Counterpart
(TV Series by Justin Marks, Produced by Starz, now on Amazon Prime Video)
These notes are by Rick Ragan, March 09, 2021
(See my review of Counterpart, and four of the most interesting scenes on my YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/7KOrqIrE7ZQ )
Counterpart is a science fiction show with a ton of original ideas, twists, turns, and excitement. It originally aired on Starz for two seasons, 2017–2019. I encourage everyone to watch it even though at the beginning it can be hard to understand who’s who. But that’s the reason for this document, i.e., we make it easy to keep track of who the characters are, which are duplicated in nearly identical universes, and where a character is located in a given episode.
The two universes are not directly named in the show, so I have created names to keep track of where the actions take place. This distinction is critical to understanding the plot and on-going action.
The drama frequently jumps back and forth between the two universes, and characters move from their native universe to the other universe often. Each has a twin in the other universe with a different personality and set of goals, but an identical face. The show is an exciting puzzle with a huge number of original ideas that are fun to experience and explore.
Howard Silk is the main character of Counterpart. J.K. Simmons plays Howard. He is so good that you can tell which Howard he is just by looking at his posture and the way he speaks. Since most actions center around this character, we name the two universes after him. Counterpart takes place in Berlin, Germany in and around the building known as “The Office.” No one outside of The Office knows anything about the two universes.
GHU — Good Howard Universe — Good Howard is a mild-mannered guy in a boring job at “The Office” in the “Interface Department”. He has no idea what he does at his job at Interface. Most of the action in Season One takes place in the GHU. This universe is also called “Alpha.”
BHU — Bad Howard Universe — Bad Howard is an aggressive spy who has a demanding job at “The Office” in the “Diplomacy Department, Section Two.” He is usually at the center of events. He spends most of his time over in the GHU. This universe is also called “Prime” which is a little funny if you are watching Counterpart on Amazon Prime.
Timeline:
• 2017 — Start of the on-going action, Season 1, Episode 1
• 1997 — Flashback: Sleeper School created by Mira
• 1996 — Flashback: Flu killed millions in the BHU
• 1987 — Flashback: Crossing or portal is discovered GHU & BHU
If you watch Counterpart on Amazon Prime, you can pause the action, and then see the names of the characters and the actor’s names who play them. These names are immensely helpful for understanding who’s who and who did what last episode. Counterpart never tells you directly which universe you are currently viewing. You must either understand that from this document, or infer it from trash on the streets in the GHU and modern buildings in the BHU. You can also infer where you are from who you know is only in one universe or the other.
You can often tell the universe by who you see there:
• Pope is always in the BHU
• BH is always in the GHU (except for the start & end, S1:E1 & S2:E10)
• GH is generally in the BHU (except for the start & end, S1:E1-3, S2-E9-10)
• BH’s Emily is always in the BHU (except for Episode 3)
• Baldwin is always in the GHU (except for the start & end, S1:E1 & S2:E10)
• Both ECHO and The School are always in the BHU
If you read ahead, you will encounter spoilers in the information below. The best way to read the text is to review these notes from the entire episode *after* watching that episode. Naturally, if you read far ahead, to see what happens in the next episode or next season, then you will learn the surprises, the twists, and turns in the show. I do not recommend you do this. Part of the fun of Counterpart is trying to figure out what is happening. In these notes, I do not offer any insight or advanced details ahead of time. So, you will never read something like: “Here in Episode 3 we see Mr. XYZ smile at Emily, but Baldwin kills him in Episode 6.” You only learn of Mr. XYZ dying once you read the notes for Episode 6. (FYI, there is no Mr. XYZ.)
For convenience I don’t use the term “other,” instead I say “twin.” So, instead of saying: “The violinist is Baldwin’s other” I say: “The violinist is Baldwin’s twin.” Which is true.
Enjoy.
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Season One — Episode 1, the year is 2017
Start in the Bad Howard Universe
Pieces of glass are falling on the sidewalk, then a man falls on the sidewalk during a firework display. People are in pandemic masks on the streets. Three men are dead. Police find a frightened girl (Baldwin) in the room who later kills them, takes the bag of money and runs.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Good Howard plays the game GO with Andrei: “The problem is you’re too nice.”
• Good Howard goes to The Office does his job: There are a back and forth set of questions he participates in at the “Interface Department” (his job is impossible for him or us to understand).
• Good Howard asks his boss, Quayle for a promotion to Strategy Dept, he is denied immediately
• Good Howard’s wife, Emily, is in the hospital
• Marcel got the Strategy job Good Howard wanted
• At the hospital, Eric, Emily’s brother, wants to move her to England, Good Howard says no
• Peter Quayle, Director of Strategy, and Thomsen Aldrich, Housekeeping, are a team
• Quayle and Aldrich take Good Howard to an interrogation room
• They introduce Good Howard to Bad Howard. We see the two Howards face to face.
• Bad Howard announces there is a kill list of people in the Good Howard Universe
• Note: the “Fourth Floor” is where the managers are located
• Emily is on a kill list from the Bad Howard Universe
• Note: Good Howard has a warm, cluttered, lived-in apartment
• Marcel (who got the job Good Howard wanted) is assassinated by Baldwin
• Bad Howard tells Good Howard that Bad Howard’s wife (Emily’s twin) is dead in the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard is in Diplomacy, Section 2 — Clandestine Operations
• 6 weeks ago, Good Howard’s wife, Emily, was hit by a car, as a pedestrian
• Baldwin tries to kill Emily in the hospital
• Note: Good Howard listens to Blues music on a turntable
Note Transition:
Skyline changes to show the Good Howard Universe changing to the Bad Howard Universe
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily works at The Office, just like he does
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Season One — Episode 2
Start in the Bad Howard Universe
• Note: The Midnight Station issues rendition orders
• Fun Note: Bad Howard puts in ear plugs before getting into the car & takes them out upon exiting
• Bad Howard’s apartment w/ Bad Howard’s dog, new character Raash, help Bad Howard with personal & official duties
• Bad Howard meets Pope in church, Pope is actively helping Bad Howard giving him a 36-hour visa
Note Transition:
Cross fade of Bad Howard Universe’s skyline (modern), to Good Howard Universe’s skyline (older, less modern)
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Good Howard is promoted from Interface to Analysis, due to Bad Howard
• Baldwin in old house repairs her cheek that was punctured by a bullet
• Bad Howard & Good Howard watch Nadia (Baldwin’s twin) the violinist, she is shot
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• New character: Ian Shaw has sex with Bad Howard’s Emily
• Bad Howard has a daughter (Anna), Good Howard never had a child
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Bad Howard is responsible for getting Good Howard promoted (again) from Analysis to Strategy
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily talks with Pope in the church, Pope threatens to expose Emily’s drug problem
• Pope: there will be a reckoning of what the Good Howard Universe did to us
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• A crosser, Baldwin, is now in police custody. The police don’t know about the other universe.
