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Nightswimming (Awake)

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"Nightswimming (Awake)"

"Nightswimming" is the eighth episode of the American television police procedural fantasy drama Awake, which originally aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) on April 19, 2012. Written by Leonard Chang and co-executive producer Davey Holmes, "Nightswimming" was watched by 2.80 million viewers, including 0.9% of those aged between 18 and 49 upon its initial broadcast in the United States. Directed by executive producer Jeffrey Reiner, this episode generally received mixed reviews from critics.

Awake centers on Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs), a detective living in two separate realities after a car accident. In one reality, in which he wears a red wristband, his wife Hannah Britten (Laura Allen) survived the accident, and in another reality, in which he wears a green wristband, his son Rex Britten (Dylan Minnette) survived. In this episode, Michael helps Accountant Marcus Ananyev (Elijah Alexander) and his wife Alina (Ayelet Zurer) start a new life in the Witness Protection Program after a gang member attempts to kill Marcus. Alina notes how Marcus and her have grown apart. In the "red reality", Michael and Hannah prepare for a new life in Oregon after deciding to move there. They go swimming at a college pool to celebrate their love.

Many commentators praised the storylines of the "red reality", but criticized the arcs of the "green reality". This episode marked the first absence of Rex, as well as the show's two therapists: Dr. Jonathan Lee (BD Wong) and Dr. Judith Evans (Cherry Jones). Although it was the eighth broadcast episode, it was scheduled to be the fifth episode. The music featured in this episode was "Pain in My Heart" by Otis Redding, which was played during a scene in which Michael is seen shirtless. He is also seen shirtless in another scene of the episode, which commended filming at an actual campus swimming pool. During filming, a woman who was near the swimming pool confronted Isaacs about his nudity. Several of the episode's themes have been critically examined and it was filmed in Los Angeles, California, featuring eight guest performances.

Plot

In the "red reality", in which Detective Michael Britten's (Jason Isaacs) wife Hannah (Laura Allen) is alive and Michael's son Rex (Dylan Minnette) is dead from a car accident. Two police officers are sitting in a car talking when they receive a report of a break-in at a local college swimming pool. Michael is running naked from the pool, while the two officers chase him; they tell him to stop running, then Michael identifies himself as a detective. Meanwhile, in the "green reality"—where Rex is alive, but Hannah is dead—Accountant Marcus Ananyev (Elijah Alexander) exits his house and makes a phone call. Marcus walks over to his car and tries to start it, but notices a bomb in the car's engine and runs away shortly before it explodes. Soon after, at the police station, where Michael and Bird (Steve Harris) tell Marcus that they will protect him. Marcus' wife, Alina (Ayelet Zurer), comes into the station where Marcus explains what is going on. Shortly after talking with Marcus and Alina, Michael and Bird take the couple to a hotel for temporarily shelter. In the "red reality", Michael notices Hannah cleaning up and packing items for Goodwill due to their planned move to Oregon. Soon after, Michael takes Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) to meet his confidential informant (CI), Jake (Steve Lawrence), with whom he will work after Michael leaves. Jake, however, does not want to work with Vega for an unknown reason.

That night, Michael, Vega and the SWAT team watch the warehouse but no one shows up; Vega wonders if Jake had given incorrect information. Back in the "green reality", Michael goes to the hotel, since Alina sneaked out of the hotel in the middle of the night. Once there, Marcus warns Michael and Bird that if they do not find her, then he will give himself up to Basayev. Back at the station, after looking at evidence, Michael decides to talk to the hotel staff where Alina and Marcus are staying, with Bird, rather than Alina's friends. Later, Michael and Bird go to Greg Hollander's (Ron Melendez) house, but do not find anything they are looking for. As they leave, however, Hollander, who is tied up, kicks down a table in the living room, automatically notifying the cops that he is in there. As the criminals run away, Bird and Michael break into the house, while Bird shoots the two gang members. Afterward, they speak to Greg; he says that Alina constantly talks about how she and her husband have grown apart. Michael goes to search for Alina at a beach and finds her there; the two about Marcus and everything that with them happened previously. Michael explains that she does have a chance to start over. Then, Michael takes Alina back to the hotel. In the "red reality", at Jake's home, Jake says he and Vega can have dinner alone to get to know each other. That night, Michael and Hannah go nude swimming at the college pool.

