As we head into the final couple of episodes, the story begins to amp up on both a wider level and a personal level. I did not see the reveal about Jess' dad coming and he's certainly a character. It's good to get confirmation that Billie was at least telling the truth about the death of her brother with Jess' dad informing her he was killed by Salazar.
A last minute revelation by the long haired bearded man however reveals that Salazar isn't a person but rather a title bestowed on people from a secret organisation dating back to Ancient Egypt. With this hefty information about the third party coming this late in the battle between Billie and Jess to reach the treasure, I wonder if they're intending to use this Salazar organisation to set up a potential second season.
It was nice to see the characters travel to a new location for their treasure hunt and do some fun treasure clue work in the final moments of the eighth episode but I'm not too big of a fan of how the clues are being solved. It doesn't have quite the same ring of authenticity that the films and other treasure hunting media has. If Jess doesn't know what something means or magically figure it out without any context, she can go find someone (her dad) who has the exact right information.
There was no puzzling out for the constellation map puzzle. No clues for the audience to work it out. He just knew and he just said it. It's a bit of a shame for a show based around a treasure hunt but I guess the television medium meant they decided to be more concerned with the interpersonal relationships of the characters. By contrast though, the organ puzzle in the nunnery was one of their stronger treasure hunting clues, proving that maybe all the show is lacking is a little consistency.
Without the character dynamics, this show would probably feel a little thin. The characters have grown on me over the course of the season and I found Oran's decision to stall the nuns with complete unedited honesty amusing to say the least. It was such a nice change of pace for them to not run into any problems while obtaining the final puzzle box with a nice moment between Jess and the nun as she reveals herself as a Daughter of the Plumed Serpent.
The eighth episode ends with a number of characters in dire straits. Tasha and Ethan have been apprehended by the FBI on their hunt for Jess after Billie framed her for Sadusky's murder while Jess and her father are captured by Billie. Hopefully we learn more about her shadowy organisation in the next episode as the search to find the treasure enters the final stage.
What did you think of these two episodes? Were you also surprised Jess' dad was alive? Sound off in the comments below!
