Counterpart (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Shaking the Tree - full transcript

- PRIME: My side is expecting me home.
- Meaning we're fucked.

Not if we send this
one back in my place.

Ugh.

SHAW: You failed a drug test.

- You know that's not what this is.
- [KNOCKING]

ANNA: Dad! I know you're
in there. Open the door.

You're phone's been off all
day. Mom's in the hospital.

- We've got to go. Come on.
- Mom?

EMILY PRIME: Perhaps it'll be
simpler if we introduce ourselves.

I'm Emily.

You're better than him.



LAMBERT: Your assassin friend...
They want her removed.

She trusts me.

LAMBERT: Perhaps it's time you actually

use that situation to your advantage.

[SHOUTS]

PRIME: You know anything about
this group Pope is working with?

Fanatics. Inside our office.

He's been helping 'em move
illegals. A long time now.

They want to bring over our
guests earlier than expected.

Something's about to
happen. Something big.



[DOOR BUZZES, LOCK CLICKS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

[GUARD SPEAKS GERMAN]



[DOOR BUZZES, LOCK CLICKS]

[GUARD SPEAKS GERMAN]

Purpose of visit?

Maintenance for the embassy.

[WOMAN SPEAKS GERMAN OVER P.A.]

[WHIRRING, SHUTTER CLICKS]

Enjoy your stay.

[DOOR BUZZES, LOCK CLICKS]

[CAR DOOR CLOSES]

[GUARD SPEAKS GERMAN]



[HORN BEEPS]



[MUFFLED MUSIC PLAYING IN DISTANCE]

[DOOR CLOSES]

[BODY THUDS]

[MUFFLED MUSIC CONTINUES IN DISTANCE]







[DISTANT BELL TOLLING]

Howard.

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS NEARBY]

Have you been taking lessons?

[CHUCKLES]

[CLICKS TONGUE]

It's a red-letter day.

You may actually have your first win.

It only took you two months.

You got this.

Sequence is right there.

I'm afraid that was a mistake.

[CHUCKLES] You were so close this time.

[MONITOR BEEPING RHYTHMICALLY]

[DOOR CLOSES]

Is there a reason you're not walking
out into the hall right now?

[DOOR CLOSES]

[SIGHS]

You couldn't just drop
some intel in a locker

or send a simple cipher, like
any other person, could you?

No, with you, I get...

these letters.

Like, uh...

Rilke, here.

And I can't make heads
or tails of that guy.

All these years with you,

I'm still out in the cold.

[DOOR OPENS, BELL JINGLES]

Please sit.

Two men came to you recently.

Get a lot of customers here.

Not this kind.

One of these men is an
agent of this world,

the other's from ours.

His name's Howard Silk.

I'd like to know what he was asking.

I don't remember.

Is this routine for you?

To betray your own kind?

You must be with the people
Alexander Pope's consorting with.

What do they call it? Um...

the School.

Heard rumors about that place.

[BELL JINGLES]

[DOOR CLOSES, BELL JINGLES]

What'd you tell Howard Silk?

It won't make a difference, will it?

If you somehow compromised
me or my associates,

there are things that
must be made right.

When I tell you...

what happens?

You've already chosen your side.

A decade here,

three at home... Know what I know?

There are no sides.

We all go to the same hell.

[KNOCKING ON DOOR]

[MUFFLED MUSIC PLAYING NEARBY]

Oh...

You want Anna?

Yes. Yeah. Um...

- You know who I am?
- Yeah.

From pictures.

And you're... a boyfriend?

Living together?

- How long has that been...
- Anna's on a shift.

Oh, okay.

Um... could you tell me where, please?

I'd-I'd really like to speak with her.

Maybe leave her alone, huh?

I'm her father.

[SCOFFS]

That's not what I hear.

Okay.

Will you please tell her I stopped by?

Okay.

[LOCK CLICKS]

[FOOTSTEPS]

[WATER LAPPING]



What do you think of the view?

Different, I imagine,
where you come from.

