Say Hello to My Little Friend (Awake)

Background The Brittens are involved in a fatal car crash. As a result, Michael Britten, a Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detective, begins to live in two separate realities. In one reality, in which he wears a red wristband, his wife Hannah Britten (Laura Allen) survives the crash, and in the other reality, in which he wears a green wristband, his son Rex Britten (Dylan Minnette) survives. Michael does not know which reality is real, and uses the wristbands to differentiate the two. Michael sees two separate therapists: Dr. Jonathan Lee (BD Wong) in the "red reality", and Dr. Judith Evans (Cherry Jones) in the "green reality". Meanwhile, in the "red reality", Michael and Hannah continue with their plan to move to Oregon. Michael works with Detective Isaiah "Bird" Freeman (Steve Harris) in the "green reality" and with Detective Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) in the "red reality" after the collision. Events Dr. Lee asks Michael about his latest experience with "green reality". At a police carnival at an amusement park, Emma (Daniela Bobadilla), Rex's girlfriend, asks if she and Rex can bungee jump. As they are walking to the ride, Michael bumps into someone who claims that it was his fault. At the ride, Michael goes first, but the person in charge of the ride seems concerned about something; Michael passes out and wakes up in the "red reality" (where Hannah is alive, but Rex is dead), as if the "green reality" were a dream. In the "red reality", Dr. Lee says it is progress, that Michael is trying to tell himself that his son is dead and that he is on the verge of a breakthrough. Shortly after getting into his car, Michael suddenly sees the man who he bumped into at the amusement park. Michael sees the mystery man several more times throughout the episode, and it becomes more clear the man is only a hallucination. Michael passes out and remembers events shortly before and after the crash; Hannah and Rex are singing the Queen song, "Bohemian Rhapsody". Later, Michael meets with Emma's father, Joaquin (Carlos Lacamara) at a coffee shop to discuss the new baby, the mystery man appears to let Michael know that he sees the real mystery man through the window, and Michael chases after him. When a police artist (Chad Cleven) draws an image of the man, his real name is revealed to be Ed Hawkins (Kevin Weisman), another detective who took over Michael's spot at the police department after the crash, now working with Bird (Steve Harris), Michael's former partner in the "red reality" and his current one in the "green reality". Michael meets with Bird and Hawkins, and the latter says that he was one of the first on the scene of the crash and that he is sorry about Rex's death. Michael starts to believe that his son is really dead; he remembers the crash, yet again, with additional information. Michael realizes that Hawkins was trying to kill him in the crash. As soon as he figures out the situation, Michael wakes up with Rex and Emma; he is relieved to see Rex. After the carnival, Michael phones Dr. Evans to tell her what he now knows about the crash. == Production ==

directed the episode|alt=A lady with long brown hair and a red shirt in front of a E! microphone, and she is talking. The episode was written by Leonard Chang and series creator Kyle Killen. It was Killen's sixth credit and Chang's second writing acknowledgment for the show. The entry was directed by Laura Innes, who guest stars in the recurring role of Captain Tricia Harper in the series. It was Innes' first and only directing credit for Awake. He stated that the installment was a model episode that he wanted to "pursue with the show going forward". "Say Hello to My Little Friend" marked the first appearance of Hawkins, a detective who was described as a titular "little guy", from the series' second episode, "The Little Guy". Weisman obtained a recurring role in January 2012 and later garnered the role of the character. This entry's production code was "1ATR10". It was filmed in Los Angeles, California. Isaacs found "Say Hello to My Little Friend" the "most difficult [episode] to shoot" as one of the character's realities was fabricated and had to disappear by the end. To prepare himself for the episode, he imagined that he had suddenly lost his own child or that something awful happened to his family. While Isaacs had "played cheesy disco music" through filming the majority of the episodes, he played nothing during the filming of "Say Hello to My Little Friend". During a scene where Michael sits on the floor and starts crying, Isaacs had "no idea what came out of [his mouth]". That scene was shot three or four times with a different performance by Isaacs each time; the actor did not know which take Innes would use. == Themes ==

"Say Hello to My Little Friend" continued and introduced key thematic elements to the series that were originally introduced in "The Little Guy". Key themes in this installment included when Michael was unable to see Rex and realized that Hawkins was trying to kill him in the car crash. == Broadcast and reception ==

"Say Hello to My Little Friend" originally aired on NBC on May 10, 2012, and was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sky Atlantic on July 13, 2012. "Say Hello to My Little Friend" earned a Nielsen rating of 0.9, with a 2 share, meaning that roughly 0.9 percent of all television-equipped households and 2 percent of households watching television were tuned in to the episode. Shortly after this episode was broadcast, NBC announced their decision to cancel Awake, due to declining ratings. Despite the series' cancellation, NBC still decided to air the remaining two episodes. In a review for the same episode, Sepinwall called "Say Hello to My Little Friend" and the following episode "quite good". ' performance deserved an Emmy Award.|alt=A man with short black hair and a black shirt, and he is smiling. This episode generally received positive reviews from critics. Commentators from IGN, Paste and TV Fanatic were pleased with Isaacs' performance; they felt that his performance deserved an Emmy Award. IGN Matt Fowler described Isaacs' performance as "suspense"-worthy, Yeoman compared Awake to Mission: Impossible, writing that "with just two episodes left", Awake has to go into Mission: Impossible mode to "provide answers". == References ==