"Counterpart" Year Two

Spoilers for the first season ahead.

Well, it's definitely worth sitting through the first season of "Counterpart" to get to the second. The show gets better, though not in the way I expected. J.K. Simmons, whose excellent performances were the driving force behind the earlier episodes, gets less screen time and less to do for the first part of the season, allowing time to explore other characters. Olivia Williams and Nazanin Boniadi benefit the most from this, as Emily and Clare become major players in the hunt for the terrorist group Indigo, and its leader Mira (Christiane Paul). We also meet some new faces, notably a new investigator, Naya Temple (Betty Gabriel), and the head of a secret prison, Yanek (James Cromwell).

The show becomes more of an ensemble effort to its benefit. There are some weak spots - the assassin Baldwin is still problematic, though she's used in better ways this year, and Ian (Nicholas Pinnock) still remains dreadfully one dimensional. However, I found Emily and the Quayles equally as compelling as Howard this season, and sometimes moreso. Emily gets more agency and more personal flaws to combat, as both her Prime and Alpha versions, and bonus points for depicting what recovery from a coma is really like. Meanwhile, the twisted relationship of the Quayles is tested by new developments. The new MVP is definitely Betty Gabriel, who takes a thankless role as the IO's new mole hunter, and creates a memorable, moving character. Simmons is still fantastic, but both Howards are sidelined from the main plot for quite a while, with one stuck in IO custody and the other helping the formerly comatose Emily with her recovery.

And this year is very plot-driven. Previously, I mentioned that "Counterpart" was largely a spy thriller that didn't seem interested in its genre elements. This season proved me wrong, as the show's creators dig deeper into the history of the double worlds, and clarify some of the major themes. An entire episode, "Twin Cities" is devoted to the accident in 1987 that created the interchange, and the original group of scientists that studied it. It's the best installment of the series, and actually works decently as a standalone piece. We learn about the clashing ideologies and tragic mistakes that lead to the original rift, making for some wonderful Cold War allegory. And we watch our present day characters wrestle with the same issues, as they try to prevent Mira from carrying out her sinister terrorist acts against the Alpha world. The terrorist threat is a much stronger and more effective throughline this time, driving the whole season.

I complained about the murkiness of the visuals in my last review, but they've improved, and the show's style has grown on me. This year more happens in the daylight, and there's generally a cleaner, brighter look and better demarcation of potentially confusing elements. Nearly all those nameless minor characters I couldn't keep straight last year are gone. The visual storytelling also becomes much more important, as the two worlds are more directly compared and contrasted this season, even including split screens to follow simultaneous action in a few key sequences. We see a lot more doubles interacting onscreen, including a very disconcerting partnership between ambassador Claude Lambert (Guy Burnet) and himself. The action and spycraft get more outlandish as the season goes on, but they still offer some good thrills.

In the end, the "Counterpart" worlds feel a little smaller than they did last season. The grand conspiracies turn out to be limited to only a handful of people. The mysterious Management is all too human and fallible. However, it's a better defined, more fascinating world, shaped by personal vendettas and crippling paranoia. We get to see a few new places, like the prison, Echo, and there are several mysteries left unsolved. However, so many of the central ones have been wrapped up, and so many of the character arcs so nicely closed out, that the season finale feels like a series finale. I'm sure that "Counterpart" could have gone on for years, but I'm not disappointed that it ended the way it did.

There are a fair amount of shows running these days that should have wrapped up in similar fashion before wearing out their welcomes.