7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
A UN employee discovers the agency he works for is hiding a gateway to a parallel dimension.
Starring: J.K. Simmons, Harry Lloyd, Nazanin Boniadi, Olivia Williams, Sara SerraioccoThriller | Insignificant |
Sci-Fi | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Had he not been so busy as the recurring psychiatrist often seen giving his feedback on various criminal types in the long running Dick Wolf series Law & Order, J.K. Simmons might have made an excellent supporting cast member for another long running series that was being broadcast during at least some of the same time period, The X-Files. For those who may have considered this “fantasy casting”, Counterpart might fill the bill rather handily, and the good news is that Simmons isn’t consigned to a supporting role, and in fact gets to essay two versions of the same character named Howard Silk. Counterpart has some frankly wobbly science fiction underpinnings, and it arguably strives a bit too hard to provide the same sort of labyrinthine layering that informed such now legendary shows as Lost: The Complete Collection, but it’s frequently quite exciting and Simmons is a lot of fun to watch as he clearly delineates two different personalities who are in essence the same man. That’s because the foundational conceit of Counterpart is one of parallel worlds, although as in many properties which are built around this same artifice, there’s just enough of a difference between them (and the “same” people who inhabit them) that perspicacious viewers will be able to tell them apart. In “our” world, Howard Silk is a kind of drudge working in an overseas intelligence agency where his thirty years of service haven’t really led to any major advancement. Furthermore, he’s nursing some serious anguish over a recent injury to his wife Emily (Olivia Williams), who is comatose in a local Berlin hospital. On the (temporary) plus side, Howard thinks he’s up for a promotion, and is escorted into a top secret area of the building where he’s toiled for countless years, only to be let down rather harshly by his arrogant (and ridiculously young) superior Peter Quayle (Harry Lloyd), who informs him basically “it would have happened already” had Howard been destined for greatness. Everything changes one day when Howard isn’t able to automatically enter the premises with a fingerprint ID, and is instead quickly escorted to the bowels of the building where he’s told not to panic when someone “from the other side” is brought in with a bag over his head. That stranger has already said he won’t deal with anyone other than Howard, and it probably doesn’t take a rocket scientist viewer to predict that when the bag is removed, the stranger turns out to be another version of Howard himself.
Counterpart is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. The IMDb doesn't provide any real technical data on the shoot, and while I was able to find rather interesting interviews with the first season's two cinematographers, Martin Ruhe and Luc Montpellier, unfortunately neither offered any real insight into any technologies utilized. All of that said, while this is a generally crisp and well detailed looking set of episodes, this is now the second Starz series I've reviewed on Blu-ray that looks just a little odd at times to my eyes. As I mentioned in our American Gods: Season 1 Blu-ray review, that release looked pretty dark, with what appeared to be boosted black levels. In this particular instance, Counterpart often has a kind of tan or even ochre undertone running through it, something that probably is a stylistic choice, but which still tends to skew the palette in some slightly "alien" looking ways at times, sometimes with a kind of hazy overlay. As with American Gods, I did not see this series in its broadcast iteration and so will be interested to see what fans who did see the show think of this Blu-ray version. As can be seen many of the screenshots accompanying this review, Counterpart is often pretty drab looking, with a production design that tends to emphasize relatively neutral tones like beiges and grays, as well as exploiting a lot of very dimly lit sequences. Even some brightly lit outdoor material tends to look a little dowdy at times, though detail levels generally remain quite high throughout the ten episodes of this first season.
While Counterpart is granted a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix, the claustrophobic feel of the series spills over into its sound design, which means this show may provide less of a "wow" factor than some audiophiles may be expecting. There is really good immersion that nicely details both the workaday world in the agency, as well as some of the outdoor material in Berlin and elsewhere, but on the whole this is a somewhat restrained sound design that tends to shy away from overtly showy moments. Dialogue, effects and score are all rendered cleanly and clearly, with no issues in terms of distortion or other damage.
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 1 (1080p; 2:12)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 2 (1080p; 2:08)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 3 (1080p; 2:01)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 4 (1080p; 2:00)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 5 (1080p; 1:47)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 6 (1080p; 2:04)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 7 (1080p; 2:03)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 8 (1080p; 2:03)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 9 (1080p; 2:05)
- Inside the World of Counterpart: Episode 10 (1080p; 2:11)
Counterpart is a little hokey at times, but it benefits from two commanding performances by Simmons, one of the most intrinsically interesting actors working today in my personal estimation. The show's production design is often evocative as well, in a kind of post-modernist industrial Bauhaus kind of way, and the huge supporting cast has a number of potentially interesting characters whom I'm assuming will be moved around like pawns as the series progresses. While video looked just a little weird to me, on the whole technical merits are solid, and even without a ton of supplements, Counterpart: The Complete First Season comes Recommended.
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