What I’m Watching: Counterpart

Counterpart: Season 1, Episode 8 “Love the Lie” (B+)

After last week’s knockout of an expository episode filling in a whole lot of the blanks, now we see what happens when that school is discovered. There wasn’t even a need for a shootout to create so many casualties, which shows the lengths this group is willing to go to protect their mission. Its discovery led to what was clearly the most worthwhile scene of the hour, which found both Howards sitting opposite each other and comparing their experiences. It was great to see our Howard stand up for himself and decry theirs for ruining his life, which ours had already managed to improve in just a short time on the other side. It’s disconcerting that their Howard didn’t even bother to apologize for lying about his Emily being alive, and he opted not to share the news that our Emily woke up, even though she’s in no state for our Howard to see her, especially since he’s had the jarring experience of spending time with someone very much like her who has full control of all of her functions. More troubling than their passionate exchange was how a distraught Peter, who spent the hour trying to grapple with his wife’s betrayal, chose to handle the situation when he was confronted by Aldrich. Framing Howard is a questionable move, and one that’s not likely to benefit since their Howard was more than willing to help Peter clean up a mess he should have been aware of long ago when he called him. I suspect that their Howard won’t take it lying down when he’s accused, though it does seem that communication between the two worlds isn’t always a simple or quick process, which could leave him decidedly alone without allies.