Production

An aerial view of a widespread built-up area, skyscrapers in the central district, with mountains in the background.
"Nightswimming" was filmed in Los Angeles, California, along with other Awake episodes.

"Nightswimming" was the first episode of the series to have been written by both Leonard Chang and co-executive producer Davey Holmes; Chang had later helmed the story of "Say Hello to My Little Friend" and the series' finale "Turtles All the Way Down", while Holmes went on to write the teleplay of "Two Birds".[2][3] The entry was directed by executive producer Jeffrey Reiner,[2] his third directing acknowledgment for the show,[3] with the last episode he directed being "Guilty", the third installment of the program.[2][4] Also, Reiner had previously directed "The Little Guy".[5] This entry was rated TV-14 in the United States during its original broadcast on television.[1][6][7] Although it was the eighth broadcast episode, it was scheduled to be the fifth episode, until the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) decided to change the broadcasting order, as the entry's production code was "1ATR06".[8][9]

"Nightswimming" marked the first absence of Rex, as well as the show's two therapists: Dr. Jonathan Lee (BD Wong) and Dr. Judith Evans (Cherry Jones).[10][11][12] Eight cast members guest starred in this entry.[2] Laura Innes returned to the episode as Captain Tricia Harper,[2] respectively, while Lawrence made his first and only appearance as Jake.[13] Alexander, Zurer, Melendez, Blackman, Holden and Todorov also made their first and only appearances as Marcus, Alina, Hollander, Vasily, Shapiro and Alexander, respectively.[2][3] Michael is seen in two shirtless scenes in this installment.[14] This entry featured "Pain in My Heart", a song by Otis Redding,[15][16] which was played during a scene in which Michael is seen shirtless.[15] The installment was filmed in Los Angeles, California, along with other Awake episodes.[17]

During filming, Isaacs thought it would be funny to moon down the stairs during the scene and stated that it would probably break the Standards and Practices law.[14] Filming commended at an actual campus swimming pool for one scene.[14] There, a lady was seen, who asked if Isaacs was naked, the second scene where Isaacs was seen shirtless.[14] Isaacs replied, saying that he was not completely naked, but had a "small piece of material taped over [his] genitals" and the lady went, "That's naked" and noted that she could see Isaacs' butt-cleavage.[14] In response to that, Isaacs "taped a piece of material over [his] butt[-][cleavage]". When the last scene was filmed that day, he ran up the stairs and, there, the material fell off.[14] Isaacs claimed that it most likely fell off due to it being held only by a piece of sealing tape.[14] That lady was "furious".[14] Isaacs thought that the "[team of Awake] was going to withdraw [...] the footage", but was happy to see that part of the footage "ended up in the episode".[14]

Themes

Jason Isaacs' role in the episode's themes have been critically discussed.

Although it did not directly impact the ongoing storyline of Awake, "Nightswimming" introduced key thematic elements to the series. It was described as a "long, roundabout" episode that is "bent on making [Michael] fully commit to moving to Oregon with Hannah" by Matt Fowler from IGN.[16] Writing for HitFix, Alan Sepinwall opined that Michael is "coming to grips with Hannah's desire to move because he loves her that much".[10] However, the Brittens later decided not to move in "Slack Water", the series' tenth episode, due to personal concerns.[18][19]