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Season One — Episode 3
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• We see flash back of Good Howard’s Emily getting hit by the car
• Notice special effect — wipe: Good Howard’s Emily taken to hospital (6 weeks ago), to today when Good Howard visits her
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily meets Weber in movie theater, confirms retrieval order to get Bad Howard
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Police ask Baldwin why she has the violinist’s fingerprints, no response
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Dwyer takes Bad Howard’s Emily to the Good Howard Universe
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Good Howard and Baldwin talk in Jail
• Bad Howard meets with Lambert, negotiates for Baldwin to go back to the Bad Howard Universe
• Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
• Notice Wipe: Skyline, then we see Ian walking towards the Office
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Potentially very confusing: Bad Howard is dropped off at the Bad Howard Universe’s Embassy that is in the Good Howard Universe. Bad Howard meets with Lambert (important character, remember him). Lambert is from the Bad Howard Universe, living in the Good Howard Universe as an ambassador.
• Ian takes Bad Howard’s Emily over to the Good Howard Universe to visit their embassy. Ian must get vaccinated every 3 months when crossing over to the Good Howard Universe
• Quote by customs official to Ian and Bad Howard’s Emily: “You do not belong to that world and nothing in it belongs to you.” (wise words if anyone could follow those rules)
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• At the Embassy we see the two opposing diplomats: Lambert-Bad Howard Universe, Roland Fancher-Good Howard Universe, negotiate for information between universes.
• Question: Why are they asking for such weird, seemingly irrelevant info? Italian vaccination numbers, seismic earthquake data, American Census reports, Geo-coordinates near the Marianas Trench?
• Note: I am not sure we ever find out what this info could be used for.
Summary of the Bad Howard Universe:
Clean, Modern, Clean oceans, had a pandemic, people still wear masks
Summary of the Good Howard Universe:
Trash on streets and technologically backward
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Lambert: Fighting ourselves back from extinction where 7% of our population died
• Potentially very confusing: Lambert is from the Bad Howard Universe but lives in the Good Howard Universe in the Bad Howard Universe’s Embassy. Just like in our real world, China has an embassy in the USA, so too does the Bad Howard Universe have an embassy in the Good Howard Universe. So, there are a group of Bad Howard Universe people living permanently in the Good Howard Universe. They can move freely about the Good Howard Universe, just as Chinese diplomats can move around the USA.
• Also: there are non-embassy people, civilians from the Bad Howard Universe living in the Good Howard Universe such as Baldwin (and many others we will see later).
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily: Pope order the attack on Bad Howard
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Very Important Note: Roland Fancher is a Good Howard Universe diplomat and the father-in-law to Peter Quayle both live in the Good Howard Universe.
• Fancher: we got HIV treatment technology & Human Genome tech from the Bad Howard Universe (via negotiations trading info).
• Note: Fancher is part of the Good Howard Universe. The Good Howard Universe is technologically backward. Good Howard Universe needs technological help from the tech advanced Bad Howard Universe.
• Bad Howard tells his wife to pick up a letter telling her who was his source of intelligence in the church
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily picks up the letter in the church showing her that Bad Howard’s source was actually Good Howard’s Emily. Good Howard’s Emily refused to tell Good Howard (her husband) what she did for a living (a spy) to protect him from her dangerous life.
• Bad Howard’s Emily is set up to look like she is back doing drugs. She is not, but now many people will believe she is off the wagon.
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Season One — Episode 4
Start in both the Good Howard Universe and the Bad Howard Universe
• Secret messages are sent to the two universes via the Crossing Guards, Bad Howard, and Raash
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Baldwin & Claire sleep together, Claire tells her that she will always protect her, but then takes Baldwin’s gun and allows another assassin to try to kill her. Baldwin kills the assassin. Baldwin has a list of people to kill (that’s Baldwin’s job — an assassin).
Both the Good Howard Universe and Bad Howard Universe
• Technical goof: both sides seem to have PCs with green screens. These are very old computers from the 1970’s. More accurately, the Bad Howard Universe should have MS Windows version 10 (2017), and the more backward Good Howard Universe should have Windows 7 (2009).
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Good Howard meets Anna (new person, his twin’s daughter). Remember that Good Howard never has a child, so this is a very touching moment. Good Howard’s Emily lost her pregnancy.
• Bad Howard’s Emily is in the hospital now. So, both Emily’s are in the hospital at this point.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Good Howard’s Emily is really an agent in Housekeeping at The Office, Good Howard does not know this.
• New person: Hendrich is from the Bad Howard Universe, but lives as a baker in the Good Howard Universe now
• Bad Howard gives Hendrich bottle of liquor from the Bad Howard Universe, they are close friends. Pope is moving illegal people from the Bad Howard Universe to the Good Howard Universe. There is a mole on the 3rd floor (Strategy) feeding Pope intelligence on the Good Howard Universe for years.
Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe — Important notes:
• Good Howard is in the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard is in the Good Howard Universe
• They stay there in their opposite universes for most of the two seasons — this helps you keep track of which universe you are in and who’s who.
