Counterpart (Starz) - Season 1 (1 Viewer)

[Josh Dial]

Season 1 of Counterpart premiered on Starz this week (following a "preview" premiere of the pilot in December). The show has been commissioned for two seasons at this point.

The show stars JK Simmons, Olivia Williams, Harru Lloyd, Ulrich Thomsen, Jamie Bamber, and a host of other great actors.

The show features Simmons as Howard Silk, a low-level UN employee in the same job for almost thirty years. His wife has recently been involved in an accident and is in a coma. The pilot opens with Silk finding out that the building he works in is actually a gateway to a parallel dimension. The Silk from the "other side" crosses over in an attempt to stop a killer.

I found the pilot to be quite strong. JK Simmons steals every scene he's in, sometimes as the meeker Silk, sometimes as the more domineering Silk, sometimes as both. But perhaps the most interesting aspect of the show--at least in the pilot--is that it seems to be tackling the subjects of grief and loss. The final sequence with the two Silks having a drink and listening to the same diagetic song was excellent.

Following in the footsteps of Black Sails (completely and utterly underrated here and with awards bodies--but thankfully not critics) and Spartacus (also underrated), Starz seems to have another great series on its hands.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This show owes a strong debt to "Fringe" with its handling of two closely linked alternate realities. But whereas the primary crossing point for that show a Department of Defense facility on Liberty Island, the primary (only?) crossing point here is in the basement of a United Nations facility in Berlin.

In the case of "Fringe", the point of divergence was sometime before 1900, since the other side kept the copper on its Statute of Liberty polished and gleaming. There was a whole world of variations, some big and others trivial.

The trope of mirror universes goes back a long time in science fiction, but this might be the best I've seen it handled. Here, the two universes came into being only thirty years ago, the result of a Cold War era experiment two years or so before the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the moment they came into being, both universes were exactly the same. But decoupled from each other, different decisions were made on each side, and the ripple effects of those decisions have led the two worlds to become markedly different places.

But because the divergence point is so recent, everyone born before the experiment cleaved reality in two has a doppelganger on the other side. Depending on how old they were when the divergence occurred, they might have a lot of shared experience or a little shared experience.

The two Howards played by J.K. Simmons are almost entirely different men, but because of their age they have actually spent more of their lives as the same person than they have as two separate destinies. Simmons is getting a lot of comparisons to Tatiana Maslany for his work here, and that's understandable since it's an unusual challenge to have to play off yourself. But the crucial difference is that Maslany was playing as many as a dozen different characters who just happened to have the same DNA and appearance. There were discrete people. Simmons here is playing two versions of the same man, and that is a different task altogether. Because so much of the nature and nurture is exactly the same, the "What If" questions start to take on more urgency.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Two episodes in, and this is fast becoming one of my favorites. I love that there isn't any exposition for the sake of exposition. Characters reveal information only when it's logical for them to reveal information. Having "our" Howard newly read in provided a ready mechanism for us to learn a lot in a very short period of time, but there's still a whole bunch that we don't know. And the show doesn't cheat to fill in the blanks for us.

The little glimpses we get of "their" world are tantalizing: The architecture of one side of Berlin seems largely the same, but the other side is full of glass skyscrapers and high rises that don't exist in "our" Berlin. Did German reunification proceed differently on "their" side? Did the two Germanys ever reunify on "their" side? Does the Soviet Union still exist on "their" side?

"Their" Howard is a high-level operative with enormous confidence and enormous competence, but I appreciate that "our" Howard doesn't entirely suffer in the comparison. It seems clear that he was a much better husband, for one thing, and he's navigating a pretty massive upheaval of his understanding of how the world works extremely well.

It's interesting that Baldwin and "our" Nadia were apparently around 10 when the mitosis of the universe occurred and the two paths started to diverge. I had assumed that Baldwin was in her early twenties (and indeed, the actress playing her is only 27) but based on what we know she must actually be a well-preserved 39 or 40. Either way, Sara Serraiocco did a great job portraying these two different versions of the same deeply traumatized woman, and the emotions that come from meeting face to face with someone who shared not only her face but the pain and guilt that had come to define both of them.

