Countdown
Countdown is an American crime drama television series created and written by Derek Haas (Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D…) It was released on Amazon Prime Video on the 25th of June 2025.
An undercover task force with agents from various law enforcement agencies, LAPD, DEA and FBI solving the murder of a Homeland Officer uncovers a sinister plot that needs to be diffused in a race against time, if lives are to be saved….
The Good
The major reason I started watching this show was because of Jensen Ackles who has been a favourite since playing Dean Winchester in the Supernatural series. And he delivers as Detective Mark Meachum LAPD, former US Army Ranger, undercover agent, reckless cowboy and all round bad ass. When he is not being a tough guy, he’s vulnerable about wanting to go out in blaze of glory taking down bad guys.
The taskforce members deliver a grounded performance with great chemistry, cracking jokes while they kickdown doors and take names under the directive of their no nonsense boss Nathan Blythe, Special Agent in Charge.
The series features various locations and makes an effort to show iconic landmarks of the various places where the investigations lead the team in their pursuit for answers.
Its an action series with octane fuelled action sequences from chases on foot to car chases, gun fights and high impact crashes that will have you on the edge of your seat.
The Bad
Despite the on the edge of your seat action… the series lacks the urgency implied in the title were Countdown should be a countdown to the disaster the taskforce is trying to avert and instead they take a scenic route in the race against time… giving the show a jarring pacing, that’s all wound up but nowhere to go… I had expected the series to have ticking countdown like Jack Bauer’s 24.
Countdown isn’t ground-breaking and comes across as a cautious homage to procedural crime shows following a formulaic structure of clues and investigations leading to a cliff-hanger situation diffused in next episode which becomes a repetitive cycle in each episode.
The series should have been trimmed to 8 episodes or ended on the 10th episode which felt like the season finale, with the only plot twist, being that there would be more episodes which had nothing to do with the build up, as if a new season was starting only to end on the most frustrating cliffhanger that would leave you checking if there will be another episode next week because, what was that?????
The Ugly
The villain is a stereotypical bad guy simply tying to to burn down the world to prove a point about being treated unfairly which isn’t enough of an excuse to explain the years and meticulous planning they invested in the chaos they are bent on unleashing, cause they can…..
Final Thoughts
Countdown Season 1 delivers the thrills you’d expect from a high-octane procedural that makes up for what it lacks in freshness with its charismatic cast
Have you watched Countdown?
Update On Friday 10 October 2025, Prime Video announced it would not be renewing Countdown.
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