• So, you can tell the universe in which you are located by which Howard you see.
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Season One — Episode 5
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• New people: Ringleader (redhead), Glasses (tall), Angel Eyes from Bad Howard Universe, given a grubby apartment, they kill the grubby apartment guy who gave it to them.
• Bad Howard visits Good Howard’s Emily in the hospital, she was the person sending Bad Howard the messages.
• Claire visits Hendrich the baker. Claire: Is it routine for you to betray your own kind? Claire is from The School run by Pope. Hendrich: “There are no sides, we all go to the same hell”
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Good Howard goes to where he used to play GO with Andrei, but in the Bad Howard Universe there is no café or tables to play GO. Pope talks with Good Howard. Pope is the guy responsible for lifting Bad Howard up and making him into a first-class spy. He tells Good Howard that Bad Howard’s Emily ruined Bad Howard, and Good Howard should not trust Bad Howard’s Emily.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Quayle & Aldrich go to the Good Howard Universe Office and search it to see if they can find who is the mole
• Andrei (who plays GO with Good Howard) goes to the hospital to see Emily, but is turned away
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Note: Bad Howard’s Emily works in Strategy/Counterintelligence
• Pope hired Baldwin to kill Good Howard’s Emily and others
• Bad Howard’s Emily knows that the Bad Howard Universe’s embassy is compromised
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Quayle and Aldrich visit Alice & her twin & their husband (Note: three-person marriage). They are under protection. They talk about project Indigo for the first time. It is a black ops project, a school to train kids to become sleeper agents to attack the Good Howard Universe.
• Note: references to Edinburgh & Istanbul events (never explained in the show, you can ignore this)
Both the Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
• Note: Sometimes Amazon Prime pause shows “Prime” or “Alpha” before some character’s names. They do this very inconsistently. Alpha is the Good Howard Universe; Prime is the Bad Howard Universe.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Bad Howard searches Andrei’s (Good Howard’s GO partner) apartment and finds Good Howard’s Emily’s bag of cash.
• Andrei goes to the hospital to see Good Howard’s Emily.
• Andrei is a “civilian” (not involved in The Office), he is Good Howard’s wife’s lover. She was cheating on Good Howard
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Good Howard talks with Edgar (new person) to see the address on the letters Edgar is delivering for Lambert, it’s addressed to Potsdam Mansion
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Note: Lambert is sending messages to Potsdam. What is Potsdam significance?
• Claire visits the three Bad Howard Universe agents (Ringleader, Glasses is a tall man, Angel Eyes) and gives them instructions, “Ringleader” (redhead, later named Helen) says to Claire: “It’s an honor to meet you.”
• Bad Howard visits Good Howard’s Emily in the hospital (she is in a coma). He thanks her for the intel she passed to him when he was in the Bad Howard Universe. Emily loved Andrei and Bad Howard reacts emotionally by says: I thought you were better than that. Question later answered: Why did Good Howard’s Emily have that much cash?
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Season One — Episode 6
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• Angel Eyes leaves his room (his spy cell) and walks around outside in the dirty Good Howard Universe.
• Great scene: Ian finds three guys who brought a Prince album from the Good Howard Universe. Prince died in the Bad Howard Universe, but not in the Good Howard Universe. So, finding a new album from Prince in the Bad Howard Universe would be very confusing and might alert people in the Bad Howard Universe that another universe exists.
• Ian and two people (who Bad Howard shot) confront him about Edgar and Lambert’s messages.
• Aldrich visits Lamer (new person, only in this one scene). Lamer and Walter (new person, now dead) were lovers. Walter felt he was being watched. He died of a heart attack. Did the Bad Howard Universe kill Walter so they could replace him with a mole (at The Office).
• Bad Howard is called to the bakery. Hendrich was shot, his fingers, and his teeth removed
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Lie Detector guy hears Ian say they are going to Potsdam and calls Pope
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Baldwin and Greta go to Greta’s home and have sex
• Bad Howard goes to hotel and confronts Quayle about Hendrich’s death, there is a mole in Quayle’s department
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Ian, Bad Howard, Good Howard’s Emily travel to Potsdam Mansion and see people burning documents
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Important: Quayle goes home, coffee cup he is drinking from matches the coffee cup stain on the photocopy that he is now reading. These are the orders to protect Philip Kistler.
• Quayle says it’s Aldrich, but Quayle sees his wife, Claire and knows it’s her.
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Season One — Episode 7, Claire’s Early Training at the School
Start in the Bad Howard Universe
Flashback to 1997:
• Young Claire is trained in The School to be sleeper agent who will replace her twin at the proper time.
• The School must break her legs since her twin broke her legs in a skiing accident
• Mira (School Head mistress, new person) tells young Claire: “You are a soldier.”
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Quayle calls Bad Howard and tells him about Claire stealing his intel
• Claire gets ready to marry Quayle. Pope tells her to replace her twin now
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Pope meets with Bad Howard Universe’s Claire, ready to replace Good Howard Universe’s Claire.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Bad Howard Universe’s Claire meets Lambert. Bad Howard Universe’s Claire watches Good Howard Universe’s Claire with remote cameras to match her speech and behaviors.
• Good Howard Universe’s Claire sees Quayle’s sex tape and wants out of the marriage
• Lambert tells Bad Howard Universe’s Claire to kill her twin and replace her now
• Bad Howard Universe’s Claire kills her twin by strangling her in a car. Years pass. Quayle discovers Claire is from the Bad Howard Universe and a spy. He tells her to take the cyanide pill, but she flips the situation.
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Season One — Episode 8
Start in the Bad Howard Universe
• Pope calls in the order to burn all of The School’s documents and take all of the children away from the Potsdam Mansion.
• Head Teacher (Mira) and blonde guy take bags of stuff and drive away.
