Jensen Ackles 'Countdown' Muzzle Pile Sets Up Season 2 Perfectly

There is a lot to episode 1.10 so it's a really deep dive review!

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 10 OF COUNTDOWN!

The Muzzle Pile, the tenth in “Countdown’s” first season, is unusual in that it wraps up a major story line, with three episodes to go in the season. The big confrontation with Volchek that has been the goal of the first ten episodes doesn’t disappoint in terms of suspense, as we pick up right where we left off, Meachum (Jensen Ackles) and Volchek staring each other down as panicked people flee the square.

Courtesy of Amazon Prime

We start with a bang – or actually a not-bang. Volchek hits the detonate button, but Evan can see it on the tablet and yells to Bell to “rip it out”. They both rip out the tablets and it stops the detonation just in time. Volchek realizes and takes off, civilians still running all over too. In the chaos, Finau shoots Andrej before he can shoot his family.

Meachum and Oliveras chase Volchek to the roof. The take down is complicated by Meachum’s brain tumor making him dizzy and in pain at the most inopportune of times. He stumbles, pleading “not now not now” as Oliveras gets knocked down by Volchek as he runs. Mark is barely able to see straight but he stops to help her, with a reassuring “hey hey” that’s familiar to any Supernatural fan from decades of Sam and Dean being in similar life and death situations.

Oliveras: Get Volchek!

Meachum gets to the roof in spite of being in pain and dizzy, banging his head against a wall in desperation to try to focus well enough to aim a shot. Volchek is still trying to carry out his mass murder, shooting at the fuel tanks of the trucks. Oliveras makes it to the roof and locks eyes with Meachum.

Oliveras: Do it.

It honestly seemed like a better idea to me for her to do it considering Meachum’s impairment, but he takes the shot and Volchek falls to the ground. The two stand over his body as Meachum calls in the report. And, just like that, the tragic story of Volchek is over.

I felt a little sad, oddly. He was a great villain – smart, ruthless, with a backstory that made you cringe for him sometimes. I like my villains (and my heroes, for that matter) complicated!

The Aftermath

Blythe gives one of his motivating speeches about how proud he is of the “badass individuals” on the team. He says it was an honor to have led them, and that the hard part now is to go their separate ways.

Blythe: But if we’re called upon to serve again, we’re going to be better partners and investigators because of the people in this room.

He takes Drew’s plaque down from the wall, bringing it with him.

Meachum speaks for the team.

Meachum: Even when we were cursing your name… mostly me… I think I speak for all of us when I say you are the best damn leader any of us has ever had, ever. We’d follow you anywhere.

I got a little choked up – Blythe is an inspiring character and Eric Dane plays him with so much sincerity. Dane’s real life battle with ALS makes it unclear if he’ll return if Countdown gets a season 2, so I’m a little extra emotional about the character.

They shake hands and hug and Blythe turns out the lights at HQ. He goes home and puts the plaque on his bookshelf, reuniting with his wife and son. Bell and Evan have dinner before she heads to DC; she asks him to keep an eye on her troublesome sister. Finau returns to the LAPD – they gave away his desk, but it’s for a good reason - they promoted him to sergeant!

Bell has a little more unfinished business. He waits for the DA on the stairs and confronts him about how Iskander knew that the task force was coming. It was the one time they called SWAT for backup, which falls under the DA. Bell used some impressive computer skills (that he perhaps learned from Evan) to figure it all out, and the corrupt DA is arrested right then and there.

Me: Why are all the loose ends getting tied up when we have three episodes to go??

Oh wait, there’s another loose end, isn’t there?

Oliveras and Meachum: Will They Or Won’t They?

Oliveras talks Meachum into seeing her doctor friend, though he says he’s reluctant to spend whatever days he has left in a hospital with tubes sticking out of him instead of getting in his truck and driving, hitting every roadhouse from there to the Atlantic ala Dean Winchester. He says he accepted his fate and that it’s okay, it’s fine.

Oliveras cares about him now, so she isn’t nearly as accepting.

Oliveras: It’s not fine! We just changed the fate of this entire city – if we can do that, what is one very small very very stupid brain? Come inside before I have to kick your ass in a hospital parking lot.

They meet with her doc friend. There’s an experimental protocol that he thinks will work and they can start next week. It’s what I’ve been expecting but also sort of dreading if it turns out to be a miraculous quick fix. Or if it turns out to be the end of Mark Meachum, obviously, but that doesn’t seem likely. I know Derek Haas has said no one is safe, but I imagine Prime Video would have something to say about killing off the Jensen Ackles character from one of its top 10 shows.

Meachum reluctantly agrees.

The day before he starts treatment, Oliveras comes to visit Meachum, who’s sitting on his porch, drinking a beer. In a hoodie and jeans, which…. YES.

She gives him a ‘Hang in There’ classic cat meme poster and offers to delay heading to Texas by a week for her next assignment if he wants her to be there for him as he starts treatment.

He says no way, she’s gotta get back at it.

Meachum: I don’t need you to stick around and wipe drool off my lip.

Oliveras: I would never do that.

Meachum: I’ll be honest, I’m not used to – I don’t have a lot of history with people who give a shit about me. So thank you, that means a lot.

She looks at him; he looks back. We all know where this is going.

Oliveras: You want me to stay the night?

Meachum: I would love that, I really would…but -- god I can’t believe I’m gonna say this -- I’ve made so many bonehead moves in my past, you have no idea.

Oliveras: I have some idea…

Meachum: I guess you do. This is what I know. I’m wrapped up in a lot of shit right now, and when – if – I make it to the other side of whatever the hell this is, I really wanna try and do things right.

Oliveras: I support that.

Meachum: Shit, I don’t even know if I support it! But I think it’s the best way to do it.