There's no need for
pretense with me, Howard.

I know so much about you.

I know your other sent
you here in his place

as a result of his being...

grounded by the embassy.

He didn't tell you about me, did he?

No.

My name is Alexander Pope.

And you, dear boy,

are nothing like our mutual friend.

You...

you work for the Office?

They call me a runner.

I-I don't know what that is.

It means that, some years
ago, I took a man like you

and made him into a
man like Howard Silk.

So...

I should say, what, job well done?

I understand you've been spending
some time with his family.

That's right.

Let me guess,

he didn't tell you about them either.

It's in his nature.

Perhaps he didn't want you
mucking around in his affairs.

On that subject though,

if I may offer you a word of advice,

you really shouldn't be placing
any trust in that woman.

Emily?

I can't speak for what
she's like on your side,

but this one ruined him.

And I wouldn't want the same
thing happening to you.

Maybe you don't really know her.

No.

Maybe you're right.

I just thought I'd warn you
as a gesture of good faith.

Don't be shy, Howard.

If you ever need anything, just
drop a letter on the lamppost.

You haven't the faintest idea
what I'm talking about, have you?

He was right...

You're so plain.

Why don't you ask Emily
about my signal plan?

Might surprise you what you
don't know about that woman.

GUARD: Working on a
Saturday, Mr. Quayle?

[BEEPING]



[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]

[TRILLING]

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]

Just found a few contraband items.

No alarms.

- You're certain?
- [CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]

You know, it might be
helpful if you told me

exactly what we're looking for.

Before Silk left, he asked
me to follow up on a lead.

So I met a source.

A man who knows about the
people funding Baldwin.

And what did he say?

He mentioned a mole.

Here?

Third floor.

High level.

I know every point of
exposure from this floor.

If there's a leak, it's controlled.

He said it was high clearance.

There's only a few people that could be.

You, me,

any one of your boys.

How long did your source say
this mole has been in place?

He said years.

Come with me. We're going for a drive.

[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS]

[CHILDREN CHATTERING]

[SIGHS]

[KEY JINGLES IN LOCK]

HOWARD: I'm sorry to just
come over like this, but...

I met a man today named Alexander Pope.

Oh, yeah? What did he want?

He told me I shouldn't trust you.

Well, that's rich, coming from him.

Look, I... [SIGHS]

Got to be honest... I-I don't know

how this game is played, but...

it's obvious that things over here

with you are not exactly
as they are over there

with my Emily.

Look, Howard, I really don't
think you and I should discuss

your other life. I...

Please.

My Emily is a clerk.

It's pretty evident that you're not.

I want to know

how you became so different.

[SIGHS] Okay.

Go ahead.

Ask.

You do what he does?

I work in Strategy.

Counterintelligence.

It's a different department,

but it's close.

How long?

Since we met?

How long have you been married?

28 years.

I don't know all the ways

our lives were different
back then, but...

the woman you married...

loved you very much.

Where is she now?

About six weeks ago,

she was walking across the street

and she was hit by a car.

And a few days ago,

an assassin came to try
to finish the job.

Were you...

really hospitalized for a drug overdose?

No.

Someone... did that to you.

Someone tried to kill you.

Yes. His name is Alexander Pope.

The man your other trusts,
much to his detriment.

There's another name...
C-Claude Lambert.

Does that name mean anything to you?

Why do you ask?

My other said that he believes

he's involved in this, too.

The embassy's compromised.

How can I help?

Emily, please, you said there are ways

we could help each other.

Somebody out there is
trying to kill my wife.

- [RHYTHMIC RUBBING]
- [MUSIC PLAYING FAINTLY]

[EXHALES]



Toast and espresso.

Toast and espresso.

Easy.

Ein Espresso.

[MACHINE WHIRRING]

[DOOR OPENS]

Espresso...

[DOOR CLOSES]

toast...

and soup of the day.

No, I...

I didn't order soup.

Oh, yeah. Right.

- My mistake.
- [PAPER TEARING]

Keep it.

