Month: August 2025

‘Countdown’ Season Finale is Next Week – Here’s What We Know About Mark Meachum

‘Countdown’ Season Finale is Next Week – Here’s What We Know About Mark Meachum

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As we head into the season finale of Countdown, I wanted to look back over the evolution of one of the show’s main characters, Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles). We’ve gotten to know Mark better than any of the other task force members, and to be honest, it’s the fact that Jensen Ackles stars that got me watching in the first place. Like the others he’s brought to life so vividly, Ackles’ acting talent made Meachum an interesting character.

Let’s look back at what we know about Mark and what’s kept him feeling real and human, instead of an unrealistic bigger-than-life superhero. I value that about all the characters Ackles plays, even when he’s literally playing a “supe” (as in Solder Boy). We still see their humanity, and often their vulnerability too.

One of the reasons I hope there’s a Season 2 is that we don’t know very much about Mark Meachum’s past yet. Or even his personal life in the current one. We do get a few glimpses of domestic Mark, in his comfy little house or having a beer on his comfy little front porch.

We also get hints of a difficult and troubled childhood and adolescence, but I’d really like to know more. How have those experiences shaped who he is today?

And who IS he today?

Well, first off…

He’s a Charmer

Mark can come off like a jerk sometimes, and in fact he can sometimes BE a jerk. Especially when he feels rejected, so he needs to let that person know he does NOT care (because of course he does).

But he can also be both charming and adorable.

He turns that charm on Oliveras right from the start, though most of the time she’s not buying it.

As the internet would say, he’s pookie.

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One More Episode to Go for Season One of Countdown!

One More Episode to Go for Season One of Countdown!

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WARNING: SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 12!

Will Meachum Be Climbing the Ladder?

In the penultimate episode of Season 1, Todd gets scarier – and his threats get more personal – and Meachum contemplates his future, now that he has one.

Blythe asks him if he’s thought about moving up the ladder to Lieutenant or Captain, and when Meachum makes a joke of it, calls him on it.

Blythe: Your main problem is you sell yourself short. You make jokes because you’re insecure. You’re a natural leader, don’t have disdain for ambition.

Meachum: I didn’t know we were doing an FBI psych profile…

(Thereby proving Blythe’s point)

It seems like something that Meachum hasn’t really let himself consider, but he does often take the lead and the team follows him almost instinctively, so I think Blythe is onto something. Meachum has a lot of baggage though, and his defense mechanism of knocking himself down before someone else can do it keeps getting in his way.

He admits that to Blythe later that day.

Meachum: I was thinking about what you said this morning… I appreciate it. Sometimes I have a tendency to get in my own way with things, I don’t know why.

Blythe offers to put in a word for him with the LAPD higher ups.

He does start taking charge more, calling more of the shots when the team is out in the field and generally starting to seem like a leader.

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Countdown Episode 11 Gets Disturbing with ‘Run’

Countdown Episode 11 Gets Disturbing with ‘Run’

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Season One, Part 2

The task force’s new mission is, in some ways, more disturbing to me than its first. There’s something less horrifying about the stereotypical ‘bad guy’ plot to blow up a city or take over the weather or something on a grand scale – maybe because that’s what we’re used to from the Marvel type villain. Or maybe because it’s less personal, so somehow less impactful. Volchek was one of those ‘bad guys’ – though I was also fascinated by Volchek as a villain. We saw enough of his backstory to understand some of how he became so bent on revenge, and he was smart and devious and the actor had lots of charisma in spite of the character he was playing. Is it wrong that I kinda miss him?

The villain of this mission is, frankly, just horrifying – in a turn my stomach kind of way. I don’t mind my media dark, so I’m intrigued. What are we going to find out about this guy??

This is the first full episode in what feels like Part 2 of the first season of the show. It’s disconcerting that it’s so different, but I admit it also ups the fascination factor. Even the pace of this episode is much slower, especially in the beginning. We follow the new bad guy in acute detail as he listens to radio propaganda, puts on camo gear, loads his rifle and goes hunting.  The music is even slow, and while I was fairly sure this was going to be a bad guy, it was almost deceptively peaceful. Until the gut punch at the end of his hunt.

