S01.E06: Act Like You've Been Here Before

[shapeshifter]

Quote

Aldrich questions a not-too recent death in the office; and Emily, Howard and Shaw follow a lead.

Not just fluid identities, but fluid gender identities--I guess?

The other side is going all Walternate on "our" side--but did "we" really infect them with the genocidal plague? And, if so, who thought it was a good idea (besides those wanting to make trillions off of resources)? I mean, for example, my uncle would have preferred to meet his dead sons' counterparts rather than have beach front property. Bad example. He sort of does have beach front property.

[Bort]

I was at first wondering if Quayle was one of the sleepers and for some reason didn’t remember the times of going all moley, but then I was pretty much assuming it was the wife, though I couldn’t think of who it might be. Only to be “of course!” when they dropped the bomb that it’s Claire. I’m assuming that the real Claire from this side is long dead?

Waaaaay too much time spent on Baldwin wandering around the city. I guess they needed the filler.

The beginning of the episode dropping a tidbit of something that was better on the other side reminded me of Fringe doing it with a radio baseball game mention of the Brooklyn Dodgers playing the Montreal Expos. The one here was that Prince was still alive and had a new album out.

[shapeshifter]

6 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Waaaaay too much time spent on Baldwin wandering around the city.

Yes. 

 

What Peter Quayle was reading:

 

[Haleth]

Well, this is going to be awkward. 

[wanderingstar]

The tension built beautifully in this episode. I get a tremendous amount of pleasure from that kind of slow burn, and the writers for this show do that very well.

JK Simmons playing Howard playing Prime was a delight to watch. But when he told Ian to give him a gun, I was all "Oh no baby, what is you doin'?"

Quayle is in a deep shitpile now that he knows his wife (Claire) is the mole. I continue to enjoy Harry Lloyd in this role.

Next week looks good!

Edited February 26, 2018 by Gillian Rosh

[scrb]

I don't remember but when they rescued Baldwin, didn't they take her to the other side?

But now she's prowling this world?

I thought the beginning with one of the recent graduates checking things out was interesting.  He was fascinated by the girls he met, their iPhone.  But when he got back, he had to tell his classmate that it was filthy and that they all deserved to die.

Seems like he had to repeat the company line but he may not have really felt that way.

Still chilling to hear those words said in German, about some other people being inferior in some way and deserving to be killed.

Are the historical connotations deliberate?

[Bort]

17 minutes ago, scrb said:

I don't remember but when they rescued Baldwin, didn't they take her to the other side?

No, Baldwin has been on this side ever since then. Getting laid a lot. Because apparently, chicks with stitches on their faces is a real turn-on.

[shapeshifter]

7 hours ago, scrb said:

Still chilling to hear those words said in German, about some other people being inferior in some way and deserving to be killed.

Are the historical connotations deliberate?

I'm guessing the use of the Nazi-type is supposed to serve as a universally familiar archetype so the viewer can identify this type within this fictional world—but, honestly, until you pointed it out, @scrb, I had missed it.

 

 

7 hours ago, kariyaki said:

Baldwin has been on this side ever since then. Getting laid a lot. Because apparently, chicks with stitches on their faces is a real turn-on

I've been assuming she is representing the very scary legendary Slit Mouth Woman of Japanese culture (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuchisake-onna), but to me, her character is more annoying than terrifying, and I don't think they were going for a character that annoys to death—although if there isn't already a comic book villain "The Annoyer," there should be.

[Haleth]

9 hours ago, scrb said:

I don't remember but when they rescued Baldwin, didn't they take her to the other side?

They were going to kill her but she escaped.  I agree there was way too much time spent on her adventures.  I'm much more interested in both Howards.

This is the first time I've felt sympathy for Quayle.  Had he mentioned how long he'd been married?  Which Clare did he actually marry?

So the estate where they were burning all the records is the replacement school, right?  And Kitsler mentioned in Quayle's documents was the guy originally thought to have had a heart attack, but now whose death is being investigated, right?  I think I'm finally getting it. 

[wanderingstar]

37 minutes ago, Haleth said:

They were going to kill her but she escaped.  I agree there was way too much time spent on her adventures.  I'm much more interested in both Howards.

