Indepth Review: 'Countdown’ Brings the Action to Amazon Prime Video
First 3 episode review without spoilers
Jensen Ackles’ latest streaming show, “Countdown,” premiered in the wee hours of the morning on Prime Video, much to the delight of scores of waiting fans. If you haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, there are no big spoilers in this review, but there is some description of the characters we’re introduced to and the events of the first three episodes. Which I loved!
“Countdown” follows an LAPD officer who is recruited to a secret task force to solve a murder. In the process a sinister plot to take down the whole city is uncovered, upping the stakes considerably. The show is a high energy, suspenseful rollercoaster ride, with all the epic chase scenes and fight scenes and explosive surprises that you might expect from this kind of show. Its characters, however, are unexpectedly complex, badass but also surprisingly vulnerable (as much as they try to hide it). The cast are as interesting a group as the task force itself, all of them talented enough to pull the complexity off.
“Countdown” stars Jensen Ackles as Mark Meachum, a rebel of an LAPD officer who isn’t afraid to go undercover (like, seriously undercover) and is a veteran of another task force with a similarly challenging mission. I’ve been a fan of Jensen Ackles for twenty years, ever since Supernatural’s Dean Winchester captured my heart, so I couldn’t wait to meet his new character.
And what a meeting it is!
Meachum is a badass with probably too much courage and bravado for his own good. When we meet him, he doesn’t look on the side of the law in any way, long haired and scruffy in prison scrubs (which totally works for Ackles because of course it does. I mean, Soldier Boy, ahem…)
He’s also holding his own in a brawl in the yard. And let me tell you, there’s nothing Ackles fans love more than watching his character go absolutely feral, kicking and snarling and showing off his fighting prowess.
Fandom: Who’s that actor and how’d he get that job?
Ackles isn’t afraid to get (literally) down and dirty, manhandled and thrown to the ground and athletically kicking anything and everything in range even as he’s held back by some burly guards. (His stunt double of course did some of this, but that was Ackles getting thrown around at some points too – much to his delight!)
Apparently, Meachum has been undercover in the prison for nine months. What it would take to stay undercover in that kind of 24/7 danger is something I can’t quite comprehend. And he’s not eager to get out when he’s pulled for a Federal task force. Mark Meachum is a cowboy, not fitting the LAPD mold and not caring. But we also find out quickly that he cares about justice, especially when it’s the powerful hurting the less powerful. He’s not afraid to put his own future on the line to do what he believes is right in that case, or to take the consequences.
He also has a lot of ominous headaches, which he covers up with some charming snark. We find out why fairly quickly, giving Ackles a chance to show us Mark’s vulnerable side and his very relatable humanity.
How can someone fresh from that kind of brawl look like that, with those irresistible puppy eyes??
DEA Special Agent Amber Oliveras (Jessica Camacho) is clearly just as much of a badass (with similar levels of bravado). When we meet her she’s hanging from the ceiling shackled by her arms (can you imagine how painful that would be??) and can still think clearly enough to engineer an escape and take out the bad guys. We realize right away that Meachum and Oliveras don’t do things by the book (or with backup) and aren’t afraid of… well, it seems like anything. They’ve got their reasons for that, as we soon see.
The other thing we realize right away is that the two are going to clash, but it’s gonna happen with chemistry.
They both are used to working alone, so sparks fly when they have to collaborate – and it’s a hell of a lot of fun to watch.
Meachum is kind of an asshole – brash, stuck up, thinks he’s funny. Oliveras isn’t amused.
Meachum: Usually takes me a week to offend.
Oliveras: You make it so hard to like you.
Meachum (cheeky smile): It’s a gift.
The two have some complicated mutual friend history that entailed Oliveras’ friend being dumped a week before her wedding to Meachum. Oof. They each have some secrets they’re keeping to themselves too, Oliveras with demons she’s still fighting and Meachum with a medical challenge he’s fighting just as hard. As badass as both characters are presented, from the first episode we also see their vulnerability. They’ve got some ironclad defenses covering it up, and that makes both of them unpopular with the powers that be – and as some keep pointing out, questionable choices for the newly formed task force.
Not to its team leader, though. Nathan Blythe (Eric Dane) is the calm, controlled and steadfast leader – and clearly the compass around which the team revolves.
Dane plays him with a quiet certainty, giving Nathan a sense of wisdom and experience that the more mercurial team members use as a stabilizing force. He’s their anchor, believing in them when others don’t but also calling them on their shit when it’s needed. We get just enough backstory to fully believe he cares about both their mission and each of the team individually. His own history isn’t what you might expect – I’m already wanting to know more. What is the impact of growing up wealthy? What made him enlist when he could have stayed comfortable and safe? Whatever that is, it lets him select team members that don’t fit the mold either.