We see that a few years earlier, the guy is out of work, presumably for PTSD reasons, and reacts badly when a friend/colleague suggests that he should get back to work or he’ll be called a malingerer. His girlfriend is also pushing that, and you can see the pressure building up – he’s like a powder keg, waiting for a match. I find this guy scarier than Volchek because it’s “everyday” rage and violence, and we’re all surrounded by people like that in real life. As soon as we meet his girlfriend and her adorable beloved little beagle, my stomach was queasy. When she betrays him and he takes the dog with him when he leaves, I was full on nauseous.

The task force needs a name for their killer; Meachum suggests Todd. I’m not sure why that’s funny, but I laughed and so did the rest of the team. Nevertheless, Todd it is.

I don’t like Todd.

Guess Who’s Back?

They know that the Governor of California and the POTUS are the targets, thus the need for the task force – which Oliveras returns to join also.

That’s not a big surprise, though we couldn’t be absolutely certain they’d bring her back. Considering that the sparks between her and Meachum are definitely part of the show’s appeal, though, it would have been an odd decision not to have Jessica Camacho return.

Things are strained between Meachum and her after their almost-hook-up ten months before, especially because Oliveras has been dating the doctor who cured Meachum, Julio. Meachum is clearly threatened by that, posturing by insinuating he’s been doing a lot of sleeping around himself, “doing all the living I can with whoever, more than one whoevers…”

Oliveras: Gross.

Meachum: it’s not gross, it’s human nature.

(Sam and Dean Winchester may have had this same conversation after Dean’s tryst with twins, just saying…)

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Episode 10 of Countdown Sets the Stage for a Season 2!

Episode 10 of Countdown Sets the Stage for a Season 2!

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WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 10 OF COUNTDOWN!

This episode, the tenth in Countdown’s first season, is unusual in that it wraps up a major story line, with three episodes to go in the season. The big confrontation with Volchek that has been the goal of the first ten episodes doesn’t disappoint in terms of suspense, as we pick up right where we left off, Meachum and Volchek staring each other down as panicked people flee the square.

We start with a bang – or actually a not-bang. Volchek hits the detonate button, but Evan can see it on the tablet and yells to Bell to “rip it out”. They both rip out the tablets and it stops the detonation just in time. Volchek realizes and takes off, civilians still running all over too. In the chaos, Finau shoots Andrej before he can shoot his family.

Meachum and Oliveras chase Volchek to the roof. The take down is complicated by Meachum’s brain tumor making him dizzy and in pain at the most inopportune of times. He stumbles, pleading “not now not now” as Oliveras gets knocked down by Volchek as he runs. Mark is barely able to see straight but he stops to help her, with a reassuring “hey hey” that’s familiar to any Supernatural fan from decades of Sam and Dean being in similar life and death situations.

Oliveras: Get Volchek!

Meachum gets to the roof in spite of being in pain and dizzy, banging his head against a wall in desperation to try to focus well enough to aim a shot. Volchek is still trying to carry out his mass murder, shooting at the fuel tanks of the trucks.  Oliveras makes it to the roof and locks eyes with Meachum.

Oliveras: Do it.

It honestly seemed like a better idea to me for her to do it considering Meachum’s impairment, but he takes the shot and Volchek falls to the ground. The two stand over his body as Meachum calls in the report. And, just like that, the tragic story of Volchek is over.

I felt a little sad, oddly. He was a great villain – smart, ruthless, with a backstory that made you cringe for him sometimes. I like my villains (and my heroes, for that matter) complicated!

The Aftermath

Blythe gives one of his motivating speeches about how proud he is of the “badass individuals” on the team. He says it was an honor to have led them, and that the hard part now is to go their separate ways.

Blythe: But if we’re called upon to serve again, we’re going to be better partners and investigators because of the people in this room.

