Counterpart was back tonight with episode 1.2 - via Amazon Prime, for me, because Starz is no longer on Cablevision in my area, which I suspect is Cablevision's fault, at least in this reality. As for the episode, it was quite good, and moved the story forward in at least one big way.In trying to get the difference between the alternate realities, we learned in the first episode that one reality contains a meek Howard Silk and the other contains a Howard Silk (aka "Howard Prime") as spy at least as deadly as James Bond. Tonight we see that this distinction holds for the violin-player in meek Howard's reality, whose counterpart is none other than the ninja-like assassin Baldwin in spy-Howard's reality. So this seems to suggest that the two realities are split along meek/violent lines - which is not to say that meek Howard is really meek - he's not - but he's certainly not as aggressive coming out the gate as his counterpart.
Pope in the violent reality makes one remark which seems to support this hypothesis, when he talks about what "they" i.e., the (slightly) more peaceful reality did to "us" (the more violent reality). And the signal event with Baldwin and her counterpart's father, before the realities split, supports this. Baldwin went on after letting her drunken father be killed by a train to become a master assassin. The counterpart channeled her aggression into feverishly playing the violin, a fabulous Freudian sublimation if ever there was one.
Still a lot of questions, of course, as there should be at this point. We still have no clue as to which reality is "ours," whatever exactly that might mean. But we're off to a good start, with not one but two characters having significant if not continuing interactions with their alternate-reality doubles, and I'm looking forward to more.
Hey, I'm wondering if Cablevision is so blocked-headed in the other reality.
See also Counterpart 1.1: Fringe on Espionage
more alternate reality - "flat-out fantastic" - Scifi and Scary
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