The One Chicago franchise has become the one TV franchise I most look forward to every September (and it's not hard to pick, PD is hands down my favorite.)
Med, Fire and PD have all been running for over 10 years, and the crew and staff in Firehouse 51, the Intelligence Unit, and Gaffney Medical all feel like family now. Not to mention Chicago the city itself.
But thankfully, as we still have at least eight more weeks to wait (at time of writing), there is one new series that is getting me through my Chicago withdrawal.
Prime Video's Countdown.
From the mind of Derek Haas – the creator of Chicago Fire – Countdown launched on June 25 with three episodes, and is now airing weekly throughout the summer.
It follows Supernatural's Jensen Ackles as LAPD detective Mark Meachum who is recruited to a secret task force, alongside undercover agents from all branches of law enforcement, to investigate the murder of a Department of Homeland Security officer in broad daylight.
"But the hunt for the killer soon uncovers a plot far more sinister than anyone could have imagined, kicking off a race against time to save a city of millions," the tagline reads.
The show is coming to its explosive conclusion after 13 episodes but after a shaky start it quickly found its feet.
© Elizabeth Morris/PrimeEric Dane stars as Nathan Blythe, the man charged with heading up the taskforce, and he's a mix of Fire's Boden and PD's Voight; one part father figure and one part rulebreaker.
As Meachum, Jensen is the lead of the series, and viewers learn early on that he is battling his own health issues that he keeps secret from the team. This is a fine role and one that Jensen is digging his teeth into, but as a character I find him to be far less interesting than his colleagues.
© Elizabeth Morris/PrimeThe Flash's Jessica Camacho stars as Amber Oliveras, coming in from the DEA, and Violett Beane (Evan Shepherd, FBI, cyber crimes), Elliot Knight (Keyonte Bell, FBI, terrorism), and Uli Latukefu (Detective Luke Finau, LAPD's Gang and Narcotics division) round out the taskforce with their own unique set of skills.
As the episodes have continued, these latter three have thankfully been expanded to become far more fascinating characters than Meachum (and at times Oliveras), which also feels like classic One Chicago, to have the secondary characters have the more intriguing personalities, and it's my hope that if a season two were to be ordered, we'd see more of their backstory and their skills.
© Elizabeth Morris/PrimeUnlike One Chicago, Countdown is set in Los Angeles, but similar to the NBC series, Countdown also makes its location a character.
Set across the entirety of the city, each new neighborhood is given a title sequence on screen to let viewers know where our heroes are, and alongside the palm tree-lined streets of Beverly Hills and the concrete jungle of downtown LA, the show takes us into the valley and Burbank, east LA and Chinatown and numerous other locations.
© Elizabeth Morris/PrimeThis decision is not only a reminder of the vastness of the sprawling city, and also cleverly showcases the scale of the disaster that will take place if the team fails to succeed.
That disaster, as we learn throughout the first half of the show, is a nuclear attack by a Belarusian independent agent, known as Volchek, angry at the United States for the perceived wrongdoings against him and his family over the years.
Countdown was given a rare 13-episode order and there are five episodes remaining in season one.
As the taskforce begins to close in on Volchek, I'm hopeful that we not only get a satisfying payoff when it comes to the drama, but that our characters also are given conclusions that push them into a second season.
Namely, that Meachum's diagnosis is unveiled and he goes out in a blaze of glory playing the martyr, while we finally discover what Evan has been keeping secret, and that she and Keyonte make out.
