Editor’s note: The below recap contains spoilers for Countdown Episode 12. After a pretty major time jump, Countdown hit the gas and sped right into a brand-new threat as Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles), Amber Oliveras (Jessica Camacho), and the rest of the task force are reassembled. As the group’s latest foe, a man Meachum has deemed “Todd” (Grant Harvey), threatens to take out both the Governor of California and the U.S. President, the stakes are pretty high. With only one more episode left, “This Is His Signature” only seems to be the beginning, leading us to wonder if the Derek Haas thriller will be renewed for a second season or not.
‘Countdown’ Episode 12 Sets Up an Intense Finale

Elliot Knight as Bell meeting with Jensen Ackles, Jessica Camacho & Uli Latukefu about a case in Countdown
Image via Prime Video

“This Is His Signature” begins with Nathan Blythe (Eric Dane) asking Meachum about his future. Blythe seems to want to help the LAPD detective climb up the career ladder, though Meachum isn’t so sure. Blythe points out the obvious that Meachum makes jokes because he’s insecure, but reaffirms his belief that he’s a natural-born leader. Meanwhile, over in Kern County, things get a bit heated when California Governor George Shelby’s (Aaron Lazar) press secretary, Hope Miller (Moniqua Plante), arrives at a gas station. What seems to be a normal phone call turns deadly, however, as Miller is shot in the head and murdered right on the spot. It’s no secret who is responsible. At headquarters, Evan Shepherd (Violette Beane) slowly works through Todd’s manifesto, trying to identify the language that the killer uses. Lucas Finau (Uli Latukefu), meanwhile, tries to find any information in Sugarloaf about when exactly the cabin was rented by Todd. But the task force’s concentration is interrupted when Heather (Rachel Armstrong) informs the group about the murder of the press secretary. It isn’t long before the gang is on the scene, questioning the agents in charge, including the suspicious CHP State Trooper Randall Tooks (Rico E. Anderson). Meachum and the team decide that the shot must’ve come from the hills, and while they check on that situation, Blythe and Fitz (Joe Dinicol) leave to speak to the agency that Hope worked for. At the crime scene, Meachum and Oliveras talk to Troy Ballard (Angel Rivera), the gas station clerk who didn’t see hardly anything, about what happened. Troy wants to talk to the cameras, and Meachum convinces him otherwise. Troy recounts what he saw, which was nothing, but he points them in the direction of Mr. Dockman (Justin Wade), the manager, who gives the task force access to the cameras. Through the footage, they see someone (seemingly Todd) climbing into Hope’s car after her murder. Taking the footage to HQ, they comb over the footage some more and see that Todd actively hid his face the whole time. This entire event leads them to believe that the killer knew Hope’s every movement.
‘Countdown’ Continues to Play the Long Game in Episode 12

Jensen Ackles as Meachum standing next to Eric Dane as Blythe in Countdown
Image via Prime Video

In Sacramento, Blythe, Fitz, and Gov. Shelby speak about the murder. Blythe boldly suggests that the governor stay out of the public eye and cancel the event with the President, but Shelby seemingly (and perhaps unsurprisingly) refuses. Whether it’s stupidity or pride, we’re not quite sure, but Blythe leaves knowing that things are going to get much worse before they get better. Back at HQ, Shepherd’s sister Molly (Michelle DeShon) asks her to come downstairs and talk, and when she does, we can see that she’s been through the wringer. She tells Shepherd that she needs a “reset,” and the two vow to spend some more time together — away from the hard party life. Blythe and Fitz speak to the PR firm that Miller worked at in Sacramento, but they can’t figure out anything that she would have on her person that Todd would’ve taken from the car. However, she did have the governor’s full schedule on any device of hers, including her phone, which was likely stolen. Later, Keyonte Bell (Elliot Knight) is mysteriously contacted by CHP State Trooper Tooks, who asks the FBI agent to come out to his home to share some information he refuses to convey over the phone. Bell isn’t so sure, but goes out to Wasco anyway. The whole thing seems a bit off, and then Tooks tells Bell that he has a theory. He asks Bell to show him the footage from after the murder, where Tooks points out that Todd isn’t actually taking anything out of the car (it’s likely he already knew Miller’s schedule), but rather putting something inside of it. At headquarters, Meachum admits to Blythe that he appreciates what he sees in him, even though he doesn’t often see it in himself. Blythe offers to put in a word for the detective at LAPD, but before the conversation goes further, Oliveras arrives and reveals that she believes that Todd might be “on the job,” meaning he may be a cop or working directly with law enforcement. “Everything that he’s doing is to trigger a response,” she explains, and Blythe and Meachum are horrified by the possibility. It’s then that Meachum calls Bell, but he doesn’t answer. Afterward, Meachum invites Oliveras to drinks to go over her theory about Todd, but she (tragically) rejects his advances.
‘Countdown’ Episode 12 Ends With the Task Force Being Hunted

For those worried that Bell was in danger with Tooks, don’t be. He wasn’t a villain after all. In fact, although he didn’t pick up Meachum’s call, Bell contacts Finau and convinces him to take another peek at the car. When Finau arrives at impound and double-checks Miller’s vehicle. It turns out there is something stuck on the inside of the door, after all: a message. That night, Shepherd arrives at her place in Echo Park to find her sister nowhere in sight. Worried, she investigates further only to find her sister in bed with headphones on. The two share a nice night together, and Molly thanks her sister for always looking out for her. But while things are looking up for the task force, it all gets a bit more complicated when Blythe’s boss, ADIC Jay Tostaud (Scot Ruggles), arrives at HQ to reprimand the task force’s fearless leader for giving protection advice to the governor and POTUS. He tells him that if he ever does anything like that again will result in his being removed from his position, with no negotiations. Later, Shepherd tells the task force that the image Finau found is his signature. By image searching the back of the flyer scrap they found, they discover a bar called Raising Bane in Bradbury, which will be hosting a band that evening. Considering that Todd had the flyer, it’s the best possible lead they have to find him. Oliveras and Bell go undercover, asking for Mike Collins (Ronnie Gene Blevins), an old informant of hers from the DEA, and Meachum and Finau squeeze their way in as well. Meachum believes that something’s off with the whole place, and Collins tells Oliveras that a guy came in with a grand to give anyone coming in as an undercover cop a grand with an envelope. Although Oliveras proves herself not to be a cop, refusing the envelope, Meachum spots Todd taking pictures of Bell and Oliveras before leaving. The detective chases after Todd, but the terrorist fires back, eventually escaping with a host of other patrons who run for the hills. After the dust has settled, Collins gives Oliveras the envelope from Todd, which contains a note that ominously reads “only death can stop me.” Meachum realizes that the whole thing was all a setup to see who was on the task force hunting him, and now the real games begin. New episodes of Countdown air Wednesdays on Prime Video.

Countdown

Todd proves himself to be as formidable as Volchek, but can the task force take him down before the season’s end?

Release Date

June 25, 2025

Network

Prime Video

Showrunner

Derek Haas

Directors

Jonathan Brown, Avi Youabian, Lisa Robinson, Chris Grismer, Eric Stoltz, Tess Malone, Nina Lopez-Corrado

Jensen Ackles

Mark Meachum

Jessica Camacho

Amber Oliveras

Pros & Cons

The Tooks fake-out is well done.
Meachum acting like a leader is overdue.
Todd is always one step ahead, and we want to know why.

Without a Season 2 renewal, we’re getting nervous about whether Countdown will end Season 1 well.