Grab your adventure packs and history books, because National Treasure: Edge of History has just released their first two episodes.
Episode 1: “I’m a Ghost”
It’s 2001 and Peter Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) is alone in his office recounting the tale of the hidden treasure of Montezuma. As Cortes and his band of conquistadors invaded America attacking the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, the grand treasure of the three civilizations had been secreted out by an unknown group of women protectors and hidden from the conquering Europeans.
At the same time as Sadusky recounts his knowledge, in Mexico, a treasure hunter named Raphael dressed as a nun, has found one of the clues to the hidden treasure. Worried about double crossing the mysterious man named Salazar, there is a fight with Salazar’s goons, and Raphael makes it home to help his wife and infant daughter escape the onslaught of a double-crossed Salazar.
While Raphael will stay behind to buy time for his wife and daughter, his young child Jess (Lisette Olivera) will grow up never knowing her father, and with the instructions from her mother to never grow up to be like her dad.
In modern day Baton Rouge, Jess with her friends Tasha, Oren, and Ethan (Zuri Reed, Antonio Cipriano, and Jordan Rodrigues) are participating in an escape room. With their talents, they successfully escape when no other team has. (This shows they work well together, let’s hope they remember this as the show progresses.)
On the other side of the Atlantic, Billie Pearce (Cather Zeta-Jones) is making her way through a new villa that she bought in Spain. Asked why she bought another home, Billie is clear with her intentions. She believes that there are hidden relics that are related to an ancient treasure that was hidden from Cortes when he came to the new world. Not wasting any time, Billie smashes through a painting to find a hidden room, and multiple artefacts. (Zeta-Jones is brilliant. Billie is bad, and the perfect villain.)
Jess’ mother died a couple of years ago, and now she works at a local storage locker facility trying to get by. When her boss tasks her with identifying the owner of a delinquent locker, Jess use items from the storage locker to track down Peter Sadusky. The flag in the locker belonged to Jack Sadusky, Peter’s deceased son, and as they begin to talk, Peter compliments Jess on her ability to track him down. He tells her that she reminds him of another person he used to know. (I love the early allusions to Ben Gates.)
Jess’ necklace is visible and Peter proceeds to tell her that the necklace bears the symbol of a group of treasure protectors. As Jess explains that the medallion is the only thing she has left of her father, Peter tells her that the medallion would have only been given to someone who was a part of the treasure protectors.
Before leaving the Sadusky home, Peter gives Jess a clue to finding a relic related to the lost treasure. It’s an envelope which Jess refuses to take, but when she arrives home, she sees that Peter has slipped the envelope in her bag. Addressed to his grandson Liam (Jake Austin Walker), Jess is unsure how to proceed.
Meanwhile, Billie Pearce has been keeping an eye on Peter Sadusky. Seeing through her surveillance that Jess spent many minutes inside the home, she decides to follow up on the newcomer to the treasure hunt. At the storage locker facility, ‘FBI’ agents show up to question Jess and inform her that Peter Sadusky has died. While the agents are intimidating and threatening, Jess tells them nothing, and they leave her alone.
Billie wonders about Jess, and whether or not she lied to her fake FBI goons. With the sword of Cortes in her hands, the master villain has a hunch that there is more to this unknown girl than meets the eye. Billie has Jess’ apartment ransacked, fearing the box of items from the Sadusky locker is lost, Jess is relieved to see that Oren had the box and brings it back. Jess decides to go look for Peter’s grandson.
Jess and Tasha talk to Liam, only to find out that there was bad blood between grandfather and grandson. He refuses to take the envelope and doesn’t care what may be inside. He has not thought for a moment about the treasure, except that it is a fools errand that cost his father his life.
Back at the apartment, Jess opens the letter and sees the hidden clues in a picture of Peter, Liam and his father Jack. Enlisting the help of Tasha, they sneak into the Baton Rouge Masonic Templar building, and find an ancient relic that is part of a clue to the lost treasure of Mesoamerica.
