Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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It's Only a Dream Or maybe not in the mind-bending Awake TV by DEAN ROBBINS The new drama Awake (Thursday, 10 p.m., NBC) rivals The Twilight Zone with its reality- bending premise. Detective Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs) wakes up from a family car crash to find that his wife (Laura Allen) has survived and his son (Dylan Minnette) has died. When he goes to sleep, though, he finds himself in an alternate reality in which his wife has died and his son has survived. Each scenario has its own therapist insisting that the current reality is the true one. Meanwhile, Michael investigates crimes in each "waking" state, with help from clues that overlap from his "dreams." Needless to say, the therapists in each reality think he's crazy. Maybe he is. In a brilliant performance, Isaacs makes you feel Michael's confusion, pain and yearning. Awake is downbeat, though somehow not a downer. Like the hero, you feel that you're trapped between fantasy and reality. And that's a fascinating place to be. One thing you have to wonder: Can the series possibly sustain this high con- cept? After all, the alternate realities of The Twilight Zone lasted only one epi- sode apiece. You can only dream about where the filmmakers are going to take this thing. Judging from the pilot, though, they have a knack for making dreams come true. Deadly Sins Saturday, 9 pm (Investigation Discovery) Sometimes you're just not in the mood for an enlightening PBS documentary. You're in the mood for a true-crime story with no redeeming value. That's why we have Investigation Discovery. Breakout Kings Sunday, 10 pm (A&E) Starting its second season, this drama pairs convicts with the U.S. Marshal's office to track down prison-breakers on the run. Breakout Kings is set in a pleas- ingly unreal universe, where escapees are likely to be geniuses and everybody from the cops to the criminals are gorgeous. For all the jokey banter, however, the series gets you involved in the chase, not to mention the dynamics of this un- conventional team. In the season premiere, another hunky mastermind escapes from prison and goes on a killing spree. He has a vendetta against team member Lloyd (Jimmi Simpson), the nerdy psychiatrist/con who testified against him in court. Just when I thought I was watching the episode with detached amusement, an unex- pected tragedy struck, and I groaned involuntarily. Not until then did I realize how skillfully Breakout Kings had hooked me. The network's new Deadly Sins delves into real cases using the seven deadly sins as a corny-but- effective organizing principle. One episode, for example, tells the story of two women willing to kill for greed. We witness the murders, one of them accomplished by the old TV-in-the-hot- tub electrocution trick. We watch the inevitable scenes of coke-snorting in bras and fur coats. And we hear this kind of tease at the commercial break: "But this twisted tale is about to take a turn that no one saw coming!" If you can switch to an enlightening PBS docu- mentary after that, you're a better human being than I am. TERM II RUNS FROM MARCH 12 THROUGH MAY 5 To learn more about admission requirements and to see the degrees and courses available, go to methodist.edu/academics/evening.shtml. MU AT NIGHT Methodist University's evening program offers you the opportunity to earn your degree by taking classes at night and on the weekends. Earn an Associate of Arts with a concentration in leadership and management, or pursue a bachelor's degree. Call today to start your Methodist University Journey! Engage. Enrich. Empower. 20 UCW FEB. 29 - MARCH 6, 2012 For more information, call 910.630.7190 or e-mail aimpellizzeri@methodist.edu WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM