Blood & Treasure: Season Two Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Blood & Treasure: Season Two Blu-ray Movie Review

Look at that cover. How is this not the greatest pirate series ever? Or a pirate series at all? Boo.

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 19, 2023

How tough and tricky it must be to be granted a second season. Imagine it. Your first season worked well enough to earn more episodes. Your first reaction would be elation, joy, relief... but then reality would quickly set in. The pressure. The expectations. Self-imposed and studio-demanded. Now imagine the first time you face your PC and begin to weave new adventures for now-established characters. Where do you start? Right where the first season left off? Is it an easy spot to insert a time jump? How much do you change? How much stays the same? And most importantly of all: how do you strike a balance between retaining the elements your audience loved the first time around and doing something new, surprising your audience with twists that will keep them guessing and, ultimately, itching for a third season? You can feel all of that and more in the early episodes of Blood & Treasure: Season Two. However, rather than shrink from the challenge, showrunners Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia rise, allowing the series to evolve into a show that's a bit slicker, smarter, more agile and funnier. Is Season Two a revelation next to Season One? Not quite. It's better, but it still has that Network TV slime all over its hands.

Danny McNamara (Matt Barr) is a former FBI agent specializing in stolen arts and antiquities. Lexi Vaziri (Sofia Pernas) is a resourceful art thief who is haunted by the tragic loss of her father. After finding the last of terrorist Karim Farouk's black market antiquities, 'Season Two' finds Danny and Lexi on a new adventure, searching for the Spirit Banner of Genghis Khan. But when armed thieves attack the Vatican and Jay Reece (John Larroquette), who had been trying to reach Danny, is attacked in prison, important information is lost in the wind. Danny and Lexi investigate, leading them to Jay's daughter, Kate (Victoria Diamond), who also happens to be Danny's ex. The action revs up when Kate is kidnapped and, soon, the duo reunite with Aiden Shaw (Michael James Shaw), bump into Lexi's irate former partner Violet (Michelle Lee) and have to escape a sticky situation involving a card game with crime syndicates from around the world. Eventually they even discover a secret that will shake their world. Danny and Lexi's hunt continues, all while a dangerous criminal his mind and resources to hunting them.

If whatever happened in the off season between the first and second seasons of Blood & Treasure occurred between each successive season, logic dictates that, had the show survived, Season Five might have been a five-star barn burner. Not to be simplistic but the wit is wittier, the jokiness of the first season is more refined, the action sequences and pulsing heartbeat of adventure is more polished, and the search for this season's relics taps more deeply into the nostalgia associated with Indy, Ben Gates, Lara Croft and other famous spelunkers and artifact hunters. ("It belongs in a museum!") Pernas seems much more comfortable in Lexi's skin this go-round, Shaw continues to be a heavy hitter, newcomer Michelle Lee fits snugly into the established ensemble (with some fire to add to the mix), and the baddies are, um, baddier. It all comes together nicely, and Season Two has more natural momentum towards its endgame (which also has more of a climactic bump to it than the finale of Season One).

Sound like an incredible show yet? Welllll... let's tie those horses up and dish out some bad news. Blood & Treasure still feels and looks like a low-rent network show. It is, of course, so the explanation is easy. But I'm always confused as to why networks don't emulate premium cable programming in everything from production design to cinematography and score. A friend who has worked in Hollywood for years explains it like this: "Network shows have teams of reliable veterans who know their stuff. But they know the network TV world. Over at HBO and Showtime, they have teams of reliable veterans too. But those vets have cut their teeth on more cinematic projects with higher expectations and way more artsy fartsy writers and directors who push to make their shows more serious, grounded and real. So if you have a TV show that's going to a network, guess what? That show falls into the hands of some very capable -- but very specifically talented -- folks who know how to make a network TV show, tight budget, trimmed corners and all." Which makes total sense. It still leaves me watching a show that desperately wants to look more the premium part and... well, can't. The aesthetic, or lack thereof arguably, means there's not the consistent world visualization that you find elsewhere. Locations and sets are whatever can be put together, shot as quickly as possible, and tossed aside to move on to the next scene.

Does it spoil the show? Nah. Some people will read everything I just wrote and still not know what the hell I'm talking about. But when you know it, you see it. And when you see it, it really starts to grate on your nerves. While Season Two is a step up from Season One, there's more potential to be mined here. Which cancellation put to an end, so this is largely a principled point. Nothing more. But refusing to evolve and grow, clinging to what is known rather than pressing towards what is stunning, and thought-provoking, and visually engaging, and different than other network television series in every way? It makes for a solid but under-realized series that, *poof*, is gone in an instant, after a glance at a ratings chart, a phone call (maybe even a text) and those chilling words no showrunner wants to hear: "you had a good run but..." And that's where we leave Blood & Treasure. A good series that could've kept getting better. But one too few found, even fewer watched, and fewer still will be excited to see on Blu-ray. Sigh.

The 3-disc Blu-ray release of Blood & Treasure: Season Two includes thirteen episodes:

1. The Soul of Genghis Kahn - As Danny and Lexi finish tracking down the last of Farouk's black market antiquities, they begin to make plans for their future. But their plans are derailed when the Vatican is attacked by terrorists. A person from Danny's past returns, leading them on a new hunt to recover one of the greatest lost treasures of Asia, the Spirit Banner of Genghis Khan.

2. Tales of the Golden Tiger - The search for Kate Reece takes Danny and Lexi to Vietnam, where they reunite with none other than Aiden Shaw. Lexi's fighting skills are put to the test as the team infiltrates the dangerous Black Lotus - an underground fight club - where they learn about a vicious new terrorist.

