Deep Dive Into 'Countdown's' Mark Meachum
(And Why Do We Already Love Him?) Along with Jensen Ackles
I’m four episodes in to the new Prime Video show ‘Countdown’, and three of those have aired for everyone. That means it’s been enough time for Tumblr to have a plethora of gifs for fans of Jensen Ackles to appreciate, as only Ackles fans can. I’m counting myself in there, so no judgment!
I’ll have a review of episode four coming up once it’s aired, but before that happens, I wanted to write a bit more about Mark Meachum. He’s already a fan favorite, and that’s no surprise.
(Spoilers for ‘Countdown’ Episodes 1 – 3)
There’s a reason why fans follow Ackles from show to show – some have been watching him since his first acting gig on the soap Days Of Our Lives! I didn’t discover his talent until Dean Winchester swept me off my feet on Supernatural, but I dutifully went back and watched most of what I’d missed, though I confess not all of his run on Days and a few other very early guest appearances. Since Supernatural, we’ve seen him portray Dean Winchester again on ‘The Winchesters’, Russell Shaw on ‘Tracker’, Beau Arlen on ‘Big Sky’ and Soldier Boy on ‘The Boys’. A lucky fandom indeed!
Even four episodes in, we’re already seeing Mark Meachum as a fully faceted character, thanks to both Derek Haas’ script and Jensen’s acting talents.
The Many Facets of Mark Meachum
So, what do we know about Mark Meachum?
He’s cocky and confident, at least on the surface. He’s also very attractive, so he clearly gets away with it – in fact, we love to see it.
In part we love to see it because we also get to see him get the piss taken out of him repeatedly, and he takes it with grumbling good humor. He may be cocky, but he’s not a narcissist, which makes him likable in spite of his brashness.
It also makes him funny! Ackles is so good at comedy, every expression or gesture playing up the humor but subtle enough to be realistic. I laughed out loud at Oliveras letting the door slam on him.
He’s got guts – probably too many if he wants to stay alive long term, but of course we know that’s not what he’s counting on. He careens headlong into danger like he doesn’t give a damn, a big damn hero. That too is very attractive.
Yes, I will repeat this phrase a few times, be prepared.
He’s also got a sensitive side.
It’s not one that he wants anyone else to see, so it’s extra compelling when we first see Mark take down some of his walls and be vulnerable. He does that literally, stripping off layers of clothing and armor to confront himself and his own mortality in the mirror, not hiding his pain for once.
Later, in just a tee shirt, arms bare and power dynamics flipped, he faces his doctor’s dire prognosis and the frightening scan of his own brain.
He tries not to show his fear or the understandable anger at this unfair situation, but we see it briefly before he puts his game face back on.
In episode four, we see even more emotionality from Meachum, as he struggles with the very human feelings of fear and guilt. As Ackles would say, peeling back the layers little by little. That vulnerability? Have I mentioned attractive?
Sensitivity aside, Mark swears like a sailor.
For fans who were used to the Winchester brothers inexplicably never managing anything more colorful than “sonofabitch!”, it still takes some getting used to. (I’m just kidding, it was far from inexplicable, it just had to do with the show’s real life network, not what would make sense for Sam and Dean). Cursing makes sense for Mark Meachum so it makes the character seem more authentic, and it adds to the sense of impulsivity and unwillingness to censor himself, and possibly to his hotness. Thanks, Prime Video.
And finally, speaking of his brain, Mark is smart. Savvy. He confronts Blythe, putting the pieces together as he realizes why he and the others were chosen for the task force. He doesn’t fall for Blythe’s compliments; at least as much of the reason they were picked is because they are all rebels who don’t fit in, who wouldn’t be missed too much by their colleagues or bosses.
You can see how quick he is undercover too, able to pivot on a dime when things (inevitably) go south.
Smarts. Also attractive.
That’s a lot of complexity for a fictional character on a law enforcement focused procedural – but Ackles is up to the task. I can’t think of anyone who is better at creating a character with depth and nuance. Give him even a little to work with, and he can take it to the next level with his understanding of human complexity and his fearlessness in bringing all that to the surface.
I’m looking forward to getting to know Mark Meachum better – for me, he’s the hook that pulls me into the show overall.
So, he’s a cocky courageous badass with a vulnerable side who’s trying to save the world. Does that sound familiar?
Of course, but that’s okay.
Familiarity not Similarity
Inevitably when you play an iconic character like Dean Winchester for fifteen years (!), there are going to be comparisons with every new character that comes along. Jensen’s love of Dean is as enduring as my own (which is really saying something), and he’s been candid about not feeling the need to distance himself from Dean entirely. There are elements of Dean that are pulled from his own personality and life experience, as he’s discussed many times, so divorcing himself from the character entirely would be impossible. And in my mind, unnecessary.
Also inevitably, the question of “do we see any of Dean Winchester in this character” has caused a bit of a kerfuffle in the fandom. Some fans have a strong connection to Dean and Supernatural, so seeing some of Dean in a new character is jarring. I get that – I have a strong connection to Dean and Supernatural too. But I’m okay with seeing little bits of Dean in Mark Meachum (or Russell or Beau or whoever). When Jensen Ackles plays a cocky, kickass save-the-world type character, I think we’re always going to see a little of Dean. That’s part of who Dean was, and that’s part of who Mark is too. (And there are bits of the actual person and personality that were amplified to create that persona in the first place).
That said, I wouldn’t want to see Dean Winchester just zapped out of Supernatural and plopped down in some other show and universe with a different name – but that’s not what I see happening. Beau had some similarities, but he wasn’t Dean. So did Russell; in fact, the showrunners were happy to explicitly have some callbacks and familiarities, and Jensen was happy to play them. It’s the same with Mark. Are there familiar mannerisms and expressions? Of course, it’s Jensen. And Mark and Dean share a reckless courage, going in guns blazing and not-giving-a-damn type heroism, combined with a cockiness that can verge on being a jerk, and topped off by a vulnerability that sneaks up on you and shocks you when Ackles allows you to see it under the surface.
So yes, familiarities. Of course. But Mark is not Dean.
Dean carried a lifetime of trauma on his shoulders, and you could see it with every flash of unguarded expression (that Ackles is so brilliant in showing). He was driven to save the world and prepared to sacrifice himself to do it, but he didn’t want to die and he struggled with every ounce of his being to avoid that outcome right up until that day in the barn when he had no choice. Dean Winchester did the job he inherited from his father, but there were times he did it reluctantly or with regrets. His every decision was shaped by what was most important to him – keeping his family safe. So much of Dean Winchester was molded by the ‘take care of Sammy’ mantra, and that part of his motivation to keep living he never regretted. The part of Dean that cared so much – not about himself, but about his brother – was a big part of his vulnerability. He felt things strongly – he could rage, he could be crushed until a single tear rolled down his cheek, he loved fiercely.
There was an intensity to Dean that was part of his make-up, and that was never blunted in all the years we witnessed of his life.
Mark has an intensity to him too, but at least some of it is because of the ticking time bomb in his brain that he knows is going to kill him. He’s not going in guns blazing to keep his family safe or even to keep himself safe – he’s going in to get the bad guys and save the world – because if he’s going out, he’s going out saving someone. And he’s doing it recklessly because he knows he’s on borrowed time anyway. So far, through episode 4, we haven’t seen him deeply connect with anyone. He was engaged and almost married, but that was before he found out about his diagnosis. He’s isolated himself emotionally, which is understandable since he thinks he’ll be gone soon. (No, of course I don’t think they’re going to kill off their main character, but that’s what he thinks at this point.)
Meachum has his own vulnerability, but it has less to do with his emotional attachments and more to do with his own mortality. We all will be vulnerable when we have to face that, and seeing Mark physically and emotionally bared with his doctor showed that clearly. Ackles knows how to let us see glimpses of the fear, anger and resignation that Mark is keeping locked up inside. It shows in his expression as he stares at his reflection in the mirror, and in the way he sighs and takes the script from the doc.
That’s not Dean.
This man has lived a different life, and faces a different future. Both characters have confronted their own mortality more than once, but they don’t react in the same way. Mark doesn’t have someone to confide in, or even someone to try to protect from the reality of his diagnosis. He’s solitary in a way that Dean Winchester never was. He doesn’t consider the impact of his dying on anyone but himself, having already pushed other people away, and he makes decisions on that basis. Maybe it’s the psychologist in me, but I’m trained to look at the context of people’s lives and the sum of their lived experience, because that is what makes someone a unique individual. It’s the same with a fictional character – Mark and Dean’s lives are and have been very different, and it shows in the men they’ve become. Whoever Mark was as a kid, he grew up wanting to be a cop and get married. That is very much not Dean Winchester.
Let’s Make It Fun
With their differences clearly visible, I’m free to enjoy little glimpses of Dean in Mark – as Jensen put it, not so much a similarity as a familiarity. Dean Winchester was pretty badass doing a reverse 180 in the Impala; Mark Meachum is also pretty badass, but in this context he overtly enjoys every single minute of it.
I appreciated Dean Winchester getting body slammed to the hood of a car in Season 1 of Supernatural; I appreciate Mark Meachum getting body slammed to the ground by Oliveras as she takes their undercover distraction seriously.
That Ackles himself loves the physicality of his roles and throws himself into them (literally sometimes) just adds to my enjoyment too.
I can also appreciate the subtle shout outs to Supernatural without it throwing me out of the Countdown story.
People much better at detail than me have already noticed that Meachum’s alias is Jack Walker, perhaps a coincidence or perhaps a shout out to Ackles’ Supernatural costar Jared Padalecki (who starred as Cordell Walker on ‘Walker’) and to Ackles’ own nickname.
People much MUCH better at detail than me noticed that Meachum’s Ford Bronco has an unusual mirror – one from a Chevy Impala, Dean Winchester’s iconic car on Supernatural!
That one cannot be an accident.
I love that Jensen loves and misses my favorite show of all time too, and I love that the Countdown cast and crew and writer/showrunner are up for playing. (The entire cast has talked about how much fun the set was, and how much Jensen was determined to set a tone like they had on Supernatural to make it that way).
I also love that he’s getting a chance to craft a new and unique character in Mark Meachum, and to portray a different type of mortal challenge that he can sink his teeth into. I love that he’s enjoying it, and I am too. (And we’re both anticipating the return of Soldier Boy – talk about a unique character!)
At the same time, I’m giddy when there are random little parallels to Dean Winchester and Supernatural, intended or not.
After all, that’s the way life is – we are all impacted by every other human we encounter on our journey, real or fictional. I wouldn’t want it any other way.
Episode 4 of Countdown streams tomorrow on Prime Video!
Gifs by lostwhump, elainamarie89, justjensenanddean, markmjensen, whoeveryoulovethemost
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.