Counterpart (2017–…): Season 2, Episode 6 - Twin Cities - full transcript
The origins of the Crossing are revealed.
Do you get used to that, too?
Taking orders from a camera?
Not yet.
Management trusts you will come to
them the moment you have something.
Of course.
[speaking German]
- [Mira] You have the case?
- Yes.
There's someone else at
Echo? Someone important?
These were my friends once.
We had come of
age behind the Wall,
only to discover the
existence of two worlds.
May I tell you a secret,
something just for you?
I am the reason
our two worlds exist.
[speaking German]
[Croft] It's a Minox C.
Most popular camera
in the city these days.
You have five rolls,
36 exposures each.
Keep it somewhere
safe and out of sight.
Needless to say, if you get
caught with it, you're on your own.
Will we cross in the city?
No. We're getting you
out through Heiligensee.
It's a Trabi with a
false floor in back.
Your son and daughter inside,
you and your wife up front.
I never thought it
would be this way.
Think about your son's safety.
You're doing the right thing.
My father died in the camps
for a democratic republic.
You didn't fail him,
Yanek. Honecker failed him.
- The whole institution failed him.
- Yes.
The experiment was perfect.
It was corrupted
by our pettiness.
Twenty-four hours.
Bring us details
of the synchrotron,
heat output, collated
angles and trajectories.
This time next month,
you and your family'll be
watching American baseball.
[bicycle bell rings]
♪♪
[speaking German indistinctly]
[playing faintly] ♪ There's
no reason to hurry ♪
♪ Just start that brand-new
story, set it alight ♪
Aren't you ever
sick of that song?
- Alphaville's the best.
- Turn it down.
- You turn it down.
- [Isabell] Mira,
turn your music down.
♪ To once-forbidden places... ♪
[quietly] They've
given me a camera.
- When does it happen?
- Soon.
- Take your medication.
- Makes me dizzy before I eat.
[Isabell] Well, eat
some Filinchen.
- No, I'm sick of Filinchen.
- Mmm. I love crispy bread.
You would.
None of this crap
here has any flavor.
Herr Hauser says only
fascists complain about flavor.
Hauser's a Stasi stooge.
What? It isn't true?
Don't speak against our
comrades. It's unpatriotic.
He made a report about
Frau Stein. Did you know that?
And what business
is that of yours?
Do you even know how to
shit without the party telling you?
- What did you say?
- It's all right.
You have no idea the sacrifices your
father makes to keep you out of trouble.
Those antisocial friends
you run around with.
At least they
believe in something.
[door slams]
♪♪
- [indistinct chatter]
- [horn honking]
[woman] Please hurry
up. We're gonna be late.
♪♪
[indistinct chatter]
[man speaking
indistinctly over phone]
- [phones ringing]
- [indistinct chatter]
- Is that right?
- Yeah.
So I had to go to
the store after work.
I finally get inside,
and I look around.
There's nothing left.
Nothing but pickles.
So I ask the store
manager and he says,
"Why do we need happiness
when we have so many pickles?"
Ahem. I've made some
changes to the X-ray splitter.
Should get rid
of that nasty bug.
- Please recalibrate it.
- That'll take me all day.
And?
[indistinct chatter]
- [bell rings]
- [woman] Okay, time to go.
- [man] See you tomorrow.
- Bye!
- [woman 2] Tomorrow.
- [indistinct chatter]
[door closes]
♪♪
[steady beeping]
[shutter clicks]
[whirring, clacking]
[shutter clicking]
[shattering in distance]
[squeaking]
[printers whirring]
[clacking, steady beeping]
[beeping]
[electricity buzzing]
[rattling]
[whirring]
[beeping]
[hissing]
[rumbling, clattering]
[rattling]
- [beeping]
- [electricity buzzing]
- [rumbling]
- [alarm blaring]
[alarm blaring]
[electricity crackling]
[cracking, crumbling]
[electricity buzzing]
[panting]
[gasps, grunts]
[Yanek panting]
[echoing] Hello?
Is someone there?
Who is it?
[both gasping]
[panting]
[theme music playing]
- [birds chirping]
- [bees buzzing]
[door creaking]
I used to bring you here.
Wasn't me you brought.
Wasn't here you brought her.
This is where you live now?
- I move around a lot.
- Why?
Because I'm being hunted.
This is who my
daughter has become?
I'm not your daughter.
I made you into this.
Don't talk about me like
I'm your fucking experiment.
- You were never any such thing to me.
- Yes, I was.
I've read all about it.
Right here.
Where did you find this?
Your world.
Wasn't hard to acquire.
I have people
there... an army...
Inspired by your words,
your feelings, your
deepest confessions.
What do you want from me?
Rest. We have a lot to discuss.
♪♪
[Yanek] Maybe
we should have run.
That would have
been the smarter thing.
But we were scientists
and experimentalists.
We were, above all things...
curious.
[deep, echoing creaking]
[deep creaking continues]
Who are you?
Speak.
[man] Did I create you?
Because I left my post.
Ran the program so
I could be upstairs.
- I created you.
- Nonsense.
- I left my post.
- No, you didn't.
Why are you imitating
the words I say?
Would you like to
come over and talk?
[alarm blaring]
- [clanking, thumping]
- [alarm stops]
[power whirring]
Something must have happened
when the particles divided
and went into superposition.
A quantum mechanical
entanglement.
I'll have to see if anything's
left back there to analyze.
Tell me what I'm thinking.
My eyes are too close together.
My nose?
Too large. My father's nose.
We're the same.
Identical.
A world for you...
and a world for me?
And what do we do now?
♪♪
[Yanek] That was when we knew
leaving the East was no longer an option.
Tell me you're fucking
with me. Seriously?
I-I just need a few more weeks.
Yanek... do you
realize for one moment
how hard it is to secure an exfil
with eyes on you and your family?
Your son was photographed
the other day at Zionskirche
handing out subversive leaflets.
Treason against the state.
This is not the time for cold feet.
- It's not cold feet.
- Then what the hell has changed?
- I just need more time.
- [scoffs]
In 72 hours, that car is gone.
If you and your
family aren't there...
there will not be another.
Just think about
what you're doing.
Do you really want to be at
the mercy of your comrades?
♪♪
[Yanek] With the
synchrotron down,
everyone understood the
lab would be closed for repairs.
