Season: 2 / Episode: 1 (11) / Starz
***Spoilers be having amnesia just to finally remember they were a horrible person. Previous COUNTERPART recaps are here***
Maaaan, listen. Season two gonna open with the Hal 9000 machine asking someone if they believe in God. That ain’t ominous or anything. Before we even see this woman, she giving the automated voice push back like, “I pray at the church of Nunya.” And oh shit, we got us a Black woman leading this shit off? Well now you have my attention.
They got your girl hooked up to a lie detector talkin’ about she former FBI, counter-intelligence. Basically, she been finding spies since Howard Prime was a naïve dude reading Yeats and ordering English Breakfast tea at cafes. And that’s the problem. Management bringing her in to fins the spies from Prime. Sheeeeeeiiiiiit. She says she’s so good at catching spies, because she knows what it means to be outsider and Living in America starts playing in the background.
They drop that knowledge on her that this spy game ain’t just international, its trans-dimensional. I don’t know who this confident Black woman is, but she in the game now.
Nothing Good Happens at 2AM After the Club or Anytime of Day in The Woods
Look, this next scene…nothing ever ended well when you see a muthafucka sprinting through the woods. Like ever. Even worse, its ol’ girl from the Shire that Aldrich took Fallen Saint Pete to see in season one. The one that was living with her double. I mean…the one that just got fucking merked with her double. Fam, she got caught, pinned up against a tree, with her other with them thangs pointed at her dome. Masked me got them at gun point, but the last person takes her ski mask off and of course its Snake Ass Claire. Of fucking course it is. The double mints ask about Aldrich and Snake Ass Claire is like, yeah, you must not have seen the season finale. Baldwin left your boy bleeding out like some toothpaste with the top not screwed on during a heat spike.
A small nod and the masked men put some ventilation in their foreheads. SAC tells them to get the identifiers off the double mints and then she kills both them muthafuckas. Like, wait what? What is even happening. Then, like the gangsta she is, looks around, admiring the fallen leaves and shit, then walks the fuck off leaving all them bodies on the ground.
Terrorist Table For One
We got Lambert eating what looks like the most unsatisfying piece of toast ever. Dude look like he’s spreading that dry ass jam on his toast was the equivalent to putting a gun in his mouth. He in there alone, checks the clock, see’s that shit ain’t poppin, then leaves. But not before making a bit of a mess because…he’s staging the place? Because he’s an asshole? I guess both answers work.
And of course, some armed cats come in later led by St. Pete Judas Pete Ballad of the Fallen Pete. The crossing fallout is all the way real. Folks Alrdrich once had protected getting executed in the woods. Also Prime Ambassador folks getting hunted. Mostly because they know Lambert connected to that terrorist brunch that Prime put together.
Roland is sitting with the accountability fail that is Ballad of the Fallen Pete talking to management. Roland talking about how things are literally worse than they’ve ever been. Anybody that was from the other side during the shutdown is being held in detention even if they didn’t do anything wrong. Roland is like nobody trusts anybody and Management is like, yep that’s who we like that shit. You don’t want your greens cooked with pork, then make your own greens. Management is like, welp, I guess you gonna have to deal with there being pork in the greens, fam.
Also, looks like Aldrich is being labeled a traitor and being identified as Shadow. Which is ALL THE WAY fucked up. But you know what, dead bastards don’t get to write their legacy, so I guess he kind of knew this was a possibility. Management also let’s BFP know that he’s getting a partner. Yeah, BFP almost choked on his tea for that shit.
Prime BAAAAAAACK
And enter Howard in Black. Just living a mundane ass, everyday Simple ass Howard Life. My dude riding transit, going to work (which go extra security outside of the building now) and doing his boring ass job. My dude ain’t even trying no spy craft these days. He like Wallace from The Wire: This right here, this is me now.
They having a closed door meeting in Strategy and that’s because this world’s primary Black woman Nia Temple is being introduced. She talkin’ about how she was brought in to help find intruders among us. HIB is like oh no, this will not do. He meets Ballad of the Fallen Pete in the bathroom to debrief. You can tell this partnership getting strained because BFP can’t even finish taking a piss before HIB starts interrogating him on who this Nia person is.
