Jensen Ackles 'Countdown' Finale Leaves Plenty of Cliffhangers
Season finale lets Amazon Prime know it's ready to be renewed
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE COUNTDOWN SEASON FINALE!
You never know what to hope for with a season finale when you don’t know if you’ll get another season of “Countdown.” Do you want the threads left dangling so there could be a possibility of more, or would you rather they get mostly tied up neatly just in case?
There are up sides to either, but there’s a lot I’ll be left wondering about if there’s no season 2. So, I guess we cross our fingers?
Will They or Won’t They?
Many fans got invested in Mark Meachum and Amber Oliveras’ relationship, which has been a tease throughout the series. I would be fine with them being partners and friends and demonstrating real care for each other. That might make the most sense if they’re going to keep being on the same task force together. On the other hand, there are undoubtedly some romantic feelings there between the characters, so I could see it going that way too.
The two do a lot more dancing around each other in this episode, with everyone watching seeing clearly that they both care about each other and are into each other, and possibly yelling at their screens when they are both with someone else. For Oliveras that’s Julio, who seems like a really great guy – but she just doesn’t seem that into him. For Meachum, there’s a new person, a fellow officer he reconnects with.
She was surprised he called; he was surprised she answered. They clearly have some history, but she says she was “between things” and her mom didn’t like the last guy, so why not?
Mark: What does she think about me?
Woman: She can’t stand you.
He doesn’t seem either surprised or too bothered by this and neither does she, judging by their immediate makeout session in the doorway. Oliveras texts him to hit her up about the case, but the (understandably) eager woman reminds Meachum “clock’s ticking”.
What an appropriate thing to say for a show called ‘Countdown’! Also, who can blame her?
Oliveras doesn’t look very happy about it the next morning when she sees that Meachum didn’t respond to her at all. She confronts him about it over coffee at HQ and Meachum is studiously casual.
Oliveras: Hey, you didn’t text be back.
Meachum: Oh, I didn’t…what did you want?
He claims he didn’t want to interrupt her and the doc’s romantic dinner by “inserting himself”. When she retorts that she was the one who texted him, he defensively says that maybe HE was having a romantic dinner.
Oliveras: Oh, where’d you take her, Pink’s Hotdogs?
Meachum: Don’t ever denigrate Pink’s.
I mean, he’s right. That was one of the first places we went on our first trip to LA. And they were good!
Oliveras and Meachum continue to snark at each other as they go after Todd. She says Julio is reliable and stable. Mark snarks that’s what every girl wants. (Gotta say, since we’re in a fictional media world, Mark is 100% right. The girl never stays with Mr. Reliable and Stable. Of course, she doesn’t know she’s in a TV show…)
Oliveras: Julio is not boring.
Meachum: Nah, he’s… steady… stable…
Oliveras: You’re exhausting.
Meachum isn’t giving up easily though. He reminds her that opposites don’t really attract, so when they try to be with someone from the ‘normal world’ it’s a disaster because they don’t get it and they never will.
Mark: So we push it down and we fake that we’re normal.
Oliveras: So, what? Break up with Julio and be with you? Because you’ve just been waiting for me, pining, all by your lonesome…
He says maybe he has.
She says he’s full of shit.
Meachum: You helped me through a tough time, okay? That means something to me. Whatever this is, it doesn’t require extra work. This is magic you can’t fake, and you know it. And I know it.
They get soooooooooo close and then…
Oliveras: Ohmygod, you almost had me. You’re an asshole!
Meachum: That was pretty good, wasn’t it?
The thing is, it’s clear that wasn’t all bullshit – and it’s also clear that she didn’t want it to be. He just couldn’t stay serious enough to put it out there, taking the easy way out when she treats it as a joke. Nevertheless, they both walk away looking like they wish they hadn’t chickened out. Thanks to both Ackles and Camacho’s ability to convey a lot of emotion with just a facial expression, we can see that clearly.
