Review: 'Countdown' Is Prime Video’s Bold New Bet—And It Mostly Pays Off

You know things are bad in the world when your boss calls you out from your deep cover work, hob-nobbing with gang members and drug dealers, to drop you into an even more hush-hush assignment to save the free world. Such is the case with the agents of Countdown, the newest American crime drama from creator Derek Hass. 

Set for summer release by Prime Video on June 25, Countdown, stars Jensen Ackles, Jessica Camacho, and Eric Dane as members of an elite team of law enforcement officers brought in to investigate the broad-daylight murder of a Homeland Security officer. When the investigation takes an unexpected turn, revealing an even larger, more sinister plot with catastrophic implications for the nation’s second largest city, it becomes a race against time for the team to find answers as they ultimately work to save millions of unsuspecting lives.

In this season debut, the covert task force brings together a seemingly best of the best group of agents in their respective agencies, blessed with incredible investigative skills in cybersecurity, narcotics, robbery, and homicide, for one critical mission.

With danger lurking in plain sight, the team dispenses quickly with introductions, ego checks, and resume rundowns to hit the ground running on fleshing out leads and usual suspects. While many of the season’s episodes are filled with eerily familiar scenes of the agents standing around light-filled offices with folded arms pontificating on clues on a white board, or jumping up, grabbing jackets to go chase leads, it is the who, what, when, and how premise of the series that somehow keeps you locked it in. 

The action starts with a plot formulated halfway around the world when a Belarusian everyman is caught up in the fallout of his brother’s wrongdoings that leads him to betray both his job and his homeland. When he gets played by an American operative, our villain plays the long game in exacting his revenge. The villain’s backstory is played out in flashbacks that take him from his home in Minsk, Belarus, to the coastal cool communities of Southern California. 

While it feels, at times, like a cinematic deja vu of other procedural dramas, Countdown makes it work as a new offering, in part because the actors do. Ackles, best known for his portrayal of Dean Winchester in the CW dark fantasy series Supernatural takes the lead on this one as the sometimes off-the-book detective Mark Meachum, whom we first meet in a Palmdale, California, prison yard working a deep cover case for the Los Angeles police department. Once again, Ackles proves his versatility as an actor, this time in the role of tough-guy action hero, with a hidden vulnerability to an unseen enemy. With his self-deprecating swagger and real-world street smarts, Meachum wastes no time stepping to the front of the line on the newly-formed team. 

Ackles’ Meachum meets his match in DEA agent Amber Oliveras (played by Camacho) who comes to the team with her own next-level bad-ass bravado and professional baggage to raise just enough of her own suspicions with superiors of the blurred lines in her work. While the seemingly oil-and-water working environment gets off to a rocky start for the agent and officer, you just know the two are headed for an odd couple, buddy spinoff when this is all said and done. 

Case in point, when their many connections forged in the underworld prove useful in getting answers for the case at hand, Meachum and Oliveras find a somewhat plausible, dare I say, cohesive working relationship. Nevertheless, with their ever-present skepticism simmering just below the surface as a result of their deep-in-the-trenches work, each grows suspicious that the other may be harboring a secret from the team. 

Once again, fan favorite Camacho brings another round of realism to her own role as the teflon-skin narcotics agent. Consistent across her body of work, Camacho has a way of making her delivery of lines sound spontaneous and original, even if we have seen a similar character archetype on canvas from her before. Authentic and genuine, her performances often remind you of that one friend you can call at three in the morning with no questions asked, but who brings all the answers for your problems with a simple head nod. 

Nevertheless, it is Dane who delivers the unexpected standout performance of the series as the task force man-in-charge Nathan Blythe, embodying a perfect blend of gravitas, aloofness, and understanding. His character is not just a skilled investigator but also deeply connected to the intelligence community with his sky-high security clearance, often navigating personal demons that come with the officers he has hand-picked for the team. In measured tones and quiet confidence, Dane’s natural charisma makes him a relatable lead, even as he brilliantly portrays the stoicism of the top brass task force leader who does not allow himself to be consumed by emotion nor the mental and relational sacrifices that one must make to do this line of work. 

Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles) and Nathan Blythe (Eric Dane) in COUNTDOWN Photo: ELIZABETH MORRIS © AMAZON CONTENT SERVICES LLC

With his nuanced approach, Dane’s subtle gestures and expressions convey deep internal convictions, immense self-control, and singularity of purpose in his character’s motivations. This allows for another layered performance from the veteran actor, who is also doing time across the TV dial as double-life dad Cal Jacobs in the HBO series Euphoria. However, what makes Dane’s time on screen this go-round more poignant with every episode of this new series is that it comes on the heels of the actor’s announcement that he has been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. Dane publicly revealed his diagnosis this past April. In a recent interview, the actor shared that he has now lost the use of his right arm, citing it is only a matter of the time before the same comes about with his left arm and legs. The thought of what comes next for Dane leaves so much of this life, both in reality and in the reel world, seem trivial in comparison. Regardless, we will just have to wait and see what Dane’s long-term future is with this new series. 

Countdown’s ensemble cast, which also includes the always refreshing Violett Beane as the eager beaver FBI cyber guru agent Evan Shepherd, her fellow G-man agent Keyonte Bell, played by Elliott Knight, and Uli Latukefu as LAPD officer Lucas Finau, rounds out the requisite diversity of the team. The group’s makeup is another plot point familiar to the host of procedurals already littering the field. And, though, we have rearranged the roles here, the team dynamic is consistent with the brains and brash tough guys somehow finding that ideal know-your-role relationship with the quirky Einstein-like ethical cyber hackers who seem to crack systems better than the ones who designed them; and, of course, you have to throw in the commanding officer who is left to wrangle the team’s egos as much as their skills. 

Each character brings their own strengths to the team, though it is not unlike anything we have seen previously onscreen with this type of crime-and-punishment drama. The chemistry among the cast is decent though not overwhelmingly familial, which plays directly into the characters’ demeanors onscreen, given how they were brought together as a team, themselves. Watching this fictional team at play is much like the time your teacher put you together with the kids from the other side of the classroom for a group project. A little awkward at first, but then the cool kids step in to take over with their I-know-more action and antics, while the bookworms fill in the blanks with context clues and a-ha math to ultimately make it all work out. Hey, as a tried-and-true formula, it works here, too. 

Amber Oliveras (Jessica Camacho), Luke Finau (Uli Latukefu), Evan Shepherd (Violett Beane), Nathan Blythe (Eric Dane), Keyonte Bell (Elliot Knight), Damon Drew (Jonathan Togo), and Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles) in COUNTDOWN - Courtesy of Prime Video

Where the series may fall short, though, is in the fact that the relationship between Meachum and Oliveras is the only one we truly get to see fully develop as the series progresses, with admittedly strong performances and character development of the two leads often elevating the material. 

And, while the series does try to bring angst into the lives of each team member, with backstories dropped at random times through the series to temporarily draw their attention, and ours, away from the case at-hand, there is no full-scale development of these additional characters on canvas. Again, the two leads get to delve further into the work they did before joining the team that allows the narrative to subtly weave their ultimate motivations into the plots. For the others, we only learn about who they were before through one-off side conversations.

What flows through the series as a B-plot is a devastating medical issue that befalls Officer Meachum that proves not only harrowing on a personal level, but, at times, a serious distraction on the job. As his burgeoning pseudo partner, Oliveras becomes increasingly suspicious with Meachum’s behavior, particularly, as a rash of headaches continue to hit the officer at the most inopportune moments. Once again, Ackles infuses his role through these supporting scenes with depth, conveying a range of emotions that succeed in making Meachum relatable and compelling. Despite the character’s tough guy exterior, Ackles’ portrayal of the harden officer working through the vulnerability of his inner struggles, particularly as he grapples in silence with his diagnosis in the face of his greater work, is a key strength for the narrative and the action. In either case, time is not his friend.

Set against the backdrop of the culturally rich city of Los Angeles, the series skillfully combines crime-solving with the dynamic spirit of the city that, at times, becomes a character, itself. With its distinctive skyline, encapsulating its diverse neighbors, from Brentwood to Huntington Park, L.A.’s distinctive culture, aspirations, and ambition, serves as a canvas for the narrative of all that glitters is not gold. And, while you think you know every inch of the City of Angels, Countdown gives you another pull-back-the-veneer, cinematic road trip around the parts that do not often get their time to shine.

Nonetheless, the series’ opening season proves to be a slow burn to the action that ignites the story in the back half of the episodes, with the overall premise giving one pause to consider how often we, as a society, have blindly gone about our business not knowing how many “on-death’s doorstep” moments law professionals have thwarted on our behalf?

Countdown certainly helps to put that sobering consideration into perspective even if that may not have been the series’ original intent.

Care to feel how close it can get? Join the Countdown, beginning June 25. The first three episodes of this high-stakes drama will be available at the premier drop, with the remaining episodes streaming weekly on Amazon Prime Video.