The latest episode of Countdown just gave us more insight into the past of the villainous Volchek and why his plans against America are so terrifying!
Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for Countdown season 1
The push of Prime Video’s thrilling new Countdown is a task force of various agents and an LAPD detective named Meachum (Jensen Ackles). The group’s investigation into the murder of a Homeland Security officer soon uncovers a plot against Los Angeles, led by the mysterious Volchek (Bogdan Yasinski).
All the team knows so far is that Volchek has a nuclear device and plans to set it off in L.A. The audience knows a bit more, which is that the mysterious man has some serious motives to go after the U.S. and is ruthless enough to make his plans work.
Who is Volchek in Countdown?
Countdown episode 2 involved flashbacks to Belarus in 2008, as Borys Volchek was a simple Defence Ministry worker when his wayward brother Anton begged for help. He’d gotten involved with an American who wanted some defense secrets Borys had or he’d kill Anton.
Anton felt guilty over using his brother to save himself and took his own life. Volchek ended up killing that American and starting a crusade.
Countdown episode 5 had more flashbacks, this time to 2018, as Volchek was going for a big business partnership and blackmailed a rival investor to back off. Volchek then learned that the authorities had discovered him embezzling millions from his company and the Ministry to fund his plans.
With the authorities closing in, Volchek arranged for a lookalike to board a plane which then exploded. Not only did that kill the lookalike but Volchek’s beloved wife as he looked on.
What is Volchek’s plan?
Speaking to TV Insider, Bogdan Yasinski talked of how even he was shocked that Volchek would allow his wife to die in order to make his own faked death look good and this is the moment he passed the point of no return.
”I think that’s the pivotal moment for him where he really turns bad because it’s like once you do something like that, then doing what comes next and what’s kind of the central theme of this entire show, it’s not too far off. It’s already kind of in the same bucket. So I think that’s a pivotal moment because it really explains how does someone really escalate to the level that the show does?”
A question is if Volchek feels any remorse over this and Yasinski had his own thoughts on what could be driving the man on, which could play into future episodes. He noted how the man served in the army and likely saw some horrors in Chechnya that hardened him and left mental scars.
“That’s how I saw it, because that’s a coldness that’s atypical. But in other times, he seems warm and very reasonable. So there’s almost like a duality to him where he can just shut off his humanity in some ways.”
Yasinski hinted that Volchek knows something is off about Meachum and even seems excited to match wits with a worthy foe. His ultimate plan is still a mystery yet the latest episodes show that a man who would sacrifice his beloved wife just to keep himself safe is a villain that will stop at nothing to complete his mission.
In short, the task force has their hands full taking on a man who is utterly ruthless and has ample reason to hate the U.S. and raises the stakes on Countdown even greater.
Countdown streams Wednesdays on Prime Video.
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