Season 1 Discussion

[tennisgurl]

No, dont start killing off the more interesting supporting characters! None of that bullshit! Killing off Asim right when he was confirmed to be a good guy is really killing my fun summer show buzz. Why couldn't it have been the boring lady?!?

I am rather curious as to what terrorists and Nazis want with the corpse of Cleopatra, and how evil people just keep adding "and then I find hidden treasure" as major components of their evil plans. Its a metaphor for east meets west? Is that why Danny looked all shook when Asim said that the western world so often exploited Egyptian culture?* Because that isnt exactly a shocking new fact, especially for a person with a background in international relations AND archaeology! 

Love that Father Chuck is back, he really steals every scene he appears in! As long as they dont keep offing all the fun supporting cast, and maybe focus on the archaeology stuff, I still think this is shaping out to be a decently fun summer show. 

*Fun creepy fact: In Victorian England, it was trendy to host parties where rich people would unwrap Egyptian mummies right in their living rooms for their guests entertainment! Because that certainly isnt messed up and horribly disrespectful towards the dead and an ancient and magnificent culture or human life in general or anything!

[thuganomics85]

Should have known that Asim was going to be a goner, once they brought him back and actually developed his character for a few scenes.  He didn't even get to reunite with the expense binoculars Shaw stole!  Still a few good days work for Patrick Sabongui!  At least The Flash will hopefully never kill Singh... right?!

Father Chuck is pretty awesome.  I hope he gets more involved with the main story.  I really want to see him exchange words with Shaw!

Danny and Lexi's bickering and bantering was bit more tolerable this go around.  Probably because they actually seemed to like one another this time.

I'm really not trying to be too harsh on her, but Katia Winter really is a bore as Gwen.

Not enough Oded Fehr.

[shapeshifter]

4 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Killing off Asim right when he was confirmed to be a good guy is really killing my fun summer show buzz

Killing off Asim right when he was confirmed to be a good guy is also so predictable for a show written to be understood by the lowest common denominator.

Should we be worried that the priest is a Red Sox fan? You know: Red shirt?

[theschnauzers]

I’m not reading any more into this show than what it is, a summer romp. And unlike many of those on CBS in the summertime it’s more comedic.

i’ve been watching Matt ever since Hatfields &McCoys, and even last season’s Valor on the CW, so yes I will watch him in anything. These are the sort of roles you would have seen at the movies every week, back before television became the big thing, and Matt really is a throwback to that era and does it well. It’s interesting that the networks and services are increasingly doing these types of series now, because it is the sort of thing that works best in summertime.

[tvfanatic13]

I am having a hard time telling some of the characters apart. Who was the one that was killed? Who is the one that was in the Nazi room with the green things?

[Writing Wrongs]

I just noticed the first 2 episodes are on Amazon Prime already. 

[MaggieG]

Really enjoying this show! I like all the archaeological stuff. I'm also Matt Barr/Harper Island fan. There was also a kind of enjoyable chick flick he did called The Layover. I read that they did film some stuff on location in Rome and Morocco. 

[AnimeMania]

If you are going to sneak away from the tour group 5 seconds after it starts, why did you draw so much attention to yourselves, how could the tour guide not have reported them to security.

Boy these two leads read their lines without any emotion at all. Wow, we found a room full of gold, I guess we are rich.

Way to sell the cliffhanger, girl gets kidnapped, next week on Blood & Treasure you see them standing next to each other laughing.

[sempervivum]

Oh, so a 75+ year old Nazi depot is easily located by our heroes and is still standing unmolested ? And there's still a WW2 calendar hanging on the wall? And behind the wall is a massive underground treasure bunker where the Nazis stored gold bars 'made from the jewelry of the concentration camp victims'- well, that and from their dental fillings.

And because it can't be pointed out too often, this wispy size 0 woman can knock out men with her bare hands. And she goes to do her sekrit sleuth stuff wearing white skinny jeans and high heeled boots.

[Driad]

Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno said that the main Vatican library lets the observatory have "new" books but keeps "old" ones. It's not as inconvenient as it sounds, because they define "new" books as those printed on printing presses, say since the late 1400s.

