Awake: Ricky's Tacos

"Ricky's Tacos" is the seventh episode of the American television police procedural supernatural drama Awake. It originally aired on NBC on April 12, 2012. The teleplay of the episode was written by executive producer Howard Gordon and Evan Katz, from a story by series creator Kyle Killen; the episode was directed by Adam Davidson. "Ricky's Tacos" earned a Nielsen rating of 0.9, being watched by 2.68 million viewers in its initial broadcast. The episode has generally received positive reviews, with critics commenting on its storylines. The show centers on Michael Britten (Jason Isaacs), a detective living in two separate realities after a car accident. In one reality, in which he wears a red wristband, his wife Hannah Britten (Laura Allen) survived the accident, and in another reality, in which he wears a green wristband, his son Rex Britten (Dylan Minnette) survived. In this episode, Britten goes to Ricky's Tacos, where the voice at the drive-thru says that he cannot go to Portland, and "it all starts with the Westfield case". However, he fails to find anything unusual about the case. Later, Britten and Bird (Steve Harris) deal with a case with a girl who had died off a hotel ledge. Soon after, they find out that, the father John Ferris (Christopher Cousins) had been sexually assaulting her and her younger daughter. This had caused the daughter to get pregnant, and she had looked for a good guy to raise her, before she committed suicide, due to this. Meanwhile, in the "red reality", Britten and Efrem Vega (Wilmer Valderrama) deal with a case with a dead man Pablo. Later, they find out that his brother Jose Cabrera (Lombardo Boyar) had killed him and took his identity. Captain Tricia Harper (Laura Innes) and Captain Carl Kessel (Mark Harelik) discuss Britten's accident. "Ricky's Tacos" continued key thematic elements to the series that were originally introduced in "The Little Guy", the second episode of the series. The themes of the episode were criticized by The A.V. Club and HitFix. The installment is rated TV-14 on television in the United States.