I got the impression that Nazanin Boniadi's character, also an infiltrator from "their" side, is Baldwin's lover. But I might be reading too much into it.

The biggest wild card for me is Stephen Rea's character, Pope. He might or might not be part of the formal command structure, but he clearly has more influence than anybody else we've met so far from "their" side.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I have to catch up with this series as I basically have stopped watching show and concentrate more on movies.

 

[joshEH]

So, I'm really sold on this show now:

1.) Every episode has done a great job exploring a different aspect of the genre -- the first set the world/plot in motion, the second explored the violent consequences of the shadow-war on completely innocent/unknowing characters, and this third ratcheted up the "puzzle box"/spy drama plot-twists and fleshed out the SF elements of the world.

2.) I want an hour-long episode of just Badass Howard chatting with the Inquiry-team in the embassy. Every line and delivery was pure sizzle.

3.) Really enjoy the depth they are just starting to plumb on the two worlds' relationship. The negotiations over tech and resource-data hint to much bigger puzzle-pieces being laid out.

4.) Solid action beats -- quick, brutal, consequential.

Oh, yeah, and J.K. Simmons is a beast.

 

[Stan]

I have to catch up with this series as I basically have stopped watching show and concentrate more on movies.

Same thing, I never even noticed this show being broadcast.

Can't stand JK Simmons, but have always liked Jamie Bamber, so maybe it will balance out.

Just did a search that went up to February 13th and nothing. Have I already missed this?

 

[Walter Kittel]

Recently caught up with this series (on demand) and find it to be very intriguing. Simmons (as everyone notes) just owns the series, but beyond his performances the mystery of the two universes is fascinating. Like Adam, I immediately thought of Fringe which featured an alternate reality as one of its primary story elements, including the concept of doppelgangers living very different existences.

In addition to the mysteries of the universe(s), the show has a strong moral ambiguity which seems to belie the concept of protagonists and antagonists as traditionally depicted in many shows. It seems like one big gray area with only the meeker version of Howard seeming to display empathy and consideration for right and wrong. (Of course we know those elements are at play in Badass Howard given the premise of shared traits, but they have been overshadowed by the exigencies of his occupation.) Which all makes me wonder how much of each of the two Howards will 'rub off' onto each other as their relationship develops. We have seen a little bit of that at work when Meek Howard punches Aldrich, which was kind of unexpected.

I think the production design and cinematography are well done for the most part, but they don't stand out for me when compared to other series of this type (featuring dark interiors and streets at night, etc. etc.) The one exception to date that caught my eye was the depiction of the crossover point. The industrial quality of it, the music and foley effects for those scenes really made me think of David Lynch. The IT and associated offices are kind of interesting in a Brazil sort of way with the reliance on paper.

I am enjoying it quite a bit although given where we are in the series it is asking a lot more questions than providing answers.


Stan, Simmons is featured in the majority of the screen time, so if you can't stand him - well probably not the series for you.

- Walter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The more details that slip out, the more intrigued I get. "Their" side seems far more technologically advanced than ours in a number of areas. However, "our" side has some strategic advantages because the global population on "their" side has been decimated by a global pandemic that our side was spared from. That pandemic may or may not have been caused by "our" side. It seems to be one of the key reasons that the two sides have diverged so rapidly in only thirty years' time. And the challenges resulting from the pandemic might be the primary driver of "their" technological and scientific advances. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.

Both sides have a strong interest in keeping the door between the universes open. For "our" side, it's a chance to obtain knowledge from "their" side. "Their" side also sees maintaining the exchange as a strategic imperative, but it's less clear at this point what they get from the arrangement.

Can't stand JK Simmons, but have always liked Jamie Bamber, so maybe it will balance out.