Those lifeless drones
were glad for the time off.
They would take long lunches,
go home to their families,
and inside those walls,
our study would begin.
[Yanek Prime] Look at that.
I'm still getting
a lot of radiation.
[Yanek] We resolved
to keep journals,
like humble socialists
who had found themselves
the subjects of their
own exhaustive study.
Even the smallest imperfections
were shared between us.
- I have this chip, too.
- Yes, right here.
- It's on this one, right?
- Right. That's right.
[Yanek] Whatever process had
created us, it was meticulous.
We were identical.
And likewise, so
were our worlds.
[static]
[woman over both radios]
in the Battle of Berlin...
[Yanek Prime] They've
doubled in number lately.
They're exploring
each other's territory.
Yes, I think so.
[Yanek] I've been
thinking about something.
If it's all right, I'd
like to see your world.
I'd like to see yours, too.
[indistinct chatter]
[Yanek] It was like walking
through a perfect reproduction.
[bicycle bell rings]
It was a miracle.
His world was impossible
to differentiate...
down to the most minute detail.
♪♪
And that was the problem.
It was exactly the same.
If this experiment were
to have any impact,
something drastic
had to be done.
[both chuckle]
For Mira. She loves this music.
I wanted to see if you
would make the same choice.
What are you doing?
You give your daughter your
gift. I'll give nothing to mine.
Make our worlds different.
Manufacture a control and chaos.
I think you're right.
[Yanek] And so it was decided.
From that point on,
there was no going back.
[girl] Mommy, come
on, I want to go home.
[Yanek] With one
simple adjustment,
we would set our worlds on
two irreversibly different paths.
- Hello, Mira.
- Hello.
I have something for you.
- Hello.
- I think you're going to like it.
Hi.
- Did you have a good day?
- Mm-hmm.
- You like this band, right?
- I love it.
- Thank you.
- Oh. [laughs]
Yeah. I love you.
[Yanek] If only we'd known the
impact we were about to make.
[groaning]
How long have I been asleep?
A few hours.
Thought I'd let you rest.
[case beeps]
What is that?
Belongs to your
friends in Management.
They use it to
communicate in each world.
They never meet in person.
Not since what you did.
It's war now.
- And you are part of it?
- No.
But you and I, we
are going to end it.
I've been planting soldiers
in their world for years.
A few weeks ago,
we got their attention,
and now, I need for
your friends to meet.
Why?
So they can do what they
should have done many years ago.
End this experiment forever.
♪♪
Ah, you're so annoying.
[Isabell] Yanek.
Did something happen
to the arrangement?
Let's not talk about this now.
Last week you said next week.
Every day, another excuse.
Our departure has been delayed.
- For how long?
- I don't know yet.
What happened?
- What will we do?
- I can't be bothered by this now.
What is this?
I don't like how
you've been acting.
- How have I been acting, Isabell?
- I don't know, not yourself.
And how is myself? Unhappy?
Because for years
I've had no purpose.
Just a loyalist to
a dying system.
Now that I have purpose
again, you don't like me.
What purpose? What
are you talking about?
I have to go.
[Yanek] I couldn't be
bothered by such things,
not when our endeavor
was beginning to grow.
This building housed an
experimental synchrotron,
used various light
sources to divide particles.
Until recently, that is.
Now the whole
experiment's changed.
What happened to
all your assistants?
Yanek has probably
scared them off.
[Yanek] They've
been given furlough.
My work has grown
more... sensitive lately.
That's what I wanted you to see.
[door opens]
♪♪
Such a pleasure to meet you.
[Yanek Prime] All of you we've
chosen because of your discipline.
Martin, economics.
Juma, immunology.
Ilse, environmental science.
And Volker, human behavior.
What we are presented with
is an opportunity unique
in the history of our species.
There will, of course, be terms.
First, the secret
comes before our lives.
We must protect it from
getting in the wrong hands.
Second, none of us may
meddle in the lives of our echo.
We are not our other.
Our other is not us.
We must remain
discreet to ourselves.
It's a living petri dish.
We can study the baseline
of human psychology.
Yanek... are you sure
this is a good idea?
We're talking about
a parallel universe
that, for all we know, was
never meant to be detected.
I think the opportunities
outweigh the risks.
If we do this, it
must be unanimous.
There can't be a
single one of us left out.
I know you want this.
And do you know how?
Because I want this, too.
We all want this, don't we?
On behalf of our world,
it'll be an honor
to work with you.
♪♪
["Der Blaue Planet"
by Karat playing]
[Yanek Prime] Okay,
we're ready. Just press it.
Okay, come on.
Okay, quick, quick.
Ready?
[Yanek] We had come together in
the benevolent spirit of human science.
Using Martin's
connections at the university,
we were able to
persuade the state
to close off the building
to all prying eyes.
Our experiment grew
exponentially over those months.
The advent of microscopic adjustments
in our biology, history, environment,
impacted by an adaptive delta
we could only begin to grasp.
It was thrilling.
- Good morning.
- [Juma] How are you?
- Here you go.
- Thank you.
Your plant is right here.
[Yanek] There were no
longer limits to our discipline.
We could study anything.
We could pluck botanical specimens
from the same garden in two worlds,
and then we could build
entirely new ecosystems
from the best surviving samples.
Not to mention psychology,
branches of human behavior,
the study of world
events on a granular level.
It was a time of discovery
unlike anything since the
dawn of the New World.
♪♪
You always touch it like that.
You might
contaminate the sample.
Stop being so self-critical.
- [Yanek] We were friends.
- [chuckles softly]
Brothers and sisters
for a common good.
And then...
[knocking on door]
What time is it?
[knocking continues]
[man] Open the door.
Dr. Tomes?
Yes?
Is your son home?
[Isabell] Please, please,
there's a misunderstanding.
- I've done nothing wrong.
- It's better if you don't speak.
Our son is innocent,
listen to him.
- He's-he's done nothing.
- Really?
Maybe this is
not his literature?
Maybe it's yours.
Or your daughter's.
But I doubt that,
because none of you were
photographed at Zionskirche
as recently as two days ago.
- [grunts]
- Isabell!
You've brought such
shame to this family.
- [music playing loudly]
- [Yanek] Isabell, please...
♪ I'll be just a step away ♪
♪ Now far away ♪
Who do you think you are?
