Remote Control – EP 34 – Counterpart S1 E2

You gotta be fucking kidding me. What? Two Bulgarians

acting like they didn't just come in together.

They're with you. You have just tuned into Remote

Control here on the Geekcast Radio Network. This

is episode 34, where I, TFG1 Mike, and DJ Valentine

from Simplistic Reviews... Take a look at Counterpart

Season 1 Episode 2 in our 10 week long coverage

of the new Star Series Counterpart. And now on

with the show. Hello and welcome to Remote Control.

This is episode 34. I'm, of course, TFG1 Mike.

Joining me is DJ Valentine from Simplistic Reviews.

Hello, sir. Hello. Or is it DJ Valentine from

Reviews Simplistic? I don't know. This is like

I'm the opposite side of the coin. I don't know.

I could be DJ Valentine. I could be Valentine

DJ. You have no idea. It's counterpart, man.

I could be two different versions of myself at

the same time at once. yeah if you were valentine

dj i'm pretty sure you'd be samuel jackson what's

his name from the kingsman would try to kill

you or something i don't know where is my super

soot he's frozen ladies and gentlemen thank you

oh boy that's typecasting I love that movie.

I can't wait till the sequel comes out. I'll

be pushing children out of the way so I can get

through the first one. That's right. And we are

here to continue our ten week, this is week two

out of ten, for Counterpart, the new Starz series.

And wow, what an episode. I'm convinced that

this is just some sort of passion project to

convince people that JK Simmons is a badass JK

We already know you're a badass the show is totally

unnecessary, but great regardless exactly like

we've known this for 16 years alone We love you

come on But man, the way this first episode,

sorry, the second episode starts is I'm like

going in, I'm like, I hope it doesn't like, don't

have the sophomore slump, don't have the second

episode, you know, boringness. And the first

scene is so dope, so awesome. And it just starts

with a line, which is, I just want you to know

I'm unarmed. And when that happened, I was like,

all of those ships about to go back but but but

but but but but but but but but but but but but

but but but but but voice like silk kind of thing

and I didn't even need what he said all as I

needed to know was he was putting in earplugs

that's it I figured some shit was gonna go down

because he was putting in the earplugs and you

know they did that whole background noise thing

like we what we actually wore the earplugs with

him we had JK Simmons earplugs in our ears and

I was like whoa and then I'm like muzzle flash

my whoa he just wow very good example of storytelling

visual visual storytelling you don't he doesn't

say I'm going to go outside and kill your guys

he goes I'm unarmed which is essentially telling

his wife you know I'm more badass than anybody

you're gonna send here. I don't need it to be

armed to take out any number of people you send

me. But I want you to understand that I'm going

to do that, and I'm doing it without a gun. And

then you put the earplugs in where you're like,

okay, somebody's gonna get shot or some gunfire's

gonna go off. And then you see him give the glance

to the pistol in the guy's coat, which essentially

is amateur hour compared to JK's. It's just like

such good storytelling without him having to

spell it out. It was just so good. And that's

the opening frickin' scene of the show. I know

and yeah, I was really worried if it was gonna

have the sophomore second episode slump kind

of thing cuz most not stars or HBO or that kind

of thing but most general broadcast or even some

of the cable network shows will have a pilot

or a like a Premier kind of a thing it'll be

rock solid and then they come back six months

later or whatever it is and it's You know this

oh no this went in a direction. I wasn't sure

like I The greatest thing about this television

show at this point is I have no idea what's coming

next. I don't like i had obviously i have stars

i pay for the idea that i i i see all the m all

the ads on the on -demand stuff for the other

stars network and the other stars shows on the

work and stuff but i'm not seeking out annex

promo like i do with the flash or supergirl or

legends or what i would just okay that was the

episode holy shit next sunday hurry the hell

up and get here right i mean i think i used to

do that with justified where i was like all right

i mean this Going to the next episode cold and

you know this one they could almost I mean I

think the best show that ever did like on the

next blah blah blah blah was mad men because

it would give you all these like out of sequence

clips where it's like what but once you watch

the episode you get it but here I don't even

need to this because this world is essentially

just being built in front of us these two worlds

essentially it's I don't need a teaser and I

just want to just I want to know where these

guys are going and again we I was very you know

I'm still on the fence about bad, the bad JK

Simmons. What's his character's name? Howard

Prime. Howard. Bad Howard. Because at first I

was like, OK, he's lying about his wife. He's

still lying about his wife, but he's lying about

his wife for different reasons than we had suspected.

