Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.0

Counterpart: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 26, 2018

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.

It’s probably going to be impossible for some fans of Orphan Black: The Complete Series not to think of that series when watching Counterpart for a couple of reasons. Much like that Tatiana Maslany series, Counterpart is literally drenched in conspiracies and backstabbing, but from a purely technical standpoint, this series, like Orphan Black, delights in presenting different “versions” of the “same” character on screen simultaneously. Also as with Orphan Black (and, frankly, other labyrinthine shows like the aforementioned Lost), some viewers may feel that an overly complex mythology tends to weigh down narrative momentum at times.

The whole foundational conceit of a parallel world with a portal between them residing in the offices of the agency where Silk works is dealt with in an almost throwaway fashion, and the series arguably takes too long to start doling out tidbits about what’s “really” going on. In a way that’s understandable, since “our” world’s Howard (called Howard Alpha, including on some subtitles) is a clueless shlub as the series begins. But I personally kept guessing supposed “reveals” at least a while before they were actually trotted out, perhaps an indication that writer and creator Justin Marks doesn’t manage misdirection perfectly at all times.

A lot of this first season is given over to a supposed assassin who is taking out folks in the Alpha world (the parallel world is called Prime, and “that” Howard is identified as Howard Prime, including on some subtitles). When Howard’s comatose wife Emily seems to be the next victim, that forces Howard Prime, who’s a bit more of a stud than Howard Alpha, to spring into action, though the series is almost disappointingly predictable in what happens during this first potential skirmish.

What works better in this first season is the almost Orwellian depictions of the Alpha agency, where seemingly metaphysical aspects are dealt with in a kind of “cog in the wheel” way. In fact the bureaucratic finaglings in the Alpha world are arguably more interesting than any of the back and forths between Alpha and Prime versions of various characters.

Counterpart may tend to go off on tangents a bit too frequently in this first season, but the underlying story is often fascinating, and it’s undeniable fun to see actors of the caliber of Simmons and Williams providing different takes on the “same” character. It will be really interesting to see where this show goes in its second year. Hopefully Counterpart won’t wallow in what I have called the “Lost syndrome” (as much as I absolutely loved that series), where every answer seemed to open up several new questions. Like Howard Alpha himself demands in an early episode, it’s no fun being kept in the dark and many viewers, again like Howard, are going to want to know what’s actually going on.

Counterpart: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

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.

Counterpart: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

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.

Counterpart: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Season Outlook (1080p; 1:58) is really more like a glorified trailer.


• Inside the World of Counterpart offers brief spoiler filled (with warnings) EPKs devoted to each episode:

  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)

Note: The above supplements can be found on Disc Three of this three disc set. The two other discs do list Special Features, but those turn out to be Bookmarks.

Counterpart: The Complete First Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

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.