Drama
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
Family man and faithful Department of Homeland Security agent Robert Darden is shot in cold blood at 8:31 a.m.
The next day, FBI Special Agent Nathan Blythe assembles a task force.
He claims that he chose task force members Mark Meachum, Amber Oliveras, Evan Shepherd, Keyonte Bell and Luke Finau because of their excellent reputations.
“You are the best in your departments,” states Blythe, “or I wouldn’t have selected you.”
Despite Blythe’s vote of confidence in the team, something seems odd.
For one thing, the task force members do not have excellent reputations. Oliveras and Meachum are disliked for being too rash, and the rest of the members don’t have much of a reputation at all with their teams. Additionally, a task force isn’t typically called in for just one murder. And finally, Blythe assembled the task force in less than a day after the incident—an unbelievable speed.
So what’s going on?
Nathan Blythe believes that a federal law-enforcement office has been compromised—and that Darden was either a part of it or got in the way. Even before the murder, Blythe had already been working on forming a top-secret task force to investigate the possibility of an internal conspiracy.
“I don’t know who I can trust,” says Blythe.
Additionally, Meachum assumes that the real reason Blythe chose the task force members is because their federal teams won’t miss them, thus maintaining the secrecy of their investigation.
Still, Blythe’s misfit members are eager to prove themselves. Together, they begin to uncover the dark truth about Darden’s death. They discover that the murder was not a stand-alone crime; instead, his death was meant to cover up a planned nuclear attack on Los Angeles.
Blythe’s task force must discover the source of the attack and stop it before it’s too late.
If you’re familiar with other crime dramas, Countdown’s content concerns are pretty much what you’d expect.
Violent moments and themes are frequent throughout the show. For example, the show is predicated on the possibility of a nuclear bomb destroying Los Angeles. And as the task force hunts for the culprits, guns are shot and punches are thrown, which often causes blood to spill liberally.
Characters also use harsh profanity including the f-word, s-word and “g–d–n,” and there are a few minor sexual references and jokes.
For families who have chosen to navigate other crime dramas, Countdown’s content issues will feel generally familiar. But for families who prefer to avoid the violence and profanity typically included in crime dramas, they’ll want to avoid Amazon Prime’s Countdown as well.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
When Blythe’s newly formed task force begins their investigation of Robert Darden’s death, members Oliveras and Meachum struggle to get along. Despite their disagreements, the team begins to find synergy just in time to discover a catastrophic conspiracy.
Violence is frequent throughout the episode. Both good guys and antagonists aim their guns to shoot people. A woman hits men with a bat. A man gets shot in his head, and blood spills from the wound. Another character suffers a bullet wound to the chest, and blood spills from his wound as well. A captured woman, covered in blood, hangs by her hands from a ceiling. Characters engage in a fist fight, in which they throw punches, push their opponents to the ground and attempt to choke their challengers. In a chase scene, a man pushes innocent bystanders to the ground. A man closes a heavy door on someone’s arm.
Characters use harsh profanity, including four uses of the f-word, nine uses of the s-word, six uses of “h—,” two uses of “g–d–n” and three uses of “a–.”
Oliveras reveals that Meachum broke up with his fiancé shortly before their wedding. Meachum makes a mild sexual reference.
A character grapples with the worsening condition of his brain tumor.
There are a few references to alcohol. A character drinks alcohol, and alcohol bottles are visible in another scene. There is a brief discussion about fentanyl.
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
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