NBC’s Awake will wrap its rousing freshman run with a two-hour finale landing in the heart of May sweeps, TVLine has learned.

The back-to-back episodes will air Thursday, May 17, from 9 to 11 pm, meaning the series will have aired all of Season 1 uninterrupted.

Awake Star: ‘Michael Goes Into a Bit of a Tailspin’

At last tally, Awake had dipped in the ratings (opposite NCAA tournament coverage), but from all accounts, Season 1 will end with a bang.

“When people get to the end of the season, you’ll realize you’ve been holding your breath for a few weeks,” series star Jason Isaacs told me. “The last few [episodes] are just firing on all cylinders.”

Added his TV wife Laura Allen, “The last three [episodes] are quite a ride.”

This week’s installment, airing Thursday at 10/9c, happens to be one of Isaac’s favorites, as it plays with “every permutation of what you can do with this guy,” he said. “We make him unconscious as often as possible, and we do it in every way you can dream of. Knocked out, getting medicated, being drugged against his will….”

Oh, and there are penguins in the episode. And people love penguins.

How have you been enjoying Awake? Are you among those holding out hope that it, like Grimm and Smash, will earn a Season 2 pick-up from NBC?