Nia wants Lambert, but BFP is reluctant because his wife wouldn’t want that. Everybody fed up and its obvious this arrangement ain’t long for this world.
Moving Day
HIB heads home with the freshly discharged Emily-Coma, who I guess we can call E-Amnesia for now. She don’t remember a whole lot and she talkin’ about she feels like she’s in a dream where her home is not her home. And HIB quote tweeted that shit like, Same. EA can’t read, barely recognizes anything in front of her. Here’s what’s wild. EA is like you’re my husband, I remember you. But like, do you? Cuz EA knew who HIB was precisely before, so know its accurate to say she knows who HIB was, except she thinks he’s regular ass Howard because she can’t remember the phenomenon that makes HIB possible. You ain’t even gotta do LSD to get your mind fuck on today.
Domestics, am I right?
Ballad of the Fallen Pete and Snake Ass Clare having dinner with her parents. This shit gotta be the most uncomfortable. Well, unless you Snake Ass Clare. If you SAC, this shit is basically Thursday. After they leave, BFP and SAC talking about Lambert and what they can give Nia to keep her off their trail. Then, when BFP goes to get the baby, your boy deadbolts the room, reinforced, security coded and all that. I say got damn, yo. This is a cry for help fam. If you gotta put Waknadan Vibranium vault security on door to make sure you wake up the next morning, maybe you in the wrong relationship.
After that good guilt trip, Peter wake up in high security suite to a note from SAC under the door. Note giving up someone else (Edgar) from Prime to try and throw Nia off the trail. When they track dude down, he really could’ve taken a dip into that frozen river but was like nah and double-backed through traffic. I mean, hypothermia or caught up for treason? There are no easy answers here, yo.
A Spy In The Streets
Ballad of the Fallen Pete interrogating him and sells him on going to Customs Prison as his best bet. BFP trying to get the dead drops from Edgar and also find out where Lambert is. But dude is ghost because nobody (except SAC) knows how to get at him.
E-Amnesia still having some trouble adjusting to you know…conscious life. Overdue library books, paintings on the wall. Its like all this shit is triggering af for her, except its triggering an event she can’t fucking remember. HIB trying to be patient with her but like…the other Howard is better at this shit. Also, ain’t nobody trying to have takeout Turkish two nights in a row fam. HIB better brush up on his culinary skills because EA gonna know the jig is up when you keep bringing up Kofta every night.
Lambert The Legend
Snake Ass Clare and Papa Ro at the park enjoying some Father / Fake Daughter bonding time. A shady dude presents themselves across the park and SAC knows that’s a signal for some shit. It’s one of Lambert’s man and SAC is like, tell your man to keep his distance when I’m with family. Lambert is like, bish, what did you call him? This what we doin’ now? She tells Lambert that the new person at the office is gunning for him and Lambert is like, yeah, funny thing, I heard my dude got pinched. Pipes must be getting old because we got mad leaks up in this muthafucka. SAC is like Jigga what? Jigga who?
Then he’s like, yeah, people talkin’, crazy weather we’re having and oh yeah, you gotta activate the last cell. This dude casually ordered up a terrorist attack like it was the Grand Slam Breakfast at Dennys. SAC is like, that wasn’t part of the plan but yo, fair to say that all best laid plans got stomped when the crossing closed.
Hunting Season
HIB gets called into Nia’s office for a nice ‘chat.’ She’s taken an interest in duded’s meteoric rise, out of nowhere and the timing of that. But of course, that was supposedly made possible because someone tried to Twisted Metal E-Amnesia. Nia straight up needling HIB in the emotional solar plexus like, yeah, I don’t know if I could do it, finding out my spouse been in this spy shit like that. HIB gotta be like, sis, you have no fucking idea.
