Look, I get why some people don’t want to watch reboots. Hell, normally I am one of them. I feel like there are so many great ideas out there – new, original ideas – and I wonder why we’re not making them. I wonder why it is that we’re recycling old ideas and then I watch shows like National Treasure: Edge of History and I know why some reboots can be good.
Because this one is good.
It’s really good.
When you think about the original movies, they are timeless, but they were made in a different time. A lot has changed and technology has changed. Society has changed. We have the chance to tell diverse and important stories and that’s exactly what we’re doing here. We’re telling a lot of different stories within the same show.
And we’re also honoring the original. Not all reboots do that. Honor the original that is.
SHOEBOXES
Jess has to get to Mexico. She believes that confronting Salazar is the best way to go, to get the next clue. But also talking to Salazar is supposed to give her closure; confronting the man that killed her father.
And you know, now that she’s wanted by the FBI, probably the best idea to go.
While Oren is often the person that I would not think is the most responsible or plans ahead, apparently he does. He has boxes under his bed, shoe boxes, where he plans for everything. And in one of those boxes he’s got incase Jess ever needed to use her suitcase.
He’s got burner phones and lots of cash.
The thing that I can appreciate about Oren, Jess, Ethan, and Tasha is that there friendship is unconditional. Their friendship is filled with heart and love and they truly are the definition of ride or die. I love that they are all willing to do whatever it takes to save each other. They are going to be there for each other.
Ethan tells Jess that Liam isn’t with Billie and what happened to him. Jess feels bad, but she can’t stick around to tell him. She has to go.
And leaving means risking it all. She may never be able to come back to the states. But Jess is willing to risk it all, because this is important to her. And part of me thinks that this is so important to her because her Mom wrote the paper it was based off and her Dad died trying to protect the treasure. This is a way to feel closer to them.
To justify and feel worthy of all of the things that they gave up. And that’s such a big burden to hold on her shoulders.
FBI CONVOS
Look, Ethan may be smart, but he’s DUMB. Why? Because he goes to the FBI to say Jess didn’t do it. Isn’t he studying to be a lawyer? Why would he do that? It makes no sense to me. Like he should know better.
Agent Ross should also know better. She sits to talk to him and talks to him and tells him that Jess couldn’t have done it. And she – well, she plays the taped confession that she has. But Ethan says that it can’t be Jess because the voice on the recording, the one that is supposed to be Jess, uses incorrect grammar.
I think that Ethan has the best of intentions, but even the best of intentions don’t always result in the perfect results.
WELCOME HOME
When Tasha, Oren, and Jess reach the border, they have one chance to turn back. But they don’t – they journey forward. When they cross the border, the guard tells Jess welcome home. You can see by the look in her eyes she doesn’t know what to say or how to feel.
They have a plan. They have a plan that Jess will go to the jail where Salazar is being held, and she’s going to act as though she’s a journalist.
But when she gets to the jail, journalists aren’t allowed. So she breaks and tells the guard that she’s there to confront the man that killed her father. The guard gives the best advice, telling her that she shouldn’t expect much because he’s seen many people come looking for answers, confronting people, and they’ve never gotten the answers that they wanted.
I can’t even imagine what it’s like to face the man that killed your father.
As the guard brings out Salazar and sets him down, the man looks scary AF. I would be intimidated, but that’s just me.
He sits down and doesn’t grab for the phone until Jess knocks on the window. He looks up slowly and sees her necklace.
“Jessita,” he says.
Wait, how does this man know her name?
MUSIC AND NURSES
There is not a moment in this show where I am wondering who I can trust and who I can’t. I feel like there are dualities to everyone. I think that Liam has gone through a lot. He doesn’t know how he’s supposed to react to things, because he’s feeling A LOT.
But all he wants to do is find Jess. He needs to know that she’s okay, but he doesn’t know how to reach her. His phone was lost when that red headed chick, who we don’t even care enough to learn her name, tried to toss him into the river. Turns out that his gramps old nurse pulled him out.
