehickc 10 years ago

For the red reality to be real, it would have meant Britten was crazy. Ain't happ'nin on network TV. I believe neither were real, because there were enough clues in both to realize that impossibilities were happening across both. The creator still hasn't gotten his story straight.

http://chriscolleytvblog.blogspot.com

[–] vyperman7 9 years ago

Based on the original premise (one real and one is a dream) I always went with the red world being reality with Hannah and Dr. Lee.

1) It makes sense that they would want someone non biased to keep an eye on him instead of his old partner.

2) The world with Rex had a dream like tint to it and the world with Hannah seemed more natural looking.

3) In the green world, there were more than a few occurrences where he would come across people or places after he had already seen them. Like with knowing what Rex meant by the beach, or with Kate the babysitter popping up again. One of the more obvious episodes for me was Oregon. Like the FBI agent who happens to be from Oregon and hates it there. This is what his mind uses to cope with not wanting to move. Or how he sees the moving invoice and then just happens to see the moving company building in the green world.

4) Dr. Lee is focused more on finding the truth and wanting to touch base with reality. Whereas Dr. Evans seems a lot more focused on pointing out how both realities work together. This seems like a manifestation of his subconscious justifying keeping the delusion going.

5) For me one of the most obvious arguments for the red world being real is when the conspiracy is first revealed with the captain and higher up. It isn't a scene he is involved with. In a dream everything is from your POV. I mean it's the one thing he couldn't know in his mind.

[–] nunnehickc 9 years ago

It's been too long since I've seen the show now, but POV was broken in both versions (Rex getting kidnapped was the big one in the green). When the show was going on, there were several of us who were looking for any clues about which could be real. After everyone's thoughtful analysis, pretty much everyone (I think) agreed that neither could be real (I thought green was the real one for a lot of reasons). Considering the creator copped out on it, I think it's safe to assume he didn't know which was real, and didn't write either with an outcome in mind (extremely poor writing leading to a complete waste of time for a lot of the audience).

Again, in order for the red world to be real, Britten would have had to be crazy. That kind of theme is too polarizing for network TV (causes massive audience erosion). So, while you can make the "case" that red is real, just as much as you can for green, the network never ever ever would have let the star of the show be crazy.

I can't think of a single network TV show featuring a crazy protagonist that is a ratings success. The most intense versions of a lead with a mental incapacitation are Hannibal (Will Graham) and TNTs Perception (lead has schizophrenia). Perception lasted awhile, but there were portions of the show that were really hard to watch, such as the end of season 1. It was ultimately canceled after this season (cable can get away with this kind of protagonist, but network TV really still can't). Perception wasn't really any kind of ratings success for TNT.

http://chriscolleytvblog.blogspot.com

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] nunnehickc 9 years ago

The funny thing is that no matter what your interpretation of the end is, it's correct. It was intended to be whatever you wanted it to be, and that's pretty lol, in my opinion.

http://chriscolleytvblog.blogspot.com

[–] 9 years ago

[deleted]

[–] random_guy2 9 years ago

I've seen that you've posted this in several threads, but I honestly don't know what you mean. If either the red or green reality is real, he is crazy in the sense that he experiences a dream as real, naturally. But that was the entire premise of the show, and it WAS on network TV. I am just not sure what you are getting at.

[–] nunnehickc 9 years ago

At the end of the episode, in the red reality, he essentially would have been headed to the loony bin. Any idea that he was possibly "crazy" (like insane asylum crazy as depicted at the end of the show in the red reality) was absolutely never a premise of the show, and I GUARANTEE you NBC never would have greenlit the show if that's where they thought the creator would take it (and lying to them about it is a recipe for never working again if that was what he was trying to do).

