National Treasure: Edge of History

This Wednesday, the season finale of National Treasure: Edge of History released on Disney+. National Treasure: Edge of History is a 10-episode series that follow treasure hunter Jess and her friends as they try to uncover a lost Mesoamerican treasure. On the hunt, they must race against mysterious treasure hunter Billie and her associates to retrieve the treasure first. I was really interested in this series as I loved National Treasure and enjoy puzzle movies like this.

I had a lot of fun with this show. A lot of people are giving it a bunch of hate but I really didn't have a problem with this show. The 5 main characters of this show are all a lot of fun to watch. They each have their own personality and skill that they bring to the team. The 5 of them also have great chemistry together and can play off each other really well. The series does deliver on the typical "National Treasure stuff" that everyone likes about the movies. While there is nothing as high level as stealing the Declaration of Independence, there are several fun sequences where they get to infiltrate important historical sites. Since it is a TV show, we get to spend more time on the story, so instead of just a singular big heist, this show can include multiple. I also just found the show very exciting with a lot of twists and turns as well as liked how it has several very funny moments. I enjoyed watching this season and hope to see a second season.

I did several issues with the show. The first thing was that I felt there were too many subplots. There was a whole substory with an FBI agent that I didn't think added much to the story. The show also tries to force a love triangle halfway through the series which it abandons after a couple of episodes. I also wasn't a huge fan of the villain of the series. I felt she was pretty bland and wasn't as charismatic as the villains in the two films. The main complaint that most people have with the show is that there is no Nicolas Cage. Without him, the show just isn't quite able to capture the magic of the movies. I also didn't like the fact that they kept bringing up how Jess was an undocumented immigrant. They were trying to do that to create stakes but I felt it a bit unnecessary as the show kind of drops it about halfway through the series. Finally, I thought the ending was a bit underwhelming, the finale didn't quite provide an effective payoff to everything throughout the series.

Overall, this was a very fun show but just had a few story issues that keep it from maintaining the magic of the original films.

Score: 6/10 Grade: C+ Recommendation: Worth checking out if you like national treasure