Remote Control – EP 35 – Counterpart S1 E3

You gotta be fucking kidding me. What? Two Bulgarians

acting like they didn't just come in together.

They're with you. Hello everyone. Welcome to

episode 35 of Remote Control. Here on the Keycast

Radio Network, our TV podcast that handles stuff

from the year 2000 to whenever now is. Join myself,

TFG1 Mike, and DJ Valentine for another week

of the Stars' new series starring J .K. Simmons'

counterpart. with the show hello and welcome

to episode 35 of remote control we are continuing

our counterpart 10 episode run here on remote

control talking the new stars series counterpart

I'm of course TFG and Mike joining me as always

in this mini series here is DJ V from simplistic

reviews yay It's me, it's me, it's DJ B. Yes,

that's right. I'm trying to be me. Yes, yes.

Do or do not, there is no try. Do or there is

no try. That's right. Yoda watches from a distance,

shaking his head disapprovingly. Yep. Oh boy,

counterpart, wow. This is like, this show is

like just... Your senses. It's uh, it feels like

every time I watch this show It's like it's like

almost like I'm doing homework, but not in a

bad way. It's like yeah now we got to deal with

these other people and then we got to make sure

I'm paying attention to this scene because they're

having a conversation about some secret coded

language and there's an interrogation over here

Oh, there goes my boy Richard Schiff who I love

Toby Ziegler from West Wing. It's a whole bunch

of stuff coming at you at once. I like it. Yeah,

it's a whole bunch of stuff What I'm noticing

is is that they've really? Calmed down on the

action side and they're building up the drama

and suspense aside now that we're three episodes

in Right like okay the first episode fairly explosive.

I mean You know kind of was second episode. He

had his nice. You know other Other JK other Howard

had this John wick moment. Yeah, you know with

the guns in the car and things like that But

like this episode? Well, it was a it's kind of

like the little Muhammad Ali rope a dope where

you're thinking, OK, this is this episode's all

political intrigue. And essentially it is. It

is. Yeah. But then there's the. the usual suspects

kind of carjacking scene near the end, it comes

out of nowhere and you're kind of lulled into

a false sense of security where, oh, there's

not going to be any action. And then when a,

which makes every action scene that happens in

the show, like that much more intense. Cause

you're just like, I don't know what, are they

going to light the car and fire? What's going

to, how are they going to get out of the situation?

Yeah, I thought this one was really interesting.

I thought it was, you know, slightly more. It

was it's gave us slightly more on the two worlds,

but more so how adversarial they are again. Yeah

like I mean Neither people on neither side care

for the other side of like But I can't tell like

who came first or what that's the thing They

came together they came together. That's what's

cool about this show is that? They are the same

and then something split them. So nobody came

first They're all they're like this they're equals

essentially and the thing that really got me

I don't know because I'm maybe a nerd about this

and again, I have been watching the West Wing

on my Casual days off every time I see Richard

Schiff Toby Ziegler any scene where he's in a

negotiation, which is essentially 90 % of the

West Wing is awesome. So now you're getting this

Toby Ziegler essentially in a scene in a supernatural

or sci -fi negotiation. And I'm thinking, I'm

like, wait, they want to know where the oil deposits

are and they want to know the census. I don't

know what the hell that's about. It's so interesting.

I just want to know more. I gotta know, I got

the oil deposits because I think one side of

the earth figured out where they got money off

of where these rich oil deposits are on their

marinara trenches, he says. But this earth, I

guess the good earth, the Richard Schiff earth

doesn't know where that is. So if they, that's

kind of a cool negotiating thing where, because

once they split certain discoveries and innovations,

Happen on one side and not the other and they

negotiate them that's the thought that was just

really interesting. Yeah And it seemed like there's

Seemed like there was less JK in this episode.

I mean he's there well, yeah bad JK's there this

is more about Peter Quayle and Which I thought

they say quill the first time I was like what?

It's more about peter quill and his relationship

with his with his father -in -law uh jk is there

and he gets the kind of the revelation of um

from his the bad jk bad uh howard gets a revelation

about mr. Pope um But yeah, you're right, but

the the little that he is there is very important

to the final scene because good Howard kind of.