Sepinwall noted that he could see "the obvious parallels to Michael's personal situation" in this installment,[10] while The A.V. Club editor Zack Handlen said that Awake "continues to connect routine procedural storylines and find new ways to give them deeper meaning".[20] Nick McHatton, a TV Fanatic writer, said that "Nightswimming" contains "No conspiracies, no killers, not even murders", just a "procedural case that mirrored [Michael]'s life at home".[12] Screen Rant writer Kevin Yeoman said that this episode was about "bringing two people who have drifted apart back together" and that "Nightswimming" has "balanced the series' larger mystery with grief and a twinge of optimism" on a "smaller scale" compared to other entries of the program.[11] He claimed that the installment opens to "introduce us to what makes Hannah and Michael so special" and that "For most of the series, there hasn't been much chemistry between the two".[12]

In his real reality check, McHatton choose the "red reality", because it was "nice to see why Hannah and Michael love each other",[12] while Handlen claimed that "the show has done a fine job at largely standalone episodes", but each episode "feels like it's [sic] own separate story".[20] He assumed that "there's little feel of rising intensity or greater danger", "given the hints of conspiracy and the ever intensifying threat of Oregon".[20] Caroline Preece of Den of Geek initially assumed "this random nakedness will tie in to the show's central mythology", though he later found out Michael was just swimming nude with his wife.[9] Preece thought that Hannah and Michael "reconnected" in the episode, as did McHatton.[9] Due to Rex's absence, she thought that this episode allowed viewers to get to know Hannah.[9]

Broadcast and reception

"Nightswimming" originally aired on NBC on April 19, 2012,[7] and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Atlantic on June 22, 2012.[21] According to Nielsen ratings, the episode's initial broadcast in the United States was viewed by approximately 2.80 million viewers and earned a 0.9 rating/2% share in the 18–49 demographic, meaning that it was seen by 0.9% of all 18- to 49-year-olds and 2% of 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast.[22] In the United Kingdom, the episode obtained 287,000 viewers, making it the second most-viewed program for that channel behind Hit & Miss.[21]

This episode generally received mixed reviews from critics. Sepinwall was disappointed with the overall storyline of the "green reality"; he claimed that if the episode was only based on the "red reality", the entry would have been "perfectly fine".[10] Contrasting with Sepinwall's opinion, Handlen thought that if the "red reality" storyline was not featured in this installment, it would not work as an episode.[20] While Sepinwall called the "green reality" storyline "boring",[10] Handlen thought that the storylines of Marcus and Alina did not "matter"; according to Handlen, the episode should not have gotten into the details of the guest stars.[20] Sepinwall and Handlen were disappointed that Rex did not appear in the episode;[10][20] Handlen praised Rex, calling him a "likable teenage boy" that deserves more running time on the show itself.[20]

Steve Lawrence's (left) performance has met with praise.

Handlen thought that Michael sounded "reasonable",[20] and Sepinwall said "Awake [...] [has previously done] a good job of making the guest characters involved in [Michael]'s cases interesting enough that I care about what happens in each investigation."[10] He thought that the writers had been wise on guest stars up until this episode and that actors Lawrence and Valderrama did not seem to match each other.[10] Handlen was rather impressed with the storylines of the "red reality" and gave the episode a "B+", despite critical comments and wrote that "Jake reminded [him] of Al Pacino's aging [gang member] in Donnie Brasco."[20] Sepinwall liked Jake's actor, Lawrence, praising his appearance on the Awake episode.[10]

Fowler showed disappointment as the entry gave no "twists" or "problems" regarding Michael, or his therapy sessions; since Rex was not in the episode, he thought that the "green reality" is seeming more like a dream because of that.[16] Fowler compared "Nightswimming" to other Awake episodes, claiming that other entry's offer more "plot" and "emotional" problems,[16] while Preece called the entry "strange".[9] She thought that the storylines of the "red reality" were more "interesting" than the "green reality" storylines,[9] and Fowler was disappointed with the song choice of the installment, claiming that the notable R.E.M. song "Nightswimming" should have been played, rather than the song that was played instead.[16] Preece described "Nightswimming" as a "dull procedural episode" that is devoid of any mythology or forward motion.[9] She also called the installment "flat".[9]