[EyewatchTV211]

On 5/30/2019 at 5:31 AM, theschnauzers said:

I’m not reading any more into this show than what it is, a summer romp. And unlike many of those on CBS in the summertime it’s more comedic.

i’ve been watching Matt ever since Hatfields &McCoys, and even last season’s Valor on the CW, so yes I will watch him in anything. These are the sort of roles you would have seen at the movies every week, back before television became the big thing, and Matt really is a throwback to that era and does it well. It’s interesting that the networks and services are increasingly doing these types of series now, because it is the sort of thing that works best in summertime.

USA network used to specialized in these shows. I don't understand why they stopped. I was a fan of so many of their shows, and now I don't watch that network at all.

[tennisgurl]

I admit I enjoyed watching the main characters exploring all of the old Nazi strongholds and reading all of hieroglyphics and Greek lettering, it felt very National Treasure or Indiana Jones. I want more archaeology and historical mystery solving! The Nazis really were super into occult stuff and looking for proof that "Aryans" were behind every great historical achievement of anyone. There was one guy who was so obsessed with using archaeology to "prove" how superior Nazis were that he freaked out over every single bit of pottery he found, going on about the great Aryan civilization that never existed, to the point that even Hitler thought he was ridiculous. Yeah, Hitler was laughing at this guy. 

Head terrorist guy really has some balls to act like blowing up a national treasure that has lasted thousands of years and stands as a monument to human achievement is some kind of win for the Egyptian people. 

[greyhorse]

17 hours ago, VMepicgrl said:

USA network used to specialized in these shows. I don't understand why they stopped. I was a fan of so many of their shows, and now I don't watch that network at all.

Oh for sure, I was just thinking the same.  Burn Notice.  Covert Affairs.  I miss those shows!

There is a lot of suspension of disbelief needed with this show.  Agree that it's quite ridiculous that a whole treasure trove of Nazi loot is just stored in an easily discovered and unguarded underground bunker.  That nobody would think it was odd that there was a wall there when there weren't walls anywhere else.  That a calendar would be hiding the entry point.  And didn't it look like already that the wall was cracked, as if somebody had tried to get in?

The leads aren't great actors, but my expectations are so low.  I love the accents on the female lead.  And while yes, it's annoying that we are going to be constantly given scenes of the two of them with their mouths 1 inch apart - will they kiss or won't they - and we know they'll never get together - it makes for campy good fun.

[Writing Wrongs]

I really want to like this show. It has all the elements I like, but I find myself getting distracted about halfway through the episodes.

[blackwing]

I enjoyed this episode, particularly the finding of the underground vault.  But really, these two people are supposed to be intelligent?  They were having a conversation with Father Chuck about the possible location of Cleopatra's sarcophagus on speakerphone in a crowded cafe.  Without looking to see if there were any potentially suspicious people listening in.

Shouldn't the blonde interpol agent be a bit more suspicious of the Italian carabinieri.  He gets information, and then things happen and people die.  She doesn't seem very good at her job.

[greyhorse]

3 hours ago, blackwing said:

I enjoyed this episode, particularly the finding of the underground vault.  But really, these two people are supposed to be intelligent?  They were having a conversation with Father Chuck about the possible location of Cleopatra's sarcophagus on speakerphone in a crowded cafe.  Without looking to see if there were any potentially suspicious people listening in.

Oh yes.  Thought that was so dumb.  But obviously they used speaker as just a way to allow both of them to hear at the same time.  I think if they were in real life, you obviously wouldn't do that in a crowded café.  And you certainly would be more vigilant of who is around you.

I thought the implied killing of the elderly woman who was the kid in the picture was unnecessary.

Having trouble keeping all the bad guys straight, they sort of all look the same with the exception of Oded Fehr of course.

[UncleChuck]

I can't tell the bad guys apart either...

And how did they find that old woman who was the child in the photo?...

And why would she be in danger?  She might know the name of the castle, but nothing else...

[shapeshifter]

On 6/5/2019 at 6:44 PM, tennisgurl said:

Head terrorist guy really has some balls to act like blowing up a national treasure that has lasted thousands of years and stands as a monument to human achievement is some kind of win for the Egyptian people. 

Destroying world-wide known historical artifacts--especially those with such a large physical presence--didn't work out well for the Taliban, as noted back in 2001 (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1326063/After-1700-years-Buddhas-fall-to-Taliban-dynamite.html). Not a good PR move. I suppose in-show it was supposed to make it clear to a likely distracted audience (cooking, texting, etc. while watching) who the bad guys are, since this is not a show on the order of Chernobyl.

[tennisgurl]

Now that they seem to be saying that Lexis dad was working with the terrorists now, I dont think that he really was, or he was a double agent working with this emerald cult or with the authorities. Its been brought up early, so it wont be much of a twist. 

Some decently funny banter this week and we got some actual artifacts, even though I always want to go to more cool places. 

You know, Archaeologist Lady, I can get that these goobers are being rather haphazard in their attempts to catch head terrorist guy, and people have died in the wake of the attempts to get Cleopatra, but the guy is still a terrorist, running around doing terrorist stuff, with or without Cleo, so its still a good thing to stop him no matter what he happens to be looking for.

[OoogleEyes]

Wait..in the first episode,  was that woman texting from beneath the pyramids?

[Dowel Jones]

You don't think the aliens that built the pyramids didn't include that technology?

[Fireball]

On ‎6‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 10:49 AM, greyhorse said:

The leads aren't great actors, but my expectations are so low.  I love the accents on the female lead.  And while yes, it's annoying that we are going to be constantly given scenes of the two of them with their mouths 1 inch apart - will they kiss or won't they - and we know they'll never get together - it makes for campy good fun.

I feel the opposite. I feel it's obvious that they will get back together.

On ‎6‎/‎5‎/‎2019 at 9:30 AM, sempervivum said:

And because it can't be pointed out too often, this wispy size 0 woman can knock out men with her bare hands. And she goes to do her sekrit sleuth stuff wearing white skinny jeans and high heeled boots.

So true!  It's annoying.

[greyhorse]

Finally caught up on last week's episode in time for tonight.  If the traffic on this forum is any indication, then this show isn't catching on and it will be just a one and done campy summer substitute.  Disappointing because I love the various locales and scenery, even if much of it is likely recreated on a green screen.

I must have been dosing off a bit.  Why was Lexi taking a picture/scanning the artifact with her phone.  And when did the real artifact get replaced with a fake, since the real one had the jewels missing?  So did Farouk want to make it look like he didn't take anything?  What would the point of that be?

[theschnauzers]

To be fair CBS was promoting Blood and Treasure as a limited series, implying a one shot show. 

If CBS feels it got the results ir wanted then it might order a second season, but probably not for next summer. It took most of a year to film this, and unless preproduction and scripts are already done, it would be difficult to film in time for next summer.

[AnimeMania]

6 hours ago, greyhorse said:

I must have been dosing off a bit.  Why was Lexi taking a picture/scanning the artifact with her phone.  And when did the real artifact get replaced with a fake, since the real one had the jewels missing?  So did Farouk want to make it look like he didn't take anything?  What would the point of that be?

Lexi needed a copy of the Egyptian's guy's fingerprints so that she would be able to open his safe. That also explains why the guy that handles the artifacts was wearing gloves to hold them, but the other people were allowed to touch them with bare hands.

Farouk had the artifacts at one time, so he was able to make perfect copies of them. Farouk did not know that Aiden Shaw had removed/stolen the jewels from the crown, so the fake had the jewels and the original does not. Substituting fakes would allow Farouk to escape without the pressure of having people searching for him.

[Netfoot]

On 6/14/2019 at 11:00 PM, Fireball said:

Quote

And because it can't be pointed out too often, this wispy size 0 woman can knock out men with her bare hands. And she goes to do her sekrit sleuth stuff wearing white skinny jeans and high heeled boots.

So true!  It's annoying.

It's actually canon law!  

[KaveDweller]

3 hours ago, theschnauzers said:

To be fair CBS was promoting Blood and Treasure as a limited series, implying a one shot show. 

If CBS feels it got the results ir wanted then it might order a second season, but probably not for next summer. It took most of a year to film this, and unless preproduction and scripts are already done, it would be difficult to film in time for next summer.

Lots of shows are promoted as limited series end of with multiple seasons, if they are hits. Networks will do anything they think will make them money.

I've really been enjoying this, although I'm not sure how they'd do a second season if it was a hit. They could probably do the same characters chasing a new mystery/bad guy. 

[greyhorse]

Loved the Raiders of the Lost Ark references!  "They're digging in the wrong place!" and also the funny sequence where Danny wanted to go back for his hat.

The show is campy, but I'm enjoying the treasure hunt.

[Dowel Jones]

Some day Lexi will be channel surfing and come across the first Raiders movie, and she's going to have a 'Wait, what?' expression on her face for two hours straight.