Knowing that Jess poses a threat to Billie’s success, she calls the young treasure hunter and offers to pay any price named. Jess is noble in her response and says no. Being the master villain that she is, Billie ups the stakes and informs Jess that she has captured Oren.
The episode closes with a shot of a bearded man, pasting another picture of the symbol that is found on Jess’ medallion, on his prison cell wall. This is our first look at the infamous Salazar.
Episode 2: “The Treasure Map”
Oren thinks he is about to get a deal on some sneakers, but the sellers aren’t that friendly. Eventually. Billie tells him that he’s going to be their hostage until Jess makes a trade for his life. The relic from the masonic hall for Oren.
A meeting has been scheduled for 3:00 at the USS Kidd. Jess figures she has some time before she must make the exchange. Ethan asks if everything is okay, and where Oren is. Both Jess and Tasha are reluctant to involve Ethan, so they tell him that Oren is off at a shoe sale.
The girls know that they need help and that they should go to the FBI. Agent Ross (Lyndon Smith) is new to Baton Rouge, and when she is asked to meet with Jess and Tasha, she is skeptical of their report. Since neither is willing to give their real name, or file an official kidnapping report, Ross thinks that it is a prank, and Tasha and Jess leave.
Prior to their meeting, Jess was able to open the artifact and revealed the hidden treasure map pieces inside. Reassembling the object Jess and Tasha head to the USS Kidd for their planned meeting with Billie and hope to frame her for shoplifting by hiding an item in the artifact. Naturally, the plan falls apart.
Jess makes the exchange with Billie and Oren is set free. When they approach the MP on duty at the gift shop, Oren refuses to corroborate their story, and Billie and her goons are let go. After leaving the USS Kidd, Jess and her friends regroup to make their next move. They inform Oren about their discovery of the map, and it is Oren who encourages them to keep up the treasure hunt. He didn’t back up their story because Billie told him that she would have them all killed.
Deciding that there must be more clues at Peter Sadusky’s house, Jess decides to make another trip to the deceased FBI agent’s home. She searches the bookshelves for clues when she is surprised by Jake. Showing him the picture that was in Peter’s letter, Liam still has no interest in the treasure.
Far from the city, Billie and her squad of goons have been able to access the relic and found the hidden key chain from the USS Kidd store. In Billie’s mind, Jess is not something to forget about. She knows that it would take someone with unique abilities to have been able to open the relic, and Jess is someone that Billie is going to need to keep an eye on.
Agent Ross can’t let the encounter she had with Jess and Tasha out of her mind. She calls up the files on Peter Sadusky and his career, only to learn that most of what Sadusky was involved with is redacted. Agent Ross knows that something isn’t right with the whole Sadusky case. Perhaps this decorated FBI agent didn’t die of natural causes.
Fired from the storage company, Jess needs to find another job. It just so happens that there is an opening for a server at the same bar that Liam sings at. Liam gets one more set to sing, before his boss informs him that he needs to go back to bartending, because the bar is going to switch over to karaoke.
Upset at the change he decides that he needs to make a change in his life. So, he approaches the now hired Jess and explains to her that he wants to talk about the treasure. After work, he shows Jess the hidden clue room at Peter’s house, and an important unpublished academic paper where Liam’s dad got his information from to start the treasure hunt.
Jess is shocked to see that the academic paper was written by her mom.
Bill’s Perspective:
I really like this show. The characters are well thought out, Lisette Olivera is a great lead, and the supporting characters are all perfectly in line with the intentions of the series. National Treasure: Edge of History must try to differentiate itself from the movies, which it does wonderfully, but it manages to put enough callbacks to the movies to entice fans to the show.
I loved every minute of these first two episodes. There isn’t a lot of time wasted on exposition of character backstory. We learn about our heroes as they learn about the treasure, and quickly the audience will connect with Jess, Tasha, Oren, and Ethan.
Catherine Zeta-Jones as the villain is an incredible choice. She emanates power in every scene and makes for a powerful counter on screen to Lisette Olivera. I am so happy to see Zeta-Jones in such a prime role.
National Treasure: Edge of History has an action packed first two episodes with a promise of adventure to come.