reality"; he too appreciated the character of Emma, though he found her moving in with the Brittens "wonky". He concluded that he liked the "ambient, new-agey" background music, and said "while 'Slack Water' was a good episode, it also wasn't the best that this show can do". Writing for Screen Rant, Kevin Yeoman enjoyed this episode more than the previous one; he opined that "Slack Water" puts an emphasis on characters. Despite this, he commented that the episode felt "dull" due to the "noticeable absence of not only Rex, but also Dr. Lee (B.D. Wong) and Dr. Evans (Cherry Jones)". Yeoman wrote, overall: "Even though the last two weeks have felt strangely sub par with the rest of the season, the episodes themselves have remained entertaining in large part to the fantastic performances of everyone involved – though special consideration must go to Isaacs and Allen, for obvious reasons." Nick McHatton of TV Fanatic gave the episode 4.0 stars out of 5.0, and said "Slack Water" was "one of the poorer episodes", calling the "green reality" "underwhelming" and the "red reality" "awkward". Den of Geek Caroline Preece was highly critical of the episode, writing: "The central mystery has all but ironed out by the show's events and producer's comments, and the character of Michael has become little more than a casual observer of his own life." Preece opined that this episode may have led to the show's cancellation, though she appreciated the acting, adding: "While I think the acting on the show is quite fabulous, and the weekly case as good as the best police procedurals on TV, the use of the show's unique dual reality format has been underwhelming, and the unfolding of its mystery far too slow." Preece was also more positive of the "red reality", though she was "not entirely sure where the writers are heading with [the pregnancy] storyline". References External links "Slack Water" at NBC.com 2012 American television episodes Awake (TV series) episodes