Spoilers

The latest clue stumps Jess and friends, delaying their quest.

Leading with a welcome addition: Riley Poole returns! In an amusing and affectionate callback to the original films, Benjamin Franklin Gates’ original sidekick shows up at Agent Sadusky’s wake. A lot of really nice stuff goes on here: Riley remains a globe-trotting, treasure-hunting billionaire. We see him on the phone with Ben which lets us know that Ben and Abigail Chase remain together and remain, likewise, globe-trotting, treasure-hunting billionaires. Oh, and they adopted a most adorable puppy. I found this turn of events particularly commendable and enjoyable because sequels that negate (i.e. undo) their predecessors annoy me to no end. Also particularly well done: Riley at no point overshadows our lead, even if Oren idolizes him (and owns all Riley’s books which Oren wants Riley to autograph).

Riley’s arrival highlights something the series does really well: it builds on the movies and pays them homage without becoming mired in the past. The references never slow down the current totally separate story. If one watched the originals, plenty of easter eggs jump out and add to the richness of the series, but the lack of previous viewing doesn’t detract or confuse. Another example: we see more of Agents Ross and Hendricks in what is clearly a nice but not intrusive setup for both, but especially Ross, stepping into the role of ally that Sadusky filled in the original film. Ross continues to investigate Sadusky’s suspicious death, and her boss Hendricks now agrees with her that she should pursue it.

Which segues into, we also get a deeper look into the requisite organization of evildoers who want to take over the world.

Sidenote: all White middle-aged men with the lone exception of Billie. The pristine board room could not get more male WASP-y. Seriously. In 2023? Yes, no doubt it was deliberate. Paradoxically, it was both so on-the-nose and inaccurate that it added nothing to the plot and came close to detracting from it.

But I digress. Back to Billie, who stands her ground and faces down her detractors who want her to move faster. Quite reasonably and with impeccable logic, she points out she is making progress where others have failed for centuries. She also reaffirms – not that viewers doubted it or forgot–that she’s surveilling Jess and the others and that the surveillance is producing results.

That apparently satisfies the board, except for one member who attempts to ambush her in the parking garage on the way out of the building. In one of the few instances of a supposedly (at least reasonably) smart character acting incredibly dumb, the traitorous board member doesn’t bring along nearly enough muscle. On the one hand, this incredibly minor character serves his purpose: showing yet again one shouldn’t mess with Billie, a total bad-ass. Combat ensues, with the utterly predictable outcome. That said, Kacey deftly dispatches the two other thugs in a wonderfully choreographed scene.

Jess and Riley trip an alarm and turn Sadusky’s Secrets Room into a deathtrap. Naturally they escape in the nick of time thanks to connecting a whole bunch of highly improbably dots. (It’s the nature, the very foundation, of the franchise. One either suspends disbelief or not.) This also enables them to solve the latest troublesome clue.

Liam and Jess officially hook up with a passionate kiss – to the dismay of her “bestie” Ethan who suddenly forgets his own impressively hot, smart, and nice girlfriend. So long as the soap opera remains firmly in the background, I won’t complain. Too much. Which brings me to the final scene.

Riley, about to depart on his private jet, calls Jess from the airport. His sources learned that Billie has the recording Jess made of the Elvis record. Jess declares no one outside her groups knows anything about it, to which Riley responds (reasonably from his point of view) that then one of her ‘friends’ isn’t. Jess’s gaze, sad and suspicious, immediately falls on Liam. Fade to black.

This makes zero sense for a reason I mentioned before. Long before this point, Jess and company should know better. They should already be taking precautions. Jess thought they were being followed. Ethan confirms it in this very episode as the Bearded Man speeds away. Tess, allegedly a tech genius, doesn’t even consider hacking and surveillance after Billie already hacked them. The scene ended immediately at that point, so I’ll reserve judgement until the following episode. If the show continues down this particular path of contrived conflict among the protagonists, that will majorly disappoint.

Verdict A ton of good stuff in this episode with just a tiny glitch or two. 7/10

Rigel Ailur