I like the actress playing Baldwin (Sara Serraiocco), but the character is fairly isolated from the larger story, so that's part of the reason I'm having a hard time getting into her character. It feels like she's just spinning her wheels until the writers bring her fully back into the overall plot. Also, even though she's on screen quite a bit, I feel like she's less a fully realized character than a collection of tropes. Hope that will change before the season's end.

Edited February 26, 2018 by Gillian Rosh

[scottiB]

Another Babylon Berlin actor in this episode: the young woman who spoke at funeral was the political police chief's maid in BB. She joins the woman that takes Baldwin back to her apartment.

I believe that Clare Alpha was murdered and replaced by Clare Prime after the marriage and before the birth of their child -- though as little time as either Quayle or Clare spend at home (she was gone all night saving then sexing Baldwin), they must have a hell of an au pair.

[hardy har]

On 2/25/2018 at 9:27 AM, kariyaki said:

I was at first wondering if Quayle was one of the sleepers and for some reason didn’t remember the times of going all moley, but then I was pretty much assuming it was the wife, though I couldn’t think of who it might be. Only to be “of course!” when they dropped the bomb that it’s Claire. I’m assuming that the real Claire from this side is long dead?

I pretty much figured it had to be the wife early on in the episode, but I'm not gonna lie......when they did the coffee cup thing I thought (for a brief moment) it might be Quayle and they were "activating" him somehow. Now we just need to figure out how long Prime Claire has been his wife. Someone mentioned in another episode (maybe the Ambassador?) how much time and effort was dedicated to getting her in place in Alpha World, so it'll be interesting to see how long she's been there/when she took over Alpha Clare's place. I wonder if he started hiring escorts when Prime Claire showed up? 

12 hours ago, Haleth said:

So the estate where they were burning all the records is the replacement school, right? 

Oh man, I hadn't even thought that might be the school, but that makes sense. It looks like we're going to learn more about The School next week, I know Pope is the mastermind, but I think it's run by a woman since Lotte Verbeek (does her character have a name?) said "she talks about you all the time" when she told Claire she was a year behind her. Speaking of Pope......I wonder how many spies he actually has on both sides? 

11 hours ago, Gillian Rosh said:

I like the actress playing Baldwin (Sara Serraiocco), but the character is fairly isolated from the larger story, so that's part of the reason I'm having a hard time getting into her character. It feels like she's just spinning her wheels until the writers bring her fully back into the overall plot. Also, even though she's on screen quite a bit, I feel like she's less a fully realized character than a collection of tropes. Hope that will change before the season's end.

ITA. I'm kind of hoping she an Howard Prime somehow team up. She's a contract assassin and not a part of The School, right?  

I feel like once this season ends I'm going to have to binge it through in a couple sittings to see what I missed the first time around. 

[Haleth]

17 minutes ago, hardy har said:

Lotte Verbeek (does her character have a name?)

She's listed on imdb as Ringleader.

[shapeshifter]

12 hours ago, hardy har said:

I wonder if he started hiring escorts when Prime Claire showed up? 

That's an interesting idea. Maybe Other Clare made an excuse for not wanting to have sex with him because of hormone changes and/or exhaustion after the baby was born, and maybe even encouraged him to hire women for that purpose. 

 

 

12 hours ago, hardy har said:

I feel like once this season ends I'm going to have to binge it through in a couple sittings to see what I missed the first time around. 

I'm probably going to start reading the recaps at counterpartstars.wikia.com  http://counterpartstarz.wikia.com/wiki/Act_Like_You've_Been_Here_Before

[Bort]

50 minutes ago, shapeshifter said:

That's an interesting idea. Maybe Other Clare made an excuse for not wanting to have sex with him because of hormone changes and/or exhaustion after the baby was born, and maybe even encouraged him to hire women for that purpose. 

 

I was thinking it’s more like Quayle turning to hookers because his wife had “changed” on him. Seems to me that Other Side Claire has been in place for at least five years. They wouldn’t bother arranging for Quayle’s predecessor’s death unless she was already there and ready to go. 

[Mr. R0b0t]

I need to know how/why Claire got to do her sleepover with Baldwin while maintaining her dedicated(?) wife status?  I was afraid that Harry Loyd'd double was going to whack him in the study just as he discovered the paper stains.

When that barista gal Baldwin was making out with said I'll be back and got out of bed for her gratuitous nudity strut what did she go do?  Lock the door? Use the bathroom? (My fiancee said she thought she was going to get a strap-on, which turned out to not be the case).