• Blonde guy gets message from Pope
• Aldrich inspects The School and finds all documents are burned, in the basement are three dead kids.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Good Howard’s Emily is now out of the coma
• Good Howard’s Emily’s mother, Charlotte Burton from England, visits Good Howard’s Emily in the hospital, she plans to stay in Berlin.
Both in the Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
• Good Howard meets with Bad Howard in the Interface room (two-way mirror). They talk about The School
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Quayle tells Aldrich that Bad Howard, not Claire, is manipulating and stealing intel
• The three Bad Howard Universe agents assume their posts: Ringleader, Glasses, Angel Eyes
• Baldwin’s twin was named Nadia. She was the violinist. Nadia’s ex-lover sees Baldwin, assumes it is Nadia, asks what’s going on, Baldwin ignores her, the ex-lover gets upset and leaves the dress store.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
- Bad Howard’s Emily captures Kasper, one agent was stabbed, Kasper tells them he has been working for Pope for three years.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Quayle tells Aldrich that Bad Howard is the Mole
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Season One — Episode 9
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• Ringleader (redhead, now called Helen) replaces her twin in Roland Fancher’s office. Fancher is Quayle’s father-in-law.
• Quayle and Claire crash into a dumpster
• Angel Eyes is now handling mail in The Office, undercover. He moves a box with guns to Glasses.
All hell breaks loose.
• Ringleader, acting as Fancher’s secretary named Helen, kills many people in the Office, but does not kill Fancher.
• Note: Fancher is not killed presumably because the Bad Howard Universe needs Fancher alive to produce intel that Claire can intercept from her husband, Quayle.
• Glasses gets gun from box and helps Ringleader/Helen kill people in The Office
• Angel Eyes shoots his way to The Crossing. He kills all the red shirts (Star Trek reference) in his way. Aldrich shoots him. Angel Eyes walks to the exact point where the Good Howard Universe touches the Bad Howard Universe (line between the two universes) and sits down, gravely wounded.
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Season One — Episode 10, season finale
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• Both Quayle and Claire are in the hospital, aftermath of the Office shoot out
• 4th floor management — no people there, desolate, only an electronic teleconference device to meet with Fancher and Quayle. We only see a human translator wearing headphones
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• The School is project Indigo — sleeper agents train to replace their twins who are living in the Good Howard Universe
Both the Good Howard Universe and Bad Howard Universe
Very Confusing/Interesting Scene:
• We switch back and forth between the two universes rapidly:
• Bad Howard Universe has an old translator who is bald, and Emily is sitting at the far left,Quayle is sitting on the far right.
• Good Howard Universe has a younger translator who has a crew cut, and no Emily and no Quayle.
• Note: this interesting scene runs on Amazon Prime at the timestamp: 14:00 to 20:20
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Pope/Indigo denies it has a part in this rogue operation in their universe
• Management commands: do nothing, don’t retrieve the body
• Bad Howard’s Emily lays the cards on the table: please tell the Good Howard Universe that we had a rogue operation that was not sanctioned by mgmt. We are responsible, we apologize.
• Mgmt. denies Emily’s request & tells the Bad Howard Universe do not claim responsibility for the shootout
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Greta sees the violinist’s web site (Nadia’s), assumes it is Baldwin and kicks Baldwin out of her apartment.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Pope meets with Good Howard in the church, they go back to Pope’s home
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Good Howard Universe assumes this is war with the Bad Howard Universe for the office shoot out. Good Howard Universe closes the doors at The Crossing. Now, no-man’s land is closed. No one can travel to the other universe.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Pope tells Good Howard: “I am your enemy; I am the one who tried to kill your wife.”
• Pope tells Good Howard: “If you don’t become him, he will become you.”
• Once Pope realizes that Good Howard will never work for him, he decides to shoot him.
• In self defense, Good Howard hits Pope with a poker from the fireplace and kills him.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Baldwin kills Aldrich to save Bad Howard’s life
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Ian takes Good Howard to ECHO, I don’t want to see him ever again
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Claire kills one of Aldrich’s goons in her kitchen, Quayle comforts her as a husband would
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• The first question from Bad Howard’s Emily is to ask Ian: “Where is he?” (Where is Good Howard?) Ian is disgusted with Emily treating him as second to Good Howard.
End Season One — Summary:
• Good Howard is in ECHO — bare prison cell, ECHO is in the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard is reading to Good Howard’s Emily in the hospital in the Good Howard Universe
• Quayle accepts Claire as his wife (after understanding she is the mole in the Good Howard Universe)
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Beginning of Season Two
Season Two – Episode 1
Stays in the Good Howard Universe
• Naya is a spy hunter. She is given a polygraph test and hired to find the mole in The Office
• Alice is running away from someone in the woods. Herbert, her husband, is dead. Claire kills both Alice and her twin.
• Fancher, Quayle’s Father-in-law, says that Aldrich is Shadow, the mole
• Claire gives Quayle Edgar Brandt’s name, to enhance Quayle’s credibility and deflect suspicion away from her, they capture him on a bridge.
• Edgar was carrying messages, pouches, to Lambert for years.
• Lambert meets with Claire and her baby at a park. He tells her to activate the next sleeper cell now.
• Good Howard’s Emily is in the weird situation of thinking her husband is not who she remembers, but she is recovering from brain trauma and cannot be sure if what she remembers is accurate.
• Quayle sees Naya praying as a Muslim.
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Season Two – Episode 2
Start in the Bad Howard Universe
• Two people from The School, Mira and Aldus Frey move to a safe house to hide
• Mira visits an older man, who is part of Management, threatens him, tells him: It’s time for the Bad Howard Universe to have new management.
• Bad Howard’s Emily is trying to visit Good Howard at ECHO
Both: Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
• The Crossing doors re-open, a package is delivered to the other side, then doors close
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily is sent up to the 4th floor. A man later named as “Yorke” speaking for management tells her if she kills Mira, then they will release Good Howard. Dwyer is relieved, she is now Acting Director of Strategy.