Right. So it's like I want to like him because

he's such a badass. but I can't trust him at

all. And essentially what I think good Howard

kind of gets to the crux of the in this episode

that seems like bad. Howard's trying to reshape

good Howard into himself into himself, which

is like, oh, that is that a bad thing is a good

thing. I'm conflicted. I don't I don't know.

And I think a little bit of that comes out in

the end of the episode when bad Howard. Just

opens his mouth because he is the blunt instrument

that is JK Simmons where his good Howard is kind

of like the timid concerned fatherly type Howard

When bad Howard opens his mouth. I know shit's

gonna pop up like anytime. He says the f -word

I'm like oh my god like that's the greatest thing

in the world like the whole exchange between

them in this episode about Like you're saying

where Howard's like don't don't Turned me into

you or whatever it was that he says I actually

grabbed the clip. It'll be in the episode here

somewhere folks There's too much that I can't

control over here Aldrich obviously for one thing

is a fucking liability If I'm gonna do this right

I need your help My help Yeah, I'll talk to quail

get you transferred to strategy Well, you can

be useful. He will be the spy for you. Yeah.

Why am I a part of this? You demanded that I

be there today. I don't understand why I'm involved

in any of this. I don't know, Howard. Maybe I'm

trying to help you. And why is my perceived well

-being so important to you? A few days ago, you

were nothing, a flatliner, sleepwalking. Look

at you now Do me a favor stop trying to make

me in your image Where you going I'm going where

I've gone every evening for the last six weeks

To the hospital to see my wife. Oh My god just

yeah Wow Didn't I kind of I kind of knew that's

what he was doing, but I didn't really know that

was I didn't like click for me where I was like,

okay Maybe he's he's trying to help him out because

he's him and then good Howard kind of actually

underlines the poison No, he's not just helping

me out because I'm him he's trying to make me

him and i was like oh wow that's even more interesting

than i even you know my subconscious brain could

even rabbit that around so yeah it's it's really

good stuff going on between the two jk simmon

absolutely it's kind of this whole episode with

the two of them that the other part of the episode

with nadia and uh... and uh... bold baldwin we'll

talk about in a minute but this episode with

them as you're saying that the first thing i

think of What the hell's the name of that stupid

two -parter? A brave new world from Justice League.

Oh, right, right, right. Where Flash was like,

oh, I thought you were him, the other Batman.

And Kevin Conroy as Justice Lord Batman is like,

I am him. And I'm like, that's exactly what this

is right now. This is JK Simmons disguised as

two different Batman. I mean I don't On top of

that other than JK. Mm -hmm. I had low expectations

on the Assassin's name is Nadia Baldwin The Assassin's

name is Baldwin. Her real name is Nadia and that's

the two doubles, right? I didn't I mean Her in

the first episode they play her and essentially

because the first episode is through all the

information given to you by bad Baldwin She seems

like this cold -hearted, you know, the femme

Nikita esque assassin and in this episode you

realize, you know, she's not Because we're not

we're out of bad ball a bad Howard's perspective

We're seeing that she has you know feelings and

she's she's doing whatever she's doing it's it

almost seems like it's reluctant reasons and

I and we knew we were gonna get a sewing of the

face scene She has the prettiest gunshot wound

to the face I've ever seen yeah pretty much she

should have no teeth in her mouth in her mouth

but it was ignored that part yeah i will ignore

that part it's okay uh... yeah no like i mean

what's gonna happen next nicholas cage and uh...

and john travolta show up and you know have a

faceoff that's right uh... but yeah no like what

i learned from this episode of what i'm loving

about this show isn't that we have like howard

Howard prime explained to alternate Howard of

why the real not reality why the world split

Why the the the timelines are the way they are

why there are two different worlds now? He explained

that and I'm fine with that explanation for now

like he said in that explanation I'm sure someone

out there knows the answer as to why but you

know that kind of thing but what I like about

them saying that now is if we're gonna continue

to see doppelgangers and doubles or two of the

same person not just the Howards but others like

Emily obviously one Emily's you know cancer all

that but with the Baldwin Nadia thing here what

I got out of it was it's basically it was one

person an event happened in their life right

when this split happened which split their personality

Right the same experiences exactly once the split

happened they take their same experiences And

then they have new experiences, but the foundation

of or is the same experience and if we want to

get into Prediction Okay here about this split

world and kind of what's going on behind this

I? One and I think it's tied into the intro in

something they showed in the first episode or

the title sequence One, I think the split is

temporary. I think this whole show is going to

be based on one world trying to conquer and take

over the second world because there can only

be one world. And if you watch the intro... and

you watch the first episode that Howard plays

a game called Go. Go is a game where players

use two similar but differently colored pieces

to create and acquire more territory than the

other player. The two players here are the...