Meachum: That’s why you picked us. Nobody in our departments will miss us if we’re gone, they’d be happy to get rid of us.
Nathan: The best investigators are the ones who keep their teeth in the bone.
And boy, do they!
All the kudos to Derek Haas for writing like that. He wrote all the episodes of this first season, so it’s a remarkably tight and consistent narrative throughout – something that’s rare in a 13 episode series! That’s one of the things that sets “Countdown” apart.
Haas is a gifted writer, creating characters who each stand out in their own way. He shows them to us gradually, letting us form a first impression just like their fellow team members do, but then giving us glimpses of what’s underneath – which often contradicts their surface presentation just enough that we’re left going hmmmm…
Each member of the team is unique. I’m particularly fond of the FBI tech geek (Evan Shepherd, played by Violett Beane) who knows how smart she is and isn’t afraid to show it and whose childhood challenges have shaped that struggle.
Narcotics officer Lucas Finau (Uli Latukefu) is the family man, trying to hang onto what he values about that and be there for his wife and kids in the midst of the constant violence he’s pulled into (a bit like Mother’s Milk in “The Boys”).
FBI agent Keyonte Bell (Elliot Knight) struggles to feel good enough compared to his hero dad and to create his own unique identity. I loved Elliot in “The Boys” and am so excited to see him in “Countdown.” Every single one of those struggles and conflicts are ones that most of us can relate to, and that relatability (and the talented cast) vividly bring the characters to life.
Damon Drew (Jonathan Togo) is another pivotal character. He’s been through serious tragedy in his life, a grief so horrible that all the team members are able to be openly empathic toward him – he draws them together in their shared empathy, becoming in a way the heart of the team.
In other words, the show is not just its action scenes. I only tend to fall for shows that have complicated stories to tell and complex characters through which to tell them, and I wasn’t necessarily expecting “Countdown” to be one of those. Surprisingly, it is. It’s not just the heart pounding action sequences and car chases and shocking violent turns you don’t see coming. It’s also moments of vulnerability in which you start to care about these characters.
We get to see Meachum naked – not just in the shower, though I won’t complain about that – but emotionally too, all of us voyeurs glimpsing his pain. We get to see him looking young and vulnerable in a simple green tee shirt, suddenly fragile, his life in someone else’s hands. Alone in the shower, fragmented memories of trauma both physical and emotional assault him; he pushes it down, confronts himself in the mirror and pulls himself together, facade of “I’m okay, I’m always okay” at the ready.
Those moments, to use the language the actors are fond of, peel back the layers of the character – something that Ackles is always able to do in a way that grabs you by the heartstrings.
Like his other long-running character Dean Winchester, Mark Meachum uses the grave circumstances of his own life as motivation to save others, bringing that big damn hero vibe.
In this show, much like my other all-time favorites, Supernatural and The Boys, all the actors seem to have that ability.
There’s a dark and shadowy complicated backstory for the bad guys too, which we see in flashbacks. It involves tragedy and manipulation and trying to save your brother and the consequences of failing. Much like Supernatural, that can mean the whole world pays.
There’s a realistic darkness to “Countdown” too. It’s a complicated time for a procedural where we’re on the side of law enforcement, expected to root for them to “do what it takes” when sometimes that means not exactly following the rules. We can cheer for that in our fictional media when it makes sense within the narrative, but the awareness of how dangerous that is in real life is right there on the other side. Meachum has an uneasy relationship with power himself, and a history of refusing to go along with orders to stand down, instead going after the perpetrator of a domestic assault against a powerless woman, so I’m hoping the story isn’t too simplistic in its analysis of “good and bad”. (I’m spoiled by ‘The Boys’!)
The third episode gives us the gift of Mark Meachum on the run undercover again in prison scrubs and then stolen overalls, breaking off a door handle with his bare hands!
Ummm, is it hot in here? Shades of Dean Winchester cracking that cell phone in two when someone dared to kidnap his brother…
Meachum remains defiant and cocky even on his knees with a gun pointed at his head awaiting execution.
And then there’s a twist, and the show puts us on a last minute rollercoaster. And just when we think we’re pulling into the station safely? Boom. The show already knows how to break our hearts. What better way to galvanize a fandom just like a tragedy can galvanize the team?
I love a show that I can’t entirely predict. Give me that rollercoaster any day!
Gifs sensitiveham, caps justjensenanddean
You can watch the first three episodes of “Countdown” now on Prime Video. Stay tuned for more when episode 4 airs next week!
– Lynn
You can read Jensen Ackles’ thoughts on portraying
Dean Winchester and Soldier Boy in his chapters in
Family Don’t End With Blood, There’ll Be Peace When
You Are Done and Supes Ain’t Always Heroes – links
Lynn Zubernis, PhD is an expert on all things “Supernatural,” and has published numerous bestselling books on the subject. You can check them out here.