3. Spoils of the Red Empire - A visit with Simon in prison yields new information on the Spirit Banner's last whereabouts, sending Danny, Lexi and the rest of the team into the heart of Russia.

4. Into the Forbidden Zone - Danny and Lexi join forces with Levchenko's gang as they journey to Mongolia. Levchenko hopes to find the Spirit Banner for himself, even with the Great Khan's horde in hot pursuit.

5. Enter the Dragon Gate - In search of the Spirit Banner, Simon attempts to make a deal, unaware that Lexi, Danny and Shaw are on his tail. What they uncover leads them to Hong Kong while Danny becomes increasingly concerned with Violet's control over Lexi.

6. Mystery at Poison Island - With a trail of new clues, Danny, Lexi and Violet travel across a dangerous chemical wasteland in Kazakhstan to Aralsk-7, an abandoned bio-weapons facility. Meanwhile, Chuck begins his investigation about how the Vatican and the Spirit Banner are connected.

7. The Ravens of Shangri-La - Danny enlists his estranged father, Patrick, in their quest for the Spirit Banner. Patrick leads them to a secret base in Laos, where he makes a startling admission to Lexi about the secret he's hiding from his son.

8. The Lost City of Sana - After crash-landing in the jungles of Laos, Lexi is gravely injured, leaving Danny and Patrick in a rush to find refuge. Meanwhile, Chuck uncovers new information on the relationship between the Vatican and the CIA.

9. The Throne of the Kahn - While their team gets closer to unlocking the location of the Spirit Banner, Danny is forced to pick sides between Lexi and Kate.

10. The Secret History of the Mongols - The recovered scroll's translation takes Danny, Lexi, Kate and Violet to the snowy tundra of Mongolia, with deadly results.

11. Raid on the Hidden Fortress - Lexi is kidnapped after making a shocking discovery. Shaw uses an underworld contact to help him and Danny discover her location and face off against the Khan's interconnected gang of criminals.

12. The Year of the Rat - The pieces of the Khan's end-game fall into place as Danny and Lexi must put their differences aside in order to stop the Khan and Simon before it's too late.

13. Showdown in Hong Kong - Realizing they've taken the Khan's bait - and putting the lives of millions in jeopardy - Danny and Lexi come face-to-face with the Khan in one final battle above Hong Kong.

Blood & Treasure: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

No surprise twists here (other than the discs being BD-R's, which don't play nice with Xbox Ones). Both the 3-disc Blu-ray release of Blood & Treasure: Season One and 3-disc release of Season Two feature comparable and striking 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentations. It is worth noting that Season Two has a more mature, ever so slightly grainy appearance that gives it a somewhat more cultivated cinematic appearance than Season One. But it's also inherent to the series' photography rather than an improvement in encoding or compression. Colors fortunately remain bold and buoyant, backing primaries with power and black levels with depth and richness. Skin tones are especially natural, bolstered by well-saturated hues and reliably contrasted tones. Detail is excellent throughout too, thanks to a variety of revealing fine textures that seem to grace every face, jacket, prop, sarcophagus and ancient temple. Edge definition is sharp and clean, and there isn't much in the way of compression anomalies.

Some banding creeps into both seasons' presentations on a few infrequent occasions, and there is a bit of crush to contend with when Danny and Lexi channel their inner tomb raiders. This is especially apparent in an episode like Season Two's "Mystery at Poison Island", where darker, noisier shots in tunnels and an underground bunker are interspersed with a trap-room that lights up like the fourth of July when Danny finds himself locked inside. Switching from the dusty browns to the near-pitch blacks to the stark blues bring with it a good amount of crush, even if it traces back to the source. All that said, though, none of it amounts to a major distraction. Both Season One and Season Two look great, even with their subtly different aesthetics.

Blood & Treasure: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Walk, trot, run or race, Blood & Treasure's Season One and Season Two DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks don't miss a step and certainly don't trip and fall. The series' sound design isn't as nuanced as a film's or the highly decorated dramas you find on the premium cable channels. It's a TV network mix, yet still offers numerous LFE-supported explosions and gunfire, rear speaker-embraced environments teeming with acoustic subtleties and ambient effects, and intelligible, perfectly prioritized dialogue. Both tracks are well rounded, and while many episodes are dominated by conversations and tense, here-comes-the-action-or-intrigue music cues and scoring, voices are never buried beneath the bloom of chaos that ensues when your show's bad guy is a vicious international terrorist and calculating sociopath. Dynamics deliver too, as do the low-end thooms that accompany the aforementioned suspense that builds and erupts from episode to episode. Bottom line, Blood & Treasure's DTS-HD Master Audio mixes couldn't conceivably sound much better than they do here, unless they were, again, redone in the style of a premium cable drama's sound design.

Blood & Treasure: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The 3-disc Blu-ray release of Season Two offers a quick outtake reel. No significant extras are included.

Blood & Treasure: Season Two Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

If you love Indiana Jones but wish it was set in the modern era, if you dug National Treasure but wanted more week-to-week adventures with Ben Gates, and you're willing to dive into a TV series that doesn't quite live up to either (but tries, oh how it tries), then Blood & Treasure's two season run might be for you. The show has since been cancelled, so there won't be a Season Three. But that doesn't matter as much as it might seem, as Season Two ends decently enough to work as a flawed but functional series' closer. Fortunately, Paramount's 3-disc Blu-ray releases of Season One and Season Two are strong, with striking video and involving lossless audio. There are a few extras -- deleted scenes and outtakes to be specific -- and more would have been preferred, but here we are. Blood & Treasure: Season One and Season Two make for a slick twofer that will give you and the fam twenty-five episodes of fun to enjoy over your holiday break. Give it shot. You might even like it more than I did!