The two earths or you know one or two likely

vying to acquire the same territory So I think

when we get to it, I think bad Howard's is again.

This is me predicting I'm not sure I think that

the split is temporary. Maybe what maybe the

people on earth to know that okay Eventually,

one earth is going to disappear. And we're not

going to be that earth. So we have to acquire

the territory. That, I think, would make it really

interesting. I could be completely wrong. The

intro, if you watch the title sequence, it's

all the go pieces moving around the board. But

it could be something else. I have no idea. I'm

glad you said that, because I had no idea what

that game was. It's kind of like a mixture between

checkers and risk. It was in the movie Pi, Darren

Aronofsky's Pi. it for this plot reasons but

I mean I've seen it in a couple other movies

but I think it's also in Beautiful Mind I believe

but yeah I kind of had to look it up to see what

the the fact that they were I didn't really because

Howard plays it in the beginning in the first

episode and I didn't really pay any mind and

then I know this is the second episode that it's

used used as the title sequence and I looked

up the rules of the game and I go acquiring territory

it seems like two worlds playing against each

other. So it must be something where the one

world wants to take over the other. I don't know

if it's because the split is temporary. I think

it's because the split is temporary. But even

if it's not, they may want to just eliminate

all doppelgangers so there is only one. Because

I don't think if there is a government, they

want to have two of everybody walking around

at the end of the day. And the fact that you

have two different sides of the government like

the right evil and what was the other one? That's

um, oh I forget research Something yeah. Yeah

the all the the one that Howard good Howard was

in before it and the strategy and yeah, yeah

Like how both sides of that are playing it and

you know Like I said earlier, I was surprised

that it didn't do the the second episode slump

But at first I thought it was going to because

of this whole other side to the assassin kind

of thing right but we see that we see why they

did this this way because she's not just She's

not just the assassin she was that little girl

she could have been that violinist that violinist

And yeah, I mean this episode just Wasn't as

much action except for the first part Yeah, except

for the first part, but I'm saying like because

it was more story this time and that's not bad

They also introduced An actor who I have loved

since V for vendetta Stephen Ray who plays Alexander

Pope who essentially is a bad Howard's Handler,

I think he's kind of like The guy he meets in

the church and he has the dog and he's a great

actor. He's very playful where he. How bad Howard's

wife is kind of trying to get information out

of him and. Bad Howard's reporting to him. So

he seems like he's one of those players where

he He's one of those power players. He knows

a lot more that's going on than everyone else,

which I like and you know the whole little bit

with his dog pooping in the church Was there

anything out of here that you want to see more

of want to see less of Want to get more I really

like what they did with the with Baldwin's character

were explained her taking off her shoes I like

that part. I want to see less of the I kind of

want to see bad Howard get rid of this guy from

blacklist of the the guy Cause the the other

Baldwin spoiler alert to get shot. Am I sure

he says she's dead? I kind of want proof of that

Because you just they cut away and she got shot

but kind of in the shoulder Yeah, so I don't

I don't know if she could be dead. I just think

that's That that kind of rubbed me the wrong

way, but it's to make that guy seem like an ad

a dick which he is I Guess I was kind of upset

that they kind of made good Howard this for some

reason punched the other guy and I know he was

kind of like You know, he really was taken by

the good Baldwin But it seems so out of character

for him, but it plays on the fact that bad Baldwin

is trying to turn him into a more aggressive

version of himself. So I just, it caught me off

guard. Like, I don't know if good Howard would

be punching anybody that quick. Not in like 48

hours. I don't think that would happen, but I

mean, it's JK Simmons. He makes it work. So,

but yeah, more, more of the, more of the, uh,

I want more Stephen Ray, um, Alexander Pope.

The wife, Olivia Williams, she's doing pretty

good. I love how she gets the psychological exam

or whatever by the guy from Captain America,

Kenneth Cho, and the girl sitting there, she

tells her to fuck off. I thought that was great.

