Prime Video's Countdown did not give a deserving conclusion to Volchek's arc despite the promising antagonist story

Prime Video's latest crime thriller, Countdown by Derek Haas, has not been much of a success so far in terms of audience and critic reviews. The show's attempt at building up the tense atmosphere of a police procedural has often been disrupted by a loose plot whose pace is not consistent with the intensity of the events.

Moreover, Countdown Episode 10 killed off its first antagonist, Volchek, pretty early - not to mention without even a proper buildup. On top of that, a new villain has been introduced in the middle of season one, and this novel creative approach is garnering mixed reviews from the fans.

While Volchek's antagonist story was quite promising, his character did not get the deserved conclusion. Despite having chances to redeem his arc, Countdown failed to do so and totally deviated the plot in another direction.

Derek Haas' Countdown failed to conclude the Volchek story with the deserved creative treatment

Borys Volchek (played by Bogdan Yasinski) was introduced as a Belarusian citizen early in Countdown, and later his connection was indirectly established with the murder of a homeland security officer in Episode 1. The show provided glimpses of his backstory over the course of the first 9 episodes, thereby eventually making the reason behind his evil intentions clear.

His antagonist arc is based on a story of vengeance where the Belarusian terrorist plans to carry out a nuclear attack on the city of Los Angeles in retaliation for the USA's treatment. The plot culminates from the point where his brother kills himself in the aftermath of a deal gone wrong with an American.

Volchek, heartbroken by this incident, seeks revenge against the unnamed American, and as we see in Countdown Episode 2, he blows off his apartment using a booby-trapped external hard disk. But this was just the start for Volchek, and he takes things personally against the United States.

Though Nathan Blythe's task force initially thought that he just wanted to blow up LA, it soon became evident that his plans were way more deep-rooted and evil. Volchek has served in the Belarusian army and has experience working in the agricultural export sector later on.

His intention was to strike the United States with a terror attack whose aftermath could be as large and disastrous as that of Chernobyl. This would not only devastate a city but also put a major portion of the United States in a state of food crisis.

If he became successful, his next move would have been using international corporations to steer the food supply chain of the United States while filling his own pockets with millions of dollars (as the US would then become a lot dependent on exports). His on-screen aura even made a protagonist like LAPD officer Mark Meachum (played by Supernatural star Jensen Ackles) look less impactful.

There were times during the task force's investigation when they totally lost track of what Volchek was up to. Our Belarusian antagonist was always one step ahead of the federal agents - a man so evil that he even killed his own wife and staged his death to escape the country.

Volchek is ready to go to any length to make his agroterrorism plot successful, as his final aim is to become a hero to his country - a man who is despised by Belarus because of his history of money laundering. By carrying out a catastrophe that can totally disrupt the food supply chain of the United States, he was planning to make the country dependent on Eastern Europe for imports while also taking a bite of the big prize himself.

With a terror plot so intense and a solid backstory, Countdown had immense potential to showcase the perfect antagonist arc for Volchek and was even doing great until his abrupt death. Despite his intimidating presence, the conclusion to Volchek's arc was pretty disappointing and abrupt - not to mention in the middle of the season.

It was apparently a rush to wrap the story and start a new one, so he had to die after a five-minute-long chase followed by a rather less intense and short encounter. His death was inevitable, but came as a surprise for fans because of the hasty creative approach that rather glorified Mark Meachum (who managed to put a bullet in Volchek's face despite struggling with his brain tumor).

Countdown could have served as a deserving conclusion to Volchek, given the fact that he was a villain who made the heroes look small. However, the plan to kill him off early came out of the blue and seemed a bit forced.

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