Just so you know, Simmons is the series lead while Bamber has only appeared in one episode so far.

Just did a search that went up to February 13th and nothing. Have I already missed this?

Do you have Starz?

In addition to the mysteries of the universe(s), the show has a strong moral ambiguity which seems to belie the concept of protagonists and antagonists as traditionally depicted in many shows. It seems like one big gray area with only the meeker version of Howard seeming to display empathy and consideration for right and wrong. (Of course we know those elements are at play in Badass Howard given the premise of shared traits, but they have been overshadowed by the exigencies of his occupation.) Which all makes me wonder how much of each of the two Howards will 'rub off' onto each other as their relationship develops. We have seen a little bit of that at work when Meek Howard punches Aldrich, which was kind of unexpected.

Based on "our" Emily's letter to "their" Howard, it seems that one of the decisive factors in their divergence is that "our" Emily rose much further much faster than "their" Emily, and used her influence to limit "our" Howard's career advancement and keep him out of this world. So it would seem that she at least felt to be involved in this carefully-regulated international conspiracy is to be corrupted by it.

There are also hints that "their" Emily similarly tried to limit "their" Howard's exposure, only he discovered it -- perhaps the root cause of their divorce on "their" side.

I think the production design and cinematography are well done for the most part, but they don't stand out for me when compared to other series of this type (featuring dark interiors and streets at night, etc. etc.)

The production design is fairly minimal. Both it and the cinematography are all about creating a specific tone and mode. The entire show seems to take place, metaphorically, in that midnight hour where everything is a bit too still and a bit too uneasy.

The one exception to date that caught my eye was the depiction of the crossover point. The industrial quality of it, the music and foley effects for those scenes really made me think of David Lynch.

Yes, especially because there was nothing overtly science fiction-y about the crossover point. Other that evidencing three decades of deterioration when everything else in the complex is pristine, it could have been any other hallway or passage.

The IT and associated offices are kind of interesting in a Brazil sort of way with the reliance on paper.

It seems that one of the rules of engagement to limit each side's knowledge of the other side is that technology within the complex is frozen at the point when the schism occurred. Thus the 1988-era computers, primitive networking, etc.

Stan, Simmons is featured in the majority of the screen time, so if you can't stand him - well probably not the series for you.

Agreed.

 

[Stan]

The more details that slip out, the more intrigued I get. "Their" side seems far more technologically advanced than ours in a number of areas. However, "our" side has some strategic advantages because the global population on "their" side has been decimated by a global pandemic that our side was spared from. That pandemic may or may not have been caused by "our" side. It seems to be one of the key reasons that the two sides have diverged so rapidly in only thirty years' time. And the challenges resulting from the pandemic might be the primary driver of "their" technological and scientific advances. Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.

Just so you know, Simmons is the series lead while Bamber has only appeared in one episode so far.


Do you have Starz?

I do have Starz. DISH lists it as STARZ, STRZW and a couple others. Honestly did a search a few days ago and nothing showed up. Now it suddenly appears, weird. Episodes 1, 4, 7 and 8 are available so I'll give it a try.

Even if I didn't have Starz, they still bring up the listings, just to show what you're missing and get you to subscribe to more channels.

Never been a Simmons fan, but I'm flexible, I might like him in this.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

If the first three episodes engaged me cerebrally, as I furthered my attempts to decipher the puzzle box at the show’s core, this was the first one to engage me emotionally. I don’t know what I expected for “our” Howard when he arrived on “their” side, but a family crisis was definitely not it.

It’s brilliant plotting, though; just as “their” Howard came into “our” side and was blown away by “our” Howard’s lack of competence and awareness, “out” Howard goes to “their” side and is almost immediately confronted with “their” Howard’s lack of competence and awareness. He would never have allowed things to get so bad.