Goes well with the toast.



[BIRDS CHIRPING]

A lot of security.

ALDRICH: It's to keep eyes away.

QUAYLE: Who exactly is this woman?

ALDRICH: Her name is Alice.

She's a defector from the other side.

Used to be a secretary in Strategy.

What, you just let her live here?

She had valuable information.

Well, we gave her a life.

I'll do the talking.

[FOOTSTEPS APPROACHING]

Mausi. [CHUCKLES]

You didn't call.

They tried.

You didn't pick up.

ALICE PRIME: Oh, the winter garden.

I was in the winter garden.

We have one now.

Herbert is terrible with the planting,

but we have tomatoes in the winter.

Red Tea.

Mausi, you didn't.

[CHUCKLES]

We should celebrate.

I already hear the kettle.

What's that, contraband?

[DRAWER OPENS, SHUTS]

[CLOCK CHIMING]

ALICE PRIME: That smell.

I've almost forgotten.

You know, we took the seed,

tried to grow it here,
but you just can't.

The soil over here is so arid.

- Thank you.
- [SPEAKS GERMAN]

So how are things at the Office?

I miss it.

Said to her the other
day, "I miss the game."

- How is she?
- Oh, she's fine.

We're fine.

But you're not, I think.

Coming all this way.

Do you remember when you came over,

what you said to my men

in Housekeeping, on our side?

Has something happened?

There have been some developments.

Recently? Something new?

It's possible we've been compromised.

A leak in Housekeeping?

Could be all of Strategy.

[EXHALES]

Mausi, are you certain
that it's so high up?

QUAYLE: Yes.

Yes, we're quite certain.

ALICE PRIME: You think that I was right.

That's why you've come to me.

I don't know.

I told your men, I swore on it.

ALDRICH: It's important that we don't
make any conclusions just yet,

- we're just talking.
- No.

It must be them.

If the leak is so high.

If there's a mole, it has to be.

- Has to be who?
- [DOOR OPENS]

Welcome.

Try the mint. Fresh.

ALICE PRIME: Dear.

- The roast?
- In the oven.

The heat, not too high.

Yes, yes. [KISSES]

He always burns the roast.

So handsome, but a terrible cook.

Mausi, I tried to believe your men.

I really did.

It would be better if I
was only fooling myself.

That they didn't really exist.

Who the hell are we talking about?

EMILY PRIME: If Lambert is
somehow involved in all this,

he must be receiving
orders from our side.

So we're looking for
Edgar Brandt, a courier,

who brings the embassy
pouch back and forth.

So how do we go about this?

You happen to be his role model.

So you want me to talk to him?

Well, you did offer to help.

Does nobody shop around here?

Ever since I got to this side,

public places, inside, outside,

the whole city seems so vacant.

He really didn't tell you anything

about our world, did he?

There was a flu epidemic
in the early '90s.

It was a fever that escalated quickly.

Within four years,

seven percent of the
population was wiped out.

Seven percent of your
world's population?

Yeah.

God. That's-that's like
half a billion people.

Yeah, we almost lost Anna.

She was just a little girl,

and in the hospital for months.

Howard was a mess.

I just... I was paralyzed.

Couldn't even go to the hospital.

Is-is that when you started?

Just the pills at the beginning.

Anna got better,

but... everything else got worse.

I can tell by the way you look at me...

that you hold her in high regard.

She, uh, she had her rough times.

Edinburgh. Yes.

I remember some of it.

And what about, uh, Ian?

Will you tell him about-about this?

No.

He's not the sort of person

who would understand this, believe me.

You two are happy?

[DOOR CLOSES]

EMILY PRIME: That's him.

Okay, all you have to do

is to find out the delivery address

of the pouch.

We find that, we find out
who Lambert's working with.

Right.

Don't worry.

You'll be fine. I'll be, I'll be nearby.

[QUIETLY] Sure.

[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]

[KEY TURNING IN LOCK]

[LOCK CLICKING]







EDGAR: I tell you about this girl
I've been seeing over there?