Coming to my home?
Do you even know who I am?
- Take him out of here.
- [Rainer] Get off of me!
[grunting]
- Please, you're hurting him!
- I have j...
I have just been
given a university grant.
Important work is being done on
behalf of the party and the people.
- [straining, grunting]
- [inspector] Not by your son.
♪ There's an ally
you can trust ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
I'd think you'd be appalled
to learn of his transgression.
I know Herr Ruben in the party.
I'm going to call him immediately.
- [chokes]
- I'm sure your son will cooperate
and he'll be
returned in no time.
We are good socialists!
This is not right!
- [choking]
- All this depends
on whether he names
any of his cohorts.
I have never been so
insulted in all my life!
♪ He sends his
universal angels ♪
[thumping]
[inspector] And given your party
loyalty over the years, I think you'd be...
- [Yanek] Isabell, please...
- Don't you dare speak to me.
- Not you. Not anymore.
- [coughing, choking]
Mama?
Mira, go back to bed.
- Mama, look at Rainer!
- What? What happened?
No! He's epileptic!
He can't breathe!
- Move out of the way!
- [choking]
Call an ambulance!
[Isabell] Where's
his medication?
- It's okay, it's okay...
- Where is it?
I can't find it!
Just come and
help, okay? It's bad.
It's okay... Come
help. Just come.
- It's all going to be okay.
- Okay...
[Rainer choking]
[Yanek] It's okay...
- Come on. It's okay...
- [agent] We need an ambulance.
A young man. He's
having a seizure.
[Isabell] Please, breathe.
Breathe. Come on, breathe.
- [Yanek] Rainer...
- Breathe.
- Rainer...
- Rainer!
Rainer!
[echoing] Rainer!
♪♪
He should have been in the West.
I'm sorry.
It was too late.
You murdered our son.
[Isabell sniffles]
Yanek? Is everything all right?
[Martin] What's wrong?
They came to you also.
I'm calling Comrade Rubin.
They won't be able
to hold him for long.
Your son... is still alive.
Mira w-was the only
one who noticed, but...
she heard us too
late. [whimpers]
[sobs]
[Yanek] There were
now two worlds.
[lock clicks]
In mine, there was
nothing but grief.
In his, the son I'd lost.
[Rainer Prime] I don't know.
[Mira Prime] So why
we can't buy something...
[Isabell Prime]
You can eat apples.
- I got apples. From Mrs. Kusner.
- Really?
- Apples?
- Hey. Mm-hmm.
Can we buy some apple juice?
Maybe. Yeah.
- [laughs]
- How was your day?
- Good. How was yours?
- Mmm.
Let's go to sleep.
Mira.
[wheels squeaking]
Did you speak to comrade Rubin?
Rainer was released. Terrified.
Said he would stop
associating with those friends.
Isabell must be pleased.
Yanek, I've been thinking.
You haven't really lost him.
There are things we could share.
My son is dead.
[sportscaster on TV] A great
defense! [continues indistinct]
[whistle blows]
[news fanfare plays]
[reporter on TV] Following
the historic decision
made by the GDR
just a few hours ago,
the borders of East
Germany have been opened.
[people cheer on TV]
Citizens from both sides
have gathered along the Wall
that has divided
Berlin for 28 years.
Thousands of East Berliners have
already crossed the border tonight.
♪♪
[panting]
[Martin] According to the records, the
Fourth Floor was abandoned years ago.
Come.
I want to show you something.
Martin wants to meet
us on the Fourth Floor.
- Are you coming?
- I'm just going to finish up.
[M a r t i n] Used
to be a dining room.
Earliest days of the DDR.
A power center.
Martin, what are we doing here?
I've been thinking.
With the Wall down,
maybe it's time we expanded.
Carefully, of course.
What for, exactly?
Research. Staff. Security.
A new institute for the
study of this interchange.
♪♪
There's too many people.
- The secret would get out.
- He's right.
But what if we
separated the floors?
Each a different
level of clearance.
They could study the secret
without knowing what they're studying.
[Martin] And this floor
would be ours alone.
We could fill the halls
with our research.
[indistinct conversation on TV]
[Isabell Prime] Yanek?
Hey. You're home early.
Yeah.
Hello, Papa. A surprise.
What's wrong?
I'm just... happy to see you.
[Rainer Prime] Hey. Why
are you home so early?
- My son.
- [laughs] Yeah? So?
[Rainer grunts]
Okay, Dad.
[Mira] No hug for me? [laughs]
[Yanek] On that day
I betrayed myself.
And I knew I would do it again.
♪♪
[vehicle motor rumbling]
[indistinct chatter]
♪♪
[indistinct chatter]
[woman] Yes, sir.
Where is Yanek?
I haven't seen him.
Hey, guys, guys, guys, guys.
Please, please. Stop. Stop.
If this disconnects,
we're set back six months.
We must be gentle with
it. Now let's do this slowly.
♪♪
[laughs softly]
What has come
over you these days?
♪♪
[indistinct P.A. announcement]
♪♪
[both moaning, panting]
[Yanek] It was a compulsion
impossible to resist.
To awake every day in
the cold prison of my world,
and to flee it for the
warm embrace of his.
[both laugh]
How could I have
been so foolish...
to assume it was just me?
[door closes]
That was fast.
Hmm?
Did you forget what
you were going back for?
Going back?
- [refrigerator door opens]
- [glass clinks]
You said you forgot
something at the office.
- [bottle opens]
- [bottle cap rattles]
[distant horns honking]
and my other me
when I told that joke.
[indistinct chatter]
[screeching nearby]
[rats screeching]
Yes, there was
some irregularity.
At the cellular level.
One system collides
with the other,
the environment changes, yes?
Which means our immune
systems must be growing apart.
No, it's too early to say that.
It could be herd immunity,
some small variation
on a microcellular level.
- But our immunities do vary now.
- What are you asking me?
Do you think it's possible...
Two worlds. Twice the resources.
If one world were to find
itself at a disadvantage,
it would be inevitable that this
world would look to the other
to better itself at
the other's expense.
- No...
- It's instinctive.
Marx. The species-being.
Our needs and drives were
emancipated by the collective good.
Who cares about
the collective good?
The East is fucking dead now.
What I'm saying is...
the animalistic
instincts have won out.