Through just pure goodness saves his own life

because if he was just a dick to that girl, I

always forget what the Baldwin if he was a dick

dick to her, they would all died and she wouldn't

have said anything and they would have just murdered

everybody in the car because he was nice to her

or at least, you know. Not a son of a bitch they

kind of she kind of gives them the heads up not

to You know be all cut them bloodthirsty Yeah,

I mean and again what last episode the last week's

episode showed and this week's the one we're

talking about tonight showed is that She even

with her other They have more personality than

most people in the show like They're not just

like baldwin is not just a cold -hearted bitch

like you said if it was the other howard approaching

her maybe that would have been the case but because

it was good howard and You know, she specifically

said i'm only gonna talk to him You know, um

It's just one of those things where it's like,

oh, okay, then good. Howard has a purpose. He

he's not just there to uh be to make bad Howard

look better. He kind of does get things done

in a different way than you expect. That's one

of the things that you could like, you know,

um, fall into a trap when you have a show with

doubles or something like that, where you don't

give a shit about the good version of the guy.

You just like the bad version and Don't get me

wrong. I love bad Howard. He's awesome. Everything

he says is awesome He does he commands every

room he's in I don't trust you. I definitely

don't trust you We've already been over that

like everything he does is great But good Howard

in this show is actually just as or if not more

so interest interesting than bad Howard Which

I you're you're you got to skate that line to

where you die You don't want to go to good Howard

be like man But I'm never I never feel that way

anyway and i remember in the i think it was our

first episode we did i had said oh or there might

have been the second one i forget i'd like to

know how like okay sure good howards emily got

hit by a car okay car accidents happen all the

time people get right like My thinking is there's

a purpose behind this. There's something behind

this. There's this, there's that. Who do you

think? I know your wheels are already spinning.

Who do you think hit her with the car? I know

you made a guess. I know when you saw that scene,

you were like, yeah, I don't know. Like starting

the episode at like, I'm like, why is emily's

name on the screen oh emily six weeks ago or

whatever like oh okay wow like really this is

this is good this quote unquote good because

we don't know at this point but this is essentially

good how this is how emily got hit and uh i'm

like oh damn all righty then um i gotta think

that there's the securities guy It's gotta be

it's the blacklist really I don't know like I

don't know like I can't I gotta I gotta show

I Again, I always go for the worst -case scenario

and I'm thinking bad Howard It seems like he's

he's perpetrated all this well my fear was kind

of thrown into the dirt when the with the Pope

revelation that you know Pope is kind of manipulating

situations But if I didn't get that information,

it seems like this whole thing has been manipulated

by bad Howard until that point, until I saw her

say, well, this is the action code. Cause I'm

like, why, why would she get hit by a car? Somebody

had an intention to do this. And this, it seems

like that incident is, is part or maybe the,

you know, the spark of this whole situation that

we're going through right now. Absolutely. Yeah.

And the thing of it is, is we get to the point

of the episode later when, you know, Bad Howard's

like, oh, can you go to the church and make sure

is it? Yeah, it's bad Howard Can you make sure

you light a candle for my wife or whatever and

I'm like, really? Seriously You want her to go

to the okay. She goes to the church and she finds

this letter supposedly from Emily, right which

I assume is the other Yeah, yeah, see that's

the thing like I'm not sure because bad Howard

was like oh you need to do this in case I'm not

back in time in case I'm you know because I thought

I thought she was his Emily like regular Howard's

Emily's in the hospital right I thought other

Emily what like that's what and I'm like so how

is Regular Emily fitting into this like oh unless

she unless she knew more Maybe she was an operative.

We don't we don't know yeah Starting with Emily

silk six weeks ago. I'm like wait what? Game

on for Emily and the funny thing is we were I

think we talked about I don't know if it was

the first second episode where We were like,

oh, there's probably going to be an episode where

bad Howard has to pretend to be good Howard and

good Howard has to pretend to be bad Howard.

I just didn't think it comes so early where they're

already setting that up where he's going to be

like, well, we'll just send good Howard over

to my which McCall it in. Pretend to be me. I'm

like, I don't know if it's only been what in

the I guess it seems like it's been like three

days Maybe maybe in the show at the touch the

show's timeline not the timeline of when stars

releases the episodes but in the show's timeline

time is like fucked really is because like bad

howard got his visa bumped up to thirty six hours

and they did all of that stuff in the second

episode was supposedly within a day and a half

and now you've got him being cut down to getting

revoked visa and only having six hours or one

and i'm like what the hell The aspect of time

in this show hurts my head about as much as an

algebra problem does. Told you, it's homework.

This show is like so much homework going on where

you're just like, I gotta pay attention to this.

Oh, and a little cool aesthetic thing. I don't

know if this was on purpose or just a lucky accident.

