Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Countdown’ On Prime Video, A Lunkheaded Action Series Starring Jensen Ackles And Eric Dane

Prime Video started getting into broad-audience action series before Netflix did; some of their shows were good while others were “meh.” One thing they all seemed to share was DNA from broadcast network procedurals from the past 25 years that have tended to blend together. The latest example is pretty much written from a “how to create an action series” handbook.

COUNTDOWN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “PORT OF LOS ANGELES.” A customs agent named Robert Darden (played by a guest star we won’t spoil here) pulls up and shows his badge; he then inspects a bunch of locked storage containers.

The Gist: Later, without his HSI windbreaker on, he goes to meet a cartel contact. However, the contact shows him evidence that he’s been made, and Darden has to run for his life. After a foot chase involving running through a crowded marketplace, Darden thinks he’s in the clear. Then someone steps up to him and shoots him square in the chest.

In response to this killing, FBI SAIC Nathan Blythe (Eric Dane) is putting together a cross-agency task force. The first person we see is LAPD detective Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles) as he gets into a massive fight while undercover in a maximum-security prison. He’s been there for 9 months and almost has the name he needs for his investigation when he’s pulled. We also see DEA agent Amber Oliveras (Jessica Camacho) wriggle her way out of a sticky situation while being held captive by cartel types, only to be upbraided by her boss for not getting backup.

Also on the team: Second-in-charge Damon Drew (Jonathan Togo) from the OIA, FBI agents Keyonte Bell (Elliot Knight) and Evan Shepherd (Violett Beane), and Meachum’s LAPD colleague Luke Finau (Uli Latukefu). Meachum and Oliveras immediately get off on the wrong foot, because she’s friends with Meachum’s ex-fiancée, whom he dumped right before their wedding after sleeping with the fiancée’s sister.

Meachum has his own issues to deal with, as he has an inoperable brain tumor that gives him headaches and vision problems. Drew is still mourning the loss of his son after a drunk driving accident. Oliveras has issues with the same products she arrests people for.

At first, it seems like Darden was taking payments from the cartel. But as they investigate and find unexpected connections, what the team ends up finding out is that what Darden was investigating went way beyond drug smuggling: The cartel is being hired to smuggle in fissile material to make some sort of radioactive WMD.

Photo: Prime Video

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Countdown, created by Derek Haas (Chicago Fire and Chicago PD), has the same vibe as other Prime Video action series, like Jack Ryan, The Terminal List, and Citadel.

Our Take: Countdown is a show that doesn’t have any surprises, no real plot twists, characters that come out of a “flawed but good at what they do” catalog, and action scenes that at times are poorly staged and at other times make little sense. Speaking of making no sense, the plot of the first episode is somewhat hard to follow. In essence, it’s a bad network procedural that’s slightly more violent and filled with more “shits” and “fucks”.

The first episode has, by our count, four action sequences that take up a lot of the episode’s 48-minute runtime. There’s the aforementioned foot chase, there’s a car chase, there’s a shootout, and there’s a fight. That is a whole hell of a lot for a first episode that has to establish the characters and situation. It tells us that there really isn’t much to this plot; even the entire “find the fissile material before someone flattens LA with a bomb” plot feels like one that could be told in a 105-minute movie, not a 13 episode (!) season.

An example of the show’s predictability is Meachum’s brain tumor. As soon as he pauses and winces right before bashing into a suspect’s apartment, we know that he’s got a tumor. A scene where he’s at the doctor, looking at a grave-looking MRI and the medico begging him to relax with “the time you have left,” felt like a “tell don’t show” moment that could have been cut right out (unlike the tumor — thank you, I’m here all week!).

Then there’s the artificial rivalry between Meachum and Oliveras. You know that rivalry will evolve into begrudging trust and (probably) a romp in the sheets. But the two main members of the task force need to hate each other at the start, because that’s the way these shows go.

The rest of the task force feel pretty much like generic one-dimensional police procedural characters that feel interchangeable, even in scenes where they’re by themselves. Dane, Ackles and Camacho all deserve better than this, and their respective charms elevate the bad dialogue they’re given. But even the charm of these three veterans isn’t going to be enough to keep us watching for 13 interminable episodes.

Photo: Prime Video

Sleeper Star: We’re still scratching our heads about why the actor who played Darden was there. Also, as soon as we saw him, we knew he was toast.

Most Pilot-y Line: Darden’s wife convulsively scream-cries to Blythe, “I’ll tell you straight to your face, you don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!”

Our Call: SKIP IT. Countdown pretty much uses every action procedural cliche to piece together a plot and cast of characters that are neither exciting or interesting.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.