One side will always be
tempted to eradicate the other.
Yanek...
If our immunologies
have grown different,
there could be a strain
to affect them and not us.
You're talking about a weapon.
An insurance. For peace.
Listen to yourself.
- A biological weapon of...
- It would never be used.
Could never be used.
Just a precaution.
Then why would we
need such a thing?
Because if we're having
this conversation...
who's to say they
aren't having it, too?
I'm going home. You coming?
[Ilse Prime] Might as well.
- Good night.
- Good night.
[sighs]
I should be going also.
♪♪
[keys jangle]
- Oh. Guten Abend.
- Guten Abend.
Guten Abend.
Hello?
Anyone home?
Mira said she'd be
with friends. Rainer, too.
Isabell has a class
at the university.
I thought it might be a
good opportunity to speak.
It's nice. Your home.
Thank you.
Mine's so empty.
You should spend
more time there.
I don't think they've missed me.
Should I not have
been concerned?
About your neglect?
For Mira? For Isabell?
How could I not want
to look after our family?
Our family?
They're my blood, too.
And you've abandoned them.
Do you think you're
better than me?
[scoffs] You're
not well, comrade.
Don't call me that.
There are no comrades anymore.
It was your idea.
That first tape.
I wonder if you knew, not giving
it to her, what it would mean.
Don't be ridiculous.
You wanted to be different from me,
hmm? You didn't like what you saw.
Of course not.
That's the whole point.
The only difference between us
is such a stupid, arbitrary thing.
You experimented on me, and
now you're meddling with my life.
Hmm.
I found this lying around.
Do you think I couldn't smell
you between my sheets?
I offered her to you.
You didn't have to be secretive.
Out of pity?
We don't possess this matter.
We share it.
Stop it with the
fucking platitudes!
Do you think I don't
know what you are doing?
Your moral superiority,
how it feels to offer me scraps
while you move into my life?
[Yanek Prime] Rainer's
death was a tragedy,
but you're letting it destroy
you. Can you see that?
We were friends before.
And now you're being defeated
by these base, animal instincts,
and I don't know how
to help you anymore.
Don't look at me
with this superiority.
I know your innermost thoughts.
Did it arouse you
to give her away?
Like it aroused me to have her?
- That's enough.
- Stop denying what you are.
I know what you are,
you son of a bitch.
You were empty, you
had nothing to cling to,
and you found purpose.
You found it in me!
- I want you out of my home.
- It's my home, too.
Isn't that what you said?
I want you out! Out!
- [grunting]
- Oh!
[Yanek Prime panting]
[panting]
[Yanek Prime groans softly]
I am sorry.
[grunting]
Yanek, don't.
[groaning]
[yelps]
[grunts]
[soft groaning]
[Yanek Prime] No! Wait!
[grunting]
- [gasping, groaning]
- [blows landing]
[panting]
[footsteps approaching]
Papa?
[whimpers]
What's going on?
What is this?
- Mira...
- Get away from me.
Mira, wait. Mira?
Get away! Help!
- Somebody help!
- [whimpers]
[sighs]
[footsteps]
[Juma] Hello?
Is someone there?
Yanek?
What's happened?
♪♪
[door closes]
The police are at his house.
His daughter...
she saw everything.
He was wrong.
We've both fallen.
He gave into it, same as me.
Stop it, Yanek!
Goddamn you, shut up!
[sighs]
You've ruined everything.
The experiment has failed.
Don't you see?
What happened to me
will happen to all of us.
We can't remain
like this anymore.
One will destroy the other.
- It's inevitable.
- You're wrong, Yanek.
We just need to
restore the trust,
which is why this
has to be done.
What is this?
You're being given to
their world as a prisoner.
It's the only way to
keep the Crossing open.
Take him, fast.
Volker, please.
- Please, Ilse.
- Please don't speak, Yanek.
I did what any of
us would have done.
No, we have to close the
doors before it's too late!
[speaking German]
This won't solve anything!
You fucking idiots, this
won't change a thing!
♪♪
[Mira] All the loose ends they had
to tie up because of what you did.
I think he's run
away to Stockholm.
I'm aware he had some
business over there.
There might have
been another woman.
If I hear anything,
I'll be in touch.
I'm so sorry.
[Mira] It was hard for my other.
It was harder for me.
It was him.
He ran past me with
blood on his hands.
Rainer, do you believe me?
Why won't you listen to
me? Why won't anyone listen?
It was him!
- [door slams]
- She's not well.
[Mira] And they went
about their business,
thinking they had restored
some kind of peace.
[indistinct P.A. announcement]
[Mira] But there was
no peace anymore.
Now, they feared each other.
[door opens]
It's just a precaution.
It should never be used.
Why do we need such a thing?
Because if we're having
this conversation...
then so are they.
[device hissing]
♪♪
[Mira] The precaution you
proposed was released into our world.
Accident or on
purpose, no one knows.
It doesn't matter.
By the time the flu
spread, the trust was gone.
They developed new ways to talk.
[case whirs, beeps]
No one can know where we reside
from this day forward,
for our own protection.
♪♪
[Mira] Now they
live like hermits,
talking to themselves
through this.
Hiding their identities
for fear of reprisal.
This is what you've left behind.
Two broken worlds for me to fix.
It-it didn't have
to be this way.
- I have ruined you.
- Ruined.
That's what you see
when you look at me?
What I witnessed that night,
when you left my
father dead on that floor?
I see the truth more
clearly than anyone.
You will never get them
to close the doors forever.
It would mean accepting failure.
They will cling to this
Crossing until their dying breath.
It took the socialists 40 years
to accept their experiment
had failed, but they learned.
[scoffs] I spent
decades in Echo.
Harvesting human
minds for those bastards,
and arguing, with every study, that
what happened to me was universal.
They never listened.
I listened, and I believe you.
You and I, we are the only
ones who know the truth.
I may not be your
real daughter, but...
I've grown up in your image.
And together we can
bring this war to an end.
Will you gather them with me?
♪♪
[humming, beeping]
[static, interference]
I know you are out there,
and you're listening to me now.
You are so blind.
The blood of millions is on your
hands, and I won't stand by any longer.
My terms are simple.
Shut down the Crossing forever.
I want you to invite our
neighbors for a meeting.
Tomorrow, I will surrender myself
and my father to your custody.