During that negotiation between Richard Schiff's

character, Peter Quill's father -in -law, and

the ambassador from the, I guess, Bad Howards.

uh earth if you look on the roof it looks like

the the go pieces that they show on the beginning

of the the The the show which and essentially

go was kind of the theme of the show was the

the taking over of territory I thought that was

I thought that was either very very ingenious

by the set decorator or whoever decided pick

that set or whatever Or is this is a happy accident

as soon as I saw it's like wait This was like

the little circles that they move around in every

episode this there's a lot of cool like Under

the layer of things going on with this show.

Yeah And it's one of those things where You've

got all these cool undertones and then you've

got The mystery surrounding everybody. It's not

just good or bad Howard. It's not just good or

other Emily. It's Pope it's the it's quail. It's

This is the only the first time I've ever seen

Richard shift like at first I'm like, oh wow

He's kind of like a jolly person because most

of the time I've ever seen the act to do something

He's not jolly and then you realize oh no, he's

he's he's actually very cunning and he's He's

the shift that I've always grown up to love.

But yeah, there's this there's stuff going on

with him Blacklist guy. We always keep calling

a blacklist guy. He has stuff going on everybody

has some stuff going on Baldwin definitely has

stuff going on with her I guess Lover, I got

are they lovers or they I know I assume I thought

it was it was either that or it was a Handler

or it was right like they're in league together

obviously cuz I'm hello They shot like oh, that's

the that's the action scene the episode is when

they shot up the man. I'm like damn Mean and

I think the first no second episode when she's

like changing in front of her Yeah, she kind

of like it's uncomfortable. So that there was

some kind of sexual tension going on there. But

yeah She seems to be giving her Baldwin doesn't

seem like she's in charge. This girl does seem

like she's the other one. I forget her name I

don't think I've said it She seems like she's

in more like a higher on the food chain, but

she gives Baldwin more leeway because it seems

like she likes her that's why this kind of I

mean especially with that what happened at the

end of this episode where she stops her from

killing everybody in the van and she kind of

gets madder about it but she I mean if she got

if she really got had a problem with it she would

have just shot everybody in the van and totally

go eff herself but she didn't because I think

she has feelings for her yeah I think she does

too and the Yeah, that's a whole other angle

of this show that is yet to be explored and I'm

sure it will Obviously because they're not just

gonna leave that hanging because they broke her.

I mean Essentially what they did in that scene

is you know Leave out, you know all of the mutant

aspects of it, but it's like the magneto breakout

in in x -men or the or the Owen Davian breakout

at Mission Impossible 3 The whole bunch of stuff

going on Ladies and gentlemen, for those of you

who don't know, I am talking to the black Owen

Davian right here. Good ol' Owen Davian, the

greatest villain in Mission Impossible. Well,

you know what? I might have to take that back.

I love Owen Davian, but the new guy is pretty

good. The new guy who's now in Protocol Fallout

or whatever. Yeah, he looks... though he sucked

in Prometheus, but he's really good in these

two. Yeah. We digress. Yes, we digress a lot.

The ending of this one. I'm like, okay, who is

it? Why are you just showing us the the bootied

covered shoes of whoever the hell like Wow, she's

dead Like damn So one it now we've got one Emily

in the hospital. We've got one it's dead and

it's like Holy crap. Yeah, I don't I don't know

what's I don't know What the end I don't know

what the end game is here and in and that's what

makes me excited because it's like it and now

when this happening because there's Two earths

and Duplicates everybody Nobody is safe as we

kind of got from the second episode when good

Baldwin gets Merked, but did we have we seen

good Baldwin's body yet? They said that she was

dead, but she got shot in the shoulder Yeah No,

we haven't seen it yet I don't think some reason

I thought she would I was like maybe she maybe

she could make when I saw that first scene when

she got shot she got shot in the shoulder I'm

like maybe she's okay cuz they just told her

oh, she's dead So maybe they don't maybe they

didn't kill her. I don't know is this so much

talking about Nadia I think she did die because

of the wound that she suffered because She and

Baldwin were out like in the backstage area after

the shot or whatever It was just if they're gonna

kill her why that's not shoot her in the head

It was where they shot the way she got took that

bullet. It seemed like it was it wasn't center

mass It was to the side and then they later we

don't Know what happened and then blacklist guy

comes in. Oh, she died. It seems like they I

mean it don't just don't be surprised if she

shows back up again I just want proof of death.