When Liam shows up at the bar to call Jess, he finds out that his singing at Graceland went viral and the crowd is there for him. His boss is willing to pay him a grand for one song. Liam does it, for the money, and performs a song that he wrote for Jess.
Liam really loves Jess or at least feels deep. But we’re going with love, because we have a ship and we want what we want.
When Liam sees the nurse in the crowd, you can tell that he’s unsure of what he saw, but he’s not willing to give Billie anything, so he chases after him. I am glad he did, because he got to find out that Jess is being set up for the murder of his Grandpa. He doesn’t believe that Jess could have done it. He believes she’s innocent – you can see it in his eyes.
It just goes to show you that it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been with someone, it’s about the time that you spend with someone. Just seeing the look on Liam’s face when he hears her voice, I am sorry I doubted you Liam.
SALAZAR
Back to Salazar, at the jail.
Jess is like all wait how do you know my name. The man insists that he’s not Salazar, but he’s actually her father. He was arrested years ago, breaking into a bank and they thought he was Salazar. He wasn’t going to admit who he was, to keep her safe.
He proves to her that he’s her Dad and she’s heartbroken. She’s even more heartbroken that he chose to be in jail and not be there for her.
She’s angry. She’s hurt.
And telling her friends, they of course are supportive. Hell, even Ethan has showed up to Mexico. The solid friendship that they all have. It’s a friendship that inspires and shows us all what we shouldn’t settle for.
When leaving her father gives her a clue. When leaving her father she gets a clue to where the third relic. Yes, the treasure hunt is super important to him and he tells Jess how to find it in code. Of course it means something and it’s hard to figure it out.
I couldn’t do these clues. I wouldn’t ever find a treasure.
THE MUSICAL NOTES
That clue – Queen Isabella and Saint Jerome meeting and exchanging notes. Well, being as they all know history, that’s good. I wouldn’t know shit. I love history, but this show is making me realize I don’t know as much as I thought.
The team head to the Sor Juana museum, and on the tour the see a big organ. Notes. Something is making sense. But what combination of notes?
TBH, I want Jess’s mind. She remembers everything. She can recall even the littlest movement. It’s kinda amazing. And Tasha, the way that she can solve anything. She is able to find the notes on the piano in order to play the song that Jess’s Dad sang to her.
The nuns hear the music and come in. None of them are willing to lie to the nuns, which is probably smart for their karma. What I was surprised about though, was when they found the box, the nuns were okay with it. They were like the burden is no longer theirs.
I wish that I believed in something as much as all of these characters believe in the treasure. But also, I love that they do. I also love that Oren is so great with all this. He’s very underrated – that boy knows more than he say he does.
Even with all the pieces, the map doesn’t make all the sense in the world. It actually makes no sense. Yes, like most treasure maps, X marks the spot. But where the hell is that tree that X is on?
THAT ENDING
Jess having found out that her father is alive, well that has to be a lot. I would understand why she wanted to run away. I would understand why she wouldn’t want anything to do with him. But now that she’s got all the boxes, and she needs to talk to her Dad, she’s got to come face to face with her emotions.
I wonder how one does that when you find out that your life has been based on secrets and lies. Your father has thought that a treasure was more important than you? How would you react? I wouldn’t want to face emotions. I would compartmentalize them.
But Jess, she’s stronger than most of us. She is heading back, to talk to her father. She’s heading back to face him with a picture of a map of all the pieces and to ask for more information. But she quickly tells them that they all need to leave, as Billie is there.
She also realizes that Billie is going to want to kill her father. So she comes up with what she sees is the only option – breaking him out of jail.
This should be interesting.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Again, my thoughts of Liam really liking Jess are solidified when he’s willing to sit down with the nurse to find out where Jess is.
- I really think that Billie is Salazar, like the other person was a face while she was the one really running things. I just think she’s playing all angles here.
- I really love Oren.
