Bad Romance

Season

1

Episode

5

Writer

Sasha Stroman^[1]

Director

Laura Belsey

Episode guide
Previous	Next
Charlotte	Frenemies

Bad Romance is the fifth episode of the Disney+ American Adventure, action and mystery National Treasure: Edge of History series based on the film series.^[2] It aired on January 4, 2023.^[3]

Premise[]

Trust no one on a treasure hunt. Jess begins to wonder if this is true as she suspects someone close to her might’ve leaked an important clue to Billie, but she doesn’t want to believe it. While Tasha uses her tech skills to ferret out the mole, Jess realizes the key to the next step in the treasure hunt is locked in the Rare Books Room at the Governor’s mansion, leading Jess and her friends to plot a caper during the Governor’s Ball, where Jess’s trust in her friends will be tested.^[3]

Plot summary[]

Billie is trying to crack the next clue of the quest, and despite her wealth and brilliance, her best henchman can’t come up with a real lead.

Meanwhile, Jess and Tasha are sweeping their apartment for bugs because of Riley Poole’s warning. Jess doesn’t believe Liam has betrayed them, but Tasha isn’t so certain. Despite her own skepticism, Jess decides to go with Liam to the governor’s mansion to check out Meriwether Lewis’ journal to see if that is where the next clue can be found.

Billie interrupts a black-market auction. In exchange for a rare artifact, Billie wants the lost codex of Malinche, the founder of the Daughters of Plumed Serpent, who hid the treasure from the Spanish. Billie can be persuasive and gets the Hernán Cortés' journal that Malinche supposedly wrote in.

Jess is driving with Ethan and tells him that Billie has the Elvis Presley clue. She then tells him that someone must have given her the clue, and Ethan immediately suspects Liam as being the mole. At the governor’s mansion, Jess and Ethan walk through the building only to see Ethan at the exhibit asking about the journal.

Afraid that he will see them, Jess and Ethan hide. They learn that the journal is only brought out on display for special occasions because of its deteriorating condition. Liam is told by the museum employee that he would be able to see it the following evening if he attends the governor’s ball. As Liam leaves, without seeing Jess or Ethan, the two overhear him on the phone saying to someone that he needs money wired to him today.

Jess returns to the apartment and meets up with Tasha. She informs Jess that she hacked into Liam’s bank account and reveals that Liam has just had a massive deposit into his bank account. At work, Jess is trying to avoid Liam, but can’t seem to get away from him. Liam tells her about his experience at the governor’s mansion and that he got them two tickets to the governor’s mansion party the next night.

Liam wonders what’s wrong, and Jess tells him about Billie having the Elvis clue, and that she knows he had fifty thousand dollars wired into his back account today. Liam is hurt and reminds Jess that this is what treasure hunting does to people by making them paranoid and skeptical of people.

Agent Ross meets with the coroner and informs him of the toxic plant she found in Peter Sadusky’s office. The coroner tells her that he will check Sadusky’s stomach contents to see if the plant was used to kill the aged FBI agent.

In Mexico City, Billie is seeking out a translation of Malinche’s writing. The professor Billie speaks with informs her that another young girl called her recently about Malinche’s lost writing.

Jess and Tasha are talking, and Jess is wondering if maybe she made a mistake in not trusting Liam. Oren arrives at the apartment and starts playing with the bug detector which sets off the alarm right away. Tasha and Jess learn that there is a bug planted in Oren’s shoe, which Billie has been listening into.

Billie learns that the Cortes journal is a fake, and the professor she sought out for help, tells her that he knows she’s looking for the Pan American treasure. He then tells Billie that it is a myth, and that Malinche was a traitor to her people.

At Liam’s house, Jess goes to apologize for suspecting him of being a mole. Liam is hurt by the fact that she wrote him off, and that hurts Jess even more. She realizes she should have given him the benefit of the doubt. The two reconcile and forgive each other. Jess then learns that the fifty grand was a loan from Liam’s mom to help pay the property taxes on the house.

Billie returns to her plane learning that the bug on Oren’s shoe was found. Billie quickly learns from an online video posted by Oren that Jess is wearing her medallion, which represents the Daughters of the Plume Serpent. Billie then wonders if Jess is the daughter of Rafael Rios, the famed treasure hunter who died 20 years ago. Billie believed that After Raphael died, the wife and daughter died trying to cross the border. Billie learns that the governor’s ball is this evening, and that the clue connects to Meriwether Lewis journal at the mansion.

Jess brings Liam to Oren so that he can get his tuxedo altered for the evening event. While Liam and Jess are getting ready for the ball, when Oren’s girlfriend throws a wrench into the evening’s plans. She plans to get a ticket as well and then the four of them can double date for the evening.

Agent Ross subsequently learns from the doctor that the flower is a contributing factor to Sadusky’s death. Amidst some flirting between the two, Ross pieces together the strange story that Jess and Tasha reported about a kidnapping with an event at the USS Kidd. She calls wanting to look at some security camera footage from the ship.

Everyone has a ticket for the governor’s ball, and a lack of tie for Liam isn’t going to stop Jess. While Oren plans to network at the party and pitch his sneaker business, Ethan gives him a list of things he cannot say or do during the party, which includes pitching said sneaker n idea to anyone who will listen. Liam then informs the group that they will have an opportunity to look at the journal without prying eyes because the party is also doubling as a surprise birthday party for the governor.

In a separate room, Liam and Jess see that the journal is on display, and have a plan to photograph all the pages, and then reset the lock before anyone notices anything. Jess and Ethan get forced to reprise a dance from high school, and they proceed to crush the performance, with the dance floor being cleared for them. Liam is less than pleased to see how well the two get along on the dance floor.

The cake comes out, but Liam can’t be found anywhere, and Jess heads to the journal room, only to discover him leaving the room with the journal, and a state trooper close behind Jess accusing her of stealing the artifact. Running from the police, Jess only has moments to get out of the governor’s mansion. Tasha causes a distraction which allows Jess to escape the mansion with the police hot on her trail.

Just when she is about to be caught, Billie pulls up beside her and offers her a ride. After some deliberation, she takes her up on the offer, and gets in the car, as Billie drives off

Cast and characters[]

Starring[]

Guest-starring:[]

Co-starring:[]

Karson Kern as Bryce
Scott Gerard as Keith Heisler
Ray Bengston as Governor
Gwen L. Johnson as Docent
Jerry Mortel as Attendant
Travis John Powers as Security Guard #1
Aleq Bey as Security Guard #2

Trivia[]

The name of the episode is the same as the 2009 song Bad Romance by Lady Gaga from her third EP, The Fame Monster (2009), the reissue of her debut studio album, The Fame (2008).
Peter Sadusky is mistakenly called 87 years old in both this episode and "I'm a Ghost". But that conflicts with his revealed birth-date of August 11, 1938 from the episode "Charlotte", as the events of the series take place in 2022 as revealed on Sadusky's autopsy result in episode "Graceland Gambit", which would make him 84 at the time of his death instead.