History Series / Counterpart2018

* SchizoTech: The technological development of both the Alpha ("normal/actual") world (which can be thought of as something close to our real-world one) and the Prime ("alternate") one show uneven levels of progress, although the alternate world shows signs of being further in some areas than the normal one. Dot matrix printers and 1980s-era dumb terminals coexist alongside extremely advanced cellular phones and modern-day designer drugs.

[[caption-width-right:350:[[SecretWar Something's going in behind the shadows of Berlin.]]]]

** A major issue is in "Customs" as too often, people from one reality bring in an item to the other that can expose the existence of this alternate universe. A pair of customs agents are berated for almost allowing someone to bring in the latest album by the Prime universe's Music/Prince...ignoring how he's dead in the Alpha universe.

** "No Man's Land" shows the three Prime operatives slipping into their roles in preparation for later [[spoiler:a massacre at the Office of Interchange on the Alpha side. After this, the people in charge of the Alpha OI shut the doors to forbid further access to or from Prime]].

** "No Man's Land" shows the three Prime operatives slipping into their roles in preparation for later [[spoiler:apparently attempting to "open the doors" for an invasion during a massacre at the Office of Interchange on the Alpha side]].

* ThePlague: It is slowly revealed over the arc of the first season that the Prime world experienced a bad pandemic (the "Munchen Virus", [[spoiler:believed to have been introduced through pigs, necessitating mass abandonment of all pork products after culling the herds]]), lasting at least three years, to the point where the ingrained Western cultural custom of shaking hands has disappeared. "Malignant hyperthermia" exists in the alternate world, and may be more severe than in the normal world. Also, widespread UV hand sanitizers and mandatory health examinations prevail in the alternate world. Alternate OI security forces are also instructed to warn other personnel not to even make physical contact or otherwise to mitigate the risk.

Creator/JKSimmons stars as mild-mannered Howard Silk, a mid-level functionary within the Bureau of Interchange in Germany whose principal task, for the last thirty years, has been to carefully speak apparently nonsensical one-sentence fragments to another person, obtain a reply, and then having noted both down, pass them on to another part of the organization he's in. All that changes one day when his higher-ups tell him he's been personally requested in a top-secret meeting, and he discovers... himself. Only from another universe, and with a dire warning about a conspiracy afoot that could have widespread effects on both universes. This TV series explores some of the ramifications of discovering that there is, in fact a parallel world and universe which contains many of the same people as one's "home" world.

* AlternateUniverse: The show's premise revolves around this. It is revealed that approximately thirty years before the events of the pilot, [[spoiler:incautious experiments done in East Berlin - specifically dated to 1987 by the middle of the season - somehow duplicated the world and also punched a pathway between the two universes]]. Since then, the Bureau of Interchange, under UN aegis, has kept tight control over exit to and entry from the "other" world.
* {{Doppelganger}}: One of the reasons why the Bureau of Interchange keeps such a tight lid on the knowledge that a parallel universe exists is the brain-bending effect it has on people when they realize alternates of their own selves exist.

* ForeShadowing: Several instances where Baldwin or mercenaries hired to conduct attacks against BI personnel on the actual Earth means that someone is secretly backing their actions. [[spoiler:Howard Silk Prime is warned that Pope is among them and Lambert, the BI Prime ambassador.]]

* GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: The Bureau of Interchange, the agency featured in the show.
* GovernmentConspiracy: The Bureau of Interchange actively works to conceal evidence of its existence; its personnel often skirt the law and will evade the official police rather than risk exposure of the parallel universe.
* MultinationalTeam: Being a UN agency, the BI has personnel coming from different countries who are stationed in Berlin.
* ThePlague: It is slowly revealed over the arc of the first season that the Prime world experienced a bad pandemic (the "Munchen Virus", [[spoiler:believed to have been introduced through pigs, necessitating mass abandonment of all pork products after culling the herds]]), lasting at least three years, to the point where the ingrained Western cultural custom of shaking hands has disappeared. "Malignant hyperthermia" exists in the alternate world, and may be more severe than in the normal world. Also, widespread UV hand sanitizers and mandatory health examinations prevail in the alternate world. Alternate BI security forces are also instructed to warn other personnel not to even make physical contact or otherwise to mitigate the risk.

* SWATTeam: The SEK[[note]]Spezialeinsatzkommando, meaning "Special Commandos" or "Special Forces"[[/note]] is summoned to help alternate BI agents in a raid in "The Crossing".

''Counterpart'' is a ScienceFiction dramatic sci-fi series which is currently airing on Creator/{{Starz}} as part of the 2018 [=TV=] season in the United States, starring Creator/JKSimmons. The executive producer of the show is Justin Marks.

Simmons stars as mild-mannered Howard Silk, a mid-level functionary within the Bureau of Interchange in Germany whose principal task, for the last thirty years, has been to carefully speak apparently nonsensical one-sentence fragments to another person, obtain a reply, and then having noted both down, pass them on to another part of the organization he's in. All that changes one day when his higher-ups tell him he's been personally requested in a top-secret meeting, and he discovers... himself. Only from another universe, and with a dire warning about a conspiracy afoot that could have widespread effects on both universes. This TV series explores some of the ramifications of discovering that there is, in fact a parallel world and universe which contains many of the same people as one's "home" world.

It's being scheduled to have a second season soon.

''Counterpart'' is a dramatic sci-fi series which is currently airing on Creator/{{Starz}} as part of the 2018 [=TV=] season in the United States, starring Creator/JKSimmons. The executive producer of the show is Justin Marks.

