It's no secret that David Benioff and D. B. Weiss' next project has been both highly anticipated and met with a lot of skepticism after how they ended "Game of Thrones." In the end, that show's downfall doesn't seem to be entirely their fault, but mostly because of the direction that the story was going that simply didn't work, so I was looking forward to seeing what they would be doing when adapting a big sci-fi novel instead. And while the first episode doesn't necessarily give us a lot, it does set the stage for an epic journey that has a very solid starting point.
At first, this show seems like it's definitely taking a pseudo-realistic approach to its subject matter, bringing in real-life events to enforce its narrative. Benioff and Weiss have often signaled that they have an interest in history (just look at "The Confederacy"...), so it doesn't come as a surprise. However, the opening sequence's impact on the larger show will have to come later. And maybe it's just the skeptic in me, but they're dealing with some big things in this that it feels like they're doing what they did with "Thrones," and that does leave me a little worried. However, looking at this episode for what is in it, there's a lot of good in this. The cast is already doing some good work, starting us off with a big emotional episode. None of them are sticking out properly, but it will be interesting to see where they all go. They are already setting up certain stakes for the characters, which may be why the character played by Benedict Wong is already shaping up to have the most interesting story. It also seems like the show is playing around with time, and I don't know if this will lead to a twist down the line, but if it does, I have a pretty good idea what it will be. The ending left us off with a lot of promise, and I'm actually kinda excited to see where they go from here, and hoping that the writing is good enough to bring us home satisfied.
"Countdown" starts off this new project with a lot of potential, although the skepticism is still there because of how they finished "Game of Thrones." However, on this episode alone, the bar seems to be set pretty high and the cast seems excellent and up to the task of bringing this mind-bending story to life.