In case you were wondering, E-Amnesia is having a hard time with everybody. She’s doing her therapy and trying to get back to reading, but when the cheat codes got removed, she can’t read a damn thing. Then she lashes out at the doctor because she was making notes on the progress. I mean, there’s the spy that loses their memory, but still retains all their instincts and training like Jason Bourne. Then there’s the spy that loses all of their shit, but keeps the paranoia like E-Amnesia. I’ll take my amnesia Bourne style, with the sauce on the side. This shit look stressful af. Doctor suggests that she take a walk around and that will help jog her memory.
And You Get a Stalker, and You Get a Stalker…
E-Amnesia and HIB taking a walk around the neighborhood, but HIB notices that there’s a dude just watching them from across the street. E-Amnesia goes to take a shower and HIB is like, bet, I’m just gonna grab the pistol and chase this dude off the block right quick.
Ballad of the Fallen Pete goes in to work super early and sees Nia praying. For which we learn Nia is of Muslim faith. I’m sure that will have significance later. She comes in later to talk to BFP and starts asking about his sources. She like, you getting some great intel, would love to know how you doin’ it, b. Ok, she was really, very nicely like, I need you give up some data fam.
BFP meets HIB outside and BFP needs HIB to fake some accounting shit. HIB is tired of this shit because he knows its all to protect Snake Ass Clare.
Not Quite Total Recall
E-Amnesia goes out for a stroll by herself. Aaaaannnd them memories start coming back. I appreciate how the flashback basically got the reverse color scheme on the coat and scarf that she got on in the present. And then, she remembers that curve that really needs a slow down sign. Aaaaand the affair. And the gun. And the millions in the ceiling. Yikes. That’s a lot to ask of your afternoon stroll.
HIB comes home and sees the house torn up and thinks some shit happened. But EA just been tearing up the house in this moment of crisis. EA is realizes that she was living some double life shit and that she betrayed Howard at some time. Howard, but not HIB. Ya know, the muthafucka she’s actually talking to. God I love this show. HIB trying to reassure her, but EA is like, yeah, I don’t remember this person you talking about at all. And of course, HIB is like, we can start over. OF COURSE YOU WANT TO START OVER YOU DICK. Le’ sigh.
Ballad of the Fallen Pete is Fed Up
Ballad of the Fallen Pete is doing the dirty accounting work when he’s stopped by Nia. Apparently someone did Edgar the favor of slitting his wrist for him. Yeah…dude didn’t seem the type off himself. And Nia is like, yeah, Indigo still operating on the inside.
BFP gets home and dude is shook. Like, he’s always shook, but he’s esepcially shook right now. He says Edgar is dead and Snake Ass Clare is like…yeah, I know. We’re…good? BFP is like, how many folks you still got on the inside and SAC is like…um…don’t worry about it? She still think this shit can work out and BFP is like, nah b. This shit gonna end so badly. He asks her if her people been in contact and SAC didn’t even hesitate with the liiiiieeess. Bruh, in-case you were wondering, SAC is still loyal to the cause and is manipulating dude 100%. Like, no question. She try to give BFP that good traitor loving and he breaks it off like I ain’t wired like this anymore, then deadbolts himself in his safe room.
Shit is real because BFP done broke out the tape recorder. And he is spilllllllllin it. All the news. My man done took the accounting error to the craps table, bet on black and then Trading Places the winnings to a dude on the street. But he ain’t going to the authorities. This is his “in case you find me murked out and they try to talk shit at my funeral” mix tape.
The Meetup We all Too Scared to Ask For
HIB comes home from a long day of bullshitting and sees Snake Ass Clare up in his home talking to E-Amnesia. They are all relieved that E-Amnesia ain’t got all of her memory back and that truce still in place. Nothing happens to EA and HIB ain’t gotta disappear SAC.
Nia doing the debrief with Management, letting them know she got some leads to follow up on. And it looks like we finally get to see a member of management. Who is…an old White dude. That was probably the easiest call in the book. They think they know who’s responsible, so this shit gonna be crazy to see how they pursue that.
E-Amnesia started to remember all the bad shit from Christmas Past, SAC bout to activate another attack, BFP recording his last snitch and testament. And we didn’t even get a look at the other side yet. Counterpart is back yo, and things are as bad as they’ve ever been.
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