The National Treasure show continues to have the same amount of charm as its predecessor even if some of its characters are bloating the narrative. Oren is largely ineffectual as the designated comic relief and it's a little more noticeable than usual with the return of Justin Bartha as Riley Poole in the fourth episode.
Despite the thrill of seeing my favourite character from the movies again, 'Charlotte' doesn't really do his character - or the plot - justice. It had a slower pace than the previous episodes, which is no bad thing but it did mean that not much happened in the episode at all with the only important treasure hunt progression happening towards the end of the episode.
It makes me hope that Riley will appear in more episodes to help Jess with her treasure hunting. Justin Bartha is listed on IMdB as being in more episodes but I'm taking that with a large grain of salt until the episodes have aired.
I did like the reveal that the long-haired hippie-style man they had suspected of following them in the third episode turned out to actually be following them in a fun little bit of continuity. One reveal that didn't land as well is the revelation that someone on the team may be feeding information to Billie.
Jess' mind goes straight to Liam on account of him being the one she first listened to the Elvis clue with. I'd assumed that Billie and her team had simply hacked the laptop and found the file that way. I could be wrong but if I'm not than all this is going to do is lead to unnecessary drama that will distract from the treasure hunt.
There's also the risk that Jess' suspicion of Liam will lead to more screentime for Ethan. He's proving to be less useful than Oren even, his only role in the show so far seeming to be him alternating between pining for Jess and making out with his girlfriend to distract from pining for Jess.
He also outs Jess as DACA to Liam after she takes the risk of going into Graceland herself to get the record. It adds interesting layers to her character as well as her dynamics with Ethan and Liam and while I don't see the appeal of either romance, it did its job of revealing more of Jess' personality and struggles.
What did you think of the episodes? Hope to see more of Riley Poole in the future? Sound off in the comments below!