The Todd Mystery Deepens
The mystery of who Todd is and why he’s on this vendetta is only partially solved. We see him in his creepy storage locker turned chem lab, putting on protective gear to mix some chemicals, the mixture smoking ominously.
(He forgets eye protection, which is weird. Come on, Todd, are you not as smart as Volchek?) (Yes, I still miss Volchek).
Evan matches the manifesto to the creepy radio propaganda show that Todd obsessively listens to about “worldsploitation” – Randy Mankin’s Truth to Power Hour. Oh boy.
Meachum and Oliveras pay him a visit. Randy, it turns out, isn’t a true believer at all – he’s a hustler, or as he puts it, an entertainer (a theater major at UCLA in fact).
Randy: Right now, anger pays the bills.
(The show is now veering very close to real world problems, because there are too many people – and bots doing their bidding – out there stoking vulnerable people’s rage, and we’re all paying the price. It’s why Todd really gives me the creeps).
Randy’s a little concerned for his own self-preservation, asking them if he should be worried.
Meachum: Nah, it’s all fun and games, right?
Touche, Mark.
Finau’s law enforcement friends get them some more info, including some sniper rifles picked up in a raid and handed over to the Bureau.
Meanwhile, Todd shows a badge to get access to a stadium parking lot and next thing we know there’s a burnt up truck and the security guy tells the task force that the guy he let in had an FBI badge.
Uh oh.
Todd’s “signature” is on the side of the truck.
Some LAPD officers join them in the investigation, one of them is the woman Meachum spent the night with. She asks him if she’ll see him later, and Oliveras is not amused. When he gets home, she’s called him, but he doesn’t call back, at least not right away. Instead he drinks a beer as some sad soulful music plays, staring out the window.
Meanwhile, Oliveras rationalizes that things aren’t boring between her and Julio, that it’s nice to slow down, that she hopes he doesn’t think she’s not happy.
Poor Julio, if he didn’t before, he probably does now!
All The Loose Ends
The final scenes purposely leave us hanging in multiple story lines. Evan gets bad news about Molly, then Oliveras gets in her car and it starts to smoke. As she gets dizzy and starts to pass out, a man in a gas mask appears at the car window.
Uh oh.
The task force finds out that an FBI agent named Seth Von Lewis accessed their task force file. And drove a Ford F150 just like the burnt up one. And was one of the agents who was handed the sniper rifles. AND was a consultant doing security for Power Hour.
Blythe: I want to know where he’s standing on this earth right NOW.
Mark: What about Oliveras?
Blythe: We’re not waiting.
Her discarded phone rings in a trash can, while Oliveras is tied to a chair, blindfolded and gagged, in a closet.
The task force busts into the house where Seth Lewis is and we realize OMG it’s the guy who slept with Todd’s wife!
Seth: I’m an FBI agent!
Meachum immediately realizes something’s not right about Seth being their guy.
Meachum: Something seem off to you?
Good instincts once again, Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles).
In another place entirely, Todd kicks in the closet door and holds a cloth over Oliveras until she passes out. He carries her to his truck and drives down a country road with her unconscious in the back seat while he answers a phone call from his boss, who thinks he’s out of town at an interview.
Boss: You won’t believe this – Seth was just arrested. And he was with your ex wife!
OMG it’s the guy Todd’s ex slept with, apparently his old partner!
Todd calmly promises his boss he’ll be right in, like psychopathically calm.
He gets out his rife from the back of the truck and loads it.
We’ve seen this before, which amps up the horror.
He drags Oliveras out and cuts the ropes tying her, taking off the gag and the blindfold.
What happens next? I won’t spoil the very ending, but suffice it to say, if “Countdown” doesn’t get a second season, we’re really gonna be left standing there wondering what the hell happened.
And not just in that last scene.
Will Mark and Amber get a chance to realize they actually do care about each other and give it a shot?
If you want more, let Prime Video know!
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.