* ThePlague: It is slowly revealed over the arc of the first season that the alternate world experienced a bad pandemic (the "Munchen Virus", [[spoiler:believed to have been introduced through pigs, necessitating mass abandonment of all pork products after culling the herds]]), lasting at least three years, to the point where the ingrained Western cultural custom of shaking hands has disappeared. "Malignant hyperthermia" exists in the alternate world, and may be more severe than in the normal world. Also, widespread UV hand sanitizers and mandatory health examinations prevail in the alternate world. Alternate BI security forces are also instructed to warn other personnel not to even make physical contact or otherwise to mitigate the risk.
* SchizoTech: The technological development of both the "normal" world (which can be thought of as something close to our real-world one) and the "alternate" one show uneven levels of progress, although the alternate world shows signs of being further in some areas than the normal one. Dot matrix printers and 1980s-era dumb terminals coexist alongside extremely advanced cellular phones and modern-day designer drugs.

* SecretWar: Alternate Howard Silk reveals that the governing authorities in his world are divided between relative moderates and hard-liners who are "more ideological", and it is the latter that are letting their battle spill over into the "normal" world; a very small minority in both worlds know of the true extent of the conflict. [[spoiler:The root of the conflict and why it's spilling over at all is due to a faction of hard-liners blaming the "normal" world for a mass disease that afflicted the "alternate" world some years before.]]

** "The Lost Art of Diplomacy" reveals that [[spoiler:normal!Emily]] was alt!Howard's source before being hit by a car in an apparent accident.

* ExactWords: Howard impersonates Prime Howard and is given a lie detector test. He is asked questions about things Prime Howard did so he simply tells his interrogators that he does not remember these events. The interrogators are astonished by how well he is beating the lie detector, not realizing that Howard is telling the truth. He was not present during the events in question and thus has no memories of what happened.

* IdiotBall: Quayle fails to keep a level head [[spoiler:after finding out his wife is the mole within the Bureau of Interchange]] and incautiously starts openly questioning the mole within the BI regarding past incidents. He also fails to take basic precautions to keep a subterfuge of his from being found out.
* MultinationalTeam: Being a UN agency, the BI has personnel coming from different countries.
* ThePlague: It is slowly revealed over the arc of the first season that the alternate world experienced a bad pandemic (the "Munchen Virus", [[spoiler:believed to have been introduced through pigs, necessitating mass abandonment of all pork products after culling the herds]]), lasting at least three years, to the point where the ingrained Western cultural custom of shaking hands has disappeared. "Malignant hyperthermia" exists in the alternate world, and may be more severe than in the normal world. Also, widespread UV hand sanitizers and mandatory health examinations prevail in the alternate world.

* AlternateUniverse: The show's premise revolves around this. It is revealed that approximately thirty years before the events of the pilot, [[spoiler:incautious experiments done in East Berlin somehow duplicated the world and also punched a pathway between the two universes]]. Since then, the Bureau of Interchange, under UN aegis, has kept tight control over exit to and entry from the "other" world.

* IdiotBall: Quayle fails to keep a level head [[spoiler:after finding out his wife is the mole within the Bureau of Interchange]] and incautiously starts openly questioning the mole within the BI regarding past incidents.

* ThePlague: It is slowly revealed over the arc of the first season that the alternate world experienced a bad pandemic (the "Munchen Virus"), lasting at least three years, to the point where the ingrained Western cultural custom of shaking hands has disappeared. "Malignant hyperthermia" exists in the alternate world, and may be more severe than in the normal world. Also, widespread UV hand sanitizers and mandatory health examinations prevail in the alternate world.

* ThePlague: It is slowly revealed over the arc of the first season that the alternate world experienced a bad pandemic (the "Munchen Virus"), lasting at least five or six years, to the point where the ingrained Western cultural custom of shaking hands has disappeared. "Malignant hyperthermia" exists in the alternate world, and may be more severe than in the normal world. Also, widespread UV hand sanitizers and mandatory health examinations prevail in the alternate world.

* ThePlague: It is slowly revealed over the arc of the first season that the alternate world experienced a bad pandemic to the point where the ingrained Western cultural custom of shaking hands has disappeared. "Malignant hyperthermia" exists in the alternate world, and may be more severe than in the normal world. Also, widespread UV hand sanitizers and mandatory health examinations prevail in the alternate world.

* AlternateUniverse: The show's premise revolves around this. It is revealed that approximately thirty years before the events of the pilot, [[spoiler:incautious experiments done in East Berlin punched a pathway to the other universe]]. Since then, the Bureau of Interchange, under UN aegis, has kept tight control over exit to and entry from the "other" world.

* WhamEpisode: "The Lost Art of Diplomacy" reveals that [[spoiler:normal!Emily]] was alt!Howard's source before being hit by a car in an apparent accident.

** In "Birds of a Feather", the top right corner of a document can briefly be seen to show a date in 2018, establishing the time period for the series.

* SecretWar: Alternate Howard Silk reveals that the governing authorities in his world are divided between relative moderates and hard-liners who are "more ideological", and it is the latter that are letting their battle spill over into the "normal" world; a very small minority in both worlds know of the true extent of the conflict. [[spoiler:The root of the conflict and why it's spilling over at all appears to be from the hard-liners blaming the "normal" world for a mass disease that afflicted the "alternate" world some years before.]]

* WhamEpisode: "The Lost Art of Diplomacy" reveals that [[spoiler:normal!Emily]] was alt!Howard's source before being covertly assassinated.

* ThePlague: It is slowly revealed over the arc of the first season that the alternate world experienced a bad pandemic to the point where the ingrained Western cultural custom of shaking hands has disappeared. "Malignant hyperthermia" exists in the alternate world, and apparently reacts badly with anaesthetics. Also, widespread UV hand sanitizers and mandatory health examinations prevail in the alternate world.