Imagine going through the same routine day in and day out at a dead-end job for 30 years.Then, one day, you see your chance to advance only to have your younger coworker get the promotion. Life seems bleak…but don’t worry it’s about to get worse (and more complicated). The next day you are stopped by security on the way into work. As you’re escorted to a dark, remote part of the facility fear takes hold of you because you don’t know what’s going to happen. You’re lead to a room where you are alone until they lead a man into the room cuffed and hooded. They sit him across from you and they pull the hood off and you are staring at the mirror image of yourself. Your doppelgänger looks you square in the eye and says your name.
Welcome to the world of Counterpart on Starz Staring J.K. Simmons and J.K. Simmons. The series, which debuted earlier this year, is must-watch television. In fact, here’s three reasons you should be watching this series.
Reason One: The Tale of Two Simmons
J.K. Simmons won my heart with the movie Whiplash. When I saw the preview for Counterpart I knew this was going to get interesting. When it comes to acting Simmons becomes the role he is portraying. You are watching a master at work.
In Counterpart he plays Howard Silk a not-so-interesting person. He’s worked in the same department for his company for almost 30 years. But, when he is turned down for a promotion his world starts to spin out of control. Things get particularly out of control when he finds the company he works for has been guarding a gate to another reality that split from theirs 30 years ago. This is where Howard meets the “other” Howard.
Simmons plays the roles so well that when watching the two interact you forget that you are watching the same actor. From the posture to the voice to the movements and actions in them; you feel as if watching two people. See, the Howard from the other side is a brooding man who has a power about him that you just can’t place. Something in the past drove these two down different paths and we find out that Howard (other side) has crossed over to track down an escaped assassin from his side. As the two interact, Simmons is so convincing in his roles that you instantly know which Howard is Howard. I am really looking forward to seeing how both Howard’s change as they get to know each other and their lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Bu2DOM66g
Two: The Mystery of The split
This is the meat and potatoes of the show. The show is really good at drawing you in with subtitle differences that we see between the two sides. The show is based in Germany and we are never given a date but what we do know is that what they call the split happened after an experiment some 30 years ago. The gate is below the building that the Howards work in and is used as a way to share information from both sides. However, the outside world is oblivious to the existence of the other side. Not even the world’s governments know about the existence of the other side.
This show is so good at just giving you enough to keep you wanting more. Even though we are five episodes in, we still don’t know what happened to cause the split. All we know is as time goes on the sides get more and more different.
On the side of Howard 1 you see around the world older technology — desktop computers, older model cars and what seems to be almost a version of a Communist state. The city is a mix of older technology and Europe from a few decades past.
Flip to the side of Howard 2 and we see a side with less people, and health care stations everywhere. There’s modern buildings and technology in the city but in the background you see signs saying different things like “See something, Say something. It’s the law.” So it leaves you to wonder what happened there.
This week we got a little more info on the state of things on side two. Apparently sometime in the ‘90s there was a flu epidemic that killed 7% of the world’s population — effectively wiping out billions of people. So hopefully as the story unfolds we get more information about what caused the split and what each world is like. The weird connection is that before the split there was only one reality and the people on both sides share the same memories before the split happened.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-XBpwYDXWA
Three: Espionage – Warning: Some spoilers ahead
What’s better than a good spy show? I want to say a spy show that involves parallel universes and doppelgängers.
The story of this show just grabs you from the first scene. We find that there are two realities that split for some unknown reason and that Howard is oblivious to the true nature of what goes on in his job. People in the outside world have no idea that there is anything going on or that under that building there sits a gate to another reality. Then we meet the other Howard who, unlike the Howard of this side, knows all of what has happened and has come to his side to track down an assassin and to investigate a possible mole on side one who is very high up and has been in play for years. At this time we don’t know what the end game is but during this week’s episode we learn of a group from side two that are known as “indigo” are sleeper agents placed in side one. We learn this because there is talk that side one introduced the virus that ran rampant on side two. I know I can not wait until next week to learn more.
I’m so enthralled with this show at this point. The writing is powerful and keeps you entranced in fear that you may miss something. The series steadily reveals just enough to keep the momentum going. The writing and character development are great as we slowly learn about each side the more involved we become on the how’s and why’s or their lives. All I know is I want to know why the Howard’s are so different what was the one thing that changed that pushed them to who they are. I can’t wait to tune in next week and if you are not watching Counterpart just maybe, the other you is.
-Anthony Coleman
Counterpart airs Sunday nights on STARZ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wB8lBnPmK0
