In the 10th episode of Countdown, Volchek was killed by Mark after the Belarusian terrorist tried to turn Los Angeles into the next Chernobyl because his private parking lot was hijacked by the municipality. Yes, yes, I have heard all the explanations about how it wasn’t just about the parking lot but about the fact that an American was behind the death of his brother. But didn’t he kill that guy with a toaster? Which means that he did want to decimate LA because of his parking lot. With Volchek out of the way, Mark finally agreed to seek treatment for the tumor in his brain. Ten months later, he was miraculously healthy enough to partake in a completely different operation. This one involved a plan to assassinate the Governor of California, and maybe even the President of the United States. All the old members of the task force, with the exception of Amber, reconvened under the leadership of Nathan. And the newest addition to the team was Fitz, who was from the Secret Service. Did the 11th episode of Countdown give us any information about who this assassin is? Let’s find out.
Spoiler Alert
Hammerhead Cabins’ Singaporean Ties
In episode 11 of Countdown, Keyonte does a presentation on everything that they have found out about the Hammerhead Cabins and the secret firing range underneath the cottage where Patricia’s body was found. He says that the property was built in the 1950s because of its proximity to the Sugarloaf Karst Cave System. They were shut down because of some fateful incidents that happened in the 1980s, and reopened recently for people who come to the area to go hunting or fishing. Based on the time it must have taken to build that firing range, Keyonte says that the assassin must’ve been there for around six months. The fact that he rented the place and didn’t buy the cabins for such a huge mission means that the assassin isn’t filthy rich but has enough money to, well, do all that.
That kind of doesn’t line up with the sniper rifle that was found because, as per Mark, it’s one of the best sniper rifles in existence, and “best” is usually synonymous with “expensive.” That might mean that the assassin is resourceful enough to build his own firing range, but there’s someone who is providing him the arms that he needs to carry out the mission. That brings us to the topic of the Singaporean investment group, Beruang Holdings, and its CEO, Kieran Teo, who owns Hammerhead Cabins. Kieran has agreed to talk to the task force via an interpreter, Venetia Lim, and Amber (yes, she’s back) says that she wants to head that interview. As for the target of the assassination, Governor George Shelby, he apparently wants to be the next President of the United States. So, it’s possible that whoever is funding the assassin doesn’t want him to win, or (and this has nothing to do with a real-life incident) Shelby wants to stage an assassination attempt to win the public’s sympathy and win the presidential election; just a thought.
Nathan Pulls Out The Big Guns
Fitz informs the team that the current president has planned a fundraising campaign on the West Coast, so the FBI and the USSS want the sniper to be caught before that commences. Based on all that, Nathan orders Mark and Amber to head over for the interview with Kieran, once Amber is brought up to speed about the case so far, while he and Fitz take care of the official narrative that they have to present to the authorities for the smooth running of this operation. We get a brief scene between Keyonte and Evan talking about Molly. Yes, in the previous episode, Keyonte had said that he had some information on Molly that he wanted to share with Evan. Everyone, including Evan, assumes that Keyonte is dating Molly, but Keyonte makes it clear that that’s not the case at all. The truth is actually worse than that: Molly is hanging around with some heavy-duty drug peddlers. Keyonte has known about this for a couple of weeks, but he has withheld that information so far because he wanted to be absolutely sure about this side investigation that he has been doing before telling Evan about it. Evan is the one who wanted Keyonte to look into what Molly has been up to, but now that the truth is in front of her, she gets upset. Going back to Mark and Amber, they begin interviewing Kieran in the presence of the interpreter, and just when they start getting some answers, Ho, one of the members of the People’s Action Party of Singapore, which has a stake in Beruang Holdings, puts a stop to the interaction.
Amber and Mark are told that if they want to know anything about Beruang’s association with Hammerhead Cabins, they’ll need to do it through the embassy or the consulate. With no other options left, they head back to their headquarters to inform Nathan about this particular turn of events. Since Nathan is the one who handles stuff on a diplomatic level, he says he’ll take the route that has been proposed to them by Ho, and then he’ll add his “strongman” spin to it so that the Singaporeans are forced to comply. And the spin involves putting Ho right in front of Shelby and seeing if he can spew the aforementioned rhetoric to him. Hilariously enough, Ho folds in a matter of seconds and promises to keep Beruang Holdings’ doors open to the task force. While Nathan does all that, the task force, with the exception of Amber, goes out to party. Why doesn’t Amber go? Well, it’s not some big secret; she prefers being in the bedroom with Julio to heading out partying with her colleagues. Did we need to see that scene where it’s insinuated that Mark proudly fornicates with girls half his age? Probably not, but I guess that’s one way of showing that Mark is healing. Mark and Amber head back to Beruang Holdings to try and interview Kieran properly this time. Kieran starts off strong by giving them fifteen years’ worth of data on everything related to Hammerhead Cabins. Mark and Amber thank him for that and hand over all that info to Keyonte and Evan.
