Counterpart – Act Like You’ve Been Here Before

By: Arlene Allen

Episode six of “Counterpart” was slower and talkier than previous episodes but oh, what a finale! I’ll get to that later but let’s start from the beginning.

One of the students at the safe house run by Clare (Nazanin Boniadi) sneaks out at night and doesn’t wind up with a good opinion of what he sees. “They all deserve to die,” he says. Guess kids partying and snapping selfies isn’t a thing on the other side. Meanwhile, Shaw (Nicholas Pinnock) is proving himself to be cold and heartless at customs, busting a group of runaways and shooting a man. Someone tips him off that Emily Prime (Olivia Williams) and Howard Silk (J.K. Simmons) are up to something and that they pressured a courier into giving them an address.

Quayle (Harry Lloyd) is preoccupied by something and to make matters worse other agents are complaining that Howard Prime (J. K. Simmons) isn’t showing up to work. Howard Prime’s edgy attitude is making people suspicious; he’s not acting like meek Howard at all. It’s also Quayle’s birthday. He goes to Howard’s apartment and tells him he had better start showing up at the office if he wants to keep his cover. Meanwhile, it turns out Emily Prime has had documents about the mole in Quayle’s office in her possession On Earth 1.

Shaw and two of his goons corner Howard into a diner. He is trying to catch Howard out, but he is proving to be much smarter and tougher than anyone suspected. He tells Shaw to go talk to Emily Prime if he wants to know what’s going on.  Eventually, they take Howard in and put him through a lie detector test. He uses clever evasions with replies like “I don’t know” and “I can’t remember.”  He tells Shaw he’s the best he’s ever been and that’s irony since at first Howard was so out of his league on Earth 1.

Baldwin ( Sara Serraiocco) attends the funeral of her counterpart, Nadia. She hears Nadia’s lover speak and then follows her for awhile, but then she seeks out Clare instead. She asks her to let her finish the job she was sent here for. She just wants to be free she tells Clare; if she’ll pay her, she’ll disappear forever.  Afterwards, Baldwin goes off to see her new girlfriend Greta (Liv Lisa Fries). Greta invites her to a party, but it doesn’t take long for Baldwin to be over the scene. Greta asks about her face. Greta is concerned because she had an abusive lover in her past.  Greta and Baldwin end up in Greta’s apartment making love.

Meanwhile, Aldrich (Ulrich Thomsen) is showing us his worth. He is interrogating people about the possible mole. He investigates the death of an agent named Walter who died of a heart attack five years ago. It’s a possibility that whoever the mole is had Walter killed and took his place…and that person is…Quayle. After going to the butcher shop and finding his friend dead with his fingertips cut off and his teeth pulled out, the butcher’s wife informs Howard Prime that after Howard’s last visit Quayle and some associates returned. Howard Prime goes to Quayle’s love nest and breaks down the door. He kicks Quayle’s prostitute out. Howard Prime is not going to take anymore BS and that Quayle needs to get his butt in gear and find the mole because the mole is getting information straight from Quayle’s office.

Emily Prime goes to her boss and tells him she’s taking a leave of absence to get herself straight. Shaw knows that she and Howard have an address and he demands to know whose it is and what it is all about. Howard does a great job of stalling and playing Shaw, which is awesome to watch. It’s ended when Emily Prime bursts in and calls Shaw on the carpet.  She tells Shaw the address and says that someone named Edgar has been carrying out orders for the ambassador on the other side. As soon as Shaw, Emily Prime and Howard leave one of Shaw’s associates calls Alexander Pope (Stephen Rea) and speaks to him in code. When the trio arrives at the house located at the address, they find the place on fire and under siege; it looks like Shaw has a mole too.

Aldrich has a conversation with the man who shot Nadia. The gunman says Quayle gave the order. Now Aldrich is clearly suspicious and begins to think Quayle himself is the mole. Quayle swears he’s being set up but…

Last scene, cut to Quayle’s house. He comes home to his wife, who from another room calls out “Happy birthday.”  He goes in to the living room to greet his wife and baby, and his wife turns out to be none other than…CLARE!