Jason Isaacs makes new NBC series “Awake” come alive

AWAKE -- Episode: Pilot -- Pictured: (l-r) Jason Isaacs as Michael Britten, Wilmer Valderrama as Detective Efrem Vega, Steve Harris as Detective Isaiah "Bird" Freeman -- Photo by: Lewis Jacobs/NBC

In the new NBC drama “Awake,” Los Angeles police detective Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs, “Harry Potter”) and his family are involved in a tragic car accident and afterwards Britten finds himself waking up into two separate lives.

In one, his teen son Rex (Dylan Minnette, “Saving Grace”), has died in the wreck and his wife, Hannah (Laura Allen, “Terriers”), has survived; in the other, Hannah has passed away and Rex has survived.

In order to keep both family members alive, Britten begins living in these two dueling realities, but has two separate bureau-assigned therapists, Dr. Evans (Cherry Jones, “24″) and Dr. Lee (BD Wong, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit”), in each of these lives attempting to assist him in determining which one is real.

Britten, however, has no desire to find out either one of them is untrue.

Britten also has different police partners in each world, Det. Isaiah “Bird” Freeman (Steve Harris, “The Practice”) and Det. Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama, “That ’70s Show”).

While working separate cases with them, he realizes he can solve crimes by using his two realities to obtain unique perspectives and put together clues that cross over from each realm.

Although this series sounds hard to follow, it’s actually not, and the main reason is due to the performance of Isaacs.