[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoiler for Countdown Season 1 Episode 10 “The Muzzle Pile.”]

Surprise! The Countdown task force wrapped up their investigation three episodes before the finale!

Volchek (Bogdan Yasinski) is stopped; Meachum (Jensen Ackles), despite the worsening symptoms due to his brain tumor, is able to shoot him when he needs to.

“You know how the internet, they find things from way previous episodes and then they’re like, ‘Oh, this was because of that’? That shot that Meachum makes on the rooftop in [Episode] 10, that shot is set up in 6 when they’re at the shooting range and she says, ‘Shoot the guy in the window.’ And so if you put those two shots, stack them on top of each other, you’ll see that there was foreshadowing in that. It seemed like a throwaway scene in six, but that was some foreshadowing,” creator Derek Haas tells TV Insider.

After that, Meachum does have the treatment for his brain tumor, but not before hitting the brakes on what could be between him and Oliveras (Jessica Camacho). Then, 10 months later, Blythe (Eric Dane) brings the task force back together after a Secret Service officer, Fitz (Joe Dinicol), discovers a threat: A house cleaner found guns and suspicious materials, along with photos of POTUS and a manifesto, in a cabin. Once the task force investigates, they find a shooting range below the cabin.

Below, Derek Haas explains why Meachum and Oliveras’s slow burn still hasn’t ignited, why he started a new investigation in this episode, and more. (Plus, watch Jensen Ackles break down this episode here.)

Why hit a hard pause on that slow burn between Meachum and Oliveras? It seems like a very mature decision on both their parts.

Derek Haas: That scene, when you’re watching in video village, you’ve had it in your head for a long time. You then talk it over with the director before production starts on that episode. And I knew that the emotional arc of this show was really going to be coming to a huge, to me, climactic moment in that scene. And so I had all this hopes on how it would play, and then I’m watching them do it and it’s really one of those proud moments where you’re watching it going, “Oh my God, they made it better than what was even in my head.” And it’s a testament to Jessica and Jensen, how good they are in it. But I think in the heat of battle and especially facing what Meachum is facing, the uncertainty that he doesn’t want to put that emotional tax on her with not knowing how this is going to end for him… And so I think that’s as big of a sacrifice as he’s made, especially from the guy you met in Episode 1 to Episode 10. I do try to track character growth on these shows, and so I think that’s a big, big growing moment. Even he’s amazed that he’s saying the things that he’s saying. And I think if you’re looking at her face, at first, as anybody would be in the moment, she’s a little stung, but then she realizes what he’s doing and so she has a big respect for that.

When did you know that you wanted to have the entire team there for Meachum’s treatment and have that be the moment for them versus him telling the rest about the tumor?

I thought it would be a nice surprise. You think you’re on a team, the mission’s over, the team’s breaking up and you’re going to face this thing alone because you didn’t tell anyone because you didn’t want to burden anybody and then the team shows up for you, that’ll get you in the feels, as the kids say. And so I think that was a really touching moment and it’s something Oliveras did for him, so it’s almost like she recognized that he needs this, and he gets super touched.

You previously told me you have a countdown on these characters, and with Meachum, it was the tumor. You kind of put an end to that ticking clock for him with this treatment, but did you ever consider not removing that immediate aspect from him at this point?

It’s a great ticking clock. It made every action sequence heightened from one to 10. I don’t know how many seasons you could milk it. I like that it’s always there. It’ll always be there because as anybody knows who’s gone through this kind of a medical thing with a family member, even when you’re in remission and you’re cancer free, it can come back. And so I like it as a, we put it to bed for now, but for now might change again. We’ll just start new ticking clocks on other things.

After the treatment and time jump as Meachum returns to work, how is he doing now that he has that time he hadn’t expected to? Because that has to be a bigger adjustment almost than planning to possibly die on the job.

There are some things that have gone on that the audience didn’t get to see of which Meachum is learning as he goes regarding his personal life that will play out over the next three episodes. I think he does think, “I got a new lease on life,” and that’ll also manifest over these next three episodes. But also these guys are pretty selfless in terms of, there’s a new mission and a new threat, and so off and running.

Speaking of, was it always going to be Episode 10 that ended the first investigation, had that time jump, and then went into the second investigation?

Yeah, it was either going to be [Episode] 9 or 10, and then I felt like 9, I needed a little more time to cliffhanger this ending, and then I thought — it was a crazy idea and I pitched it to Amazon and they went along with it, I really hope the audience digs it — it would be awesome to finish the first case in the middle of an episode and not the end of the season because so many of these shows that I watch, you get to — you know that the case is going to be 10 episodes because it’s 10 episodes for that season. I watch a ton of crime shows. If it’s British, it’s like six episodes. And so when you are watching these, a lot of times you’re thinking, “Oh, I can kind of, I don’t want to say check out, but I know the danger isn’t going to climax because we’re only on Episode 7 of 10.” And so I want the audience thinking, “Oh, we’re only on 10 of 13, so this is not — oh s**t, the case, oh my God, this happened.” And then launch a new one with a new cast member because these task forces can expand or contract and then we’re off and running on a new case of which, this thing’s going to take a while also. So I just thought that was an exciting, novel way and hopefully successful way of doing a new case.

I have to say Fitz is a very different character from the rest of the team and he’s so fun. What did you want to bring to the task force with his addition?

Yeah, I wanted him to do a Secret Service officer because I thought that would be cool. When I was first reading about task forces, a task force can be put together from any department, so like Coast Guard or NSA or there’s all these different — even the post office in the Anthrax case they had, the post office was brought into the task force — and I just thought that was a cool idea, get a Secret Service guy. And then you’re looking at the makeup of your task force from a personality character standpoint, and I’m like, “Okay, I got the rebel, I got the Little John, I got the sort of techie, I got the doesn’t listen to anyone rebel, I already said rebel, but Oliveras version, and I got the leader.” So then I was like, “You know what I don’t have is sort of that chatty, internet culture type guy who’s just a little bit annoying but almost in a fun way whose heart is on his sleeve.”

Yeah, the character’s so endearing.

It’s Joe, he is such a great actor that it’s really fun.

Countdown, Wednesdays, Prime Video