I want to meet all
of you. Together.
The choice is yours.
[theme music playing]
Taking orders from a camera?
Not yet.
Management trusts you will come to
them the moment you have something.
Of course.
[speaking German]
- [Mira] You have the case?
- Yes.
There's someone else at
Echo? Someone important?
These were my friends once.
We had come of
age behind the Wall,
only to discover the
existence of two worlds.
May I tell you a secret,
something just for you?
I am the reason
our two worlds exist.
[speaking German]
[Croft] It's a Minox C.
Most popular camera
in the city these days.
You have five rolls,
36 exposures each.
Keep it somewhere
safe and out of sight.
Needless to say, if you get
caught with it, you're on your own.
Will we cross in the city?
No. We're getting you
out through Heiligensee.
It's a Trabi with a
false floor in back.
Your son and daughter inside,
you and your wife up front.
I never thought it
would be this way.
Think about your son's safety.
You're doing the right thing.
My father died in the camps
for a democratic republic.
You didn't fail him,
Yanek. Honecker failed him.
- The whole institution failed him.
- Yes.
The experiment was perfect.
It was corrupted
by our pettiness.
Twenty-four hours.
Bring us details
of the synchrotron,
heat output, collated
angles and trajectories.
This time next month,
you and your family'll be
watching American baseball.
[bicycle bell rings]
♪♪
[speaking German indistinctly]
[playing faintly] ♪ There's
no reason to hurry ♪
♪ Just start that brand-new
story, set it alight ♪
Aren't you ever
sick of that song?
- Alphaville's the best.
- Turn it down.
- You turn it down.
- [Isabell] Mira,
turn your music down.
♪ To once-forbidden places... ♪
[quietly] They've
given me a camera.
- When does it happen?
- Soon.
- Take your medication.
- Makes me dizzy before I eat.
[Isabell] Well, eat
some Filinchen.
- No, I'm sick of Filinchen.
- Mmm. I love crispy bread.
You would.
None of this crap
here has any flavor.
Herr Hauser says only
fascists complain about flavor.
Hauser's a Stasi stooge.
What? It isn't true?
Don't speak against our
comrades. It's unpatriotic.
He made a report about
Frau Stein. Did you know that?
And what business
is that of yours?
Do you even know how to
shit without the party telling you?
- What did you say?
- It's all right.
You have no idea the sacrifices your
father makes to keep you out of trouble.
Those antisocial friends
you run around with.
At least they
believe in something.
[door slams]
♪♪
- [indistinct chatter]
- [horn honking]
[woman] Please hurry
up. We're gonna be late.
♪♪
[indistinct chatter]
[man speaking
indistinctly over phone]
- [phones ringing]
- [indistinct chatter]
- Is that right?
- Yeah.
So I had to go to
the store after work.
I finally get inside,
and I look around.
There's nothing left.
Nothing but pickles.
So I ask the store
manager and he says,
"Why do we need happiness
when we have so many pickles?"
Ahem. I've made some
changes to the X-ray splitter.
Should get rid
of that nasty bug.
- Please recalibrate it.
- That'll take me all day.
And?
[indistinct chatter]
- [bell rings]
- [woman] Okay, time to go.
- [man] See you tomorrow.
- Bye!
- [woman 2] Tomorrow.
- [indistinct chatter]
[door closes]
♪♪
[steady beeping]
[shutter clicks]
[whirring, clacking]
[shutter clicking]
[shattering in distance]
[squeaking]
[printers whirring]
[clacking, steady beeping]
[beeping]
[electricity buzzing]
[rattling]
[whirring]
[beeping]
[hissing]
[rumbling, clattering]
[rattling]
- [beeping]
- [electricity buzzing]
- [rumbling]
- [alarm blaring]
[alarm blaring]
[electricity crackling]
[cracking, crumbling]
[electricity buzzing]
[panting]
[gasps, grunts]
[Yanek panting]
[echoing] Hello?
Is someone there?
Who is it?
[both gasping]
[panting]
[theme music playing]
- [birds chirping]
- [bees buzzing]
[door creaking]
I used to bring you here.
Wasn't me you brought.
Wasn't here you brought her.
This is where you live now?
- I move around a lot.
- Why?
Because I'm being hunted.
This is who my
daughter has become?
I'm not your daughter.
I made you into this.
Don't talk about me like
I'm your fucking experiment.
- You were never any such thing to me.
- Yes, I was.
I've read all about it.
Right here.
Where did you find this?
Your world.
Wasn't hard to acquire.
I have people
there... an army...
Inspired by your words,
your feelings, your
deepest confessions.
What do you want from me?
Rest. We have a lot to discuss.
♪♪
[Yanek] Maybe
we should have run.
That would have
been the smarter thing.
But we were scientists
and experimentalists.
We were, above all things...
curious.
[deep, echoing creaking]
[deep creaking continues]
Who are you?
Speak.
[man] Did I create you?
Because I left my post.
Ran the program so
I could be upstairs.
- I created you.
- Nonsense.
- I left my post.
- No, you didn't.
Why are you imitating
the words I say?
Would you like to
come over and talk?
[alarm blaring]
- [clanking, thumping]
- [alarm stops]
[power whirring]
Something must have happened
when the particles divided
and went into superposition.
A quantum mechanical
entanglement.
I'll have to see if anything's
left back there to analyze.
Tell me what I'm thinking.
My eyes are too close together.
My nose?
Too large. My father's nose.
We're the same.
Identical.
A world for you...
and a world for me?
And what do we do now?
♪♪
[Yanek] That was when we knew
leaving the East was no longer an option.
Tell me you're fucking
with me. Seriously?
I-I just need a few more weeks.
Yanek... do you
realize for one moment
how hard it is to secure an exfil
with eyes on you and your family?
Your son was photographed
the other day at Zionskirche
handing out subversive leaflets.
Treason against the state.
This is not the time for cold feet.
- It's not cold feet.
- Then what the hell has changed?
- I just need more time.
- [scoffs]
In 72 hours, that car is gone.
If you and your
family aren't there...
there will not be another.
Just think about
what you're doing.
Do you really want to be at
the mercy of your comrades?
♪♪
[Yanek] With the
synchrotron down,
everyone understood the
lab would be closed for repairs.
Those lifeless drones
were glad for the time off.