• Ian meets Nomi in a cafe
• One of Pope’s henchman is dead. This was part of a clean-up operation for Indigo. We see Pope’s dog with the dead man.
• Bad Howard’s Emily visits George Schmidt & his wife. Would you like to see your son who you thought died 21 years ago? Tell us where Mira is. George says yes.
• Good Howard and Bad Howard’s Emily meet in ECHO. Good Howard learns that his real wife was blocking his promotions for 28 years. Bad Howard’s Emily tells Good Howard that Good Howard’s wife was trying to protect him, but Good Howard refuses to accept that Good Howard’s wife is a spy.
• Ian and Emily go to Mira’s apartment. She’s not there, but there is a ton of data on the computers to be harvested. Aldus Frey refuses to be captured by Emily and jumps off the building to his death.
• Mira meets up with George Schmidt and kills him and his wife for betraying their cause
• Only Mira and Osmond remain
• Bad Howard’s Emily tells us that Good Howard’s Emily has traveled many times to the Bad Howard Universe. We thought that all of this time she has been in a coma. She made those trips before she was in a coma.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Note to keep track of the Emilys: Good Howard’s Emily is still recovering. She is uncertain and has a bad memory. So, we see mainly Bad Howard’s Emily in these episodes.
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Season Two – Episode 3
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• Baldwin is drugged and kidnapped.
• Lambert tells Claire once again to activate the next sleep cell.
• There are two Lamberts. Bad Howard Universe’s Lambert is gay. Good Howard Universe’s Lambert is bi-sexual and having sex with Lena. Exit the scene with the Lamberts in bed with each other.
• Bad Howard goes to the coffee shop
• Quayle has bugged Claire’s running shoes. He listens to her conversation with Lambert
• Mgmt. tells Emily to follow up on Aldus Frey recent activities (he’s dead)
• Emily and Mgmt. have been covering up Mira & Good Howard’s Emily’s movements.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Good Howard is taken to the real ECHO, like the 1967 TV show with Patrick McGoogan called “The Prisoner”- it is a holding place for people with information. ECHO holds the twins who have not succeeded in life so the Bad Howard Universe can study: 1) their differences with their twins, and 2) the deep psychology of the twins to gain insight about what the successful twins fear. E.g., Quayle’s do-nothing twin in ECHO is afraid of responsibility.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Spencer-man meets with Claire. The cell has been activated. Reunion of old friends.
• Note: Spencer-man was the geeky kid with braces on his teeth that Claire liked at the School, many years ago
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Yanick is a psychologist who now becomes a central character. He meets with Good Howard in ECHO: “You both grind your teeth.”
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Ian visits the now dead (due to Mira) manager in the small home, finds the remote telecon suitcase in the backyard, takes it with him
• Naya visits Good Howard’s Emily to see if she can remember useful details. She tells Naya that Shadow is a woman, not Aldrich.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily visits Richard Langford (we only see him this one time, you can forget about him): your twin used to talk about a secret hiding place in your youth.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Naya & Quayle visit company based on a false tip, phone rings and Quayle is almost killed.
• Lambert gave Claire info that was wrong, Quayle bugged Clair’s shoes and went to the building and was almost killed. Above, now Lambert knows that Claire’s cover is blown.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Good Howard is mysteriously released from his cell and beaten by people locked up in ECHO because they believe he is Bad Howard and Bad Howard sent them to ECHO.
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Season Two – Episode 4
Start in the Bad Howard Universe
• Mira finds the location of ECHO. She knows that Good Howard is there underground due to the tracking device she put on him.
• Flashback: Good Howard’s Emily goes over to the Bad Howard Universe and takes Anna out for a mother-daughter outing (Anna is Bad Howard’s Emily’s daughter, not Good Howard’s Emily’s daughter).
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Bad Howard, Claire, and Quayle kidnap Lambert-1 and put him in with Baldwin
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily picks up detailed notes at an old building in her girlhood home
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Baldwin kills Lambert-1 and Bad Howard’s Section 2 friends in a small room that Bad Howard visited earlier.
• Bad Howard’s Emily was Lambert’s source of intel. Good Howard’s Emily meets with Lambert-2 via the library book drop signaling technique.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
Note, Insight of Counterpart’s psychology:
• Yanick interviews Good Howard and discovers that Bad Howard turned his back on his father and this rejection freed Bad Howard to mature and progress into an empowered spy, but Good Howard stayed with his father and he remained stagnant, but he developed empathy, but no clarity of purpose.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Claire is Shadow. She burns the paper files that she took from Lambert. She listens to a tape (from the thumb drive) where Pope tells Lambert that Pope killed Claire’s parents and blamed it on the flu. She is angry. Timestamp 43:37
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Mgmt. representative (later identified as Yorke) talks with Bad Howard’s Emily and goes to find Ian at the electronics store where the Mgmt. telecon device was left.
• Mira (Head School Teacher at The School, project Indigo) and Osman capture the Mgmt. telecon device.
• At the electronics store, Mgmt. representative (Yorke) tells Ian that Mira better not have the telecon device.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Naya shows Quayle her prisoner, Lambert, in the holding cell in the Office.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard’s Emily is tracking Mira’s guy with the telecon device as he travels to Mira’s location
֎֎֎
Season Two – Episode 5
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• Important flashback in the Good Howard Universe (not where we usually see Ian): Ian and Nomi are married, in bed and talking about music.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Ian’s real name is Wesley Pierce. He is originally from the Good Howard Universe. Bad Howard Universe Mgmt. let him stay in the Bad Howard Universe.
• Quayle tells Bad Howard to kill Lambert-2 because Lambert will expose Claire. Bad Howard tries. Office goes into lockdown. Bad Howard tells Quayle that someone else killed Lambert-2
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Quayle tells Bad Howard that Emily led Naya Temple to Lambert.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
Shocking:
• Yanick tells Good Howard that GHU-Yanick is the reason why the universe split into two (Good Howard Universe & Bad Howard Universe)
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Naya tells Bad Howard she knows Quayle told him to kill Lambert. Wants to know where the gun is.
