Meh, I tend to go with the opposite: The only person who died in the crash was the protagonist.
I didn't see it on TV(it was up on Hulu for two weeks prior to Thursday, so I watched it there). I like the premise, but I'm not sure how far they can take it beyond the inevitable institutionalization...
edited 2nd Mar '12 4:41:43 PM by Swish
I would be fine if it were just a police procedural. I don't want some crazy conspiracy behind the accident that will inevitably make no sense. Just go with Magical Realism; it's supernatural, and it's clearly not just a hallucination, and the character has to deal with it, but it doesn't need a conspiracy and a full explanation.
We're not just men of science, we're men of TROPE!I haven't watched it yet, but from the previews, it seems like an American version of Life On Mars. Yes, I know there actually was an American version of that show, but this seems very similar in premise.
edited 9th Mar '12 3:28:13 PM by Jordan
Hodor^^Yeah the second ep wasn't as good as the first. And that conspiracy comes off a bit too cheesy.
I actually think it'd be better if the cases went for a full season rather than a new case each ep. Cramming two cases in each ep makes the cases feel too short and underdeveloped. I guess it wouldn't be as watchable on a weekly basis but a full season case would be more developed and have a better myth arc than generic conspiracy.
I loved the scenes with Bretton and his family though. That's definitely my favourite part of the show.
edited 9th Mar '12 5:24:54 PM by ShadowScythe
Saw the first episode myself a couple of days ago and I liked it, which, was kinda a surprise as I generally like shows with a but more humor or action. The first episode had a bit of a serene, real sort of feel that I liked, if that makes any sense.
I actually care about the characters.
Rawrz?I wonder if his state is actually an Epiphanic Prison. 'Twould be an interesting addition to the Ontological Mystery we have going. As long as it doesn't end in a Church.
edited 12th Mar '12 7:39:39 AM by Pyroninja42
"Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person that doesn't get it."I liked the first two episodes so far. The preview for next week's (though, it's been 5 days, so I guess it's the preview for this week's) episode is interesting, with his son being kidnapped and whatnot.
I highly suspect it will be canceled, though, as it has very few viewers. Oh well. If we're really lucky, Syfy might make new episodes, but no one over there has their head on straight, so I'm just hoping this show doesn't end on a cliffhanger.
edited 13th Mar '12 11:03:17 PM by nman
It's hard for me to theorize based only on what's indicated in the show, as I'm biased towards "both universes are real" by my general embrace of multiverse theory and Everworld. In that book series, the characters were definitely grounded in ... well, Everworld, falling asleep and waking up there, whereas in the Real World they'd suddenly snap in with an update (ie: Update! You just got dropped by a giant! Have fun explaining your carried over reaction to your girlfriends parents!) and carry on their lives as separate consciousnesses, and the amount of time that would pass between 'updates' had no clear correlation. The last book had their Real World selves keeling over as they finally embraced Everworld.
That doesn't seem to be the case here — he appears to be living a full day in one reality, falling asleep, and living another full day in the other reality, and repeat. I refuse to read too much into the conspiracy yet, but I hope their planning of the plot is more Defying Gravity and less Lost. Too bad American tv still can't wrap its head around the idea of intentionally designing a show to tell whole story in one season.
edited 17th Mar '12 12:56:10 AM by Westrim
I rarely visit the forums to avoid the cynicism ooze.Holy shit, yesterday's episode was fantastic.
It was exactly what I'd hoped for from the show. A kind of trippy, alternating between worlds vibe where Britten is unsure of what he's experiencing is real with that underlying family drama. After a few eps of generic police procedurals I was glad to see an episode like this.
It's just a shame that the ratings have been pretty terrible. I don't want this show to die after it's just gotten good.
I'm not a big fan of the conspiracy element to be honest, though I guess it's the main way the series can build up a bigger audience.
It seems like there are three different shows going on here: 1) A man trying to deny the grief of losing a loved one by creating a delusion where he never really has to face this 2) A really trippy and surreal drama where the protagonist isn't sure what is real and what isn't and he's a very unreliable narrator and 3) A generic police procedural with a slight twist and conspiracy myth arc.
I definitely prefer the first 2 and want to see more episodes like the Penguin one which was amazing. The police procedural aspect is ok but for the most part they're recycled variants of other generic cop shows and it isn't really what sets this show apart.
As for this ep, it was ok, it did more cryptic conspiracy stuff but I liked the setup for moving to Oregon. I'm interested in seeing how Oregon affects the two worlds.

With Jason Isaacs.
Anybody else catch this last night? And did you friggin' love it as much as I did?
"Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person that doesn't get it."