They would take long lunches,
go home to their families,
and inside those walls,
our study would begin.
[Yanek Prime] Look at that.
I'm still getting
a lot of radiation.
[Yanek] We resolved
to keep journals,
like humble socialists
who had found themselves
the subjects of their
own exhaustive study.
Even the smallest imperfections
were shared between us.
- I have this chip, too.
- Yes, right here.
- It's on this one, right?
- Right. That's right.
[Yanek] Whatever process had
created us, it was meticulous.
We were identical.
And likewise, so
were our worlds.
[static]
[woman over both radios]
in the Battle of Berlin...
[Yanek Prime] They've
doubled in number lately.
They're exploring
each other's territory.
Yes, I think so.
[Yanek] I've been
thinking about something.
If it's all right, I'd
like to see your world.
I'd like to see yours, too.
[indistinct chatter]
[Yanek] It was like walking
through a perfect reproduction.
[bicycle bell rings]
It was a miracle.
His world was impossible
to differentiate...
down to the most minute detail.
♪♪
And that was the problem.
It was exactly the same.
If this experiment were
to have any impact,
something drastic
had to be done.
[both chuckle]
For Mira. She loves this music.
I wanted to see if you
would make the same choice.
What are you doing?
You give your daughter your
gift. I'll give nothing to mine.
Make our worlds different.
Manufacture a control and chaos.
I think you're right.
[Yanek] And so it was decided.
From that point on,
there was no going back.
[girl] Mommy, come
on, I want to go home.
[Yanek] With one
simple adjustment,
we would set our worlds on
two irreversibly different paths.
- Hello, Mira.
- Hello.
I have something for you.
- Hello.
- I think you're going to like it.
Hi.
- Did you have a good day?
- Mm-hmm.
- You like this band, right?
- I love it.
- Thank you.
- Oh. [laughs]
Yeah. I love you.
[Yanek] If only we'd known the
impact we were about to make.
[groaning]
How long have I been asleep?
A few hours.
Thought I'd let you rest.
[case beeps]
What is that?
Belongs to your
friends in Management.
They use it to
communicate in each world.
They never meet in person.
Not since what you did.
It's war now.
- And you are part of it?
- No.
But you and I, we
are going to end it.
I've been planting soldiers
in their world for years.
A few weeks ago,
we got their attention,
and now, I need for
your friends to meet.
Why?
So they can do what they
should have done many years ago.
End this experiment forever.
♪♪
Ah, you're so annoying.
[Isabell] Yanek.
Did something happen
to the arrangement?
Let's not talk about this now.
Last week you said next week.
Every day, another excuse.
Our departure has been delayed.
- For how long?
- I don't know yet.
What happened?
- What will we do?
- I can't be bothered by this now.
What is this?
I don't like how
you've been acting.
- How have I been acting, Isabell?
- I don't know, not yourself.
And how is myself? Unhappy?
Because for years
I've had no purpose.
Just a loyalist to
a dying system.
Now that I have purpose
again, you don't like me.
What purpose? What
are you talking about?
I have to go.
[Yanek] I couldn't be
bothered by such things,
not when our endeavor
was beginning to grow.
This building housed an
experimental synchrotron,
used various light
sources to divide particles.
Until recently, that is.
Now the whole
experiment's changed.
What happened to
all your assistants?
Yanek has probably
scared them off.
[Yanek] They've
been given furlough.
My work has grown
more... sensitive lately.
That's what I wanted you to see.
[door opens]
♪♪
Such a pleasure to meet you.
[Yanek Prime] All of you we've
chosen because of your discipline.
Martin, economics.
Juma, immunology.
Ilse, environmental science.
And Volker, human behavior.
What we are presented with
is an opportunity unique
in the history of our species.
There will, of course, be terms.
First, the secret
comes before our lives.
We must protect it from
getting in the wrong hands.
Second, none of us may
meddle in the lives of our echo.
We are not our other.
Our other is not us.
We must remain
discreet to ourselves.
It's a living petri dish.
We can study the baseline
of human psychology.
Yanek... are you sure
this is a good idea?
We're talking about
a parallel universe
that, for all we know, was
never meant to be detected.
I think the opportunities
outweigh the risks.
If we do this, it
must be unanimous.
There can't be a
single one of us left out.
I know you want this.
And do you know how?
Because I want this, too.
We all want this, don't we?
On behalf of our world,
it'll be an honor
to work with you.
♪♪
["Der Blaue Planet"
by Karat playing]
[Yanek Prime] Okay,
we're ready. Just press it.
Okay, come on.
Okay, quick, quick.
Ready?
[Yanek] We had come together in
the benevolent spirit of human science.
Using Martin's
connections at the university,
we were able to
persuade the state
to close off the building
to all prying eyes.
Our experiment grew
exponentially over those months.
The advent of microscopic adjustments
in our biology, history, environment,
impacted by an adaptive delta
we could only begin to grasp.
It was thrilling.
- Good morning.
- [Juma] How are you?
- Here you go.
- Thank you.
Your plant is right here.
[Yanek] There were no
longer limits to our discipline.
We could study anything.
We could pluck botanical specimens
from the same garden in two worlds,
and then we could build
entirely new ecosystems
from the best surviving samples.
Not to mention psychology,
branches of human behavior,
the study of world
events on a granular level.
It was a time of discovery
unlike anything since the
dawn of the New World.
♪♪
You always touch it like that.
You might
contaminate the sample.
Stop being so self-critical.
- [Yanek] We were friends.
- [chuckles softly]
Brothers and sisters
for a common good.
And then...
[knocking on door]
What time is it?
[knocking continues]
[man] Open the door.
Dr. Tomes?
Yes?
Is your son home?
[Isabell] Please, please,
there's a misunderstanding.
- I've done nothing wrong.
- It's better if you don't speak.
Our son is innocent,
listen to him.
- He's-he's done nothing.
- Really?
Maybe this is
not his literature?
Maybe it's yours.
Or your daughter's.
But I doubt that,
because none of you were
photographed at Zionskirche
as recently as two days ago.
- [grunts]
- Isabell!
You've brought such
shame to this family.
- [music playing loudly]
- [Yanek] Isabell, please...
♪ I'll be just a step away ♪
♪ Now far away ♪
Who do you think you are?
Coming to my home?
Do you even know who I am?