So I assume they're going to Casablanca next?  Will there be a Rick's Cafe American?  If so, they better have some quotes.

[kassygreene]

It's not Great Art, but it's probably one of the better summer series CBS has done.  I love the unabashed Raiders hints? tributes? memes?  And I truly adore the maps.  As a sixty-something, I am delighted with how much of my old geography knowledge is still there.

[theschnauzers]

One thing about the maps is that the producers got the geopolitics of the map animations right.

I’m enjoying this series as I expected, as perhaps the Indiana Jones/Casablanca vibes is perhaps the right way to reference the style. Other than the Indiana Jones series, films don’t really get into these kinds of genre much, if at all anymore, so give CBS kudos for taking this route for a summer series, it’s a break from the sci-fi genre CBS has mostly used for nearly a decade. 

As I’ve said before I love watching Matt Barr in anything and he does catch the Indiana Jones vibe in his Danny MacNamara. If CBS does decide to go for another run, the creators can easily do what Lucas and Spielberg did with using other targets in different stories.

Edited June 19, 2019 by theschnauzers
fixing Apple’s hyperactive autocorrect function

[Driad]

My local PBS station is re-airing an episode of "Secrets of the Dead" called "Cleopatra's Lost Tomb."  Nothing to do with this show, but interesting.

[tennisgurl]

I loved the Raiders quote, and Danny being flummoxed that Lexi had no idea what he was quoting. Really, they just need to sit down and watch every single Indiana Jones movie so that she can appreciate every obvious reference that come into their lives.

I liked even more treasure hunting and mystery solving this week, and we got to get some nice views of Spain! The whole bit with Danny and his hat cracked me up, not gonna lie. Hey, if your riding horses around the mountains, sometimes you wanna commit! 

Glad that they will be in Rome with their priest buddy for awhile, he is always a scene stealer. "Old ladies. They travel in packs." 

[xtwheeler]

My favorite thing from last week was the guy with the metal detector finding a Nazi iron cross medal, and then being advised to "keep digging! It can't be much further!" - - ie keep digging for the *railcar* they expected to find about 9" down, judging from the digging they'd done. The metal detector finds the medal, but a full size train car a few inches down isn't something they think would set off the detector? Hmm. 

[UnknownK]

It is a TV show so you have to turn some brain cells off.

During WW2 any trains that derailed would have been fixed and put back in service since most rail stocks were blown up in bombing. If a train was derailed and forgotten it would probably be down a hill where it would have been hard to see and forgotten after it was overgown with vegitation, not on flat ground surrounded by 100 year old undisturbed trees where they were digging.

And besides who in 2019 with money would send a couple people with $100 metal detectors to search around blindly when you could hire a LIDAR ( laser light detection and ranging) aircraft to find the half sunken train in an hour.

[AnimeMania]

Great cat-fight, I am willing to put all of my money on a woman willing to kick another woman in the vagina to win a fight.

[Dowel Jones]

They've just uncovered Cleopatra's solid gold sarcophagus and they're taking it back to Rome in the plane?  I would think some Egyptians would have a thing or to to say about that. On a technical note, that  solid gold box is going to weigh "a few pounds"; you might want it up forward in the plane so you can actually take off.

Well, we got a few half-hearted quotes and references.  The actress who plays Lexi was actually born in Fes, Morocco, which is not too far from Casablanca.

[Bort]

19 minutes ago, Dowel Jones said:

On a technical note, that  solid gold box is going to weigh "a few pounds"; you might want it up forward in the plane so you can actually take off.

You would actually want it in the center of the plane (nearest to the wings and center of gravity). Otherwise, having something really heavy up front would cause the plane to suddenly pitch forward upon takeoff.

[Ananayel]

Renewed!

Wasn't expecting that, but I'm happy about it. Now I have to catch up on demand, since I was pretty sure it wouldn't be renewed, and didn't want to get too attached.

[AnimeMania]

I thought it was weird that everybody was wearing handcuffs, but nobody was wearing seat belts, even though they are clearly visible.

[blackwing]

On 6/18/2019 at 6:55 PM, KaveDweller said:

Lots of shows are promoted as limited series end of with multiple seasons, if they are hits. Networks will do anything they think will make them money.

I've really been enjoying this, although I'm not sure how they'd do a second season if it was a hit. They could probably do the same characters chasing a new mystery/bad guy. 

