What I’m Watching: Counterpart

Counterpart: Season 1, Episode 6 “Act Like You've Been Here Before” (B+)

At first, I didn’t find this episode to be all that enthralling, but its second half proved to be far more intriguing and worthwhile. Spotlighting some of the brooding insurgency and arrests of suspects isn’t as interesting as looking at what our characters on both sides are doing, and that’s why getting back to see how both Howards are responding to the events around them was very welcome. Ian bringing Howard in to interrogate him produced unexpected results, with Howard appearing to be an incredible liar as he calmly denied knowing anything about what he was asked and then took on the role he knew he was supposed to play by baiting Ian and telling him that he was just like his other. Emily burst in as soon as she found out what was happening, and I like that when she told Howard to see if he could find that low profile they were talking about, he shot back with the response “Would he go?” and then demanded Ian give him a gun. Back on the other side, Howard’s butcher contact is dead, and while he knows that Peter isn’t the one who did it, Aldrich and Cyrus do seem convinced that he’s the mole, while he’s made his own surprising discovery that puts his wife under suspicion. It’s good to see that Baldwin is having positive experiences after watching her other’s funeral and confronting Clare with the waitress she was flirting with, who’s showing her compassion and reminding her of the humanity that might help convince her to switch sides.