Counterpart (2017 — 2019)

Counterpart (2017–2019) is a science fiction thriller TV show featuring J.K. Simmons, created by Justin Marks and initially aired on the Starz network. Across two seasons totaling 20 episodes, viewers follow the story of Howard Silk, a quiet and meek employee at the Berlin-based Office of Interchange (OI). Despite his three decades with the United Nations agency, his low position prevents him from understanding his role in exchanging seemingly nonsensical messages. The OI oversees a checkpoint between parallel Earths (known as ‘Alpha’ and ‘Prime’) below their headquarters. These alternate worlds were born in 1987 when Yanek conducted an experiment while alone. It was during this time that Yanek from ‘Alpha’ met his duplicate self from ‘Prime’, leading to a study on how their once identical worlds began to diverge.

The divergence between the two worlds grew more noticeable following the devastating flu pandemic of 1996, which claimed the lives of millions in the Prime world. While this event set back their technological advancement, it propelled them forward in the field of life sciences. The Alpha world was suspected of deliberately unleashing the virus into Prime territory, sparking a tense cold war between them. This led to counterparts from each world being used as spies and sleeper agents. While Silk’s Alpha world remains similar to ours, Prime undergoes drastic changes. Howard Silk Prime becomes known as a ruthless intelligence operative. As events unfold in the series, a formidable rogue group on Prime finally puts their long-planned revenge against Alpha into action, causing tensions to escalate even further.