Counterpart 1.08

Love the Lie

Howard Alpha, Emily Prime, Ian, and Ian's men see people burning documents outside the school in Pottsdam. The teachers at the school were warned. They arm themselves when they see that they have company. They fight back. Some of them are killed by Ian and his men, others commit suicide. Two of the teachers, one of whom was Clare's teacher, escape. A pile dead children is found in the basement when they search the house afterwards. Emily, Ian, and the others piece together what the school was all about. 

Howard Prime gets word that Emily Alpha has woken up. He goes to the hospital and finds her mother with her. Emily is awake but she is not speaking and does not seem to be aware of what is going on around her. Charlotte Burton and Howard are not on good terms. She wants to move Emily. Howard refuses to let that happen. 

Peter Quayle talks to Clare. He doesn't know what to do with her. He has handcuffed her to a door. She lies to him when he asks her about what happened to Clare Alpha. She tells him that the other Clare was relocated to her world. He wants to turn her in but he doesn't know what to do. She talks to him, points out how his life and their daughter's life will be destroyed if he turns her in.

Emily points out to Ian that there is only one person who knew they were coming, the interrogator. She talks Ian into not reporting in what they have found. They find some documents that were not destroyed including pictures of one of the three agents who recently crossed over. Emily and Howard leave together and head back to Berlin. Howard gets confirmation that the man in the picture crossed over.

Baldwin wakes up with Greta. She doesn't feel like talking. She leaves. She goes back to the street where the three agents are staying. She waits until she sees one of them on the street. He is alone. She follows him to the apartment and kills him. She later returns to Greta's apartment.

Aldrich shows up without warning at Quayle's house. He has brought him soup. He tells him a story about his counterpart. He makes it clear that he thinks that Quayle is the mole. He urges Quayle to meet him later that night at a bar so they can talk. 

Emily gets a coded message to Howard Prime on the other side. She arranges for a private meeting between the two. Howard Alpha tells Howard Prime about the school and what he knows about the three agents. Prime shrugs. He is surprised to see how Alpha has changed. Prime gets angry when he learns that Alpha has met his wife and daughter. Prime tells Alpha that Emily Alpha is a spy, just like her counterpart. Alpha reveals that he already knew that Emily had secrets although he didn't know what all her secrets were.

Quayle meets with Aldrich later that night at the bar. He tells Aldrich that someone has been manipulating him a long time. He tells Aldrich that someone is Howard Silk.

Thoughts

Alexander Pope in mentioned but he is not in this episode.

Charlotte Burton is played by Jacqueline Bisset.

I watched this episode twice, back-to-back, as I have gotten in the practice of doing with this show. The first run through I just watched and listened. I made notes during the second watch.

I thought at first that the soup (that Aldrich brought to Quayle) was drugged. I was ready for Quayle to start feeling woozy when he ate the soup but that didn't happen.

The piece de resistance in this episode is the conversation between the two Howards. What's great about it is the contents of the conversation. What isn't so great about it is the logistics to set up the meeting. I don't see how something like that could have been arranged that quickly. If J.K. Simmons wasn't so good then I would have thought more about the arrangements. 

This is a good episode but the reveal at the end of the episode wasn't quite as shocking to me as the one a couple episodes back. I wasn't terribly surprised when Peter Quayle told Aldrich that Howard Silk is the mole. I was kind of expecting that he wouldn't give Clare away. The question I have now is did Peter decide to do this on his own or was it something that Clare suggested?

This show is far from perfect but the way it is packaged and the performances make it a great watch in my book. I can see how it wouldn't appeal to everyone in the way that it appeals to me.