Episode two of Disney+’s National Treasure: Edge of History starts off right where episode one left off. Billie (Catherine Zeta-Jones) has kidnapped Oren (Antonio Cipriano), and when he hears Jess’s voice he tries to leave. Tasha (Zuri Reed) joins the conversation and warns Billie she’s going to hack her devices, but Billie is one step ahead of her and has put a firewall on Tasha’s laptop. They’re running out of options and Jess (Lisette Olivera) is forced into agreeing to give Billie the relic in exchange for Oren.
Jess convinces Billie to agree to meet at the USS Kidd Museum and tells Tasha she chose the location because military police are assigned there. Billie won’t be able to try anything.
Jess wants to go to the FBI but Tasha thinks that’s a terrible idea.
Ethan (Jordan Rodrigues) texts and Jess and Tasha agree not to tell him what’s going on. He was already upset when Jess told him about the relic in the first place.
Jess and Tasha head to the FBI, against Tasha’s better judgment.
FBI Agent Ross (Lyndon Smith) shares her theory on a case involving bank robbers with her boss, and he doesn’t want to hear it. Ross is discovering that being the newbie in the Baton Rouge bureau isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.
Agent Ross meets with Jess and Tasha to get their statement. Jess is starting to tell her everything when Tasha clears her throat, trying to signal not to spill everything. Jess shares details about former FBI Agent Peter Sadusky and also begins to tell her about Billie. Agent Ross wants the kidnapping victim’s name and theirs, and Tasha steps in and provides fake names.
Agent Ross decides someone must have paid these two to haze her. They insist they’re telling the truth and Agent Ross suggests they file a report. The girls change their minds.
Back on the bus, Jess decides to try and open the relic. Jess is so good at solving puzzles that she actually manages to open it. The relic breaks apart into what appear to be sections of a map. However, the sections don’t all match up.
Tasha takes pictures of each piece. Smart idea!
Jess calls Ethan and pretends her actual question is strictly hypothetical. She wants to know if someone kidnaps a person but law enforcement can’t prove they were involved, can you get them arrested on a smaller crime and prove the kidnapping later? Yes, it’s possible, according to Ethan.
Jess gets the idea to turn Billie into a shoplifter.
Billie arrives at the museum and Jess is surprised by her looks. “I wasn’t expecting someone who walked out of the town in Big Little Lies,” says Jess.
Billie doesn’t waste any time and asks for the relic. Jess, in turn, asks about Oren’s whereabouts. In walks Oren and Jess is out of options and hands over the relic. Jess and Tasha put their shoplifting plan into action and when Billie attempts to leave, the alarm goes off. The military police officer stops her, but Billie’s able to convince the MP she didn’t take anything.
Jess blurts out that she kidnapped her friend, but when they ask Oren to confirm that’s true, he remembers their threats and says he wasn’t kidnapped. Right before parting ways, Billie says to Jess, “Remind me. In Big Little Lies did they get away with murder?”
Elsewhere, Liam (Jake Austin Walker) and his mother, Gina (Kathleen York), are waiting for his grandfather’s estate lawyer to find out what he’s inherited. Liam doesn’t think Peter’s death is a “big deal,” but his mom begs to differ. It’s then revealed that Liam blames his grandpa for his dad’s death but his mom doesn’t. Gina believes Liam’s father was a grown man who made his own decisions.
Liam plans on moving to Nashville and pursuing his music career if Peter left him any money. As it turns out, Peter only left him his house. Liam wants to sell it, but the estate lawyer points out it will take a few years due to probate and the need for renovations.
Jess and Tasha show up with Oren’s favorite pizza and tell him Jess figured out how to open the relic. They believe it could all tie into Jess’s not-so-shady dad after all. Oren realizes it’s a treasure map and enthusiastically begins to give them a pep talk about why they should go after the treasure.
Jess wonders if Tasha and Oren are really still in this with her, and they confirm they are. Jess doesn’t have a plan but thinks she should go back to where this all started – Peter Sadusky’s house. Maybe there are more clues there.
Tasha decides to look into Billie to see what they are up against, while Jess warns Oren not to tell Ethan what they are up to.
Back at Sadusky’s place, Jess remembers Peter opened a secret box by pulling and pushing his books on a shelf. While looking, she accidentally knocks down books. One happens to land open on a page that has the same symbol as her necklace.
