Bad Romance
Episode 5 of National Treasure: Edge of History starts with Billie honing in on the last piece of the puzzle. She shows up at an auction, speaking to the auctioneer in front of a large crowd, wanting to see Malinche’s lost codex. She’s led away from this group and shown the prize. At the same time, Jess wonders whether Liam is really the mole we’ve perceived him to be. Just then, he messages and encourages Jess to go and visit the mansion with him, with their sights set on Meriwether Lewis’s journal. On the way, Jess speaks to Ethan about her concerns. Instead of going with him, Jess tags along with Ethan instead. They overhear Liam asking to see the journal but learning that it’s been hidden. However, he’s on the phone to someone asking them to wire money. It turns out this is Tasha’s doing, who checks notes decides to break the law by illegally phishing Liam. She hacks the bank, sends an email to him asking to change the password. Tasha claims it’s on him for being “gullible.” That’s right Tasha, I’m sure defrauding someone because they’re “gullible” is going to go over really well in a court of law. Anyway, they notice $50k has just been wired into his account, which seems to be Billie’s doing. So does Tasha decide to trace the account number and figure out where it came from? No, of course not. That would be smart. Instead, Jess shows up and gives Liam the cold shoulder, eventually confronting him about the money. Liam is not happy, given the betrayal of trust, and walks away. It turns out Liam isn’t the mole after all, to the surprise of no one, and they quickly discover there’s a bug in Oren’s shoe. “My bad,” Tasha the fraudster exclaims. Jess comes crawling back to Liam and apologizes for questioning him. The pressure got to her and she didn’t do due diligence. Because if she and Tasha had, they would have realized that money was from Liam’s mother to help with property taxes on the house. Anyway, the tone suddenly and abruptly shifts to soppy romance as the pair start kissing and flirting, almost immediately. Meanwhile, Nichols shows up with the poisonous flower and believes that it could be connected with Peter’s death. The toxicology report should say more about this but they need to wait for it to come through. Billie shows up in Mexico with the journal and wants an expert to translate it. One of Malinche’s entries could be the clue to everything here… only it turns out the journal she received earlier is a fake. Thankfully, Billie clocks on the same clues that Jess and the others have and hones in on the Governor’s mansion. At the Governor’s Ball, the group show up together. Tasha is shocked to learn there’s a watch there worth 40k and immediately believes it must have been obtained through shady means. The irony here is not lost on this reviewer! Meanwhile Liam and Jess head off together, commenting how this is like a private nerd party. In the midst of all this, Ethan decides to do a big dance with Jess right in front of everyone to a number of woops and cheers. There’s also more teen angst between Liam and Meena toward their partners after this dance, believing there’s more to it than 2 friends busting a move. Oh, and Liam steals the journal in the middle of all this. I guess we should return to the treasure hunting in our treasure hunting show at some point! Tasha makes a big scene, allowing Jess to make a run for it. Police are en-route though and she appears to be stuck. Thankfully (or not!) Billie shows up in her car and encourages her to get in. Jess has no choice and jumps in.
The Episode Review
Just when National Treasure: Edge of History couldn’t stoop any lower… we get this episode. We’ve said before that Hollywood has a serious ethical problem and a skewed morality with its female characters and this 40 minute chapter exemplifies why. Tasha basically commits fraud and it’s played off as Liam’s fault for being “so gullible.” And yet, she doesn’t have the wherewithal to actually track the account that money came from. It’s poor writing all round and given she’s the mouthpiece for equity and equal rights for all, it’s ironic that this show has essentially made her a criminal! Then you come to the tone of this series, which is very clearly geared for a tiny minority of people who actually like the teen dramas CW have been putting out and don’t think too much about what’s onscreen. Although to be fair, some CW shows are actually better than this. The production design is cheap, the show constantly forgets its own treasure hunting in favour of teen angst and drama, and some of these characters are just not very likable at all. Surely this one has to be in the running for worst TV shows of 2023 right?
