In previous episodes of “National Treasure: Edge of History,” we saw how Jess discovered from a freemason, Mr. Sadusky, that her father was a treasure hunter and that her locket had a crucial meaning related to the treasure. But she needed a map in order to find the treasure, and she found it in an Aztec artifact from a freemasonic museum. Though the malevolent crypto-queen Billie, who would do anything to find the treasure, could endanger Jess’ life. So, against all odds, will Jess be able to decipher the entire map and eventually locate the treasure?
Spoilers Ahead
Who Was The ‘Sun King?’
In the third episode of “National Treasure: Edge of History,” we saw Liam give Jess an academic study paper. When Jess discovered that the paper was authored by her mother, she brought home a cassette of her dissertation, and Liam joined her. In this video, Manuela described the history of courageous indigenous women who had preserved the treasure. Thousands of years ago, before the Europeans came, independent tribes roamed America, but once the conquistadors attacked them, indigenous women attempted to preserve their treasure from them. One of them, a brave lady named Malinche, was a translator for the Spanish Governor, Hernan Cortes, but she wasn’t working for them; rather, she was acting as a spy, and her group of women, who were called the Daughters of the Plumed Serpent, was surreptitiously hiding the treasure. Malinche instructed them to split the treasure map into three relics: Aztec, Maya, and Inca, that have since been lost through time.Â
A professor, however, opposed her research, claiming that Malinche was a traitor and that the treasure’s traditions were fictitious. Jess’s father, Rafael, defended Manuela and asserted that they would find the treasure to demonstrate the authenticity of the legend. Jess saw the sculptures of these indigenous women wearing the same necklace she had, which reminded her of Sadusky’s statements that this necklace was a symbol of an ancient oath to protect the treasure and that if Jess’ father had it, he had been preserving the treasure, and so must Jess. After the cut, a little video of Rafael and Manuela cooking and acting like a loving couple appeared on the screen. Jess realized that her parents were once in love but that certain events had torn them apart, which may have been related to the treasure quest. Ethan returned home and heard that they were talking about treasure, so Jess sang him a song that Manuela used to sing to her. She said that the lullaby’s underlying significance was the hidden treasure that her mother had never revealed to her. Ethan also started to believe that the treasure’s legends were not imaginary, so he agreed to help her out. They arrived at Sadusky’s clue room in his house. The clue room held photographs of the relics and information about them, but Jess just needed to discover their locations. Liam stated that one of these relics was unearthed by his grandfather and given to his father, but he died in a diving accident, and the relic was lost. Inside the clue room, there were various clues, including a piece of paper with a message about the Sun King and Peace scribbled on it. Jess needed to know who the Sun King was, and Liam assumed it was Elvis Pressley, whose record company was Sun Records. Tasha did some research and discovered he was a mason, and his three-times-great grandmother, a Cherokee, was named Morning Dove White. Jess discovered that the dove is a symbol of peace, and the word “peace” scribbled on the note refers to a person. This implies that the message was passed on to Elvis, Peace’s great-grandson. They learned that “The Gibson Elvis Dove” was the name of Elvis Presley’s guitar, which could have held hints. However, this guitar and all of Elvis’ other belongings were kept in his hidden chamber at the Graceland museum, but no one was allowed to go inside the secret room. Jess, on the other hand, had a brilliant theft plot. Tasha had hacked the head of security’s profile in order to gain access to Graceland’s cameras. Jess instructed Oren to go inside and release some moths, which would cause a fuss and prompt security to contact the exterminators. But, before the real exterminators came, Ethan and Liam would disguise themselves as exterminators and walk inside. Things went just as planned, but when Ethan and Liam arrived as the exterminators, Mark directed them to split up and walk in opposite directions. Mark brought Ethan to the secret chamber to check for moths, and Ethan photographed the jewels as well as the guitar. He exited the room and texted the photos to Jess. Meanwhile, Liam removed his exterminator outfit and exited the museum, but Jess couldn’t locate any clue in the “The Gibson Elvis Dove” but did discover the gold record on which “La Paloma” was inscribed. “La Paloma” translates to “dove,” and the true Clue was concealed in this record. Jess begged Ethan to return to the room, but he couldn’t since the real exterminators had already come, and Mark had already come to know about the false ones. While he was finding Ethan and Liam, Jess slipped inside the secret room by unlocking the passcode. She played the record and recorded it with her phone. Mark was suspicious, so he rushed to the room, but there was nothing inside, as Jess was hiding behind a cabinet. Liam, on the other hand, played Elvis Presseley’s “Suspicious Minds” on his guitar to distract the tourists and the security guards. Jess came out of the secret room after Mark, though I don’t know how because Mark was supposed to lock the room, but if there was a secret code inside the room, then she might have cracked it again to come out. Anyway, Max prevented Liam from being caught by Mark. They both exited the museum and fled Graceland.
Who Had The Relic ‘Maya?’
We see Billie researching Jess’ background and discovering that she was the first DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) beneficiary to graduate valedictorian. Jess could study at any prestigious institution, according to Kacey, but her mother became ill and finally died, leaving her with a mountain of unpaid medical expenses. Billie was perplexed as to why, despite the fact that Jess had medical costs to pay, she refused to give her the treasure map in exchange for a substantial amount of money. Nate, Billie’s companion, deciphered the code and eventually unlocked the Aztec to solve the map’s riddle. Billie is seen taking out another relic, “Maya,” which was supposed to be the one that Sadusky had discovered and given to his son. As a result, it hints that Billie may have killed Liam’s father in order to obtain access to the box, making Billie’s persona perilous. She kept digging and discovered that the ultimate relic, Inca, was within White Woman Mountain. So she traveled to the mountains with Nate and Kacey, but she discovered that locating the treasure there was tough since it was an area riddled with traps. Nate accidentally fell into a hollow, which was one of those traps, and probably died.
In the meanwhile, FBI officer Ross was still probing Sadusky’s death, and she found out from the toxicology report that Sadusky had an orange stain on his hand, which implied that he was clutching something in his hand while he was dying. Besides, his report showed a lot of compositions in his blood, which might be medication or some fatal ingredients.
What Clue Did The ‘Gold Record’ Have?
Ethan was concerned and a bit envious to see Liam near Jess, so he warned Liam to keep his distance from her since Jess was undocumented and had DACA. Therefore, his concerns were that if Liam entangled her in such matters, she might lose her right to reside in the United States. Ethan felt horrible about telling Liam things about Jess, so he apologized to her, but Jess was a kind person and patient, so she didn’t blame him for anything. She went to Liam’s and resolved the situation. Liam also didn’t harbor any grudges against Ethan. They both focused on deciphering the Clue that the “Gold Record” contained inside. They played the album and reversed the vocal, which sounded like a hint about “a twin-tongued serpent’s tail being unveiled by the band in a new-found land,” which Elvis was referring to. In the following scene, we see Billie receive a voicemail which was this same reversed vocal of Elvis revealing the Clue. Billie previously mentioned the earth monster, which represented a holy area; thus, we may deduce that the twin-tongued serpent is the earth monster. However, we think it will take us a lot of episodes to fully understand where the treasure is, and in the meanwhile, a lot of things might happen to Jess’ squad. Perhaps we can find a traitor among them who sent the clip to Billie. However, the forthcoming episodes may provide solutions to all of these conjectures, and we should look forward to them.
See more: ‘National Treasure: Edge Of History’ Episode 1 And 2: Recap And Ending, Explained