Season 1, Episode 1:
Countdown
Synopsis
Unsettling events put a group of brilliant friends on edge as a mystery unravels with origins tracing back to China during the Cultural Revolution.This page is under construction.
Plot
In 1966, at Tsinghua University in Beijing, Ye Zhetai, a physics professor, is brought to a crowd in a struggle session. The public cites him as a "counterrevolutionary". His daughter, Ye Wenjie, is in attendance. Ye Zhetai's wife chooses her allegiance to the public, calling his inclusion of the Big Bang Theory in his curriculum as counterrevolutionary. Despite his justifications, he is beaten black and blue by numerous Red Guards, to Ye Wenjie's despair. One guard deals numerous fatal blows to his head, silencing the crowd and guards into shock.In 2024, police and paramedics arrive at a crime scene in London, England. Clarence "Da" Shi, reports to the site, the home of Dr. Sadiq Mohammed, a Pakistani-born cosmologist and theoretical physicist. Clarence recognizes the blood writing on the wall as a countdown. When the countdown reaches zero on the wall, the words, "I STILL SEE IT" are found next to his corpse. This isn't an isolated incident. There have been other suicides like this, all involving a countdown.
At the Oxford University Particle Accelerator, Vera Ye (Ye Wenjie's daughter) arrives to talk to Saul Durand regarding a theory that disproves all the concepts of physics in the previous 60 years. Saul worries that because he's 32, he cannot make a significant contribution to the world of science, despite Vera's assurances. But when she asks Saul if he believes in God, he grows confused. She then walks inside a Cherenkov tank, opens the gate, and deliberately falls in.
TBA
Tropes that are present in this episode:
- Accidental Murder: Implied in the aftermath of the struggle session. The crowd cheers as Ye Zhetai is being beaten black and blue, but falls into silent shock when he stops moving. Even the Red Guards are taken aback by this.
- Bludgeoned to Death: As a consequence of teaching counterrevolutionary curricular knowledge, Ye Zhetai is repeatedly beaten with belts at the hands of the Red Guards. But one guard aims for the head, multiple times.
- Couldn't Find a Pen: As Sadiq's countdown progressed, he grew more and more unstable as he used his blood to write the numbers on his wall. Then, when it hit zero,
- Downer Beginning: The episode begins with a struggle session turned fatal, forever changing Ye Wenjie's world.
- Eye Scream: Sadiq's corpse
- The Quisling: Shao Lin, Ye Zhetai's wife, is the one who ratted him out the revolutionary, and even firmly declares her allegiance to the public at the struggle session. Although, her crying after his death could imply she's a Regretful Traitor.
- "How far has it got? Your countdown? You don’t want it to get to zero."