He takes Drew’s plaque down from the wall, bringing it with him.

Meachum speaks for the team.

Meachum: Even when we were cursing your name… mostly me… I think I speak for all of us when I say you are the best damn leader any of us has ever had, ever. We’d follow you anywhere.

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Supernatural Con Comes to Novi, Michigan!

Supernatural Con Comes to Novi, Michigan!

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The Supernatural con in Novi (just outside Detroit) was another first time visiting those cities for me, and also a chance to hang out with two good friends from the SPNFamily, so that made it special. In between panels, I had lovely lunches and dinners with Laurena and Karla and even got to see some of the area (and the SPNSurvivors HQ, one of the charities that our books support). I write a lot about how beneficial fandom can be, and the friendships I’ve made are a personal reminder of just how true that is. Being able to help the important work of non-profits like SPNSurvivors through the books I’ve published is another. When I say fandom can be life changing, I mean for ME too!

I caught some of Matt Cohen and Gil McKinney’s panel since I had help at the vendor table from Laurena and her intrepid partner.

Matt every time there’s a question he doesn’t know the answer to:  I know Gil wants to answer this…

Gil to Matt when HE doesn’t know the answer:  Matt, please elaborate…

They have developed a great rapport for their joint panels, which I’m thoroughly enjoying. Both Matt and Gil wrote very personal chapters in Family Don’t End With Blood, about their experience as actors and how the SPNFamily changed them.

Matt recently shaved his beard, confiding that his wife didn’t kiss him for the two months he had it.

Gil: I liked the beard!

A fan asked who they wish they could talk to.

Gil: My dad. And also it would be pretty cool to talk to Elvis!

Matt: I’d like to have a conversation with River Phoenix and Heath Ledger.

The two have developed a closer friendship thanks to the cons.

Gil: You’re gonna train me to be a better man?

Matt: No, you’re gonna do that for me!

Matt’s face when he finds out that Gil once sang the national anthem at a Lakers and a Dodgers game:

Who would they save on Supernatural?

Both: Ourselves! And we’d bring back Drake Rodger as our love child.

Valid.

Matt on Countdown and Jensen: Can he get any hotter? God, he’s so beautiful. Shout out to the Ackles and the Padalecki, we love ‘em.

Us too, boys.

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Adventures in Oklahoma City – SPNOKC 2025!

Adventures in Oklahoma City – SPNOKC 2025!

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In June of this year, we had the first Supernatural con at OKC – and yes, it was quite an adventure (for me, anyway!)

Getting to Oklahoma City from Philly (and back) was quite an adventure in itself – a little too much adventure in fact. After multiple delays in Charlotte (which were made more bearable with some good company from Creation’s Jen and Jenn, who I ran into in the airport), I finally arrived with barely enough time to get the vendor table set up – and just as an impressive thunderstorm hit. Our Lyft driver on the way to the convention center kept the three of us entertained on the drive there, though part of that was his repeated implication that a tornado was imminent.

No tornado, but he also couldn’t figure out how to drop me off AT the convention center instead of the hotel, so I ended up trudging up the street in a rainstorm getting wetter by the second and having no idea where I was going. To make things more challenging, the street was blocked off by an impressive number of law enforcement vehicles, which totally confused me because I’m not very good at following basketball so I had no idea there were big time basketball things going on. Finally in sight of the convention center, my way was blocked by a news reporter doing a live report about the big time basketball things. I was by this time in no mood to stand in the rain a second longer, so I cut through the shot apologizing but determined. I must have looked like a woman who should not be trifled with, because they didn’t.

I quickly got set up (trying not to drip all over everything) – at least it was a nicer convention center than NJ, though I will never be happy to be in a convention center. At least the books were dry, thanks to my friend Betty delivering them safe and sound!

I was happy to be there in time to catch some of Chad Lindberg’s panel. I’ve known Chad since way way back in 2008, and I’m thrilled to have him back at some cons this year.  He wrote a fascinating chapter for There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done  with all kinds of behind the scenes information about filming with Jared and Jensen and creating the character of Ash. And his mullet.