While Preece wrote that the episode was missing key elements from previous episodes,[9] Fowler criticized the installment, since the first fifteen minutes of the entry were about Marcus and Elena and their lives.[16] Despite this, Fowler praised the final scene of the episode,[16] and Preece called Michael and Hannah's relationship "lovely".[9] Fowler gave this a "7.5" "good" rating,[16] the lowest score for an Awake episode at that time.[23] Preece thought that the episode gave "little mistakes", which they cannot afford to make;[9] McHatton liked Michael and Hannah's relationship, claiming that "it's nice to watch as they reconnect with each other"; he gave it a "4.5" rating out of "5.0".[12] Meanwhile, Yeoman has stated that the entry opened to "a certain amount of whimsy" and that, "starting [the episode] off with the series' main protagonist in the buff isn't exactly textbook."[11]

References

  1. ^ a b "Awake, Season 1". iTunes Store. Apple. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Awake | Series 1. 8. Nightswimming". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c "Awake | Series 1 episode guide". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved August 19, 2012. Note: Information is listed on individual episodes included on the list
  4. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (March 15, 2012). "Review: 'Awake' – 'Guilty': I am a cop! Looking for my son!". HitFix. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  5. ^ "Awake | Series 1 – 2. The Little Guy". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
  6. ^ "Awake – Episode Guide – Nightswimming". National Broadcasting Company. NBCUniversal. April 19, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  7. ^ a b "Awake Episode: 'Nightswimming'". TV Guide. April 19, 2012. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  8. ^ "Awake (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)". epguides. April 19, 2012. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Preece, Caroline (April 23, 2012). "Awake episode 8 review: Nightswimming". Den of Geek. Dennis Publishing. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Sepinwall, Alan (April 20, 2012). "Review: 'Awake' – 'Nightswimming': He made me a mixtape!". HitFix. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  11. ^ a b c Yeoman, Kevin (April 20, 2012). "'Awake' Season 1, Episode 8: 'Nightswimming' Recap". Screen Rant. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  12. ^ a b c d e McHatton, Nick (April 20, 2012). "Awake Review: Rekindling in Red". TV Fanatic. SheKnows Entertainment. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  13. ^ "Awake Cast and Details". TV Guide. April 19, 2012. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bierly, Mandi (May 24, 2012). "'Awake' series finale will be satisfying, Jason Isaacs and Kyle Killen promise". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
  15. ^ a b Leonard Chang & Davey Holmes (writers); Jeffrey Reiner (director) (April 19, 2012). "Nightswimming". Awake. Season 1. Episode 8. National Broadcasting Company. {{cite episode}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h Fowler, Matt (April 20, 2012). "Awake: 'Nightswimming' Review". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  17. ^ Andreeva, Nellie (June 9, 2011). "New Series Locations Update: NY Has Stellar Year, But LA Gains With Post-Upfront Moves". Deadline.com. PMC. Retrieved August 22, 2012.
  18. ^ Noelle Valdivia (writer); Nick Gomez (director) (May 3, 2012). "Slack Water". Awake. Season 1. Episode 10. National Broadcasting Company. {{cite episode}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameters: |ended=, |seriesno=, and |began= (help); Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (May 3, 2012). "Review: 'Awake' – 'Slack Water': Moving day". HitFix. Retrieved August 21, 2012.
  20. ^ a b c d e f g h i Handlen, Zack (April 19, 2012). "'Nightswimming' | Awake | TV Club". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  21. ^ a b "BARB's multichannel top 10 programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved July 26, 2012. Note: Information is in the section titled "w/e 24 Jun 2012", listed under Sky Atlantic
  22. ^ Kondolojy, Amanda (April 20, 2012). "Thursday Final Ratings: 'American Idol', 'Grey's Anatomy', 'Awake' & 'Missing' Adjusted Up; 'Scandal' & 'Parks and Recreation' Adjusted Down". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. Retrieved August 2, 2012.
  23. ^ "Awake". IGN. News Corporation. Retrieved August 24, 2012.

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