My wife and I saw the first three episodes of Countdown on Amazon Prime last night -- the debut of the 13-episode series, which will proceed one-by-one until it concludes in September -- and we liked it a lot.
It reminded me in some ways of 24 -- a very good thing, because we were devoted fans, and I put the best of 24 in the Top 10 of all-time best television series. I mean, there's no Jack Bauer, and no ticking clock, and each hour-long episode is not an hour of the same day unfolding in the story, but it is called Countdown, it does say "every second counts" in the above poster, and the good guys are struggling to prevent a terrorist attack in Los Angeles that would take as many lives as September 11th did in New York City.
[And there are some slight spoilers ahead...]
And what Countdown also has in common with 24 is some of the good guys, a task-force taken from several Federal agencies, get killed in the ongoing narrative.
And Countdown has something which I don't recall seeing in 24: Mark Meacham (well-played by Jensen Ackles) has a glioblastoma tumor in his brain which will drastically shorten his life. His doctor advises him to head off to some tropical isle to enjoy what's left of his life, but Meachum would rather spend his remaining time bringing down these bad guys. This makes him a unique agent, who can be fearless to the max in fighting human monsters because he has literally almost nothing to lose. (Incurable optimist that I am, I'm nonetheless hoping that he gets some new immunotherapy, and lives on beyond the end of this season -- or, if renewed, which I hope does happen, beyond the end of the series.)
I also have to say that it does my heart and soul good to see Federal agents doing what we need and want them to do -- fighting terrorists and true enemies in this country and keeping us safe -- rather than pulling good and decent people off the street because they weren't born in this country, or attacking a US Senator because he dared to pose a question to the Secretary of Homeland Security while she was talking in Los Angeles. In other words, I'm glad to see a narrative like Countdown because I'm sad, to say the least, about what's really happening in our country.
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