- Take him out of here.
- [Rainer] Get off of me!
[grunting]
- Please, you're hurting him!
- I have j...
I have just been
given a university grant.
Important work is being done on
behalf of the party and the people.
- [straining, grunting]
- [inspector] Not by your son.
♪ There's an ally
you can trust ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
I'd think you'd be appalled
to learn of his transgression.
I know Herr Ruben in the party.
I'm going to call him immediately.
- [chokes]
- I'm sure your son will cooperate
and he'll be
returned in no time.
We are good socialists!
This is not right!
- [choking]
- All this depends
on whether he names
any of his cohorts.
I have never been so
insulted in all my life!
♪ He sends his
universal angels ♪
[thumping]
[inspector] And given your party
loyalty over the years, I think you'd be...
- [Yanek] Isabell, please...
- Don't you dare speak to me.
- Not you. Not anymore.
- [coughing, choking]
Mama?
Mira, go back to bed.
- Mama, look at Rainer!
- What? What happened?
No! He's epileptic!
He can't breathe!
- Move out of the way!
- [choking]
Call an ambulance!
[Isabell] Where's
his medication?
- It's okay, it's okay...
- Where is it?
I can't find it!
Just come and
help, okay? It's bad.
It's okay... Come
help. Just come.
- It's all going to be okay.
- Okay...
[Rainer choking]
[Yanek] It's okay...
- Come on. It's okay...
- [agent] We need an ambulance.
A young man. He's
having a seizure.
[Isabell] Please, breathe.
Breathe. Come on, breathe.
- [Yanek] Rainer...
- Breathe.
- Rainer...
- Rainer!
Rainer!
[echoing] Rainer!
♪♪
He should have been in the West.
I'm sorry.
It was too late.
You murdered our son.
[Isabell sniffles]
Yanek? Is everything all right?
[Martin] What's wrong?
They came to you also.
I'm calling Comrade Rubin.
They won't be able
to hold him for long.
Your son... is still alive.
Mira w-was the only
one who noticed, but...
she heard us too
late. [whimpers]
[sobs]
[Yanek] There were
now two worlds.
[lock clicks]
In mine, there was
nothing but grief.
In his, the son I'd lost.
[Rainer Prime] I don't know.
[Mira Prime] So why
we can't buy something...
[Isabell Prime]
You can eat apples.
- I got apples. From Mrs. Kusner.
- Really?
- Apples?
- Hey. Mm-hmm.
Can we buy some apple juice?
Maybe. Yeah.
- [laughs]
- How was your day?
- Good. How was yours?
- Mmm.
Let's go to sleep.
Mira.
[wheels squeaking]
Did you speak to comrade Rubin?
Rainer was released. Terrified.
Said he would stop
associating with those friends.
Isabell must be pleased.
Yanek, I've been thinking.
You haven't really lost him.
There are things we could share.
My son is dead.
[sportscaster on TV] A great
defense! [continues indistinct]
[whistle blows]
[news fanfare plays]
[reporter on TV] Following
the historic decision
made by the GDR
just a few hours ago,
the borders of East
Germany have been opened.
[people cheer on TV]
Citizens from both sides
have gathered along the Wall
that has divided
Berlin for 28 years.
Thousands of East Berliners have
already crossed the border tonight.
♪♪
[panting]
[Martin] According to the records, the
Fourth Floor was abandoned years ago.
Come.
I want to show you something.
Martin wants to meet
us on the Fourth Floor.
- Are you coming?
- I'm just going to finish up.
[M a r t i n] Used
to be a dining room.
Earliest days of the DDR.
A power center.
Martin, what are we doing here?
I've been thinking.
With the Wall down,
maybe it's time we expanded.
Carefully, of course.
What for, exactly?
Research. Staff. Security.
A new institute for the
study of this interchange.
♪♪
There's too many people.
- The secret would get out.
- He's right.
But what if we
separated the floors?
Each a different
level of clearance.
They could study the secret
without knowing what they're studying.
[Martin] And this floor
would be ours alone.
We could fill the halls
with our research.
[indistinct conversation on TV]
[Isabell Prime] Yanek?
Hey. You're home early.
Yeah.
Hello, Papa. A surprise.
What's wrong?
I'm just... happy to see you.
[Rainer Prime] Hey. Why
are you home so early?
- My son.
- [laughs] Yeah? So?
[Rainer grunts]
Okay, Dad.
[Mira] No hug for me? [laughs]
[Yanek] On that day
I betrayed myself.
And I knew I would do it again.
♪♪
[vehicle motor rumbling]
[indistinct chatter]
♪♪
[indistinct chatter]
[woman] Yes, sir.
Where is Yanek?
I haven't seen him.
Hey, guys, guys, guys, guys.
Please, please. Stop. Stop.
If this disconnects,
we're set back six months.
We must be gentle with
it. Now let's do this slowly.
♪♪
[laughs softly]
What has come
over you these days?
♪♪
[indistinct P.A. announcement]
♪♪
[both moaning, panting]
[Yanek] It was a compulsion
impossible to resist.
To awake every day in
the cold prison of my world,
and to flee it for the
warm embrace of his.
[both laugh]
How could I have
been so foolish...
to assume it was just me?
[door closes]
That was fast.
Hmm?
Did you forget what
you were going back for?
Going back?
- [refrigerator door opens]
- [glass clinks]
You said you forgot
something at the office.
- [bottle opens]
- [bottle cap rattles]
[distant horns honking]
and my other me
when I told that joke.
[indistinct chatter]
[screeching nearby]
[rats screeching]
Yes, there was
some irregularity.
At the cellular level.
One system collides
with the other,
the environment changes, yes?
Which means our immune
systems must be growing apart.
No, it's too early to say that.
It could be herd immunity,
some small variation
on a microcellular level.
- But our immunities do vary now.
- What are you asking me?
Do you think it's possible...
Two worlds. Twice the resources.
If one world were to find
itself at a disadvantage,
it would be inevitable that this
world would look to the other
to better itself at
the other's expense.
- No...
- It's instinctive.
Marx. The species-being.
Our needs and drives were
emancipated by the collective good.
Who cares about
the collective good?
The East is fucking dead now.
What I'm saying is...
the animalistic
instincts have won out.
One side will always be
tempted to eradicate the other.
Yanek...