She's a lawyer.

I know her on this side, too.

All buttoned-up and quiet.

But over there...

You know, it's crazy they both make
the same sound when they finish.

It's like kittens trapped
in a closet, you know?

[LAUGHS]

I want to talk about Claude Lambert.

And some people he's working with.

You're-you're moving pouches
for the embassy, right?

For Lambert?

Bringing them over to this side

to a specific location?

Maybe it's best we don't talk about

all kinds of shit, you know?

These people, they're connected
everywhere. Every floor.

Our side and theirs.

Could be you, this could be a test.

I think I need another drink.

You need something?



[DOOR OPENS]

Oh, fuck.

EMILY PRIME: Hello, Edgar.

You left without paying for your drink.

You two are working together?

EMILY PRIME: See how quiet he is?

I think he's afraid for
your safety, Edgar.

EDGAR: Now, look.

We both know

I have no fucking clue what's going on.

There is no need for
that sort of language.

Someone tried to have me
killed the other night.

I'd like to know who that was.

Who's Lambert consorting with?

I don't know who the pouch goes to.

It's just some fucking house.

- A house?
- Yes, a house.

A mansion, it's two hours out of town.

- Who lives in the mansion?
- Are you kidding me?

They-they don't even let
us pull up the driveway.

I need the address, Edgar.

Potsdam.

Five kilometers past
town. 47 Linchstrasse.

Thank you. You may go.

[DOOR OPENS]

[DOOR CLOSES]

ALICE PRIME: You understand,
the Office where I come from,

we don't have the same
structure as you do.

In Strategy, there's a
board of directors.

They share power,

and they've been know to
fight from time to time.

Yeah, I'm familiar with it.

Just before I left,

there was a dispute
among these directors.

There was a man, very young,

had a proposal to exert

"quiet influence" on your side.

What does that mean?

It's a black operation.

Low profile. Long term in its impact.

They called this program "Indigo."

QUAYLE: And what is that?
It's a network of some kind?

- No.
- School.

A school?

For children. They're chosen,
trained, soldiers for their side.

They grow up and are placed here

on your side, as sleeper agents.

And management on your
side approved this?

Management never knew.

It came from private money.

- Whose?
- Fanatics.

Within the Office.

They hate your side for
what you've done to ours.

Wait, th-the flu?

Is she, is she talking about...?

[SCOFFS] This is ridiculous.

Your side knows we had no part in that.

It's a conspiracy theory.
It's been disproven.

Not to them, not to many.

ALDRICH: There have been some
assassinations recently.

People of interest.

It seems strategic. Targeted.

Mausi, this is exactly something
Shadow would arrange.

Who's Shadow?

Tell me what you told my
men, exactly as you said it.

Five years ago, I heard a discussion

a-about a vacancy in your
Office, one they had created.

- So, they created a vacancy.
- Yes.

A high-traffic position, director level.

They were going to expedite

the arrival of an agent called Shadow.

QUAYLE: So that's our mole?

- Which department?
- I don't know.

Y-You must know something,
just anything, details.

No. I wish I did.

[QUAYLE SIGHS]

Mausi,

if Shadow is real,

everything is compromised.

All of our secrecy.

Even us.

[DOOR OPENS]

WOMAN: Is that Mausi's car I see?

- [DOOR CLOSES]
- Hello, dear.

ALICE: You didn't call.

Oh, he did. We were
in the winter garden.

How was your walk?

ALICE: Good.

I saw an owl.

The smallest, most beautiful owl.

ALICE PRIME: Splendid.

- HERBERT: Did you see the fox?
- No, not today.

We've had a visitor lately.

Yeah. Small little fox tracks.

Dear, the roast.

Already in the oven.

Yeah. The heat, not too high.

Yes, yes.

[FOOTSTEPS DEPARTING]

He always burns the roast.

So handsome but a terrible cook.

You stay for supper?

Can't. We should be going.

We've taken too much of your time.

Oh, please. Come on, stay.