• Quayle is saved by another Bad Howard Universe operative who tells him to shoot her and tell everyone she is Shadow. She is disappointed to die but saves Quayle by putting the gun in his hand, pointing it at her own head, and pulling the trigger. Now that is dedication to the cause.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Mira invades ECHO and liberates GHU-Yanick (her twin’s father) and kills a bunch of prisoners, or we could jokingly say “other” people.
• Later, in ECHO, Emily finds Good Howard and they leave.
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Season Two – Episode 6 – The Beginning of Counterpart - 1987
Important Flashback: East Berlin, 1987
• This is BEFORE the split. There is only one universe: Unified, no Good Howard Universe or Bad Howard Universe yet.
1987 – The Split
• Young Yanick accidentally overloads the computers and splits our universe in 1987 into two universes (Good Howard Universe and Bad Howard Universe). He explores the Crossing for the first time. He drops his flashlight; it rolls towards the center and splits into two flashlights. His twin is on the other side asking the same questions he is asking. They diverge a bit and talk back and forth to each other.
• Note: this is the same type of scene in the movie “Another Earth,” 2011, when they first make contact with their other Earth and both people ask the same question at the exact same time. It’s a terribly cool moment in both shows.
1987 -- Good Howard Universe
• They are ready to take Yanick and his family to the USA, but since he has just split our universe into two copies, he wants to stay in Germany and see what happens next. His wife is upset they will not be going to the USA where their son can get treatment for his epilepsy.
1987 – Both Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
• The Yanick twins study the similarities and differences between them. GHU-Yanick gives his daughter a music tape and BHU-Yanick does not. This action is on purpose to see how things will begin to diverge. Note: it does not end well.
Note:
• In 1987, Yanick’s daughter is Mira, at 17 years old.
• In 2017 Mira is an adult and runs The School. Adult Mira is out for revenge.
• In 1987, the Yanick twins create identical teams from both sides: Martin-economics, Jumma-immunology, Isla-environmental science, and Volker-human behavior.
Jump back to the 2018 -- Bad Howard Universe
• Note: This is an abrupt jump from 1987 to 2018 and then back to 1987
• Mira wants to end the splitting experiment (block the Crossing forever), timestamp 22:05
• Note: This is Counterpart’s first primary plot.
Jump back to the 1987-- Good Howard Universe
• GHU-Yanick’s son dies when police enter the house to arrest him and hold him on the floor. GHU-Mira cannot hear the fight since she is listening to the music tape, but BHU-Mira can hear it, opens the door, sees her brother dying and gets the police off him. He survives, but his twin in the Good Howard Universe dies.
• Note: This is a profound divergence between the two previously identical families.
1987 – switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• GHU-Yanick (whose son died) goes over to the Bad Howard Universe to see his son’s twin who is alive. Very emotional, humans being driven not by thought and reason (brain’s frontal lobes), but also by passions and emotions (brain’s amygdala).
1987 - Both in the Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
• Critical note about Counterpart: This sequence about loss/death, and a following love as a motivator is what makes Counterpart so good. It includes not only action, adventure, but also deep motivations that realistically portray what drives humans to act (both their thoughts and their emotions). This theme is as iconic as anything Shakespeare wrote.
1987 - Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Awkward plot device: Strangely, GHU-Yanick starts talking about a biological weapon that would kill only the people in the Bad Howard Universe, based on their unique differences in their immunological divergence. Ridiculous justification: “Just in case we need it.”
• Sarcasm: The GHU creates this biological weapon, the flue, if the GHU ever needs to kill millions of innocent people in the BHU who have never bothered them. WTF?
• Note: This is Counterpart’s second primary plot.
1987 – Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
TURNING POINT IN THE PLOT:
GHU-Yanick kills his twin.
• While technically, it was self defense GHU-Yanick is a murderer. GHU management surrenders GHU-Yanick to the Bad Howard Universe for killing his twin. GHU-Yanick is assigned to ECHO.
• GHU-Mira is profoundly effected by seeing her father kill his twin and she runs away.
• Note: more profound divergence
Jump back to 2017 - Good Howard Universe
• Transition from 1987 back to on-going action of present day: 2017
• Mira wants to end the connections (The Crossing) between the two universes.
• Mira now has old GHU-Yanick from ECHO and the Mgmt. telecon device. She uses the telecon device to call for a face-to-face meeting between all managers on both sides.
֎֎֎
Season Two – Episode 7
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• An ambassador delivers a package to get all of management on both sides to meet in person
• Flashback in the GHU: They show Ian that Nomi was shot in the head. They killed his Good Howard Universe wife, then named him Ian Shaw, and sent him to the Bad Howard Universe.
• Naya believes that the secretary, Mila, was Shadow and find documents at Mila’s home to prove it. They send Quayle home
• Claire stayed with Quayle as husband and wife. This makes Roland look bad.
• Naya asks Emily to identify the secretary Mila as Shadow. Emily: I don’t know.
• Roland is upset that his son-in-law, Quayle, had an affair with his secretary Mila
• Spencer-man (as opposed to Spencer, Claire’s baby named for Spencer the man), takes Claire to see his cell. This is the team of her old friends from the School run by Maya. Spencer-man and Claire want to survive as a couple.
• Claire helps them move military boxes that look like they might contain biological weapons to use against the Good Howard Universe. This is the last sleeper cell.
• Quayle resigns to keep the Office safe (the only smart thing he ever does). He goes home and takes Claire and Spencer-baby to Claire’s’ old school (but in the Good Howard Universe) where Maya taught them.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Emily takes Good Howard out of ECHO and Ian comes to help, but with Yorke, the mgmt. operative.
• Good Howard, Emily, Ian, Yorke, and Otto are in a shootout at ECHO. Otto leaves in a car. Ian kills Yorke (alas, poor Yorke, I knew him…). Good Howard is shot, he and Emily drive away.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Bad Howard goes to get groceries, but really goes to kill Quayle. He doesn’t since Quayle and Claire have already left.