A fan asked what role he’d love to play.

Chad: I’d like to play an alien, ala Starman – like an alien love story.

Chad is known for being a ghosthunter in real life, as well as for playing Ash on Supernatural.

Chad: People ask, did Supernatural get you into ghosts? No, we lived in a haunted house when I was growing up.

How to de-stress from a ghost hunt?

Chad: connect with those you love. And a little weed. Okay, maybe a lot…

He said that filming October Sky was a very emotional experience – they got to know the real life rocket boys.

What monster would Ash love to be?

Chad: He’d love to be a werewolf. He’s already got the hair for it!

Seriously, nobody tells a ghost story like Chad. He put out a bell that senses spirits, and every time he mentioned the haunted Stanley Hotel, it went off!

Clearly he needs to go visit.

Two of my other favorite Supernatural actors were also onstage – Gil McKinney and Matt Cohen, who both wrote very personal chapters in Family Don’t End With Blood about their experience as actors and on Supernatural.

Matt Cohen talked about his new movie, Exes, also starring Briana Buckmaster, Mark Shepherd, Felicia Day and Ricky Whittle. He said his favorite scene to direct with Briana was a terrible tough limo scene of them getting beaten up and then it being finally over!

Mark plays an American, which should be interesting – I’m so used to his Crowley accent (or his actual real life one)

Gil portrays the Mad Hatter on Matt Cohen’s other exciting new project, the animated series Public Domain – along with lots of other SPNFamily.

Gil to a clowning around Matt: You are so weird!

(They are actually entirely amusing together onstage)

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Supernatural New Jersey 2025!

Supernatural New Jersey 2025!

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The Supernatural Creation convention in NJ is one of the few that I can drive to. With the constant cancellations and delays and pieces of planes falling off and near collisions recently, that made me very happy indeed. The drive wasn’t too bad in terms of traffic, and though I managed to get slightly lost when I was almost there (as has happened every single damn time at this venue), I made it not too horribly late. It’s not my favorite venue (bathroom line ten miles long, anyone?) so I’m glad next year’s NJ con is at a hotel, but it is one of my favorite cons anyway since some of my closest fandom friends are often able to come.

I mostly stayed at my vendor table (with very welcome food breaks from friends – thank you!) – but I didn’t miss Misha’s panel!

Misha Collins did his It Seemed Like A Good Idea one man show in the Big Apple the night before.

Billy Moran: It was good!

He got some questions about Castiel and Supernatural.

Misha: I think Castiel would do well in Star Wars because he has wings to teleport. But Sesame Street would also be great for him, he’d be learning right along with the kids.

Also Misha: But he’d probably have a rivalry with Big Bird, both are tall and feathered.

Lol

Misha was reminiscing about New Jersey being his very first convention fifteen years ago. You can actually read all about that con in ‘Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls’, since Kathy and I were there too, and tried to help a slightly overwhelmed Misha through it.

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The Clock’s Ticking for Episode 9 of Countdown, “10-33”

The Clock’s Ticking for Episode 9 of Countdown, “10-33”

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SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 9 OF COUNTDOWN!!

This episode is one of my favorites so far. I’m always more drawn in by emotional drama than suspense/adventure, and this episode had plenty of it – plenty of both in fact!

How many times have I said that the beginning and ending of a Countdown episode is always so well done – and usually so impactful. This episode is no different. In fact, the first frames are hard to watch, Blythe trying to crawl back to his car with the knife still stuck in him, blood everywhere. For those of you Supernatural fans, it’s a Red Meat scenario when you’re really not sure the hero can survive, and you’re in awe of his determination.

It makes your stomach turn with how visceral it is. He somehow gets there, pops on the siren, gasping in pain, and calls in a breathless “10-33, corner of…” as he passes out.

Tick tick tick tick

Meachum’s Getting Worse

Meachum isn’t doing much better than Blythe at this point.

