Blood & Treasure: Observations From “The Secret History of the Mongols”

The 10th episode of the long-awaited second season of Blood & Treasure aired on Paramount+ last weekend, moving forward with the story of Danny McNamara and Lexi Vaziri as they are on the hunt for the latest antiquity that is also desired by a dangerous terrorist and his vicious team of killers.

Episode ten found Violet back with the team and keeping her secret only briefly until the Spirit Banner is finally found and a battle breaks out between Violet’s and Danny’s sides.

The synopsis for the 10th episode, entitled “The Secret History of the Mongols,” is “Violet surprises Danny, Kate and Lexi at Aidan’s apartment. The four take the recovered scroll to Prague where Danny’s contact translates it for them. Simon becomes Khan’s Second-in-Command. Kate secretly investigates Violet, with disastrous results. The Spirit Staff is finally found.”

The Good:

They finally found the Spirit Banner!

After all this time searching for it, the Spirit of Genghis Khan was found under a relatively new museum in Ulaanbaatar, the Capitol of Mongolia, where the blood brother of Genghis Khan was entombed. The look of surprise was clear on Lexi’s and Danny’s faces for sure.

Were there some hidden messages going on between Simon and Danny as he and Lexi were pushed to the floor once they all came back up to the upper levels of the museum with the Spirit Banner or was that just me reading too much into that scene? Did Simon just tell Violet that the Spirit Banner was legit to get them all out of there? Is there more going on here than meets the eye? So many questions as we edge closer to the end of season two.

Lexi offering herself up to Violet in order to safeguard Danny was heroic to say the least, and even her mouthing “trust me” to Danny while she was trying to make that deal with Violet was touching; but how far can Lexi truly trust Violet? She has proven time and again that she can’t be trusted. I just hope that Lexi knows what she’s doing.

Simon, of course, is using any leverage he can to keep himself alive and on the good side of Violet, but how far will he go to keep himself safe and out of harm’s way. Will Violet eventually be able to see past his duplicitous way or has she already seen through him and is just stringing him along?

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The Bad:

Violet killed Kate!

Sure, Kate hasn’t been my favorite character since the beginning, but I also started out with doubts about Violet and just when I started to trust her, the reveal came that she’s the Great Khan after all. And then she breaks Lexi’s heart by the reveal near the end once the Spirit Banner was found.

I half wish that Lexi had been just a few seconds too late to stop Violet from falling into that trap at that shrine that the team found in the middle of nowhere in Mongolia before the set up camp for the night. That would have sent this episode in a much different direction for sure.

Additional Thoughts:

That battle royale between Violet and her horde and the CIA agents who stopped them before the caravan got to the airport was quite the display of fire power. But now Danny is on his own since it appears that the CIA cavalry were all shot down; and Violet has Lexi and the Spirit Banner. The next logical step would be for Danny to get reinforcements to now go after Violet in order to get his lady love back, to retrieve the Spirit Banner and to bring Violet down for good.

Make sure to tune in to Paramount+ today Sunday, September 18 for the next new episode.

A new episode of Blood & Treasure will air each Sunday on the streaming service.

You can also rewatch season 1 of Blood & Treasure on Paramount+.