The very fact of Anna is staggeringly powerful. The ultrasound on “our” side was dated “18 Oktober, 1992” so she was likely born in 1993, four or five years after the universe split in two. We’ve had numerous indications that science and medicine are far more advanced on “their” side than our side. Assuming that some of the most crucial differences occurred early on, it’s entirely possible that they were able to detect and correct the issue before Anna was born. Given four years of differences, it’s also entirely possible that a different sperm fertilized a different egg and the fetus on “their” side didn’t have the same problem that the fetus on “our” side had.

Sarah Bolger was brilliant as Anna, and has a plausible physical resemblance to both of her on-screen parents; you see it around the eyes and nose with Olivia Williams, and in the long face of J.K. Simmons. Both Howard and Emily, on both sides, keep their intellect close to the vest. They are guarded, and they don’t reveal much unless they want to. Anna, outside of all of this, is sharp and to the point. She’s smart, and she doesn’t make any effort to hide it. And the secret of the two sides has fractured her relationships with both parents.

And because she might be the first major character we’ve encountered born after the point of divergence, all of the performance choices raise larger questions about our understanding of these worlds: She was conceived in Berlin to parents (one British, the other American) who have been employed in Berlin her entire life, yet she speaks with an English accent: Is that a conscious affectation, developed to convey allegiance to her mother over her father? Did they send her away to an English boarding school? Did she go to one of the international schools in Berlin that catered to a British expats? Anna is deeply suspicious of the burgeoning warmth between her mother and the person she believes is her father. What past tactics did “their” Howard and Emily use to paper over her addictions that led her to so mistrust any sign of intimacy?

The scene where Clare slips away and the conspiracy from “their” side attempts to tie up the loose end with Baldwin was very effectively staged. The way Sara Serraiocco moved, the way she tracked with her eyes, everything conveyed absolute credibility as an experienced assassin. She awoke at an immense tactical disadvantage and proceeded to level the odds with calm, brutal efficiency. And when the moment came to end her attacker’s life, she performed the task with zero hesitation. The question becomes: given that the people who hired her are now trying to kill her, does she flip and team up with the people who are trying to put a stop to the conspiracy?

Slowly but surely, things are coming into focus. An invasion, possibly large-scale but more probably small-scale, is planned to bring people from “their” side to “our” side in an unauthorized way. But before that can happen, a number of individuals must first be eliminated on “our” side.

With each episode, the pacing picks up just a little bit more. After this episode, I was ready to dive into the next one. If this were on the Netflix release model, I'd probably be binging a good chunk of the season right now.

 

[Walter Kittel]

With each episode, the pacing picks up just a little bit more. After this episode, I was ready to dive into the next one. If this were on the Netflix release model, I'd probably be binging a good chunk of the season right now.

Yep. I'm almost tempted to let the series finish the first season and then binge it. Mostly because with the weekly installments, I tend to lose track of some of the labyrinthian intrigue of the series. I swear I need a 'cheat sheet' with pictures of all of the actors who work in the supporting roles accompanied by notes concerning their character names, roles in the series, and alliances. Maybe it isn't quite that bad, but I do find myself struggling at times with the supporting characters. The one exception being Stephen Rea as Pope.

Pretty terrific episode that showcased the limitations of 'their' Howard, which as Adam pointed out - makes perfect sense given the rules this series has established.

- Walter.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

By the end of this week's episode, the broad strokes of what's going on -- or what seems to be going on -- is coming into focus:

• In the early nineties, a only a couple of years after one universe became two discrete universes, a terrible pandemic wiped out 7 percent of the world's population on "their" side but not on "our" side.
• Important forces on "their" side concluded that this pandemic was instigated by "our" side, perhaps to gain strategic advantage over "their" side or perhaps simply to serve as a catalyst for extreme divergences between the two sides to set them on a more extreme path than would open different lines of intellectual inquiry that could later be exploited.
• Based on Quayle's reaction, at least as high as the director-level on "our" side, the genuine consensus seems to be that "our" side did not in fact instigate the pandemic on their side. So if "our" side really is guilty, the scheme was planned and executed at an even higher level.
• Forces on "their" side responded to the apparent genocidal act by laying the groundwork for a long-range plan to execute a countermove in response. This plan involved the creation of a School where children from "their" side could be trained from a very young age to infiltrate "our" side and serve as sleeper agents.
• Roughly a quarter-century after the School was founded, the objectives behind its creation are coming close to being executed.
• The success of those objectives depends on a handful of very specific deaths on "our" side.
• The characters played by Nazanin Boniadi and Lotte Verbeek are both products of that School.
• Once Baldwin's hitlist is completed, this decades-long conspiracy will execute its big move.

On the personal side, this episode was a fascinating exploration of Emily Silk and Emily Burton.

As "their" Howard does what he does best, he uncovers some dispiriting truths about "our" Emily. We knew from the letters that "our" Emily has kept a great many things from "our" Howard, including the fact that is probably closer than anybody on our side to the heart of this conspiracy. But based on everything "our" Howard has said about her, the picture that had been painted was of a very idyllic marriage. But if "our" Emily had been cheating on him for 10 months prior to her accident, it's clear that everything in their marriage wasn't as blissful as he made it out to be. Probably primarily because of the separation that comes from withholding so much for so long. And there's that wonderful scene in the hospital, where "their" Howard isn't surprised but is disappointed. It's clear that in whatever multitude of ways he let the Emily and Anna on "their" side down, "their" Emily let him down in some pretty major ways too. And as dismissive as he is of "our" Howard, I think he really wanted everything he'd heard about "our" Emily to be true.

On "their" side, "our" Howard is confronted by Alexander Pope, who as usual knows exactly what is going on. He warns "our" Howard not to trust "their" Emily. But "our" Howard loves his Emily, so the effect is to make him suspicious of Pope himself instead of the woman Pope warned him about. In the moment, it seems like a smart judgment of character that "their" Howard's extensive history would have blinded him to. But as the hour goes on, "our" Howard sees "their" Emily in a steadily different light. And knowing that the two Emilys spent the first two decades of their lives as the same person, he starts to suspect that he might not really know his wife at all. "Their" Emily doesn't assuage his worry, but nor does she twist the knife further. Instead, she tells him, in effect, that his love has meaning and worth and value even if the object of that love is not who he thought she was.

After they part ways, "our" Howard returns to "their" Howard's apartment, only to find Anna waiting for him. He invites her inside, where she is taken aback by the stark impersonality of the decor as he was when he first encountered it. It quickly becomes clear that "their" Howard has had even less of a relationship with his daughter than it first appeared. It is clear that to Anna her father is a source of pain and not much else. But "our" Howard, who always goes along to get along, has just had the foundations of his world rocked yet again, and he can't trust that anything about his life on "our" side is as he thought it was. So he does something selfish, and begs to drink in the life's story of the daughter who never was.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This episode was built around the big reveal at the end, so the rest was a bit of a slower burn.

I was a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see the conversation between "our" Howard and "their" Howard's daughter. But based on the conversation between Anna and "their" Emily, it's clear that it had an impact on the young woman. And "their" Emily knows just how devastating that can be when "their" Howard swaps back.

It was interesting to see "their" Howard's reaction to the conspiracy's murder of his friend the butcher. One of the defining qualities of "our" Howard is loyalty, and while "their" Howard doesn't seem especially loyal to Emily or Anna, he's definitely loyal to his friend her. The softness and sensitivity from him when he met with the butcher's wife was a side we haven't seen of this Howard.

Perhaps the decisive difference between the two Howards is that "their" Howard appears to have found out about Emily's real job with the Office of Interchange much earlier in the marriage than "our" Howard. For him, the betrayal of the secret outweighed the love. Last week's episode made it pretty clear that "our" Howard has suspicions about "our" Emily, now, but there's still three decades of marriage there that "their" Howard never got.