We see him once again in his bathroom, staring in the mirror, holding his head. Grimacing, he struggles to open the pill bottle for some relief and they spill all over the floor. He desperately scoops them up and takes some but the pain continues.

Sobbing, he splashes water on his face to try to keep going, then bangs his head against the wall in desperation. (If you’ve ever had a terrible migraine, you can understand that impulse as just trying to make it go away or temporarily replace it with some other pain even).

Once again, Ackles really makes us feel his pain and empathize with his incredible frustration. There is nobody better at conveying the intensity of his character’s pain – there’s a reason there were entire online communities devoted to “Hurt Dean Winchester” after all.

Meachum as the phone rings in the middle of his anguish: What??

He sits down, gasping for breath, struggling to compose himself as the phone keeps ringing, finally managing a somewhat normal sounding “Meachum” as he answers.

If you weren’t clutching your own head at this point, you’re a stronger person than I am!

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Things Get Serious in Countdown Episode 8, ‘The Nail In The Chair’

Things Get Serious in Countdown Episode 8, ‘The Nail In The Chair’

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SPOILERS FOR COUNTDOWN EPISODE 8!

This is a pivotal episode, and one that really amps up the feeling of desperation – on both sides.

Which is a good thing in terms of storytelling….

A Sad Man With Alot of Money

The story so far recap reminds us just how desperate and angry Volchek is – and how tragic his life has been. He is a terrible ruthless villain in this story, but actually seeing the losses and tragedies and betrayals that have shaped him also make him an understandable one. Shout out to Bogdan Yasinski once again for his nuanced portrayal – you are chilled by his ruthlessness but can also see his pain clearly.

We see a flashback to young Volchek and his doomed brother, who was taken advantage of and set up, and paid the price.

“I’m sorry I got you into this, brother…” And then the shot, and his brother dead by his own hand, unable to live with himself.

The title of the episode is explained right away, Volchek drinking at a bar, sharing a story about how Russians and Ukrainians and Belarussians sit on a nail on a chair. Belarussians, he says, would pretend it’s okay, pretend it’s comfortable, ask may I sit here all day?  It’s clear he’s talking about himself, how he’s been trying to handle his life that’s felt like sitting on a nail.

Eventually Volchek passes out and falls off the chair. Once he’s managed to make his way outside he’s approached by a man who knows who he is – “a sad man with a lot of money”. Wow, if that line isn’t relevant… He offers him protection. (That usually doesn’t go well, just saying).

In a flashback to 2021, “Mr. Vuso” meets with his banker, who suggests that he could disappear in America, have the American Dream. Volchek says he just wants to start over.  But the City of LA tells him they’ll requisition some of his parking lots for their vehicles, ruining his profits, so he tries to bribe them – which gets him arrested. He really has been screwed over repeatedly, and now everyone is paying the price.

There’s an eerie foreshadowing at the police station with Meachum and Finau literally crossing paths with their eventual adversary, then Volchek asks to see his lawyer. First he’s roughed up by the cop holding him, then by the other men in the holding cell who now see him as a rich guy. He gets brutally beaten by them and nobody does anything about it for far too long.  Bloodied and furious, Volchek is more dangerous than ever.

He still looks at photos of his wife on his phone as he waits to meet with his lawyer.

Probably not a job anyone should take, just saying.

Volchek: I was living my life. I absorbed the nail. Then they took my brother, they took my wife. I came to this country to see with my own eyes to see what kind of men could do these things. I thought maybe I was wrong, but it’s not the crops, it’s the very soil.  Sometimes the man gets up off the nail and smashes the chair to bits.

Me: Uh oh. Better run, lawyer dude!

He locks the guy in his car and blows it up.

Meachum and Oliveras: Sparks?

Meanwhile, the task force follows the leads they have. Meachum interrupts his domestic moment of cooking eggs on his stove to answer the phone and finds out about the dead Belarussian guys in Volchek’s basement.

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