Published Apr 19, 2026, 8:45 PM EDT
Memory Ngulube joined Screen Rant in April 2024 as part of the Movies and TV team. Since then, she has written for the Perennials and Streaming team, covering a wide range of topics from new releases to old movies and TV shows. Memory is currently a Classic TV writer.
Before joining Screen Rant, Memory was a freelance copywriter who specialized in email marketing and social media management. While she enjoyed her job, her true passion was always movies and TV.
When she isn’t writing for Screen Rant, Memory can be found reading, baking (which is one of her passions), or watching her favorite K-drama.
Science fiction TV shows have become overly ambitious over the years. While the grand scale of these series might account for why they are beloved, there are times when bigger universes tend to make a TV show more complicated than it needs to be. Fortunately, that’s not the case with J.K. Simmons’ 2-part sci-fi thriller, which manages to be intelligent, rather than overly complex.
Released in 2017, this sci-fi thriller embodies what the genre can accomplish when it's at its peak. At the center of the show is a universe split into two realities that are identical in most ways but diverge in others. When it comes to alternate realities, sci-fi TV shows tend to spiral and try to do too much.
Counterpart, however, limits itself to its two tightly constructed parts, resulting in a series that is not only smart, but sticks to its strengths. Simmons’ sci-fi thriller refrains from overly explaining its world. Granted, the alternate realities are the glue that holds the show together, but the series doesn’t spend too much time on the scientific know-how of the universe it is set in.
What we get is a show that questions identity because it doesn’t paint its primary protagonists as good or bad. Instead, it focuses on how these choices led them to become who they are.
Counterpart Brilliantly Executes Its Parallel Worlds Concept
Counterpart Has A Simple, Yet Brilliant Concept
Alternate realities are nothing new in science fiction stories. Many TV shows have explored this type of plot lines, with varying levels of success. The parallel worlds in Counterpart aren’t treated as a plot point that signify some big twist, but don't necessarily take the story anywhere. The show ensures that the two different worlds it's set in feel lived in and have their own systems that determine how they run.
In Counterpart, Alpha and Prime mirror each other, as the people that exist in these universes have the same background, parents, and family, but they branched off at a certain point in history due to a scientific experiment that went wrong. The two worlds in Counterpart are not random contrasts, they are essentially structured reflections of each other.
Counterpart’s biggest strength is how it treats its main character, Howard Silk. Simmons plays different versions of the same man. The one who comes from Alpha is more soft-spoken and less inclined to get into confrontations, while the Howard from Prime is more hardened and dives straight into danger. The brilliance of Counterpart is that neither version of Simmons’ character is more real or more important. They are simply two sides of the same coin.
Another stroke of genius when it comes to Counterpart’s universe that accounts for why it's one of the smartest sci-fi TV shows is that it doesn’t delve too deep into the mechanics of how the crossing between two worlds works. All we see are people moving from one world to another without the rules of travel.
Counterpart Blends Sci-Fi With Espionage Better Than Any TV Show In Recent Memory
Counterpart Offers The Best Of Both Worlds
Counterpart doesn’t simply feature science fiction and espionage, it fuses them into a single, inseparable system where each genre strengthens the other instead of competing for attention. Most TV shows fail to find that balance, and end up with stories that don’t feel like they relate to each other in any way.
The show treats the concept of its two parallel worlds in a way that a spy thriller works. Alpha and Prime have something that each of them wants, whether it's knowing the location of oil deposits or medication that is essential to human lives. As a result of this lack of knowledge, surveillance, infiltration, and counterintelligence become essential to the show’s core.
Amidst all the espionage, action, betrayal, and suspense, Counterpart still remains grounded in the fact that it is also a science fiction show. Ultimately, neither genre in Counterpart dominates the other, but they are placed on an even playing field.
Release Date 2017 - 2019-00-00
English (US) ·