Counterpart: Birds of a Feather

January 28, 2018 6:39 PM - Season 1, Episode 2

Howard must work together with his counterpart; Baldwin faces her past; and Emily tries to make sense of her orders.

Den of Geek - The small touches in the background are as compelling as the action in Counterpart as viewers piece the puzzle together along with Howard.

posted by oh yeah! (10 comments total)

I'm really enjoying this show.
posted by Ivan Fyodorovich at 2:29 AM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'm still at sort of vaguely intrigued level? Like, I like all of the cast, but, I'm just kind of waiting for the Exposition Fairy to let me in on what exactly is going on. My sense from that non-spoiler review is that there will be answers coming eventually, so, I'm ok with waiting to see where things go. But I'm not super hooked by the show yet.
posted by oh yeah! at 5:41 PM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm liking this show, and between the acting, the edit, and the vfx, I'm completely, 100% buying that there are two JK Simmons in the room, and that they're different people.

I find the cryptic nature of the organization that they work for to be really compelling, like a clandestine puzzle, and I am pretty well sucked in. The tantalizing past detail they reveal, which forces you to wonder how each person came to differ from their counterpart, is awesome.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:12 PM on January 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

A dear friend talked me into giving this show a try yesterday with the pitch of 'it reminds me of Fringe.'

I am so glad I listened - that was wonderful, and I'm looking forward to more.
posted by mordax at 12:16 PM on January 31, 2018

The 2nd and 3rd seasons of Fringe are probably the best-fit analogue to this show's schism universe. Hopefully (or not?) these two universes won't interact so adversarially as the ones in Fringe-- not the people, I mean, but the laws of physics and such which kept going awry.

Massive Dynamic, as much of it that we have seen, is certainly every bit as suspect as whatever they call the agency in this show.
posted by Sunburnt at 12:26 PM on January 31, 2018

It's quite pleasingly twisty, with shades of (MeFi's own) Charlie Stross's Merchant Princes series in how many plots and counterplots there are going on in a relatively small cast of characters. Like others here I get a very strong Fringe vibe, but without the self-conscious loopiness. The crazy here is deadly serious and completely inexplicable. J. K. Simmons is in his magnetically watchable hangdog miserablist element, and provides a lovely anchor for the swirling intrigue in both roles. I love it, I don't care if they explain anything. I want to figure it all out myself!
posted by prismatic7 at 2:42 AM on February 1, 2018 [2 favorites]

I really, really love how small the changes that lead people in different ways are here. Like - Baldwin is wanting to know how other-her could live such a different life, and it’s by making the choice to cut - to turn the anger inwards vs outwards - a decision in the moment, but one that over twenty years, fractures.

I am really wondering about the other small moments for the characters.
posted by corb at 8:46 AM on February 1, 2018 [3 favorites]

Wow. I can't believe I never got into this when it first aired. Much thanks to 'Mr Bismark' on MeFightClub for the prod.

Olivia Williams is an amazing "cherry on top."

"How is everything in your personal life, Emily?"
posted by porpoise at 8:09 PM on March 13, 2018 [1 favorite]

I'm super late to watching this. Also I just got back from a month in Berlin. So I'm really struck by how they're using the Berlin setting to do so much work for the show. The giant neoclassical bureaucratic buildings; those are all really in Berlin. The inscrutable bureaucratic process is proper German on both sides, although the sinister parts read more Stasi. I love the fade they did of the Berlin skyline from our Berlin to Their Berlin, with the extra twisty towers. Things diverged a lot. So far they haven't directly referenced The Wall but clearly it is hanging heavily over the show.

What I'm not sure I'm OK with is how Their Berlin is evil Mirror Universe Berlin. Everyone we've met there seems to be murderous and awful and Our Berlin is all sweetness and light. Hopefully that gets more nuanced as the show develops.
posted by Nelson at 7:36 AM on January 12, 2019 [1 favorite]

I loved how the Personnel lady only had about 3 words of dialogue, but when Olivia Williams told her to fuck off it felt completely justified. HR is always there for the org, not for you.
posted by harriet vane at 8:00 AM on January 12, 2019 [4 favorites]