They drink their beers; he reaches out his hand.

It’s a different kind of moment of vulnerability for Meachum – emotional vulnerability. He’s shown that before, but usually when he’s already so physically vulnerable that he almost doesn’t have a choice. This time, he’s not in crisis; he makes a decision to trust Oliveras and to be honest with her. He’s dropped the macho posturing and I-don’t-need-anyone bullshit and he’s reaching out, literally and figuratively.

She takes his hand.

I loved that scene. It was beautifully shot, the two framed on his front porch, space and a table between them – but they reach across the space to connect in a deeper, more genuine way than they have before. Both Camacho and Ackles are capable of showing their characters’ emotions with just an expression or a glance, and we can feel the depth of what Meachum and Oliveras are struggling to convey to each other. It’s quiet, simple. But it packs a powerful emotional impact.

And I don’t even necessarily ship it – it was just that well done.

All the kudos to the actors and to writer Derek Haas.

The next morning, Mark pulls his Bronco into the parking lot of the hospital. He hesitates but goes in, to find the whole team is there to show their support.

Meachum: Oh shit.

He’s shocked, and trying not to show both how scared he is and how much their support means to him.

Blythe: Oliveras said there was something wrong with your brain, which explains a lot.

Meachum, in spite of himself, gets emotional.

Meachum: Whatever happens, it was really great working together. I’m proud to know each and every one of you, I mean that.

There are tears in his eyes.

And then we get a surprise title card: 10 months later!

The New Guy

We meet a new character, Ryan Fitzgerald (Joe Dinocol from “Arrow”), a young guy at the secret service. He was assigned what’s called “the muzzle pile” which is full of bottom of the barrel threats that are unlikely to pan out or to get him promoted any time soon. Except he listens to one that sounds ominous, about a man with odd maps and guns and a picture of the president, and then the call cuts off.

Fitz goes to the cabin where the call came from to investigate and finds the woman dead, shredded pieces of paper in the trash can and fragments of photos in the fireplace. Oh, and he may be young but he’s smart – he finds a secret drawer with a notebook in it too, and an ominous manifesto.

And just like that, the task force is back together – though now it’s Task Force Armor.

Evan: You losers couldn’t make it a year without me.

And Meachum is part of it, ten months after the surgery that apparently worked.

He may never be 100%, and we don’t know what that means yet, but the doc apparently cleared him for duty so he must be pretty much A-okay. Only Oliveras isn’t back; when Meachum asks, Blythe says the DEA can’t spare her. Mark is clearly disappointed, but it’s also clear they apparently haven’t stayed in too close touch.

New guy Fitz says they haven’t cracked the code of the manifesto they found, which is in a language that maybe only makes sense to the person who wrote it. There are also maps of the home of the governor of California who may be running for president, suggesting he may be a target.

They head to the cabin, Meachum driving with Blythe in the front and Fitz in the back seat. He excitedly gives the two very uninterested men his life story.

Mark: Hey, Fitz? Anyone ever tell you that you talk a lot?

Fitz: Probably why they put me on desk detail by myself, but I can zip it if…

Blythe gives him a pointed look

Fitz: Right. Got it. (Zipped)

I like the new character, he’s funny and earnest and a nice foil for the more serious Blythe and Meachum.

At the cabin, Meachum notices that two ‘decorative’ metal things on the fireplace will fit perfectly into two indentations in the floor, so his eyes and his brain seem to be working very well indeed – sure enough, it becomes a hatch door that he lifts up, revealing a secret underground area.

Meachum: I’m going down.

Bell follows, both with flashlights, Fitz behind them. They switch on some lights.

Meachum: Jesus.

At the end of the dimly lit tunnel is a target, with an X on its forehead, bullet holes all through it.

And they’re off!

Where Do We Go From Here?

It’s an unusual organization of a season to have ten episodes devoted to one big case and then just three to start another, but I’ll reserve judgment on how it feels going forward when I see the final three. I don’t yet feel the sense of urgency that the Volchek case created, but we’ve only had 15 minutes of this episode devoted to whatever this new threat is, so we’ll see.

Not having Oliveras in this episode was also jarring, but I’m really liking Fitz as a character and I enjoyed Meachum and Fitz being so very different but having to work together. It could be a fun dynamic.

Haas has said he likes the element of surprise and doing things a bit differently, and I have to say wrapping up the Volchek story in Episode 10 was definitely a surprise!

Mostly I’m not sure how I feel about Meachum’s miracle cure. I try not to expect an unrealistic level of realism from the fictional media that I enjoy, but a quick fix always feels a little unsatisfying. It also changes the character’s circumstances in a pretty big way.

Jensen Ackles did such an amazing job showing us Mark’s agony and frustration, and made it feel so real. That’s a big part of why I found Meachum compelling as a character. It kept him from being a stereotypical invulnerable “hero” and instead made us have empathy for him because of his vulnerability and his humanity. He wasn’t larger than life, he was a man suffering and still trying to do the right thing, which I think most of us can relate to. Without that vulnerability, will the character be a little more one dimensional? (I’m not sure Ackles has ever played a character that doesn’t have nuance and shades of gray and some vulnerability, so probably not, but it is a big change three quarters of the way through the season).

I’m not heavily invested in shipping Meachum and Oliveras so I’m fine with their very slow burn, but I imagine some viewers will be disappointed that Mark, of all people, put on the brakes. Hmm. There’s a little bit of nuance right there! And like I said, I loved the porch scene and their quiet connection.

And I love Fitz! He seems like a good addition to a team which has been pretty serious to date. In any case, I’m here for the duration. New episode next Wednesday on Prime Video. Just three episodes to go of Season 1!

Always ending on a highlight!

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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.