'Gross misrepresentation': Prime Video series Countdown ruffles feathers with portrayal of Singapore

Ah, Singapore. The country where we only speak Malay and participate in nefarious plots to assassinate foreign leaders.

Hold on, this doesn't sound like us at all!

But these were some of the plot points in the new Amazon Prime Video crime drama series Countdown in its 11th episode. 

It features fictional Singaporean businessman Kieren Teo (portrayed by American actor Brian Yang) being interviewed by Los Angeles Police Department detective Mark Meachum (Jenson Ackles) and US Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Amber Oliveras (Jessica Camacho) after a mysterious death occurs in his cabin.

Teo speaks only Malay and requires an interpreter (who is at least portrayed by a Singaporean actress, Valerie Loo!) and because his company, Beruang Holdings, is "owned" by the People's Action Party, the Singapore Government swoops in to put a pause to the investigations.

The episode enraged Reddit user TendTheAshenOnes, who posted on the r/Singapore subreddit: "I can't just lie down and take some stupid show for global audiences slandering my country, whether it's in small or large ways," saying that Amazon owed Singapore an apology.

They felt that the mischaracterisation "could have easily been avoided with primary school-level fact checking and research about our country on Google". 

TendTheAshenOnes posited that someone on the Countdown team likely Googled the national language of Singapore, found out it was Malay, and did no further research on the English fluency of Singaporeans.

They were also annoyed by the portrayal of Singapore as being corrupt: "The writers represented Singapore as a dodgy country that was seeking to mask crimes, financial interests, and a potential assassination plot. 

"The Singaporean characters — official representatives — needed to be coerced and strong armed into cooperation, and looked as though they kowtowed under pressure by the mere presence of a US governor. Utter nonsense!"

While TendTheAshenOnes may have felt strongly about the episode, commenters were less bothered by it.

One Redditor joked: "My ideal representation of Singapore is a pirate island ruled by Sao Feng", harkening back to the Pirates of the Caribbean movies where the country was portrayed as a lawless land of criminals.

"Hollywood misrepresenting a [insert anything here] is a tale as old as time. Personally, it is no longer surprising," another Redditor wrote.

"Having said that, this is a show with a 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and no one — and I consider myself pretty plugged into the media and entertainment landscape — is talking about it."

They deemed it thus to not be a "big deal".

Others suggested that making a fuss about the show and asking for an apology may lead to the Streisand Effect and bring more prominence to it, or make Singapore appear overbearing exactly like it was portrayed.

"No need to be so sensitive. That's an even worse impression to give than the show," a comment read.

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drimac@asiaone.com