Uh, but yeah, she, I mean, everybody seems to

be hitting, hitting their stride in this show.

There's not really any weak parts for me, except

for the guy who's a Dick, who I think bad Howard

essentially is just going to eliminate or maybe

good. Howard were eliminated. Maybe they have

both eliminated him because he essentially seems

to be the obstacle in bad Howard's goals. So

pretty much. And the whole thing of like, They're

in there. They're like, oh, how did you what?

How did you let them? Why did you let the police

of all people get a hold of another side or another

world or whatever? They call them or whatever.

We're gonna call them like, oh, we shouldn't

have let that happen. Yeah Yeah, yeah defector

and You know, so the police now have her have

Baldwin and it's like Hmm. I wonder what's gonna

happen next episode. I can predict like a police

Station breakout or something. I don't know like

And what's funny to me is how they frame that

it's not funny, but it's It's funny slash interesting

how they frame the show's Story timeline like

in this or yeah, it was this episode wasn't last

episode was this one? Bad Howard got a longer

visa. You got a 36 -hour visa right like Assume

this all takes place within that time because

he didn't have to go back again Right end of

this so I'm assuming that One episode a day and

a half or whatever it is, you know, okay sure

cool I'm not saying I want to know more about

that either way. I'm just kind of wondering how

Like if he's got 36 hours, which essentially

is a day and a half then That doesn't leave a

lot of time I mean they get a lot of time they

get a lot of stuff done while he's there but

like That's one thing on the story end that I'm

hoping that not necessarily improve upon but

they kind of show us the time frame a little

more maybe And the way he used it to the way

he gets the visa is seemed like he was using

a false identity. Like, I don't know, maybe he

has a limited amount of times he can go over

there. You're kind of like not giving us. The

whole story yet. It seems one thing that I get

from this It seems like the the earth that bad

Howard is from knows a lot more than the earth

that good Howard Yeah, seems like they're way

more not way more advanced, but they this this

transferring of people seems More of a one -way

street than like, you know good people the good

Howard side There are people going to that side.

It seems like it's more bad Howard side coming

to our you know good Howard side but it's what

they're showing us but again there is something

coming with that whole oh goals of what what's

happening I think that the bad Howard side is

Doing something to try and eliminate the good

Howard decided this something in in the conversations

that I was hearing from even the the bad Howard's

wife and The the Alexander Pope in the church

it just seemed like they are planning something

that the other guys were good Howard is to have

no Either don't know or are very secretive about

so I don't know. Yeah, absolutely I This is a

good and a bad thing. I honestly don't know how

to or How I even could predict what the hell

is gonna happen out of this show because it so

far it is So cool just to see the events events

unfold as whatever they may be from these writers

and these creators And again as we've said as

we said last week as we'll say this week in the

next eight weeks It's JK Simmons. I mean, you

know, that's like, you know saying you know today

was a day i mean this is it's jk friggin simmons

for crap sake and it's two of it aircraft you're

fine if i mean if your main star is a caliber

of a jk simmons you he's worth the price of admission.

He's worth the time to put in where I will like,

well, I may not know what's going on, but it

seems really cool. And I have a phenomenal Oscar

winning actor to guide me through it. I mean,

I'm, I'm in all the way, unless something really

dumb happens where I'm just, uh, and I can't

see it happening. Cause at the end of the day,

you still have JK Simmons to fall back on. I

don't think I'm leaving this show anytime soon.

