It’s weird to say that I agree with Oren, but on the latest episode of National Treasure: Edge of History, there is no one that I agree with more. The boy is pretty smart and logical, because as everyone else is planting a prison break, he’s the voice of reason telling them just what a bad idea that this is. Is Jess going to do it? Yes. Does it make him a bad friend because he’s the only one who is like, nope? Absolutely not.
There are many people in my life that I would do most anything for, but prison break has never been on the list of absolutely, no problem.
It’s basically been on the list of don’t even ask, big brother is always watching. Oren’s already escorted a federal fugitive across country lines, given up his sneakers, funded a Mexico City stay, AND he’s also lied to federal agents.
The list of crimes is long. But we can’t blame him for saying no to a prison break. We would say fuck no.
Ethan will say yes, because he is in love with Jess. Tasha will say yes, because she’s a better person than all of us. All three of them will let Oren off the hook and tell him that it’s okay and that his place is back in the states, where he can fight for their release if they get caught.
But Oren, well, he’s going to feel bad, but he is doing to the right thing. That doesn’t mean that he’s not going to give them some wisdom as he makes his way back across the border. Yes, Oren is the one that makes it easy for them to figure out how to break in.
BILLIES THREATS
I believe that Billie has known where Rafael is for years. Her suddenly showing up at the prison where he is, well, that’s only because she wants to play her cards only when she needs to. Listening to Billie threaten him, I realize that she would loose an immense amount of power if people would not let her prey on their emotions.
But this is how she wins – she makes she feel like you are going to loose the most important thing to you and beats you down in the process. Billie excels at psychological warfare. She knows that she has to scare Rafael with harming Jess, hoping, just praying that by meeting his daughter, his need to protect her will be stronger now that he’s met her.
Rafael is trying to remain calm, he’s in prison after all. He knows that he can’t react and that doing so will give Billie what she wants. He also can’t show that he’s worried about his daughter. He has to have the upper hand.
While I would like to believe that Rafael is a good man, I don’t believe it. He’s been alive and he let his wife and daughter suffer. He let his daughter think he was dead her entire life. That does not a good parent make.
NOT A SECURE PRISON
Prisons are supposed to be secure. They are supposed to have guards everywhere. The locks on the cells are supposed to keep people in. They aren’t supposed to be something you can break into in under 10 minutes.
But apparently it’s easy, cause Jess breaks in really quickly and gets to her fathers cell in under like 5 minutes. No guards, no anything. Well no guards until she gets inside the cell and then there is a guard that comes in.
Ethan and Jess are waiting in a field, when a guard approaches them. The guard asks what they are doing there and when they say that they are Americans he’s like oh, ok. And then claims he knows what they are doing there. Look dude, not everyone is in a field to make out, but also good thinking.
Rafael saving his daughter is something that we can and applaud. He’s like way late on this, but in the moment where she was at risk, he took a swing and he made sure that he was there (even if it was for his own selfish reasons).
Rafael proves its for selfish reasons when on the way out of the prison, he’s worried about the relics and wants to know where they are. It’s not the time Rafael and honestly, shouldn’t you be worried about if your kid is going to be okay? Shouldn’t your main worry be all about making sure your kid is safe?
But….
BLINDED AND SHOT
Rafael is not the smartest. He’s not even trustworthy. He’s not gotten too far, because when his daughter is about to get into trouble, he makes it back into the cell to get his daughter and then, you know, escape with her again. His dumb ass plan to escape? His daughter run across the field and cut the gate and he’s blind the guard with a mirror.
Now I get the story we’re telling. Theres an inherent trust between kids and their parents. and yes, to a certain point, that’s right. But not so much when your father has deserted you and you were left to break him out of jail. Like hard pass. I couldn’t even trust my Dad to not make everything about him all the time.
I think that Jess is courageous to run across the field. Especially cause Rafael hasn’t proven himself trustworthy. He’s proven that the only thing that he can be trusted to do – is well, nothing for his family, but obsess over a treasure.
I am torn on disliking him, because I do understand protecting something. I do understand that something that you’ve been entrusted with your entire life, why it is important. But when I am torn, I am also of the thought that when you have a child, it doesn’t matter what else there is, there is nothing more important than protecting ones child.