ALDRICH: Too much work.

But thank you.

Don't work too hard.

ALICE PRIME: Mausi.

Are we safe?

Always.

Interesting setup.

When she crossed over, she
wanted to meet her other.

And they got along.

Shadow?

Your men knew about
this this whole time,

and they just sat on it.

If he exists,

I'll find him.

[KEY JINGLES IN LOCK]

[LOCK CLICKS]

[DOOR OPENS]

[ANDREI SIGHS]

[GRUNTS, GASPS]

H-Howard?

Sister in the hospital? What
a fucking load of shit.

- Who do you work for? What floor?
- I-I...

You've been colluding with Emily,

hiding her research here.

- What-what is that?
- Please don't insult

my intelligence. I'm not the
fucking nobody you think I am.

Start talking.

I didn't know she was married.

I'm sorry, Howard, I...

[SHUDDERING EXHALE]

By the time she told me, I was...

already...

How long?

[EXHALES]

We were seeing each other ten months.

Then the accident happened.

I saw you at the hospital

and made up the story about my sister.

[SCOFFS]

[CHUCKLES]

You're a fucking civilian.

Howard, why are you carrying a gun?

[GROANING]

I'm despicable. I'm sorry.

You love her?

[CRYING] Please don't hurt me.

[PANTING]

[SNIFFLES]

And she loves you?

ANDREI: I'm sorry.

[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]

[CRICKETS CHIRPING]

[KNOCKING]

[LOCK CLICKS]

[DOOR OPENS, CLOSES]

CLARE: I hope your trip went smoothly.

These are your orders.

Relevant details.

Everything you need is in there.

What about the personal effects?

You'll get them when
your marks are dead.

They're still alive?

There have been complications.

Problems with our assassin.

I'm working on it. You'll
have to be patient.

I was in the year behind you.

We never met.

She talks about you all the time.

It's an honor.

I'll be in touch with
additional instructions.

[INDISTINCT TALKING NEARBY]

[DANCE MUSIC PLAYING FAINTLY]

[DANCE MUSIC CONTINUES PLAYING]

[CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYING]

[DOOR CLICKS]



[FOOTSTEPS, KEYS JANGLE]

You know, it's probably best if
you don't stay another night.

Right. Yeah.

Probably best.

I'm not her, Howard.

I mean, there's a lot we share, but...

there's a lot we don't.

Don't look for things that aren't there.

Do you think it's possible to...

truly love someone

without ever knowing
who they really are?

Maybe we don't...

love someone for who they really are.

Maybe love is seeing them...

for who they'd rather be.

Good night.

Good night.

[MONITOR BEEPING RHYTHMICALLY]

[SIGHS]

So,

found your little stash.

That was a good idea,

hiding it with the nerdy professor.

Would've been nice to
think he was just a mark,

but, uh...

apparently it was more than that.

I thought you were better.

Thanks for the intel.

HOWARD: Can I get you anything?

You get robbed lately?

Oh. Uh...

It's a long story, but no.

Have a seat.

Marko says you stopped by.

Yeah. I, um...

just wanted to see if
you were all right.

What is this?

What?

Are you sick?

N-No.

Are you dying?

Just tell me that you have...

Oh, I don't give a shit.

Just tell me that's why
you've been acting this way,

so I can just understand.

No, Anna, no. No, I'm not...

I'm-I'm not dying.

I'm not sick.

Then why won't you leave us alone?

After all these years, why now?

Uh...

I'm sorry, I...

I know I made mistakes in the past.

And I'm so sorry.

I-I-I regret...

so much.

And I know I can't just
suddenly fix everything. I'm...

I know that. Anna, please.

Just wait.

For a few minutes, can you...

I don't know, can you just...

pretend you don't know me

and I'm not your negligent father,

not the guy who... left

and-and hurt you

and...

ruined everything.

[EXHALES]

Can we start over?

Just... tell me

everything about you.

And I'll just listen.
I won't say a word.

Please.

Tell me what I've missed.