Starz’s Counterpart
Season 2, Episode 9: “You to You”
Directed by Charlotte Brändström
Written by Gianna Sobol

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “In from the Cold” – click here
* For a recap & review of the Season 2 finale, “Better Angels” – click here
Indigo are gearing up for their devastating act of terrorism. The cell Clare (Nazanin Boniadi) saw are getting their shots to stay immune. Except for young Ethel, who’s being recruited to do something “more important.” Meanwhile, Mira (Christiane Paul) and her father Yanek (James Cromwell) are intending to meet Management, supposedly to give themselves over. She knows “people are flexible” when necessary, and she’s used this to an advantage all her life.
Ian (Nicholas Pinnock) has Emily Prime (Olivia Williams) and the wounded Howard (J.K. Simmons) in his custody. He takes them back to his side’s Office of Interchange. In the Alpha world, Howard Prime goes to see Baldwin (Sara Serraiocco) for a chat and a bowl of cereal, seeing as how he’s “fresh out of friends.” Baldwin’s had enough of murder. She didn’t want anyone else to be killed, and stopping Indigo was the least she could do. Yet she can’t escape the group so easily as Howard Prime makes quite clear.
We see Naya Temple (Betty Gabriel) getting the truth from Clare a.k.a Shadow, though she isn’t playing any games. She wants ALL the truth. She pounds it verbally out of the sleeper agent, who gradually lets everything out, including meeting with Spencer (Ken Duken) and the “flu virus” his cell’s going to use. This is likewise the moment when husband Peter (Harry Lloyd) discovers his daughter’s name comes from a former lover of his wife. We’re given a small look at Naya’s home life, too. She has a little boy with special needs. Their family’s situation gives Clare and Peter some insight about their own. Naya’s husband talks about dealing with their son’s disability and mentions a poem called “Welcome to Holland” by Emily Kingsley— she wrote for Sesame Street from 1970 until 2015.

“We are who we are: we kill people, then we eat breakfast.”

Ian gives his account concerning Emily Prime to Management. He’s told about an agent from the other side giving up info. Management wants Emily to interview her. This is all confusing to Ian, who’s upset about how he’s continually been treated after his hard-fought loyalty. He’s sent to get Emily Prime for “off book activities” and she’s equally confused. She’s taken to an interface room where she meets her Other. They have a frank chat during which Emily reveals she had a hand in creating Indigo after discovering her side was complicit in creating the flu virus. She chose not to do anything until too late and it helped “radicalise a whole generation.” Not an easy conversation all around. Emily Prime feels her life was invaded by the original Emily, and it was, so the meeting of isn’t quite a happy one.
In another room, Howard waits, hoping to speak with Management. First, they’re talking to Emily Prime about the proposed meeting with Mira. Management wants Ian to look after things for the time being, and Emily Prime’s forced to sit out. Howard is to be delivered back to the Crossing as part of the deal. He and the Other Emily have bonded, so it’s tough to say goodbye.

“Most people don’t get to see their life from both sides”

Ian tracks down Mira and Yanek. He and his men secure the father-daughter pair, dividing them before going back to the OI. The United Nations have cleared out the offices. Mira’s caged while her father is taken to see Management. Yanek returns to that familiar place from his younger years when the OI was born. He meets the old faces and the Others he left behind, at least those who remain. Some perished because of Mira. Management don’t want to bargain with a terrorist, though Yanek believes this is all “the cost” of their failed experiment. They see the good in the Crossing when he can’t due to his own personal failures with his Other.
Downstairs, Mira tries to get Ian to go against his loyalties. He’s put in an impossible situation: they have Nomi (Krissi Bohn). Her life’s threatened. She’ll live only if Ian chooses to let Mira out of that cage. Will he sacrifice for some semblance of “the greater good“? Will he choose to save the woman he loves? He chooses the latter, allowing Mira to join her father upstairs. She murders Management in front of Yanek without a single word. He sees she was only ever looking for revenge.
Interesting to note when Naya has Clare get in contact with Spencer to arrange a meet, the place it’s set happens to be the same as the location from the code Howard Prime and Emily cracked using the Rainer Maria Rilke book. Peter and Naya wait outside while Clare goes in to try and get Spencer talking over the wire. Clare’s found out, forcing her to make a run for it. She’s caught by Spencer and his men. She has a guardian angel watching, though— two of them, actually. Baldwin and Howard Prime save her, taking Spencer with them.
What’s the next step for Mira? She takes Management’s equipment and sets both sides up together. She’s broadcasting an “urgent message” that’ll absolutely begin a chaotic crisis on both sides of the Crossing.
Another solid entry in Counterpart‘s amazing Season 2. Lots of great episodes. This is leading to a wild climax. Next up is the finale. “Better Angels” could bring the end of one world. Will it? What do YOU think?