֎֎֎
Season Two – Episode 8
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• Spencer-man asks Baldwin to kill Good Howard’s Emily who is starting to remember things after her coma
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Emily calls Anna (Emily’s biological daughter who is now blonde for some reason) to medically handle Good Howard’s gunshot wound
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
Weird Scene at 11:10 timestamp: Two worlds shown at the same time in the Indigo bedroom, split screen:
• Good Howard Universe: Claire/Quayle,
• Bad Howard Universe: Quayle/Claire/Claire
Note: Mira created all of Indigo.
Note: Mira orchestrated the Office rampage to get the Crossing’s doors closed.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Good Howard discovers from Bad Howard’s Emily that Good Howard’s Emily visited the Bad Howard Universe often. Good Howard never knew that. While Bad Howard’s Emily was in rehab for drugs, Good Howard’s Emily was in the Bad Howard Universe taking her daughter out for fun trips and generally enjoying the daughter she never had.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Bad Howard and Good Howard’s Emily break a code that she wrote. He tells her that he loves her. She remembers Bad Howard when she went over to the Bad Howard Universe.
• Claire takes Quayle to her old friends hide out. They are working on a new flu virus that will only kill people in the Good Howard Universe to even the score.
• Note: If the flu is released, the BHU-spies would die in the Good Howard Universe, but since the doors are shut at the Crossing, their people in the BHU would be safe. Also the BHU has advanced technology capable of making a vaccine for the flu.
• Baldwin calls Bad Howard to say they are coming for Good Howard’s Emily. He subdues both assassins. Good Howard’s Emily now realizes for the first time that Bad Howard is Bad Howard and tells him to get out of her home.
• Note: Is this really credible? There are clues: Bad Howard refused to cook. Emily has seen both Howards many times. She should have realized that Bad Howard is the aggressive one who has been with her for days now. But certainly this scene where Bad Howard subdues both assassins is physically demanding and something that Good Howard would never be able to accomplish.
• In a gutsy move, Quayle and Clare go to Naya’s home and introduce her to Claire, who they truthfully announce is Shadow.
֎֎֎
Season Two – Episode 9
Start in the Good Howard Universe
• Claire’s friends in the cell gather to spread the flu in the Good Howard Universe. The leader tells Ethel that she gets no shot, she has a different job.
Both in the Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
• Transition at 2:39 In the Good Howard Universe with the virus, then the camera uses a tree to wipe to the Bad Howard Universe with the same house, but with Mira and Yanick
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Ian takes Good Howard and Bad Howard’s Emily to the Office in handcuffs
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Quayle and Claire tell Naya everything about the virus plot. Claire tells her about Spencer-man who is her only contact. We get to see Naya’s home, her child, and her husband. They talk about whether they are going on a trip to Italy or to Holland, metaphor for fun trip or staying where you are.
Both in the Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
Important Explanation of early events and motivations:
• Ian takes Bad Howard’s Emily to Interface where she meets Good Howard’s Emily. We see the Emilys (twins) talk for the first time face-to-face.
• Good Howard’s Emily tells her twin that Good Howard’s Emily created the flu idea and the Indigo idea. Good Howard’s Emily wrote the ideas up in a report, and Mira found it and used it to radicalize the teams in the Bad Howard Universe to come to the Good Howard Universe and spread a second flu.
Good Howard’s Emily did not want biological children. She only wanted to visit Anna in the Bad Howard Universe.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Ian tells Good Howard he’s going back to the Good Howard Universe. Ian: “Love, it betrays us all.” Ian is the man who loves two women, Nomi & Emily.
• Mgmt. meeting: Ian will return Good Howard to the Good Howard Universe.
• Bad Howard’s Emily is on suspension.
The Great Crossing Scene:
• Good Howard kisses Bad Howard’s Emily and then walks towards the Good Howard Universe.
• In No Man’s Land, Good Howard sees both Emilys, one in the Good Howard Universe and one in the Bad Howard Universe as he stands in the middle (great metaphor). Bad Howard’s Emily walks away. Good Howard Universe walks to Good Howard’s Emily and hugs her. BH’s Emily gets a kiss, his true wife only gets a hug.
Both in the Good Howard Universe/Bad Howard Universe
• Both the Good Howard Universe and the Bad Howard Universe evacuate the entire Office building.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Claire, Quayle, and Naya go to see if Claire can talk with Spencer-man
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Meeting of Mgmt: Yanick “we are at war, it is in our nature.” This quote is from the man who in 1987 killed his BHU-twin.
• Ian is holding Mira. Her henchman kidnapped Nami for a trade of Nomi for Mira.
• Ian trades to get Nami back. Mira is freed to go upstairs and kill off of Mgmt. She does kill all of them, but allows Yanick to go free.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Yanick gets to see his real daughter
• Earlier, Mira was kind enough to tell GHU-Yanick that his daughter is still alive in the Good Howard Universe. Remember, Mira was traumatized 30 years ago as she watched GHU-Yanick kill her real father. She must have profoundly mix feelings about GHU-Yanick.
• Mira takes both white and blue Mgmt. telecon devices through the Crossing.
֎֎֎
Season Two – Episode 10 – Series Finale
Start in the Good Howard Universe
- Touching scene: Yanick is reunited with his real daughter and grandchildren
• Mira has all directors read to everyone in the Office on both sides: the Office will be closed and the Crossing will be closed forever.
• Bad Howard puts Claire and Spencer-man together to get the info about spreading the flue. Spencer-man and his entire cell of spies are in a cabin of Mira’s house, but they are already infected with the virus and traveling to spread it across the world.
• Good Howard to Good Howard’s Emily: “I thought it was love to accept you unconditionally, but it was cowardliness.” Emily: “I don’t know how to save us.”
