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Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Countdown Episode 4.
After last week’s Countdown premiere, the task force has been tossed through the wringer. Detective Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles) and his allies are no closer to finding that missing nuclear material, and now they’ve been seriously tested as one of their own inches closer to death. In the latest episode of the Prime Video original, titled “Bite ‘Em Down,” things heat up — and those responsible for throwing Los Angeles into chaos have yet to be found.
‘Countdown’ Episode 4 Begins With Devastating News
Countdown Episode 4 begins with Damon Drew (Jonathan Togo) being loaded into an ambulance. First responders have arrived at the burning restaurant, and Drew is as worse for wear as ever, bleeding out quicker than Meachum can put pressure on the wound. After telling Nathan Blythe (Eric Dane) to try and see what they can save from the basement of the restaurant, Meachum gets in the ambulance with Drew, who is quickly rushed into surgery upon arriving at the hospital. Soon, the rest of the team arrives and anxiously awaits the news. But if you thought that all would turn out alright, Blythe is quickly informed that Drew has died in surgery. “They said he lost too much blood,” the team leader reveals. “They did everything they could, but they…” And with that, the task force has lost its first member.
Considering all that Drew has been dealing with, given the loss of his son and all, it seems that making him the Agent Coulson to the task force’s Avengers adds more insult to injury than we would like. We see this especially when Blythe and Evan Shepherd (Violette Beane) have to inform Drew’s wife, Cora (Amanda Brooks), of the terrible news — and it’s as heartbreaking as you can imagine. Not only has Cora lost a child, but she’s now become a widow as well. Back at HQ, Blythe addresses the team and offers a brief eulogy for his fallen friend. It’s a touching moment, but we don’t have time to dwell. There’s still work to do. Meachum explains to Blythe everything he saw before the firefight. He remembers that the word “Gallagher” was taped on one of the boards. Speaking of, Borys Volchek (Bogdan Yasinski) threatens his partner, the owner of the restaurant from the previous episode, and tells them that they will see this through. Things are clearly heated between them after the last episode.
Back at HQ, Shepherd and Keynote Bell (Elliot Knight) have a quick moment about how they need to put whoever did this to Drew into the ground, and it’s clear that their grief has made them forget all about due process. Also, it seems that Countdown may be teasing something more between these two, as they’ve developed a bond that flirts with the romantic. Meanwhile, Meachum blames himself for Drew’s death, noting that he shouldn’t have gone rogue and should have relied on his team. But Amber Oliveras (Jessica Camacho) is insistent that they need to keep going, recalling the first time she lost a member of her team. It isn’t long before Shepherd finds a location for Mikhail Durko (Daniel Chernish), the man who owns the restaurant they burned down. Heading down to Studio City, the team dives into a new conflict. But instead of finding Mikhail, they find his wife, Tatiana (Amanda Brooks), and bring her in.
Things Change for the Task Force in ‘Countdown’ Episode 4
But Drew’s death is only the tip of the iceberg for the problems on Blythe’s mind. He soon learns that DA Grayson Valwell (Merrick McCartha) is trying to pull the LAPD detectives — Meachum and Lucas Finau (Uli Latukefu) — off the task force and reassign them to another investigation. Enraged, Blythe pays Valwell a visit, but the DA has no interest in backing down. Blythe warns him that he will soon see a side to him that he doesn’t like, and we’re left to wonder if there’s a side to Blythe that Valwell likes at all. Back at HQ, Meachum and Oliveras interrogate Tatiana and eventually convince her to reach out to Mikhail. After dropping some digital bait, Mikhail agrees to meet her in Chinatown, but little did he know, he’s surrounded by the team. Of course, Tatiana tips him off, and he runs, but the task force chases and eventually nabs him.
Frustrated by Valwell, Blythe turns to Bell to find out what he knows about the DA. As established previously, Bell’s father, Isaiah Bell, knew Valwell back in the day. Blythe seems to respect the elder Bell’s opinion, and asks the other Bell what he knew of his current political opponent. To Blythe’s surprise, Bell goes to bat for Valwell, noting that he supported his father on a murder case back in the day that seemed impossible. Meanwhile, Shepherd finds Drew’s baseball hat in the office and decides to keep it at her desk as a reminder. Later, in the interview room, Mikhail tells Meachum and Oliveras that he’s innocent, and everything that happened in the previous episode was a misunderstanding. He tells the detective that he was never going to kill him, and refuses to acknowledge the maps in the basement.
At a stalemate, Meachum suggests that Shepherd track down one of Mikhail’s family members, the same nephew who picked Meachum up in the previous episode. Finding his place of work in Downey, Meachum and Oliveras arrive and ID Dmitry Kotov (Nick Bardin), who immediately runs. Of course, our heroes corner him, and to keep things even more interesting, Oliveras plants heroin on him as a threat to get him talking. (Something Meachum isn’t terribly excited about, considering she was supposed to dispose of that heroin block she took in “Dead Lots of Times.”) It turns out, Mikhail has a secret daughter, Anya, and the detectives want to use her as leverage. It’s then that Shepherd asks to conduct the interview, wanting to use her likeness to Anya to their advantage. Somehow, it works, and Mikhail tells them what they need to know, namely concerning the identity of Volchek. Mikhail tells them about how they met, and he swears that he was not privy to all the terrorist was doing. He also reveals that the pair had a system for making contact.
Related
The series stars Jensen Ackles.
‘Countdown’ Episode 4 Ends With Volchek Gaining the Upper Hand
After Mikhail seemingly contacts Volchek in Hollywood with a coded X that reminds us of Mulder’s apartment window in The X-Files, they wait at the Van Nuys Airport for the villain to arrive. As the sun goes down, the task force sets up a sting operation, and the terrorist soon arrives to speak with Mikhail. The moment he’s in sight, the task force full of LAPD and FBI operatives swarm the airport, but when Meachum takes the hat off the man, it’s not Volchek at all. Rather, the mastermind sent an impostor in his place, knowing full well what the task force was up to.
Elsewhere, we see Volchek at a movie, surrounded by a laughing audience as he sits in complete deadpan silence. We see from his point of view the events of the day, including Mikhail’s message, and we understand that he’s a bit more formidable than the team gave him credit for. Back at HQ, Cora Drew addresses the task force. She begs them to finish what they started and to ensure that Drew didn’t die for nothing. She assures them that her husband never let anything get in the way when he was trying to save the country, and that they shouldn’t blame themselves either. Blythe reminds her that he will be honored every day until the job is finished, and this Countdown episode ends on a somber but impactful note.
New episodes of Countdown are available every Wednesday on Prime Video.
- Meachum and Oliveras are working even better as a team.
- Shepherd gets her due this week and it’s powerful.
- Volchek is as mysterious and intriguing as ever.
- Did the task force really need a Phil Coulson moment to press on?
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