Interesting that Adeel Akhtar's character on "their" side is a mole for the conspiracy.

I loved that brief scene with the operative from "their" side slipping outside and struggling with the modern smartphone; while "their" technology is far more advanced than "ours" in many ways, "their" mobile phones (semi-transparent, sleek) don't appear to be multi-function devices like "our" smart phones. Considering that this:

...was the state of the art at the point in time when the two universes began to diverge, it makes sense that both sides would have mobile phones but that the devices would evolve in very different ways.

The reveal that Quayle was the (unknowing) mole was a good one; presumably "their" Clare killed and replaced "our" Clare at some point prior to Quayle being named the head of his department, since I doubt "our" Director of Diplomacy is part of the conspiracy. The pilot began with Quayle seeming to know everything and Howard seeming to know nothing. The first six episodes have been a nice inversion of that, as both Howards get closer and closer to the heart of the conspiracy while Quayle slowly comes to understand just how little he knows.

Execution-wise, the shock of the reveal was ruined a bit when Quayle arrived home, though, since the answering voice was quite clearly Nazanin Boniadi's.

The two big questions coming out of this episode for me:

1. Can Quayle can establish his innocence before Aldrich's jaws close in? And can he do it without tipping off the conspirators that he's become aware of being compromised?
2. Baldwin seems intent on completing the contract with the intent of acquiring enough funds to secure meaningful freedom on "our" side. Does she know the true extent of the conspiracy's end game? And if she doesn't not, will she continue to participate if she discovers that the conspiracy's plans involve death on a massive scale?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This episode, via the flashbacks filling in the blanks of Clare's story, provided us some specificity for the timeline. The point of divergence was sometime in 1987; if the two universes existed before then, there was no interaction between them, and so no butterfly effect to disturb the perfect parallels. The swine flu epidemic on "their" side first became widespread in 1996. Prior to this global alteration, the differences between the two universes were quite subtle since the divergences rippled out from only a few hundred people who'd crossed paths with one building in Berlin. But the pandemic killed off half a billion people around the world on "their" side, and things diverged rapidly from there. Science, technology and engineering progressed far faster on their side. Health care and environmental concerns became far more prominent there, as preventable deaths became far less acceptable in the face of a potential extinction level event. Consumer electronics, as suspected, have progressed faster on our side.

Usually when we see doppelgangers set in to replace their others, they make themselves very quickly. The methodology of the School was very precise to avoid those missteps; instead of the usual crash course in becoming one's identical, Clare had well over a decade of hard study, based on the information available to the conspirators. And then, once she crossed over, she used the additional proximity to study her mark in greater detail, learning about the life that was stolen from her. In the end, it was "our" Clare's attempt to assert some dignity for herself in the face of Quayle's infidelity that finally signed her death warrant.

The interesting thing about the School is that while it thoroughly grooms and radicalizes its pupils, the whole enterprise is based around one disputed fact: that "our" side unleashed the pandemic on "their" side. Religious radicals are grounded in a philosophy centered around centuries-old texts. Ideological radicals (a la "The Americans") are grounded in political and economic philosophies that cannot be conclusively proven or disproven. The foundation of the conspiracy's radicalization seems far more fragile. If it's ever proven that "our" side did not unleash the virus, then the driving force behind all of the conspiracy's operatives gets completely yanked out from under them. They would no longer be righteous avengers; they'd just be thugs and murderers.

Quayle of course, that paragon of privilege and personal weakness, does exactly the wrong thing in the face of his latest discovery. He drinks to excess and stumbles his way into a dance that others have been playing far longer and at a far higher level. A lesser show would drag out this mismatched game of cat and mouse for several episodes, before revealing that Clare had the upper hand the entire time. Instead, Quayle confronts her before the end of the episode and she responds with the key complication on which her loyalties pivot: their baby girl. Her marriage may not be real, but her baby is. The question going forward is: Is her love for this child, something that is truly hers, greater than her anger for what was taken from her? Is she skilled enough at this game to have both?

