Nightswimming (Awake)
"Nightswimming" is the eighth episode of the American television police procedural fantasy drama Awake, which originally aired on NBC on April 19, 2012.
Written by Leonard Chang and co-executive producer Davey Holmes, "Nightswimming" was watched by 2.8 million viewers, including 0.9 percent of those aged between 18 and 49 in Nielsen ratings, upon its initial broadcast in the United States.
Awake centers on Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs), a detective living in two separate realities after a car crash.
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).
As a result, Michael, a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective, begins to live in two separate realities.
In the "red reality", two police officers are sitting in a car talking when they receive a report of a break-in at a local college swimming pool.
Meanwhile, in the "green reality", Accountant Marcus Ananyev (Elijah Alexander) exits his house and makes a phone call.
[2] Actress Laura Innes returned to the episode as Captain Tricia Harper,[2] while Lawrence made his first and only appearance as Jake.
[2][3] This entry featured "Pain in My Heart", a song by Otis Redding,[7][15] which was played during one of a number of scenes where Michael is seen shirtless.
[17][18] During filming of the installment, Isaacs thought it would be funny to moon down the stairs during a scene in which Hannah and Michael go nude swimming, but stated that it would probably break the Standards and Practices law.
[16] Isaacs thought that the team of Awake would have to withdraw the footage, but was happy to see that part was included in the finished episode.
[16] Although it did not directly impact the ongoing storyline of Awake, "Nightswimming" introduced and continued key thematic elements of 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.
[19] Writing for HitFix, Alan Sepinwall opined that Michael is "coming to grips with Hannah's desire to move because he loves her that much".
Club editor Zack Handlen said that Awake "continues to connect routine procedural storylines and find new ways to give them deeper meaning".
[21] 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 was designed to "introduce us to what makes Hannah and Michael so special", adding that "For most of the series, there hasn't been much chemistry between the two".
[21] Caroline Preece of Den of Geek initially assumed "this random nakedness will tie in to the show's central mythology", though she later found out Michael was just swimming nude with Hannah.
"[10] He thought that until this episode the writers had been wise on guest stars and on not focusing on them too much; he also wrote 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+", writing that "Jake reminded [him] of Al Pacino's aging [gang member] in Donnie Brasco.
[12] Meanwhile, Yeoman stated that the entry opened to "a certain amount of whimsy" and that, "starting [the episode] off with the series' protagonist in the buff isn't exactly textbook.
