Countdown Counters A Steamy Amber/ Mark Scene With Frightful Cliffhanger
The following contains spoilers from the July 30 episode of Countdown, now streaming on Prime Video.
Countdown Episode 8 (of 13) came thisclose to throwing two team members into bed, before leaving viewers with one gut punch of a cliffhanger.
"The Nail in the Chair" opened with flashbacks to 2021, where we witnessed the beginnings of Volchek (Bogdan Yasinski) making his tiny mark in America, by scooping up a fleet of Los Angeles parking lots to funnel money through. That plan proved ill-fated, however, when he got caught trying to bribe a city official. Irate at being deprived of the American dream (coupled with everything else he had lost), he killed his heretofore-helpful lawyer in a fiery car explosion, and set out on his plan of vengeance....
In the present day, we saw Volchek test law enforcement response times by having a hired hand park a skinned "American Postal Service" truck outside the federal building. As the task force scouted out the scene, Blythe (Eric Dane) repeatedly reprimanded Meachum (Jensen Ackles) for getting too close to the potentially explosive truck — which happened to interrupt Mark telling his SAC about his tumor. Afterwards, Bell (Elliot Knight) got a bead on a property where Volchek & Co. are likely storing the other skinned trucks. (That earned him an appreciated "Attaboy!" from SAC Blythe.) By the time the team arrived at the remote location, the barn was empty, but there was evidence (many emptied bags of fertilizer) to underscore the magnitude of the threat at hand.
Blythe sent his team home to catch up on sleep ahead of an assuredly busy 48-hour shift. Meachum invited Oliveras (Jessica Camacho) to spare herself some commuting time by crashing at his place — he'll "take the sofa" and all that — but after an exchange of looks that screamed, "We would not wind up sleeping," Amber declined. For one, she needs to sleep with a white noise machine (that Mark generously offered to imitate); secondly, she snarked, "I'm not Melinda Bates" (as in Mark's ex-girlfriend) "or her sister Rachel" (with whom he cheated on Melinda). "So that wouldn't work."
Blythe meanwhile used the latest gathering of evidence — and some strong-armed nudges from D.C. politicians — to leverage Belarusian consul general Astapov into coughing up his file on Volcheck. Astapov agreed, and (as we all do!) had handy the location of a random alley at which he and Buh-lyyythe should meet that night.
When Blythe rolled up, he found Astapov dead behind the wheel of his sedan, sporting a Colombian necktie. Blythe barely had a chance to react when he turned to find himself on the receiving end of a dagger being twisted into his side by Volchek.
Spooked by passing headlights, Volchek sauntered away, while a stunned Blythe slowly slumped to the pavement, the blade sticking through his suit jacket and looking not easily extractable....
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