The Assassin Responds
After doing thorough research of the data given by Kieran, Evan and Keyonte single out Trevor Kellen Pasternak because he has been in one of the cabins on rent for several months, he has a criminal past, he has been to jail, and he is currently a part of a cult. Nathan sends out Mark, Fitz, Amber, and Luke to the address that he is supposedly in, while Keyonte and Evan continue to dig up more info on Pasternak. The on-ground task force runs into a biker at the address given to them by Keyonte and Evan, but since they are in cars, they are unable to keep up with the biker. So, they go back to their headquarters. While Mark, Fitz, Amber, and Luke were busy doing action-oriented stuff, Nathan, Evan, and Keyonte did some more research, and all of it points to the fact that maybe Pasternak isn’t their guy because he simply doesn’t have the IQ to come up with the sophisticated code language that was found in that diary that was retrieved from the cabin. However, they can’t stop looking into him until they are absolutely sure he has nothing to do with this assassination plot. Fitz points out that Pasternak does have an ex-wife over at Temescal Canyon, and that’s where he might be hiding after his little stunt. Nathan sends Evan and Keyonte to look into it, and they come back to the headquarters with Pasternak in handcuffs, thereby proving that sometimes less is more efficient.
That said, does Pasternak say anything productive when he is interrogated? Yes, he says that he wasn’t the one who stayed at Hammerhead Cabins; somebody paid him good money to let him use his name, and he let him. What’s the name of this guy? That’s a big fat question mark for now because, as explained by Evan, the email not only came from an anonymous account, but the user also used a VPN to disallow anyone from tracing the email back to him. Mark points out that even though the email was one-way, in order to secure the paycheck, Pasternak must’ve responded to him in some way. Evan does some more research and finds an encrypted chatroom that Pasternak was using to communicate with the assassin. Evan pretends to be Pasternak and tries to re-establish contact. Almost immediately, the guy on the other end figures out that it’s not Pasternak but the “Feds.” Nathan tells Evan to type “We just want to talk.” In response to that, the assassin sends an encrypted message, which turns out to be the key to decrypting the notes in the manifesto that was recovered from the cabin. While Evan uses it to analyze the notes, Nathan comes to the realization that Pasternak getting caught must’ve been a part of the assassin’s plan, because he now knows that the task force is clever enough to follow his breadcrumb trail and get in touch with him. Why? Because he wants them to read the following: “Federal kings rule everything. Crushing the toothless worms, I will strike the kings with black lightning. I will smash the heads of government with broken teeth. You took everything from me. Now, you will feel what it means to have nothing.” This is very Riddler-from-The–Batman-coded, and I hope this villain turns out to be a bit more interesting than the damp squib that was Volchek.
The Gunman Probably Kills A Dog
Episode 11 of Countdown takes us back to November 2023 to introduce us to a gunman, who buys supplies from the local Home Depot and then drives all the way to the San Bernardino National Forest while listening to some vile, racist stuff on the radio. He puts on his ghillie suit, loads his sniper rifle, and heads out into the woods to shoot a deer. He fails to kill the deer in one go, and hence he proceeds to brutally stomp on its head until it’s dead, because that’s the best way to establish that the potential villain of the show is inhumane. Next, this gunman is seen sitting at a diner with another dude, who is concerned about his well-being and wants him to come back to work. But as soon as the conversation veers into sentimental territory, the gunman bails on his friend. He goes back home and is seen downing an unhealthy dose of fake news and hatemongering with his daily cereal. He has a partner, for reasons that I can’t fully comprehend, and when she requests that he take their dog to the vet for a regular check, he rudely reminds her that it’s “her” dog, not “their” dog. I don’t want to make any major assumptions, but, based on the way the woman “jokingly” apologizes for every small thing, it seems like this is an abusive relationship. Hence, a month later, we see her cheating on her partner with his friend. I am not glorifying cheating, regardless of the circumstances, I think you should always break-up before starting another relationship. Also, I think it’s wrong for someone to date their friend’s ex. It’s just too weird, even if people say that it’s okay, in case they end up having to break ties with their friend, I hope they don’t act surprised. With all that said, I understand why the woman has fallen in love with her partner’s friend; he just looks more compassionate.
Anyway, at the end of Countdown episode 11, for a second, the gunman almost ends up killing both of them. But, at the last moment, he changes his mind and kidnaps his former partner’s dog, probably with the intention of killing it. At first I thought that, well, at least he didn’t commit manslaughter and is thinking about killing a dog. Then I realized that he is doing that because he knows that killing his ex will end her suffering in an instant, but killing her dog will only be the start of her suffering. When will it end? That’ll be up to the gunman. Has the gunman actually killed the dog, though? I am not very sure, because when the episode cuts to the credits, we don’t even hear a gunshot. Will I be flabbergasted upon seeing the gunman drop the dog’s dead body at the woman’s doorstep? Absolutely not. Now, if this guy is the one who is going after the Governor of California, what could be the reason behind it? Did his ex have a relationship with George Shelby as well? Is she related to Shelby in some way? I don’t really know. I even doubt if the assassin that the task force is going after in the present day and this gunman from 2023 are even the same guy. Because the gunman looks like your average redneck, bigoted killer who thinks that the change in the demography is causing American’s downfall, while the assassin is way, way more sophisticated. So, if the gunman turns out to be a big fat red herring, I won’t be shocked. However, those are just my thoughts on Countdown episode 11. What are your opinions on the same? Feel free to use the comments section below and let me know.
