A crime thriller can’t just be written with the main plot in mind. There has to be side plots, and they’re usually character focused. Well, Countdown has a bunch of them, with one of them involved Detective Mark Meachum.
Throughout the first Countdown episode, we saw him clutch his head or wince every now and then, and it was only at the end of the episode that we learned he had a serious health condition. It’s clear that this condition hasn’t been reported, and now he needs to work on hiding his pain if he wants to stay on the task force.
What illness does Meachum have in Countdown?
Meachum’s doctor explained at the end of Countdown episode 1 that he has Glioblastoma Multiform, and we even got to see the scans. In other words, he has a huge brain tumor.
Okay, so there are treatments, right? That’s where the bad news continued. Despite being diagnosed with this for nine months, Meachum hasn’t undergone treatment. That’s because there are more risks to the gains, and Meachum’s doctor doesn’t recommend it.
All Meachum has is some pain medication that will help him get through the day. It’s not really helping, though, as the headaches are getting worse. Meachum’s doctor doesn’t think he should be working, though, suggesting that he uses the last weeks or months of his life relaxing and soaking up the sun. That’s not what Meachum is all about, though.
It means Meachum doesn’t care much about his own life in Countdown
Because of his illness, Meachum knows that his life is a ticking time bomb. He doesn’t have much time left, and he wants to make that time count. It means he’s more than willing to put his life on the line, since he’d likely rather go out in a blaze of glory than through this tumor.
Sadly, Countdown episode 3 showed what that recklessness can do. The undercover op went wrong, and we’ve ended the episode with Drew’s life on the line. Meachum is sure to feel like it’s his fault, as if he acted with more care, this probably won’t have happened.
That’s probably not going to change much for Meachum. All he cares about is making sure he can do something good before he dies, and that means protecting Los Angeles from this Chernobyl-sized event.
Countdown airs on Wednesdays on Prime Video.
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