What a pleasant surprise!
For the longest time, television has been starving for some adventure. Many shows have tried to follow the tradition of classic characters like Indiana Jones, but few have managed to make a mark in any conceivable way. With that said, I believe that I’ve found one on CBS that could change the game for our upcoming summers.
Long story short, Blood & Treasure is one of the finest adventure serials that I’ve ever seen.
The Cast Is Shockingly Good.
There’s a ton of chemistry here.
If you take little else away from this piece, I want you to know that Blood & Treasure illustrates the world of difference that the right material can make when it reaches the right actor or actress.
Matt Barr leads the way as Danny McNamara, a lawyer and adventurer who has a knack for retrieving stolen artifacts. Long time fans of this place may recognize him as a part of the disaster known as Valor, but I want you to put that aside because he is outrageously charismatic here. Barr portrays Danny as a classically masculine everyman who gets the job done with his wits, fists, and a gun or two, but he feels like he belongs in our modern world.
Not to be outdone, Sofia Pernas looks like she’s having a blast as Lexi Vaziri. Most of you will probably know her as Hannah from The Brave, but her role on that show seems monumentally constrained when you compare it to this. In a stroke of genius, she completely disappears into the role of a slick and sultry art thief from frame one, elevating some of the admittedly corny bits with her easy charm.
Of course, the hero and heroine are only as good as their greatest villain. Luckily, Oded Fehr does a great job as Karim Farouk. Casual observers might see this particular character as a stock Middle Eastern terrorist, but Fehr lays on enough mustache twirls to make things memorable. He is genuinely menacing and a threat to the heroes, which does wonders for the story.
The other cast members are no slouches either, but we’d be here all day if I ranted and raved about them. Therefore, I think it’s best to point out that Mark Gagliardi, Katia Winter, and Antonio Cupo are a ton of fun here. I’m not going to spoil the details here, though. If you want to know more about them, you’re going to have to watch the show.
The Story Is The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of.
If you’re looking for an action-heavy show, this one is great!
In many ways, Blood & Treasure stands on its own as a 21st Century adventure that is easy to pick up, but it has just enough depth to please anyone who is looking for a little bit of mythology in their entertainment.
The story opens with Dr. Ana Castillo (Alicia Coppola) as she leads an expedition into the pyramids. In a secret room, she discovers the tomb of Cleopatra and Marc Antony, but Farouk and his merry band of terrorists followed her there. After gunning down her friends, our villain takes her hostage and sets off on a quest to find the Egyptian Queen for nefarious reasons. In response, Danny and Lexi enter the race in the hope of saving a friend and getting a little revenge on Farouk.
I really don’t want to give any of the fun away, but I will say that this show has almost everything that one could ask for in an adventure serial. This show has Nazis, secret societies, double crosses, a pinch of romance, and plenty of well-done action sequences. Some of the episodes may have a bit of cheese in them, but the writing never tries to snap the audience’s suspension of disbelief.
In other words, Blood & Treasure walks the tightrope quite well. However…
It Still Has A Few Flaws.
I know that the police are on Danny and Lexi, but why do the criminals keep showing up?
While there is enough in Blood & Treasure to satisfy virtually anyone, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t point out some of the things that are a little too goofy.
For instance, why do Aiden Shaw (Michael James Shaw) and Simon Hardwick (James Callis) keep showing up at every other plane stop? I get that they have a connection to Farouk, but it seems a little coincidental that they’d keep popping up where Lexi and Danny just so happen to be. Of course, there are budget constraints involved, but you’d think that they’d wind up in some other hotel at least once, right?
There’s another mild problem with Farouk’s motivations. For some strange reason, the show can’t really decide if he’s an ordinary terrorist or someone who wants to weaponize a supernatural plot device. It’s not that bad, but some viewers might be a little confused by this wobbling plot point.
I can look past these issues, but your mileage may vary a little bit.
Conclusion.
I should’ve recognized Katia Winter from her time on Legends of Tomorrow. She’s great in both shows!
Blood & Treasure is an excellent show that perfectly molds the classical adventure serial into something that makes sense in the modern era. The characters are great, the story is a ton of fun, and any nagging flaws can be easily dismissed. I sincerely hope that these characters can stick around for many summers to come, but that’s up to you and me.
Go watch it!
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