Network TV shows make all of their money from advertising. The more eyeballs, the more money. Fewer eyeballs, less money. Polarizing storylines/characters cause audiences to turn away. So, if you're trying to turn off half the audience by something built in to the show, you're doing it wrong. The NBC show, Constantine, is a perfect example of a polarizing concept. They knew what it was going in, it delivered very well for what it was trying to do, but audiences wanted nothing to do with it even though it was well matched with another successful Friday show on NBC.

You don't start shows off by handicapping them on network TV. You do that on cable and premium channels where advertising isn't the main source of revenue for the show. It's simple business, and I'm not making this up. Go through network TV history and show me TV shows where the lead protagonist in a show was psychologically crazy. I doubt you'll be able to find one, and because of that you can take it to the bank that the network wouldn't have allowed this show to have one either.

So, anyone who thinks that the reality in red had to be real needs to dial it back and understand that from a logistical business sense, NBC NEVER would have allowed that to happen in the development process. I'd buy that Killen lied, but chances are he didn't know what was real, because he claimed not to have ever decided it (even though he claimed one reality WAS real in the press prior to the show airing). My assessment is that based on how the show was done, neither could have been real...meaning he was likely in a coma but once everyone figured out that's what was going on before it even aired they just dropped any idea of that.

http://chriscolleytvblog.blogspot.com

[–] random_guy2 9 years ago

Well I think we all know the actual wrap-up of the show was not what was originally intended (it was originally intended to be multiple seasons). They had teased the idea of either reality being real throughout the show, but once they were going to be canceled, the writers created the quick wrap-up that we got, and undoubtedly changed some things.

I think the red reality being real makes the most sense with the ending we got, and I don't think an argument about the original intent of the show is really relevant, because the original intent is not what played out. (I disagree with your premise, also, but again it is not really relevant for the discussion)

[–] nunnehickc 9 years ago

I'm telling you that simple economics say the show can't be one thing. You disagree. Network TV history is not on your side, and it will never be on your side. Network TV is about making money. If they make money and you're happy, great. If they make money and you're unhappy, they don't care. If they don't make money but you're happy, they don't care. I've used grocery store shelf space as an analogy for this show. If it ain't selling, they're taking it down, and putting something on the shelf that will. Putting a "crazy" protagonist in a TV show is like trying to sell your product with a picture of Satan in the logo. Some people might buy it, but most will be completely turned off by it. You don't start out that way in a model where the only goal is making money (there's a reason why the NBC show Constantine failed on network TV, despite being a good show). It's simple economics.

As a last note, there was a show on basic cable (TNT) that featured a protagonist with schizophrenia, Perception. For the most part, you really like the character, but several heartbreaking things happen with the character toward the end of season 1 that were basically a clinic for why you don't have a "crazy" protagonist in a TV show.

http://chriscolleytvblog.blogspot.com

[–] ZoneFighter 8 years ago

The British did a series about a police officer who was mentally ill, and kept seeing dead people who were not actually there. In fact the way the first episode begins you don't realize his partner is a figment of his imagination at first. The only way I could be certain the person he was talking to was real was that he never saw more than one hallucination at a time, so if he saw his dead partner and some one else was on screen too then that other person was real. If only one person was talking to him they may or may not have been real. Since the dead people were figments of his imagination they could only tell him what he already knew.

[–] smidget65 8 years ago

I felt the same. I know I'm WAY LATE but I just saw the show. I agree with this. He created a third reality, and it almost looks as if she is pregnant in the last shot.

[–] nunnehickc 7 years ago

Whatever floats your boat. The creator never had an ending in mind. Don't believe anyone (including him) that says otherwise.

My web series:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLece-1eaMHaC3K1xH64WtED1tMTRYWLL7

[–] SrEditor 7 years ago

I think you must be right.

The only thing that makes sense to me is that once it was canceled, they had to do a quick wrap up that made sense (sort of). I see that someone years back upthread mentioned that at one time the resolution would have been that he was in a coma and "dreaming" both worlds at once. I suppose that's what they did, only not showing us all the coma stuff, just waking him up in a reality where neither wife nor son had been killed.