Rafael drops the mirror and it breaks. He’s willing to get shot in order to protect Jess, but when the guard is shot, he makes a run for it and tells Jess to cut the fence. Which she does, quickly.
AGENT ROSS
Oren can’t catch a break. He’s worried AF about his friends, wondering if they are okay. You can tell that he’s torn on if he made the right choice. If he was still in Mexico, he would know they are okay. But right now, the only thing that he knows is that he’s not okay.
Worry has a way of doing that. His anxiety gets worse when he doesn’t realize that Agent Ross has entered his house and is asking where his friends are. She tells him that Jess is in a lot of trouble and she’s there to help. I don’t doubt that he wants to believe her, but knows that he doesn’t have that luxury right now. His friends are in danger.
They have to be his main thought right now. He keeps his story, even when she keeps trying to say that she’s trying to be there for him. She leaves, but she has seen that he was in Mexico.
One can’t understand why it is that if Agent Ross thinks that Jess is innocent, she seems to be doing everything contradictory to that statement. She tells her boss that she believes Jess to be in Mexico. He orders the extradition and starts arranging for it.
Why couldn’t she have kept her mouth closed? Was it hard? It doesn’t feel like something that she couldn’t do. I think that she wants to prove herself, but you’re never going to prove yourself to your double agent boss, Agent Ross.
Yes, I believe that he’s on Billie’s payroll and counting on Agent Ross to stick to wanting to prove herself.
WE’VE GOT TO SEE A TREE
There was a part of me that didn’t think that Ethan and Tasha would stick around, cause well, police. But I should have known that they weren’t going anywhere. The three of them are the best of friends and they are not going to let each other down.
The three manage to outrun the police and end up separating. Rafael has said that his person would get him and Jess across the border. Ethan and Tasha are afraid of what will happen and if they’ll make it across the border. But Jess reassures them and says that she’ll see them the next day.
Rafael and Jess have to go and see a tree. Apparently he hid his research in it a long time ago. The two working together are able to figure out pieces that others didn’t see, that they couldn’t see without each other.
I have to admit that it was nice to see them working together. The way that they are able to find a way to communicate, they way that they move in sync, the way that they feed off of each other. The two of them are family.
And yes, they solve where the treasure is. Rafael is so impressed by his daughter and the way that her mind works. He’s so impressed with her mind and she’s impressed with his. Hell, without the two of them, they wouldn’t have been able to solve it.
The only issue is… Billie is hot on their tail.
CLEAN UP CREW
Liam and the nurse dude, who again, don’t trust, so will barely acknowledge. He’s informed Liam that Billie tracks everyone and he knows how to infiltrate her tracking system. This of course means that they’ll have to like tie up Dario and steal his phone and infiltrate it.
Liam wants to know where Billie is, but what he finds is that she’s been tracking him and was tracking his Dad. When he looks at the tracking he realizes that his Dad was nowhere near where he supposedly drown.
Would it shock me if his Dad was alive? No. It wouldn’t. But was does shock me is that Liam doesn’t play this smart and when Billie calls Dario’s phone he answers it and tells her that he’s coming for her.
Does no one appreciate the element of surprise? Billie does. Cause when Liam says this she sends a clean up team.
Really want to know what Billie’s compensation package is because these people want to work for her blindly. Like how much money does she provide and like what kind of medical package? Inquiring minds want to know because I need to understand what it takes for a person to so blindly follow.
Liam is worried about Jess, when he sees that Billie is in Mexico. Even with all he’s going through, even with all the doubt about his father, he’s still worried about her. Lordy, my ship knows me.
WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU
In the beginning, Rafael got a new pair of shoes. Should have known that Billie had arranged that and made sure they were bugged. Because well, that’s happened. Ethan and Tasha have made it to the border and stop for snacks. They are happy to almost be home, but as they walk out of the convenience store and the FBI shows up to get them. Ya, they were waiting.
In Mexico, Rafael tells Jess to run. She does, but there is only so far that she can get. She hides behind a rock and as Billie is like come out or i’ll kill your Dad, I think she’s torn. But I also think she’s aware of the fact that she needs to get back into the US and the best chance she has of that right now is Billie.
Do I think that she really wants to go with Billie? No. But I do think that she’s always one step ahead? Yes. And so while the episode ends on a cliffhanger, we’d bet our ass on the fact that Jess will always win.
National Treasure: Edge of History streams on Disney+.