I need proof of death I need to see people dead

What's gonna be interesting is is if blacklist

security guy has his own other see what the He's

probably like a like a like a like a florist

or something because the the one that's on the

Good Howard size is such a gruff, you know He

only would say no nonsense. He just has like

zero gives a fucks. He doesn't care about anything

Nope, not at all. What else about this episode

did you like? I really, again, it's Richard Schiff,

man. When I heard Richard Schiff was coming on,

I was like, oh yes, and I saw his name in the

credits. I was like, hmm, it seems like his name's

in the credits because he's not gonna be like

a one and done -er. He's gonna be like around,

and I hope so, because I mean, that guy's awesome.

And he just brings a lot of... Gravitas and I

think the the dynamic between him and the the

quail Peter Peter quail I liked it. I like it.

I want to know more about it because apparently

Quail's banging hookers on the side Unless that

was his daughter. I'm presuming Doesn't matter

if you finish or not, it's still the same price.

I'm like damn. All right Yeah, the dynamic going

on between them where it's like almost like shift

has him wrapped around his finger where he can

like Manipulate him more that British guy Peter

he He interests me. I mean of all the other characters

that are aren't JK Simmons and Emily I think

his is the storyline that we're gonna be kind

of following almost like his deconstruction because

when we first see him he seems like he's kind

of in charge he's kind of a charming British

fake Tom Hiddleston type of character and now

we're getting more depth to him where it's like

he's he's got so much pressure and he's got this

father thing and he wants to he's not as high

on the food chain as he thought he was or we

thought he was so yeah I really like that whole

dynamic I want more of that yeah I do too And

I have to say this because it seems like last

episode every other word out of our mouth was

oh my god JK Simmons But like this episode I

need more like it doesn't matter which one I

don't care hell both of them like send them both

on more missions like Quality not quantity quality

not quantity the scenes of JK's in are still

top -notch but like even like bad bad howard

he only had like one or two badass lines this

episode i'm like come on it's jk simmons how

can you not like i get it there wasn't really

a situation for him to say shut the fuck up or

whatever he kind of does say shut the fuck up

to the uh am i talking in front of this guy i

don't know who the fuck this guy is It's okay.

We have we have seven more episodes of JK being,

but I guarantee you we're going to get a lot

of, um, I want to say unintentional humor with

good Howard playing bad Howard. I have just waiting

to see how that's that plays out though. I don't

think there's been enough time as we were talking

about the time thing has passed to where he can

properly do bad Howard. I mean other than saying,

okay, I'm just gonna be a dickhead, but it's

just that there's There's a lot of stuff that

bad howard does that good howard I don't think

would never do I mean This him punching that

guy last week was so out of care like whoa what

what you know? It didn't feel like he would have

made that leap that quick in literally like 24

hours. So yeah, see the thing with howard both

of the versions of him is that Bad Howard can

adapt to anything good Howard hates change good

Howard's kind of like me just absolutely hates

change prefers his Situations is very very linear

You know point a point B point C point whatever

and bad Howard can just kind of quite literally

roll with the punches and act however he wants

whether you know there was that one little thing

where he missed and didn't stop by the nurses

station, but Know I mean other than that, you

know anyone in that hospital Coming into that

room to see Emily or whatever and he was there.

Well besides her brother We haven't seen him

he scared him out of the show. Yeah, let's hope

But yeah bad Howard very easily can can manipulate

to be good Howard good Howard I think it's going

to be a chore to try to be bad Howard and he

even specifically said last episode, you know,

don't try to make me make me something like that.

Yeah. So like, I think that's been a situation

where he might have to meet Pope or he might

have to put up, he might have to use a gun or

kill that. That's where it's going to get a little

hairy. Cause again, I don't think enough time

has, he hasn't been on enough adventures or experiences

with bad Howard. to make that leap i don't think

maybe maybe jk can convince me of it maybe they

won't you know they won't do it right away they

won't make them they won't put them in a drastic

situation like that but uh i i that's the only

thing that worries me about the next episode

is how how if good howard is gonna be able to

do that or maybe they're gonna wait a couple

more episodes before that happens yeah i'm not

even really sure i Hope it's like I need more

information about some other things before we

have good Howard pretending to be bad Howard,

honestly, right And the title of the episode

for episode 3 the lost art of diplomacy the first

thing I thought of was Diplomatic immunity. This

show is all about diplomatic immunity, essentially.