This show intrigues me and I adore JKS, but its dense.  I'm having some of the same challenges with Netflix's Dark in so much as there are so many characters and I feel like I'm a half step behind on the plot at all times because I'm trying to figure out who exactly I am watching and how they fit the other characters and plot.

[nitrofishblue]

1. I enjoy this show. However, I am really tired of the gratuitous simulated sex acts. They add nothing. I swear Raven has the strangest tits.  The writers don't have to add all those acts. It is very easy to write the story line in a way everyone knows what is happening. This show isn't the only one. It is like the writers feel they need to shove the sex act down our throats just because they can. They are actually demeaning the act. Besides, why is it that the female body is the only one shown in full frontal nudity? Occasionally we see the male backside but that is all. I don't want to see any. Let's see some class.

[meira.hand]

4 minutes ago, nitrofishblue said:

I enjoy this show. However, I am really tired of the gratuitous simulated sex acts. They add nothing.

I have to agree, in this case. They seem to insert them randomly, almost like product placements. The one with Clair just before she left Baldwin to be assassinated at least had some emotional relevance to the story (the betrayal was more extreme and shocking) but all the rest included nothing relevant to the story or the characters and I kept thinking: "OK, and your point is?". I have no problem with nudity or sexual scenes when they are integral to the story and develop the characters and their relationships, but here they really seem out of place and pointless and I find myself fast forwarding thru them.

[Bort]

1 hour ago, meira.hand said:

I have no problem with nudity or sexual scenes when they are integral to the story and develop the characters and their relationships, but here they really seem out of place and pointless and I find myself fast forwarding thru them.

That’s what I was doing with the Baldwin scenes this episode: FFing through them. The only one I watched was her and Claire in the grocery store. 

[shapeshifter]

I was assuming that it was essential to the plot and character development that Baldwin did not actually complete having sex with the barista, but maybe not, and, ITA, more was shown than was necessary or useful, regardless of whether the scene was plot-important.

[paulvdb]

16 hours ago, Mr. R0b0t said:

When that barista gal Baldwin was making out with said I'll be back and got out of bed for her gratuitous nudity strut what did she go do?  Lock the door? Use the bathroom? (My fiancee said she thought she was going to get a strap-on, which turned out to not be the case).

I don't remember if we were told or shown why she left. All I remember is that Baldwin took that as an opportunity to take her gun from her bag and put it under the mattress because apparently Claire's betrayal made her that paranoid.

[Kelda Feegle]

On 2/27/2018 at 4:35 AM, scottiB said:

Another Babylon Berlin actor in this episode: the young woman who spoke at funeral was the political police chief's maid in BB. She joins the woman that takes Baldwin back to her apartment.

 

Yes I saw her also - I assume it is/will be easier to have bilingual actors (German/English) than to have only English-speaking actors learn lines in German?

I also realised that Casper (the administrator of the lie detector) was from Unforgotten the UK drama series, looking very different without the beard.

The Ringleader/Lotte is Katarina Rostova in The Blacklist so that's two actors from that show.

[meira.hand]

On 2/28/2018 at 1:42 PM, Kelda Feegle said:

I also realised that Casper (the administrator of the lie detector) was from Unforgotten the UK drama series, looking very different without the beard.

What is more relevant (and funny), is that he was in an earlier UK series Utopia, and his scene here is a clear reference to an interrogation scene there. It was a torture scene and he was on the receiving end this time, where something really unpleasant was done to his eyes, culminating in usage of a spoon. Hence the use of the eyes for the lie detector and Ian offering him coffee while waving a spoon. Clearly the writers were having a private joke wondering if anyone will notice. I cannot take the credit as it was a post on Reddit that did. If you are curious and not squeamish, you can see the scene on YouTube (in the context of the series, this scene is strangely actually funny):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ1g2NWmdyM

[grommit2]

On 2/28/2018 at 4:27 AM, paulvdb said:

I don't remember if we were told or shown why she left. All I remember is that Baldwin took that as an opportunity to take her gun from her bag and put it under the mattress because apparently Claire's betrayal made her that paranoid.