Yeah, no. And yeah, as long as you know, I don't

think stars will do this, I don't think the people

over there would do this, as long as you don't

let, you know, Orsi and Kurtzman anywhere near

it, it'll be fine. I mean... You sound a little

bitter there, man. Are you okay? They might have

been fine, you know, 18, you know, 17 years ago

on Alias, but ever since that damn Star Trek

movie and those damn Transformers movies, like,

ugh. But yeah counterpart folks as I said last

week We have kind of really spoiled the hell

out of the plot, but we're gonna do that anyway,

but if you Haven't watched this series if you've

just listened to these episodes First of all

stop this already if you hadn't already go back

and watch the show this show it like Don't care

what else comes out on television this year This

is probably my new best new show of 2018 and

it's only two episodes in it can only get better

from here in my mind All right. I mean we've

talked about some of the plot stuff But I still

think it's we have it really spoiled some of

the stuff and a lot of the like the espionage

stuff is cool But it's you're really there just

to see JK interact with himself yeah i mean we

have a really there's nothing we can say that's

gonna spoil that you gotta see it for yourself

so i would recommend watching still yeah it kinda

reminds me of uh... another justice league episode

uh... once -in -future thing part two time warped

when uh... old bruce batman and and young bruce

batman were the same and batman beyond terry

mcginnis is like Bruce Wayne Batman Batman Bruce

Wayne or have you met? It's kind of the same

damn thing here. It's like episode where spoiler

alert they reveal that Terry McGinnis is spoiler

alert Yeah, it's his son No, that was not that

episode that was later that was epilogue once

in future thing is the two -parter where David

Clinton finds a way to go back in time and and

change everything and it's yeah all pointed out

to you later but it's it's a really cool fun

episode of that show but counterpart folks I

don't even know what my counterpart would be

like like DJ clearly has his in mind obviously

but no clue on mine I'm sure mine From a super

suit to burning in hell a time to kill Incredibles

the same movie Come on. It's an incredible time

to kill folks Now that's a movie Mashup Counterparts

season 1 episode 2 I give it a four and a half

out of five Yeah, I mean the intro got me. I

mean it it sucked me in so I probably give it

a four out of five I I just want more of the

information there keep it It's so close to the

vest of this world switching thing. I want to

know more So I give it I give it a four, but

the opening scene is awesome I like that they're

like, I agree with you. Yes, I want more. Feed

me more. Yes, I know. But yes, exactly. We are

greedy TV bastards here. But it's one of those

things where it's like, at the same time, I'm

glad they haven't pulled all their haven't thrown

all the punches, you know, they have in 10 episodes,

they can look at what You're gonna love this

and we're gonna end up on a whole other tangent,

but look at what mr. Robot did in ten episodes

I guarantee you this show can do that and more

in their first ten. That's true. That's very

true. So I just I don't understand how we can

be I Mean is your world really that different

from mine? This is really not a conversation

you want to have okay, but like 30 years ago

when that when this Door portal was discovered

not discovered. That's imprecise Discovered implies

there were always these two realities. There

was one reality and then it duplicated Nobody

knows how Well, maybe somebody knows but they're

not telling but think of it like this Up until

30 years ago. There was just this Then this happened

Then this now we're like Two people to completely

different paths on the simplistic reviews podcast

we talk movies We talk TV We talk trying to make

our spot sound more exciting by adding explosions

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you're gonna get the point

across with sound effects. Not the real thing

Download the show on iTunes or at simplisticreviews

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won't. Hello geeks and geekettes! Looking for

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Then check out Altered Geek Unleashed, where

we discuss our thoughts on this week's geeky

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on the Geekcast Radio Network. Alright, folks.

Short, sweet, to the point. Most of these episode

reviews are going to be short, sweet, and to

the point under 30 minutes or your pizza is free.

Actually, it's still at the store, but I've been

doing 90s recordings where I'm advertising them

as 30 minutes or less. Kind of a thing. The old

pizza jingle thing. Counterpart folks, stars,

go watch it. Seriously. Avoid the Noid. I mentioned

the Noid to Steve Megatron. He's like, who? What?

I'm like, really? Seriously? You do not know

that? Like, wow. Yeah, avoid the Noid. Some people

were born after the Noid existed. It's okay.

It's okay. you know uh... you can find us at

the cast radio on twitter i had to if you and

mike on twitter you can visit at the cast or

not at w w w dot the cast radio dot com for this

episode and all of our other podcasts uh... clean

cinnamon geeks talking in circles the poll bag

to cast all that kind of good stuff you know

Movies TV cartoons, whatever we've got it all

over there. You can check out altered geek with

Steve Megatron and all that stuff DJ where can

the be will find you online Twitter and that

kind of stuff? Me part my personal Twitter is

trying to be DJ V my show simplistic reviews

podcast their Twitter is at simple tweeters You

can also follow all of our stuff Search www .simplisticreviews

.net or iTunes under simplistic reviews were

everywhere even a dark web I don't wanna know.

I don't wanna know either. I don't know how we

got that over there. I have no idea. By the way,

do or do not, there is no try. I'm not gonna

touch that one. I'm not gonna touch that one.

I'm pretty the fool. Sorry, folks. Inside jokes.

You'll never get it. Alright. Check out counterpart.

We hope you're enjoying our little episode reviews

here on remote control from the GeekCast Radio

Network. Keep surfing those channels folks and

we'll catch you next week for part three of our

counterpart coverage.