Awake ending explained: Why could Matilda sleep?

Jill did everything she could to protect her daughter Matilda and prepare for life without her on Awake. What happened in the end? Why could Matilda sleep?

One thing Awake never really explained was exactly what happened. The theory was a solar flare, which led to all power being cut and the electro-chemistry in the human body being changed. That caused people not to be able to sleep.

However, there was one woman who could sleep. Jill then shared that her daughter, Matilda, could also sleep. The question was why?

Scientists and the military wanted to study the people who could sleep. They needed to figure out how to fix the problem and save humanity. Did they manage to do that? Was humankind saved by the end of Awake?

Why could Matilda sleep on Awake?

The answer was staring us in the face the whole time. When Jill’s car crashed into the water at the very beginning of the movie, Matilda had drowned and needed to be resuscitated. She’d died and came back to life.

Later, the woman who could sleep said that she had died and come back to life. The clues were all there.

As everyone went completely delirious from sleep deprivation, a firefight started in the military compound Matilda was in. Noah, in his deliriousness, thought he was gutting a fish. What he was really doing was putting a screwdriver into a plug socket. He electrocuted himself and died. Matilda brought him back to life.

Noah woke after a while saying that he was dreaming. It should have been a big clue, but it wasn’t until Matilda found the sheriff badge that had originally been on the sheriff who brought her back at the start of the movie and Jill ended up with it that Matilda figured it all out.

People who die and come back to life can sleep. There was a way for Noah and Matilda to save their mom.

They took her to a lake to drown her and then at the very end we heard her take a breath. The family was saved, but that’s where Awake leaves us. How many others have figured it out? How many others died and then came back to life during this period of panic? Are there others out in the world who can also sleep?

What did you think of Awake on Netflix? Share your thoughts in the comments below.