‘Countdown’ Just Made a Huge Mistake by Killing off This Character

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Countdown Season 1, Episode 4.

Countdown Episode 3, “Happy Birthday Final,” ended things off on a giant cliffhanger with Officer Damon Drew (Jonathan Togo) gravely wounded from a gunshot and fighting for his life. Sadly, the early parts of the next episode, “Bite ‘Em Down,” reveal that Drew succumbs to his injury and dies in the hospital during surgery. It was a shocking, unexpected moment to kill off such an important character so early in a thirteen-episode season. Furthermore, just because the moment was unexpected does not make it the right thing to do. Countdown made a huge error in killing off the character of Damon Drew so quickly in its first season, ending an intriguing character’s arc just as it was getting started.

Damon Drew’s Death Came Off Like a Cheap Bait-and-Switch

The episode “Happy Birthday Final” is interesting because it raised multiple death flags, not for Officer Drew, but another member of the joint task force, Los Angeles Police Department Detective Lucas Finau (Uli Latukefu). One of the earlier scenes featured Detective Finau with his wife and daughters, revealing that it was Finau’s 40th birthday. The episode also dedicated significant time to task force members Agent Evan Shepherd (Violett Beane) and Agent Keyonte Bell (Elliot Knight) trying to buy Finau a birthday cake and throw him a surprise party. Those moments certainly appeared to foreshadow that something terrible would happen to Detective Finau by the end of the episode. What would be more tragically poetic than a police officer and family man getting shot to death on his birthday?

During the climactic shootout, before the big reveal that Drew has been shot, it even appears that Finau is shot when his gun runs out of bullets. The shocking outcome of the scene came off as a cheap and easy way for the writers to subvert expectations, since the entire episode played up Finau as the one who was going to be killed. Meanwhile, Drew was not receiving as much spotlight during “Happy Birthday Final.” The title of the episode even refers to Finau’s birthday. The moment was surprising in that it shattered audience expectations, and the way the episode built anticipation of Finau’s fate, but the decision to kill Drew so quickly was the wrong one.

Damon Drew Had a Great Deal of Untapped Story Potential

The series premiere of Countdown, “Teeth in the Bone,” revealed Officer Drew as the second-in-command of the joint task force headed up by FBI Special Agent Nathan Blythe (Eric Dane). Drew hails from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis, and he served a crucial role in the team. Additionally, Drew is a family man who had already committed to coaching his son’s Little League team shortly before Agent Blythe formed the task force to investigate the mysterious murder of a DHS agent, Robert Darden (Milo Ventimiglia). The sympathetic Blythe understandably needs Drew on his team and asks him to take an assistant coaching role, cutting Drew as much slack as possible for his family time. From a narrative standpoint, Drew served an invaluable role as the reliable and staunch second-in-command for Agent Blythe, helping round out the team dynamic.

There was a hint in the series premiere that Drew was harboring some sort of secret, and an epilogue reveals that Drew’s son, Noah, tragically died. When Drew goes to Little League practice, his late son’s former teammates reveal they memorialized Noah with their attire, a compassionate gesture that Officer Drew appreciates. The writing and setup for Drew in the debut episode did not play out like a character who was meant to die this early in the season. The reveal of his son’s death came off as an incident that warranted further exploration and development later. The backstory element is utilized again in “Happy Birthday Final,” where Blythe talks with Drew about how he and his wife are recovering after Noah’s death.

The scenes of the team informing Drew’s wife, Cora (Amanda Brooks), about his death, and Cora’s visit to the task force at the end of “Bite ‘Em Down,” imploring that the task force honor her late husband by finishing their mission, proved intensely powerful. Although the moments were well-executed, the series revealed its hand too quickly with this narrative development.

Officer Drew’s Death Should’ve Happened Later in the Season

It’s not that a character such as Officer Drew shouldn’t have died at all. Countdown would’ve benefited by further developing Drew’s character arc, showcasing more of how Drew and his wife deal with the aftermath of their son’s passing. Doing so would have made Drew’s eventual death even more tragic and emotional. Instead, the writers got rid of an important character just as the audience was getting to know him, and that wasted a strong character who the series was poised for a much longer, more robust story arc that will now never materialize.

True, knowing that a character such as Officer Drew can die so early in the season raises the stakes. No one in the cast is safe, and any character can be killed at any time, which makes any notions of how the first season might unfold completely unpredictable. Case in point, in the premiere episode, the show’s lead character, Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles), is revealed to be suffering from a terminal brain tumor. It’s unsafe to operate on a tumor so large, and Meachum probably has only months to live. It means that even the show’s lead protagonist could die at any moment, much like Officer Drew.

That said, although Drew’s death was indeed shocking, it did not play out as an organic narrative choice. It would have been interesting to see the writers further explore how Drew was coping with his son’s loss, and if it made him more of a liability and risk-taker in the field, similar to Meachum, or was it making him even more cautious? Ultimately, Drew’s death came out of left field and does not work well in the framework that the first season established up until “Happy Birthday Final.” With the stakes so high, it will be interesting to see who makes it out alive as Countdown progresses in its first season.

Countdown has new episodes every Wednesday on Prime Video.