Hubby and I watched the first episode On Demand and liked it so much that we set the whole series to record. I have always liked JK Simmons, dating back to his first Law & Order appearences. He has a real presence on screen; you can't help but watch what he does. The show has an interesting premise -- that there is a portal between our universe and an alternate reality, and agents are sent through on visas and managed by government agencies-- but all of this is kept secret from the general public on both sides. Howard, the gentle, long-suffering bureaucrat is suddenly thrust into this world of doubles and intrigue when he meets his alternate-self. It reminds me a little of "Fringe" and a little of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it.I Anyone else watching?
I have it on my TiVo, but haven't gotten to it yet. Given the premise, and the star, I went ahead with the season pass.
I caught the first episode and thought it was pretty cool. It had a nice paranoid Twilight Zone feel to it. I have no idea where it's going, especially with that twist at the end, but it's intriguing.
I am glad someone posted this..i was surprised NOT to see a thread until today. Me & my wife love it too. I am surprised they jumped right into exposing the Howards dual identity right away (with the single flower). So the bad guys are now looking for future deceptions by a Howard? Definitely looking forward to the show. We saw the first episode on Demand, and sad that Jan 21 was just a repeat (for us). Lots of questions that i look forward to seeing the answers to. I will be interested to see how the Howards deviated...why Howard-B seems so cold blooded while Howard A is so nice. Also, weird to see Apollo in his natural accent.
The weird thing is that they seem to be saying that the split was only thirty years ago. There seems to be greater divergence than could happen in that short a time.
^Howard B made it sound like the opening may have been the cause of the divergence. Once it happened, the sides became more and more different. But at this point, we can't be sure of anything Howard B says.
Promising beginning. How is Baldwin getting across? The crossing looks pretty heavily guarded and controlled? I could watch JK Simmons read the phone book. Just a terrific actor, and we get double the pleasure. So why lie about the wife? And what’s the value in killing a woman already in a coma? To be continued...
I read an interview the other day and they specifially said that alternate universe was created artificially. I don't get Starz, but IGN has the first episode up for free, so I'll probably check it out sometime in the next couple days.
^ yes, it was. It was the result of some experiment "gone wrong." I guess we will find out more later.
Yeah, he's clearly playing some game. But it seemed like his relationship with his wife differed even before the divergence. He's coming across with a legitimate visa, he's just engaging in unsanctioned activities. Or so he says. I'm not sure we know what the "legitimate" purpose of coming across really is.
Baldwin is the female assassin. They said she came from the other side, so she must have some legitimate cover to get through the crossing. That's what I was referring to.
Just a theory based on only having seen the pilot. I'm guessing that Mirror Howard was planning on killing Howard Prime and replacing him, possibly with the collusion of blond a-hole guy, also bringing his wife over and doing the same with her, passing her off as her counterpart having made a miraculous recovery. The killing of Howard Prime's comatose wife, by the female assassin, an act certain to get massive publicity would foreclose that option.
I just watched the first two episodes and I'm already loving the series. I immediately got Fringe undertones while presenting a distinctively different dynamic and storyline. The series has a terrific cast, especially J.K. Simmons who is always a pleasure to watch. A credit to his craft, I can tell which counterpart of Howard we're dealing with right away based just on his body language alone, an ability that reminds me of Tatiana Maslany. Hm...I wonder if she's interested in doing double duty again? Yeah, probably not. During the first episode, when Part Howard explained his hospital routine to Counterpart Howard, I knew he was going to forget the flowers, specifically the exchange with the nurse on duty. As Part Howard kept remembering bits and pieces to inform Counterpart Howard, I knew he was still going to forget to mention that exchange. That process of recalling some information but forgetting a crucial piece reminded me of Roald Dahl's George's Marvelous Medicine as George tried to reconstruct his magical potion, and I specifically recall as a kid always saying "Don't forget the lipstick!" Well, I guess that allusion probably only just came to me. I particularly like how the series expressly states the two universes were once one until one became two and then diverged, a process not unlike the twinning of John Crichton in Farscape. There is no original universe and now they're two different universes with a shared past. That dynamic was nicely explored with Nadia (although it's a shame Part Nadia died) and continues to be explored with the Howards (and to a small extent so far, the Emilys), and I hope it remains a major focus of the series while not getting too bogged down in the espionage and conspiracies of both sides. After the first episode, I was a little worried that the series would present weird things like Part Howard's interface work just for the sake of being weird without any proper explanation of what he was doing, but the second episode showed through Howard's promotion to interpretation that there is something behind it. That gives me hope there's a rhyme and reason behind it all and we will learn more as the season progresses. My bigger worry now is how all of the conspiracies that are going on fit together, including but not limited to Counterpart Howard's scheming, the purpose of Nadia's work, whatever Emily is doing, and the nature of the "peace." I expect that something to do with the nature of the Howards' relationship with the Emilys. I imagine the break-up made Counterpart Howard cold, but the question is why did they break up? Whereas I found it refreshing to hear Jamie Bamber with the accent. I always prefer an actor to stick with their original accent instead of flat, "neutral" accent. I wondered the same, and not just her, but also all of the defectors Counterpart Howard said he had to hunt down and retrieve. If there was another entry point, why doesn't Counterpart Howard use that instead of using visas to get across? Unless there's something he has to do on an "official" level even if his side doesn't seem to be happy with what he's doing.
I have watched the first two episodes so far. The premise is very intriguing, the production values are great, and the acting has been very good so far. I am a little disappointed that the mystery of "what" was going on (a doorway between identical universes which then started diverging; competing intelligence agencies in a sort of new cold war between universes) was so quickly and directly answered in the pilot episode. Unless they change focus, it seems like the rest of the show will be more about "why" each side is doing what they are doing - assassinations, spying, etc. - which could be too soap opera-y, too plot-oriented for me. I also thought the second episode was too slow. And I worry that if every episode deals mostly with the concept of what makes one unique and what changes you or doesn't change you as a person, that the show will be repetitive. Hopefully the themes will vary more. So I look forward to seeing how this show is going to stretch itself.
It still seems weird to me that the universes are so different after only thirty years. Even the city skyline is very different. The timelines may have diverged, but, if the people were identical at the moment of divergence, what made them start making different choices or what made events occur differently-- do the two universes have some fundamental physical difference that causes quantum events to come out differently? Since every Counterpart character we've met so far has been a darker version of the Part character-- and since the defectors seem to be coming from that side to here-- it seems that the other side is fundamentally grimmer.
I don't think we know enough yet about what happened at the point of divergence. "Someone knows, but they're not telling" When the second universe was created, did that come with some sort of catastrophe? Remember the wife said she could tell he'd been to the other side because of the air he'd been breathing. Why is the air different?
Really good episode tonight. Interesting to see the negotiations and the glimpses of the other side. So does alt-Howard want our Howard to take his place so those who are out to get him will kill the wrong one? And, about that ending.... Spoiler Was she killed so alt-Howard could keep up the lie he told Howard about his wife dying of cancer?
Great show...can't wait for next week..but man, the sex is sooo unneeded. Everything else works well...will we see other doppelgangers?