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Review of 'Counterpart' 2.9

Emily and Mira

By Paul LevinsonPublished 5 years ago 2 min read
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The two—Emily Prime and Mira Prime—really had little to do with each other in Counterpart 2.9. But they symbolize what was best about this outstanding episode.

I've been saying that Counterpart is at least as much about the impact of the two realities on family relationships as it is about the taut espionage that courses between them. Emily and Emily Prime have a great coming-to-terms conversation in which, for the first time, Emily almost seems superior to Emily Prime. But the scene with Howard in the middle of the crossing, looking back at Emily Prime one more time, after he kissed her, and walking to Emily, whom he hugs, was really something. In a way that surpasses mere words, that scene symbolized the impossible complexity of family relationships across dimensions.

And Mira Prime with Yanek Prime epitomized the enormous power and appeal of espionage across dimensions. Ian is no match for Mira, and neither is Yanek. Her massacre of everyone left on Yanek's team shows her devotion to her plan over human life, an unfortunate but necessary characteristic for any spy bent on nothing but success. And then the payoff: there's a Mira in our world, with children, which Grandpa Yanek can go "home" to.

The unmovable logic of even the most sophisticated television series dictates that Mira and her plan cannot succeed completely—unless next week's finale is the finale of the series not the season. Because if the crossing is permanently closed, and our side decimated by the deadly flu, that would make Counterpart almost unrecognizable as the narrative we know.

But... there's not yet word, at the moment, of whether there'll be a Season 3 of Counterpart. Two is a nice round and logical number for a series named Counterpart. But I'm betting that Mira will not succeed and we'll see more of Counterpart with its two realities some time in the future. I'll be back here next week.

Alternate Orson Welles

tv review
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About the Creator

Paul Levinson

Novels The Silk Code & The Plot To Save Socrates; LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up; nonfiction The Soft Edge & Digital McLuhan, translated into 15 languages. Best-known short story: The Chronology Protection Case; Prof, Fordham Univ.

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