Yes, yes.  I wondered about that also.  So, I had to rewind the sequence several times, again and again. 
Just to be sure what was going on (or off, as the case may be).
All in the spirit of helping us understand this scene.  Yes, that's what I told my wife...I was studying film.  Yup.  ;>

[qtpye]

On 2/27/2018 at 3:31 PM, nitrofishblue said:

1. I enjoy this show. However, I am really tired of the gratuitous simulated sex acts. They add nothing. I swear Raven has the strangest tits.  The writers don't have to add all those acts. It is very easy to write the story line in a way everyone knows what is happening. This show isn't the only one. It is like the writers feel they need to shove the sex act down our throats just because they can. They are actually demeaning the act. Besides, why is it that the female body is the only one shown in full frontal nudity? Occasionally we see the male backside but that is all. I don't want to see any. Let's see some class.

 

On 2/27/2018 at 3:43 PM, meira.hand said:

I have to agree, in this case. They seem to insert them randomly, almost like product placements. The one with Clair just before she left Baldwin to be assassinated at least had some emotional relevance to the story (the betrayal was more extreme and shocking) but all the rest included nothing relevant to the story or the characters and I kept thinking: "OK, and your point is?". I have no problem with nudity or sexual scenes when they are integral to the story and develop the characters and their relationships, but here they really seem out of place and pointless and I find myself fast forwarding thru them.

Particularly, since they seem to be lesbian sex scenes intended purely for the male gaze. It also makes it more suspect of why they cast a  twenty something for a  forty something woman's role.

[wayne67]

I ff through all the sex scenes because they're boring and add nothing to the plot. Maybe if it was Quayle and Angel Eyes getting it on, I'd be momentarily interested but the sex in the show feels pointless. I want my sci fi spy thriller to spend less time on pointless sex scenes and more time detailing the differences between universes or furthering the plot or characters in some way. 

During the dramatic reveal that Quayle was incidentally responsible for the Mole's access was anyone else wondering why the guy couldn't use a coaster ? 

[Ottis]

On 3/31/2018 at 3:56 PM, wayne67 said:

I ff through all the sex scenes because they're boring and add nothing to the plot. Maybe if it was Quayle and Angel Eyes getting it on, I'd be momentarily interested but the sex in the show feels pointless. I want my sci fi spy thriller to spend less time on pointless sex scenes and more time detailing the differences between universes or furthering the plot or characters in some way. 

Yeah, usually I'm all about lesbian sex scenes, but even I found myself wondering what these have to do with anything. I FF'd as well, which ... I didn't think was possible. But when you are watching and all you are thinking is, "now is this lesbian sex scene supposed to mean something, and what is it in relation to the other world," then it isn't working.

Also, I am late to the party on this show. Sorry!

[AudienceofOne]

On 2/26/2018 at 10:32 PM, shapeshifter said:

I've been assuming she is representing the very scary legendary Slit Mouth Woman of Japanese culture (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuchisake-onna), but to me, her character is more annoying than terrifying, and I don't think they were going for a character that annoys to death—although if there isn't already a comic book villain "The Annoyer," there should be.

While I'm very late to this party, I will be calling her The Annoyer from now on.

On 2/28/2018 at 7:31 AM, nitrofishblue said:

1. I enjoy this show. However, I am really tired of the gratuitous simulated sex acts. They add nothing. I swear Raven has the strangest tits.  The writers don't have to add all those acts. It is very easy to write the story line in a way everyone knows what is happening. This show isn't the only one. It is like the writers feel they need to shove the sex act down our throats just because they can. They are actually demeaning the act. Besides, why is it that the female body is the only one shown in full frontal nudity? Occasionally we see the male backside but that is all. I don't want to see any. Let's see some class.

This this and this. I'm all for weird French films but I don't need one of them running through my scifi. Especially since this weird French film is boring. Oh wait, all weird French films are boring - even those with long purposeless lesbian sex scenes in them. 

On 2/28/2018 at 9:17 AM, kariyaki said:

That’s what I was doing with the Baldwin scenes this episode: FFing through them. The only one I watched was her and Claire in the grocery store. 

My problem is that I ff'd through the first scene because I thought it served no purpose and then missed that Baldwin was still alive. So I felt I should watch this one in case something interesting happened. And... it didn't. But there was an awful lot of boobs. Do they really think people won't watch the show if there aren't boobs? Because, nobody stays watching a show they hate just for boobs. And nobody turns off a show they are enjoying because of a lack of them.