Jess hears a noise and grabs an umbrella for protection. Liam bursts in with his own weapon but then realizes she’s the girl from the club that was bugging him about his grandfather. He accuses Jess of stanning him (slang for being an obsessive fan), and Jess emphatically denies it.
Jess starts to tell him about the relic and the map, but Liam isn’t amused. It’s the same old song and dance he has heard about his whole life. She tries a different approach by showing him her necklace which shares the same symbol as the relic. Liam still doesn’t want to listen.
Meanwhile, Billie places the relic in a machine that can look inside of it. She discovers the keychain inside from the gift shop that caused the alarm to go off, and that means Jess was able to open the relic. Billie’s impressed and wants to make sure they haven’t missed anything about Jess.
Oren accidentally spills the beans when Ethan asks about the sneaker hunt he was on yesterday. (Jess used a sneaker hunt to explain Oren’s absence.) Unfortunately, she didn’t tell Oren that was her excuse and so he says he wasn’t on a sneaker hunt. Oren realizes too late what’s happened, and Ethan questions whether he was actually involved in a treasure hunt instead.
Agent Ross is still thinking about what Jess and Tasha told her. She requests files on Peter Sadusky but they get her nowhere.
Ethan confronts Jess about the treasure hunt, upset because they never used to keep secrets from each other. She agrees but then calls him out about a girl she saw him with. He admits they’ve been together for about six weeks. They make a deal; no more secrets from each other.
Jess jumps on a video call with Tasha to discuss the map and relic. Jess admits being confused because there are symbols that were used by Aztecs and Mayans, which doesn’t make sense. Aztecs and Mayans weren’t exactly best friends. Jess’s boss shows up and she ends the call. He’s upset because she missed work and the person she switched shifts with didn’t show up.
Unfortunately for Jess, she no longer has a job.
Liam and his mom pack up Peter’s house, but Liam needs to leave for the club. Gina stops him and confesses she’s concerned he’s been drifting since his dad died. She thinks that maybe being a musician isn’t what he should be spending his time doing.
Tasha’s research on Billie indicates she’s a crypto queen and antiques dealer. Tasha notices something’s off about Jess, and Jess admits she was fired. Tasha knows Squeaky Pete’s is hiring, but Jess is reluctant to apply since Liam works there. She doesn’t want to see him.
Agent Ross’s boss, Agent Hendricks, asks why she ordered a toxicology report on Peter Sadusky’s death. She explains the walk-ins they had the other day had a crazy story that she initially thought was a prank. They were sure Peter died under mysterious circumstances. Agent Hendricks worked with Peter, a man who was regarded as an American hero. But when his son died, Peter wasn’t the same and was dismissed from the FBI. Sadusky has had dementia for the past 10 years, so Hendricks doesn’t believe there’s any reason to run a toxicology report.
Despite claiming she doesn’t want to see Liam, Jess talks Sneaky Pete’s owner into giving her a job by pointing out all the things she has noticed wrong with the place within a few minutes. Liam walks in and she assures him she won’t talk to him about treasure; she just needed a job.
After Liam finishes his set, the owner tells him he’s reconsidering the whole idea of doing live music and wants to do karaoke instead. Liam is obviously unhappy about the decision.
Liam spots Jess and asks to see her after her shift. She turns him down, thinking he wants a date. Liam insists he wants to show her something that has to do with the treasure. He finally tells her his dad died hunting this treasure and that maybe he needs to finish what his dad started.
Back at Peter’s house, Liam shows Jess a secret room behind his grandpa’s bookcase. She admits her mom never told her much about her dad because she probably didn’t want Jess to end up like him. Liam thinks they’re going to have a lot in common. Jess asks where most of the artifacts in the room came from, and Liam reveals his dad got most of his information from an unpublished academic paper written a few decades ago in Mexico.
Liam hands her the documents, and a very shocked and confused Jess confesses the author is her mom. Cue the intense music! Jess and Liam stare intently at the documents as episode two ends with a cliffhanger.
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 1 Recap: “I’m a Ghost”
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 3 Recap: “Graceland Gambit”
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 4 Recap: “Charlotte”
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 5 Recap: “Bad Romance”
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 6 Recap: “Frenemies”
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 7 Recap: “Point of No Return”
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 8 Recap: “Family Tree”
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 9 Recap: “Meeting with Salazar”
- National Treasure: Edge of History Episode 10 Recap: “Treasure Protectors”
- Interview with Series Stars Antonio Cipriano & Zuri Reed
- National Treasure: Edge of History Stars Jake Austin Walker and Lisette Olivera Interview