A lot of the people coming from others, different

versions of earth, you know. Car bunch, especially

this douchebag ambassador guy who's Who is essentially

this, you know, look up douchebag in the dictionary

and he's got a picture of that guy and it takes

a lot to out douchebag Peter quail because I

thought he was like the douchebag And you know

the you know, the the totem of that but this

guy's it's like oh right away I'm like, I don't

like you. I don't like anything about you Maybe

because I'm looking at it through the eyes of

bad Howard. But yeah Something you need to go

Looking at the 10 episodes Wikipedia finally

has all the names for the episodes here Next

time or actually we're recording this on the

night that the fourth episode is supposed to

be air both sides now is the fourth episode Fifth

episode is shaking the tree and the sixth episode

is act like you've been here before so I'm assuming

slash hoping slash wondering slash whatever maybe

episode six is where good Howard has to act like

bad Howard yeah I've been there before that sounds

like that sounds right that sounds good and that's

not too bad between the second episode where

he said don't make me be like you or don't turn

me into you versus this this third episode and

whatever is gonna happen in the fourth and fifth

like that's not bad four episodes between Something

that was said about it and then they actually

do it like do it do a time jump damn it Not like

a year like a week or something This is it's

give me some more time or at least put them in

a different situation because most of the time

good Howard's is in fear for his life most of

these episodes Or he doesn't know exactly when

to jump into the situation He's been in situations

inside of a car twice that have almost cost him

his life and And a car hit his wife so cars are

bad for good. Oh, yeah, pretty much What's gonna

happen Mater's gonna come in and tell the car

away Oh God, don't don't name drop cars one or

two or three Hey, hey, hey, you watch your tongue

cars three was amazing. Oh, man Army hammer was

okay He was one that got me through it That's

a discussion for another day Remote controls

counterpart coverage will continue as always

for the next you know like I said Seven weeks

or so Episode three. I really dug it. I just

need more It's not like I didn't like about it,

but I just I need to know more I need to greedy

like me. You're greedy. Yeah We will. It's maybe

because I'm a big fan of Westerns. It's stuff

like this, where it's built upon anticipation

of something. I can dig it. Because I know they're

going to have a payoff here. And so many chess

pieces moving around. You're just like, how is

this all going to come to a head? And I can only

imagine it's going to be something crazy, especially

when we find out who hit her with the car, which

I think was bad Howard. But this is me. I'm just

throwing out of the dirt. I mean, I could see

that. I didn't see this only thing though is

I don't know why that would have like If we were

gonna get a reveal that it was bad Howard that

did that hit her with the car and she's in the

hospital like to me he would have to go back

to the that side and Like like say Emily finally

wakes up or whatever He would have to go back

there dressed as his his Wow her husband You

know dressed as good Howard or whatever and he

just goes up to her and whispers in his ear in

her ear Yeah, I hit you with the car It was like

is some weird Emily wakes up and it's like you

hit me with to good Howard get away from him

You tried to kill me or something exactly Reminds

me of There's a movie somewhere where a kid or

a TV show or what oh No, I know what it is. I

know exactly what movie it is Ransom asked the

kid about who it was that that kidnapped him

or whatever else and he pees his leg She's gonna

see good Howard and starts pissing herself Looking

for a podcast that covers a vast array of topics

then check out Altered Geek Unleashed, where

we discuss our thoughts on this week's geeky

news, tech, gaming, television shows, movies,

cartoons, comics, and more. So, get altered,

get geeky with the Altered Geeks, every Friday

on the Geekcast Radio Network. We talk. Hello

Julie, what the heck are you doing? Trying to

make our spot sound more exciting by adding explosions

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you could have got the

point across with sound effects. Not the real

thing Download the show on iTunes or if simplistic

reviews dot blog spot dot com. I'm sure your

insurance company will cover that. No, they won't.

No, they probably won't So yeah, join us next

week folks for episode 4 of Counterpart. Hope

everyone is enjoying the coverage so far. After

this 10 week venture we will have other things

coming up here on Remote Control, other TV shows,

other networks, all that good stuff. Where can

the people find you online, sir? Trying to be

DJ V is my Twitter handle the show I'm on simplistic

reviews our Twitter handle is simple tweeters

And you can find our podcast the search simplistic

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folks and we will catch you next week here for

counterpart season four season four shit episode

four fuck Counterpart season one episode four

give me back my son. Oh, that's a different.

That's a movie. Sorry. That's right That was

a really really bad Male impression. Give me

back my son! Is that better? No. Sounds like

Owen Davion choked on a walnut. Yeah, it's more

like give me back my son. You have my son, you

have my daughter, I don't know what's going on.

I'm gonna find you and I'm gonna kill you. I'm

gonna find my son and then I'm gonna hurt him.

We'll catch you next week here on Remote Controls

counterpart coverage everybody.