After escaping police at the Governor’s mansion, Jess partners up with Billie to decipher the mystery of the cubes in the latest episode of the Disney+ Original series “National Treasure: Edge of History.” Billie tells Jess that she is on the same side and Liam has been feeding her information this entire time. After the pair search the Alamo, Jess turns on Billie revealing she has known all along that Billie has been lying about her knowledge of Jess’ mother. Meanwhile, Ethan finds Liam in the hospital learning that Liam was trying to protect Jess when he was attacked by Billie’s henchwoman.

This is the best episode of the series so far, and it’s still not very good. It does a solid job of demonstrating why Jess would make a good FBI agent with her ability to figure out all the ways Billie is lying. But, at the same time, the plot’s course to this point makes it pretty clear that Billie is going to be lying, so the reveal isn’t that impressive. It’s good to see Jess use her brains but the set up to the moment feels very lazy and predictable.

A major problem with this series is that it’s hard to root for the heroes. Jess has done nothing to stand out. There’s nothing wrong with her character, she just isn’t exciting. Tasha and Liam have both made themselves incredibly unlikable throughout the series. Ethan is the archetypal friend who has always been in love with the protagonist but won’t tell her. And Oren’s entire personality is sneakers. Is there anyone in that group of people you want to see succeed? On the other hand, Billie is motivated and driven. She knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. She goes too far to establish herself as the villain, but she really comes across as more deserving of the viewers’ support.

There are four more episodes left, and it already feels like they have stretched this plot too thin. While Disney+ subscribers have been demanding longer seasons to some of their properties, this was the wrong one to stretch to ten episodes. There are several Marvel shows that weren’t long enough and felt rushed at the end. Disney really needs to get in the habit of making series fit the amount of content they have rather than hit some arbitrary episode number. Every one of their shows would be better if they did that.

Rating: 2.5 stars

What did you think of the most recent episode of “National Treasure: Edge of History?”

Jeremy Brown

Jeremy has been a big Disney fan since he was a kid growing up during the Disney Renaissance. One day he hopes to go to every Disney Park in the world.

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