If our immunologies
have grown different,
there could be a strain
to affect them and not us.
You're talking about a weapon.
An insurance. For peace.
Listen to yourself.
- A biological weapon of...
- It would never be used.
Could never be used.
Just a precaution.
Then why would we
need such a thing?
Because if we're having
this conversation...
who's to say they
aren't having it, too?
I'm going home. You coming?
[Ilse Prime] Might as well.
- Good night.
- Good night.
[sighs]
I should be going also.
♪♪
[keys jangle]
- Oh. Guten Abend.
- Guten Abend.
Guten Abend.
Hello?
Anyone home?
Mira said she'd be
with friends. Rainer, too.
Isabell has a class
at the university.
I thought it might be a
good opportunity to speak.
It's nice. Your home.
Thank you.
Mine's so empty.
You should spend
more time there.
I don't think they've missed me.
Should I not have
been concerned?
About your neglect?
For Mira? For Isabell?
How could I not want
to look after our family?
Our family?
They're my blood, too.
And you've abandoned them.
Do you think you're
better than me?
[scoffs] You're
not well, comrade.
Don't call me that.
There are no comrades anymore.
It was your idea.
That first tape.
I wonder if you knew, not giving
it to her, what it would mean.
Don't be ridiculous.
You wanted to be different from me,
hmm? You didn't like what you saw.
Of course not.
That's the whole point.
The only difference between us
is such a stupid, arbitrary thing.
You experimented on me, and
now you're meddling with my life.
Hmm.
I found this lying around.
Do you think I couldn't smell
you between my sheets?
I offered her to you.
You didn't have to be secretive.
Out of pity?
We don't possess this matter.
We share it.
Stop it with the
fucking platitudes!
Do you think I don't
know what you are doing?
Your moral superiority,
how it feels to offer me scraps
while you move into my life?
[Yanek Prime] Rainer's
death was a tragedy,
but you're letting it destroy
you. Can you see that?
We were friends before.
And now you're being defeated
by these base, animal instincts,
and I don't know how
to help you anymore.
Don't look at me
with this superiority.
I know your innermost thoughts.
Did it arouse you
to give her away?
Like it aroused me to have her?
- That's enough.
- Stop denying what you are.
I know what you are,
you son of a bitch.
You were empty, you
had nothing to cling to,
and you found purpose.
You found it in me!
- I want you out of my home.
- It's my home, too.
Isn't that what you said?
I want you out! Out!
- [grunting]
- Oh!
[Yanek Prime panting]
[panting]
[Yanek Prime groans softly]
I am sorry.
[grunting]
Yanek, don't.
[groaning]
[yelps]
[grunts]
[soft groaning]
[Yanek Prime] No! Wait!
[grunting]
- [gasping, groaning]
- [blows landing]
[panting]
[footsteps approaching]
Papa?
[whimpers]
What's going on?
What is this?
- Mira...
- Get away from me.
Mira, wait. Mira?
Get away! Help!
- Somebody help!
- [whimpers]
[sighs]
[footsteps]
[Juma] Hello?
Is someone there?
Yanek?
What's happened?
♪♪
[door closes]
The police are at his house.
His daughter...
she saw everything.
He was wrong.
We've both fallen.
He gave into it, same as me.
Stop it, Yanek!
Goddamn you, shut up!
[sighs]
You've ruined everything.
The experiment has failed.
Don't you see?
What happened to me
will happen to all of us.
We can't remain
like this anymore.
One will destroy the other.
- It's inevitable.
- You're wrong, Yanek.
We just need to
restore the trust,
which is why this
has to be done.
What is this?
You're being given to
their world as a prisoner.
It's the only way to
keep the Crossing open.
Take him, fast.
Volker, please.
- Please, Ilse.
- Please don't speak, Yanek.
I did what any of
us would have done.
No, we have to close the
doors before it's too late!
[speaking German]
This won't solve anything!
You fucking idiots, this
won't change a thing!
♪♪
[Mira] All the loose ends they had
to tie up because of what you did.
I think he's run
away to Stockholm.
I'm aware he had some
business over there.
There might have
been another woman.
If I hear anything,
I'll be in touch.
I'm so sorry.
[Mira] It was hard for my other.
It was harder for me.
It was him.
He ran past me with
blood on his hands.
Rainer, do you believe me?
Why won't you listen to
me? Why won't anyone listen?
It was him!
- [door slams]
- She's not well.
[Mira] And they went
about their business,
thinking they had restored
some kind of peace.
[indistinct P.A. announcement]
[Mira] But there was
no peace anymore.
Now, they feared each other.
[door opens]
It's just a precaution.
It should never be used.
Why do we need such a thing?
Because if we're having
this conversation...
then so are they.
[device hissing]
♪♪
[Mira] The precaution you
proposed was released into our world.
Accident or on
purpose, no one knows.
It doesn't matter.
By the time the flu
spread, the trust was gone.
They developed new ways to talk.
[case whirs, beeps]
No one can know where we reside
from this day forward,
for our own protection.
♪♪
[Mira] Now they
live like hermits,
talking to themselves
through this.
Hiding their identities
for fear of reprisal.
This is what you've left behind.
Two broken worlds for me to fix.
It-it didn't have
to be this way.
- I have ruined you.
- Ruined.
That's what you see
when you look at me?
What I witnessed that night,
when you left my
father dead on that floor?
I see the truth more
clearly than anyone.
You will never get them
to close the doors forever.
It would mean accepting failure.
They will cling to this
Crossing until their dying breath.
It took the socialists 40 years
to accept their experiment
had failed, but they learned.
[scoffs] I spent
decades in Echo.
Harvesting human
minds for those bastards,
and arguing, with every study, that
what happened to me was universal.
They never listened.
I listened, and I believe you.
You and I, we are the only
ones who know the truth.
I may not be your
real daughter, but...
I've grown up in your image.
And together we can
bring this war to an end.
Will you gather them with me?
♪♪
[humming, beeping]
[static, interference]
I know you are out there,
and you're listening to me now.
You are so blind.
The blood of millions is on your
hands, and I won't stand by any longer.
My terms are simple.
Shut down the Crossing forever.
I want you to invite our
neighbors for a meeting.
Tomorrow, I will surrender myself
and my father to your custody.
I want to meet all
of you. Together.
The choice is yours.
[theme music playing]