Counterpart (2018) s02e06 Episode Script
Twin Cities
1 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.
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.
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.
24 hours.
Bring us details of the synchotron, 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 the 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 place [quietly.]
They've given me a camera.
When does it happen? Soon.
YANEK: 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?" YANEK: [clears throat.]
I've madesome 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 clacking.]
[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.]
[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? 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.
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.
- INSPECTOR: 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.]
INSPECTOR: I'm sure your son will cooperate and he'll be returned in no time.
We are good socialists! - This is not right! - [choking.]
INSPECTOR: 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 - ISABELL: 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.
- ISABELL: Okay [Rainer choking.]
YANEK: It's okay - Come on.
It's okay - SOLDIER: We need an ambulance.
- A young man.
He's having a seizure.
- ISABELL: Please, breathe.
Breathe.
Come on, breathe.
- YANEK: Rainer - Breathe.
- Rainer - ISABELL: 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.
YOUNG 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! [man speaking rapidly on TV.]
[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.
MARTIN: 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.
YOUNG MIRA PRIME: 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.
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.]
[door opens.]
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 open, 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.
Eh, 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.
- YANEK: 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? - YANEK: Mira - Get away from me.
YANEK: Mira, wait.
Mira? YOUNG MIRA PRIME: Get away! Help! - Somebody help! - [whimpers.]
[sighs.]
- [footsteps.]
- JUMA: Hello? [footsteps.]
Is someone there? Yanek? What's happened? [door closes.]
[footsteps approaching.]
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.
Management trusts you will come to them the moment you have something.
Of course.
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.
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.
24 hours.
Bring us details of the synchotron, 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 the 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 place [quietly.]
They've given me a camera.
When does it happen? Soon.
YANEK: 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?" YANEK: [clears throat.]
I've madesome 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 clacking.]
[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.]
[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? 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.
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.
- INSPECTOR: 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.]
INSPECTOR: I'm sure your son will cooperate and he'll be returned in no time.
We are good socialists! - This is not right! - [choking.]
INSPECTOR: 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 - ISABELL: 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.
- ISABELL: Okay [Rainer choking.]
YANEK: It's okay - Come on.
It's okay - SOLDIER: We need an ambulance.
- A young man.
He's having a seizure.
- ISABELL: Please, breathe.
Breathe.
Come on, breathe.
- YANEK: Rainer - Breathe.
- Rainer - ISABELL: 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.
YOUNG 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! [man speaking rapidly on TV.]
[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.
MARTIN: 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.
YOUNG MIRA PRIME: 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.
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.]
[door opens.]
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 open, 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.
Eh, 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.
- YANEK: 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? - YANEK: Mira - Get away from me.
YANEK: Mira, wait.
Mira? YOUNG MIRA PRIME: Get away! Help! - Somebody help! - [whimpers.]
[sighs.]
- [footsteps.]
- JUMA: Hello? [footsteps.]
Is someone there? Yanek? What's happened? [door closes.]
[footsteps approaching.]
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.