National Treasure: Edge of History Season 1 Episode 9 Recap – Who is Salazar?

This recap of National Treasure: Edge of History Season 1 Episode 9, “A Meeting With Salazar”, contains spoilers.

Well, it took nine episodes, but National Treasure: Edge of History finally delivered some proper narrative development, including what seems to be a major character death and a twist that could genuinely be described as unexpected. The rest of this penultimate episode is still a mess, obviously, and in all the usual, contrived ways, but the jolt of energy that comes from its ending certainly helps in building some hype for next week’s finale.

So, we’ll get to the details in a minute. The general setup is this: “A Meeting With Salazar” divides the action into two, with Jess and Rafael having been captured by Billie, and the kids back Stateside having to deal with the FBI. This is mostly fine since it means we get less asinine teen drama and more actual plot.

National Treasure: Edge of History Season 1 Episode 9 Recap

As always, the puzzle-solving business on both fronts is extremely eye-roll-worthy. The secret all along turns out to have been Jess’s medallion, which is unlocked by a pin hidden in Rafael’s pencil and turns into an ancient compass. In the U.S. things aren’t much better, with Tasha’s magical laptop still being wheeled out to solve virtually every problem. Even the FBI issue is done away with relatively easily because Oren simply volunteers himself for a polygraph test to prove he’s telling the truth.

This is the episode when all the Agent Ross stuff really intersects with Jess and the gang’s plot. Following a lead from Liam, who claims that there should be evidence of Myles’s murder at Peter Sadusky’s house, Ross and Zeke get into a gunfight with Dario and another of Billie’s goons. Tasha also sends Ross a video file of Billie and several armed men arriving at Vicksburg County Airport with Jess, so the evidence has finally mounted to an extent that the FBI can officially and justifiably involve themselves.

Who is Salazar?

This, though, turns out to be a problem. As we’ve established throughout the episode Billie is actually working for Salazar, who is the head of a cabal of “treasure destroyers”. And Salazar is… Ross’s boss, Hendricks.

I’ve got to be honest; I didn’t necessarily see this coming. I figured that Hendricks was just a bit of fan service (he was in both films) and a minor supporting character to provide a bit of a roadblock for Ross. The audience realizes he’s up to no good when Ross figures out he’s responsible for poisoning Sadusky, but the Salazar reveal comes a bit later, when Rafael recognizes him. And Salazar makes his presence felt very strongly by impaling Ross from behind with the sword Billie keeps on her private plane.

Is Agent Ross dead?

It would certainly seem so! And while I kind of enjoyed the character, even if she felt a bit underserved by the story, I think on balance it’s probably a good thing if the show commits to killing her off to raise the stakes. This has been a very tepid affair thus far, and some real consequences feel welcome. The episode ends with what looks very much like Ross expiring, so I’m not sure how she could escape her fate in the finale. If it all turns out to be some kind of elaborate long-con somehow arranged by Jess, who had already figured everything out way in advance, I’m going to be furious.

You can stream National Treasure: Edge of History Season 1 Episode 9, “A Meeting With Salazar” exclusively on Disney+.

Additional reading:

• National Treasure: Edge of History Season 1 Episode 8 Recap
• National Treasure: Edge of History Season 1 Ending Explained