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Tonight was a place setting episode. Aside from Quayle's decision in the final scene, this episode was about moving pieces around on the board.

The major scene was in the interface room between the two Howards, where (intelligence having been duly provided) they just absolutely tear each other apart. My guess is that this will be J.K. Simmons's Emmy submission episode for that scene alone. The major revelation being that it's not that "our" Howard wasn't aware of Emily's secret life, it's that he was able to accept and forgive while "their" Howard wasn't. It might be the first time we see "our" Howard get the better of "their" Howard.

Quayle throwing Howard under the bus in an effort to protect Spencer seems like one of those dodges that would fall apart quickly under any real scrutiny. Especially since Howard didn't have access to Quayle until very recently.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

The interesting thing about the School's planning coming together is the form its first phase takes, and what that says about the two worlds. On "their" side, where half a billion people have been wiped off the face of the Earth, life is extraordinarily precious. The pandemic devastated the world's population a couple years before Columbine, so it's entirely possible that the epidemic of mass shootings that followed in its wake never happened over there. As such a mass shooting probably seemed more devastating to its planners than it will be be seen on "our" side, where the world has grown indifferent to mass shootings and they only stay in the headlines for a few days -- if that. Operationally, of course, it's devastating to "our" side. But it seems unlikely that it will have ripples very far outside the immediate circle of the building and their loved one.

If I had to guess, the last remaining gunman, who collapsed on the line where "our" side becomes "their" side, has a bomb in his bag and the intention is to seal off the two universes by destroying the crossing point. On the other hand, it doesn't seem quite proportional if this is supposed to be a response to the pandemic. I figured that there's something world-destroying at stake.

It seems that neither Quayle nor his wife are dead. It'll be interesting to see what payoff arises from that.

"Our" Howard Silk is one of the very few people on either side to treat Baldwin with kindness and humanity. It'll be interesting to see if she is able to go through with it, and if so, which Howard ends up in her crosshairs.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Even though it's a troubling moment for "our" Howard, because it brings him closer than he's ever been to "their" Howard, it was immensely satisfying to see him strike down Pope with that fire poker. When someone becomes convinced of their own invincibility, there's a certain schadenfreude in seeing the look of surprise when that sense of entitlement is punctured.

I kind of hope that the crossing is kept closed for most of the second season. Seeing the various characters who have crossed over adjust to another life that they cannot escape is a fascinating process. Both Howards were tourists in each other's lives this season. But as long as the crossing remains shut, they're really forced to live each other's lives.

The impromptu arrangement between Baldwin and "their" Howard shows how far both characters have come since the pilot. He literally killed her other. But they are both strangers in a strange land, and here they are making the best of it.

The truce between Quayle and "their" Howard sets up an interesting dynamic for the second season. This is a deal that "our" Howard would never have made, because he knows that "our" Emily would never put herself above the mission of keeping "our" side safe. But "their" Howard makes it on her behalf anyway. And Quayle is a tricky position, having to simultaneously try to root out the conspiracy before it wreaks further havoc on "our" side, while insulating one of the key conspirators from the investigation.

And it raises interesting questions about Clare; is she being forthright about putting their daughter first, or is this yet another play to further the agenda? Will she, like Quayle, prioritize protecting their family, or will she take advantage of the space he's creating for her to continue moving the ball down the field? Given that he cheated on "our" Clare before this Clare replaced her, it seems a fair assumption that he married her to ingratiate himself with her father and advance his career. And obviously, she married him for his access, so she could send intelligence back to the other side. So in a strange way, this might be the first honest moment of their entire marriage -- if each can trust what the other is saying.

It seems like the sci-fi introduction of management, on both sides, is leaving them room to lock down name actors when the faces of the people behind the curtain are finally revealed down the road.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Season 2 Trailer:


Coming December 9th.

 

[Josh Dial]

Can't wait. One of the gems in 2018.