• Bad Howard goes to Good Howard’s Apartment and tells Good Howard and Emily about the cabin with the virus
• Emily Bad Howard, Good Howard, Naya, etc. go to the cabin. Only Ethel is there. She blows up the cabin. Dying Emily tells Bad Howard the location of the virus-laden people. Good Howard gives Bad Howard the note with the train station and time when the virus people will be there.
• Bad Howard goes to the station and kills all of the Bad Howard Universe people caring the virus. Biological teams take over and decontaminate the station.
• Naya promises Claire she will protect her and her family if she will give up all of the names of the other sleeper cells. Claire says yes.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
• Bad Howard and Baldwin make the final crossing over to the Bad Howard Universe. Timestamp 47:14
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Claire goes home to Quayle and Spencer-baby.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
Emily calls out for Ian
• Ian left a goodbye note: my name was not Ian Shaw.
• He also leaves her a tracking device that gives Emily Mira’s exact location.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Spencer-man now locked away in a Good Howard Universe’s jail forever. He gets back at Claire by telling Quayle to ask Claire what happened to the GHU-Claire.
• Quayle goes home, talks with Claire, both want to talk about Claire’s twin, but they decide it’s better to have a pleasant evening. They start thinking about changing the baby’s name from “Spencer,” to anything else.
Switch to the Bad Howard Universe
Bad Howard’s Emily kills Mira with the poisoned needle in the light switch trick (that Mira used earlier on Emily for the drug overdose ruse).
Mira gives three hints for what’s to come:
• “My work is done (I can die satisfied that I have accomplished my goal).”
• “My other will die in her own time (not of natural causes).”
• “They all will (die).”
Mira gives a wry smile to Emily’s assumption that GHU-Emily will stop any problems in the GHU.
Switch to the Good Howard Universe
• Naya asks Good Howard if he would like a job in Strategy. He says no.
• Yanick is out for a pleasant walk with one of his grandchildren. His arm has blotches, and his veins turn a gruesome dark color.
• There is a brief flashback of Mira injecting Yanick in the arm.
• Dramatically, the camera zooms up and away from Yanick.
• He falls. Sick from… the flu?
End of Counterpart.
֎֎֎ ֎֎֎ ֎֎֎
After you have seen the entire two seasons, let’s talk…
********************* SPOILERS BELOW *********************
Acting:
• Who knew that J.K. Simmons was such a good actor? His posture, manner of speaking, and behavior make it very easy to see two different, distinct personalities with good and bad Howard.
• I wish that Olivia Williams who played Emily could have done the same.
Concept/Writing/Directing:
One of the best features of Counterpart is the conceptualization, writing, and directing where they follow the strict guidelines of “Show, don’t tell.”
In too many inferior shows, the characters consonantly tell you what’s happening, what’s going to happen, what just happened. It’s call exposition, and it makes a movie sound very chatty.
While it’s a great movie in it’s own right, Nolan’s Tenet (2020) spends a huge amount of time telling us the rules and what’s going to happen. There are endless scenes in Tenet where two people are walking around just talking to each other, explaining the plot.
On the other hand, Counterpart has no exposition. It’s all ongoing action. The conceptualization, writing, and directing have indeed mastered “Show, don’t tell.”
It’s interesting to see how the characters all reacted differently to their twins:
• Alice twins: decided they liked each other so much they should marry the same man and live together in harmony.
• Lambert twins: were narcissistic enough to move in with each other, have a sexual relationship, and grift their way to success.
• Howard twins: stayed forever two distinct personalities that understood each other but wanted to live in two different universes, never taking again.
• Nadia twins: the violinist, Nadia never got to discuss the situation with Baldwin. The assassin, Baldwin, described herself as the one who didn’t amount to anything.
• Claire twins: Never got the chance to discuss anything. One wanted to be a homemaker, while the other became a complex assassin, spy, double agent, wife, and mother.
Themes presented in Counterpoint:
• Humans often divide up into groups or tribes, exaggerate their differences and often become aggressive with the other tribe.
• Individuals can be incredibly different from one another while still finding common ground (Claire and Quayle). Some can be identical but find reasons to fight and diverge (the Yanick twins).
• Love, like revenge, are strong emotional motivators.
Questions:
Has the Good Howard Universe been infected by the flu created by the Bad Howard Universe?
Answer: Looks like it.
Will they ever make a Season 3 or a movie of Counterpart?
Answer: Chatter on the Internet indicates it is not likely. Apparently, Season 3 was canceled because StarZ wanted more female-oriented programs and Counterpart drew a largely male audience. Maybe some other streaming company will pick it up.
Did Yanick really receive a dose of flu virus from Mira?
• In S2,E6 at this timestamp sequence: 20:42–22:08, we see him waking up in the cottage, but Mira only has a suitcase with the Mgmt. Telecon device. There is no syringe to inject the virus. We hear him say to Mira: “How long have I been asleep?”
• In the final, closing scene of Counterpart, Season 2, Episode 10, at this timestamp: 56:56–57:01, we see a “flashback” of Yanick thinking he received a dose of the virus from Mira. We hear him say the same thing to Mira: “How long have I been asleep?”
• Did the injection really happen, or was this Counterpart’s way of inserting the last minute (literally) idea of potential third season? Could it be, “leaving the door open” as they say? Did your mind build it from your last memory, which is Yanick in distress? Memory is changeable.
What was the fatal flaw in Counterpart?
Answer: I loved it Counterpart, but I think the first three episodes were too hard to follow unless you took notes.
Does the GHU pandemic begin a nasty cycle of revenge between the two universes?
Answer: It might. For historical examples of revenge that was out of control, see the also great series: “Vikings” (2013–2020). Maybe a future Counterpart story could focus on forgiveness.
Are there any other shows similar to Counterpart?
Answer: Fringe (2008–2013) is very close. It has parallel universes. It’s not as hard to understand and more upbeat. I recommend Fringe also.
References:
My review of Counterpart, showing the four most interesting scenes
During 2021, the series can be found on Amazon Prime Videos
* Fan Art image at the top of this article found here
֎ End.