Happy to hear about the renewal!  They could easily do a second season... just have the team track down another lost artifact, etc.  This reminds me a bit of "Zoo".  I'm pretty sure "Zoo" was billed as a limited series.  The acting wasn't great, the special effects were awful, the dialogue was clunky, but yet it was a summer ratings hit and got renewed and even made it to a third season.

So Gwen has now captured everyone she wanted so far.  I thought it odd that they were handcuffed in the front... they can still easily take out someone with a good roundhouse kick.  Then fall out of the plane with a parachute just like in an earlier episode.  Gwen should have handcuffed them in the back and attach them with chains to a metal ring on the wall.

[theschnauzers]

3 hours ago, Ananayel said:

Renewed!

Wasn't expecting that, but I'm happy about it. Now I have to catch up on demand, since I was pretty sure it wouldn't be renewed, and didn't want to get too attached.

I’m also quite glad to hear of the renewal! I’m glad that a Matt Barr led drama has finally made it to a second season. The fact that its ratings for a summer drama were the best this year surely didn’t hurt.

[Netfoot]

5 hours ago, kariyaki said:

You would actually want it in the center of the plane (nearest to the wings and center of gravity). Otherwise, having something really heavy up front would cause the plane to suddenly pitch forward upon takeoff.

Correct.  Center of Gravity is the key.

[Dowel Jones]

That is what I meant.  The coffin cover is shown as being right on the tailgate of the plane as everyone else is loading up.  Bad idea.

[greyhorse]

On ‎6‎/‎26‎/‎2019 at 12:25 PM, Dowel Jones said:

Well, we got a few half-hearted quotes and references.  The actress who plays Lexi was actually born in Fes, Morocco, which is not too far from Casablanca.

The Casablanca ones of course.  Thought it was funny when Lexi responded "Joe" when asked to name a character.

Loved the Raiders reference when both Lexi and Danny plopped down on the ground, and then lifted their heads to see themselves face to face with a Cobra.

Finally realized that the actress who plays Lexi reminds me of a young Catherine Zeta-Jones.  Exotic looking and great hair.

Shocked that the writers allowed Danny and Lexi to get together.   Maybe they weren't anticipating a season 2.  Shocked the series was renewed but happy it will be.  There are so many possibilities of artifacts they could hunt down and I'm looking forward to seeing the new scenery.

[Dowel Jones]

I don't know how season 2 is going to work.  It could be interesting.  Of course, the 'will they or won't they' tension is gone now, and they can't continue with the 'always one step behind the bad guys' routine.  They're has to be something more than pretty people in exotic locales with inane dialogue to hold everyone's interest for an entire season.

[tennisgurl]

Glad to hear about a season two, its a fun show that I think can pretty easily sustain a few more seasons. Just have Lexi and Danny fight some other bad guy looking to mess with some other ancient body or relic, there are so many to choose from! I bet the Arc of the Covenant is out there gathering dust somewhere!

Casablanca references were fun, both the obvious line drops and talking about the movie itself, and the slightly more subtle, like it featuring tons of characters trying to get the papers to get out of Casablanca, Shaw playing piano, everyone leaving on planes in semi abandoned foggy airports, etc. 

So Lexi and Danny got together but now things are awkward and they have trust issues. Oh the drama! 

[KaveDweller]

On 6/28/2019 at 10:31 AM, greyhorse said:

Shocked that the writers allowed Danny and Lexi to get together.   Maybe they weren't anticipating a season 2.  Shocked the series was renewed but happy it will be.  There are so many possibilities of artifacts they could hunt down and I'm looking forward to seeing the new scenery.

I think they are going to do an off and on thing with Danny and Lexi. They slept together this episode, but that doesn't mean they are going to be a couple moving forward. They could make things drag out for a couple seasons that way.

[UncleChuck]

Quote

Casablanca references were fun, both the obvious line drops and talking about the movie itself, and the slightly more subtle, like it featuring tons of characters trying to get the papers to get out of Casablanca, Shaw playing piano, everyone leaving on planes in semi abandoned foggy airports, etc. 

I kept waiting for someone to drop the line "We'll always have Paris".

[Driad]

The Fensgate Museum refers to the Gardner Museum in Boston.  The 1990 heist took 13 paintings worth $500 million, the largest-value recorded theft of private property in history.