The Curse of Cleopatra

**The Curse of Cleopatra** is the first episode of Season 1, and the first episode overall of the *Blood & Treasure (TV Series)* on CBS. It aired on May 21, 2019, and served as the series premiere.

## Premise

*The discovery of the long-lost tomb of Antony & Cleopatra sets off a worldwide chase between a brilliant antiquities expert, a cunning thief and a ruthless terrorist.*

## Plot summary

In Egypt, Dr. Ana Castillo finds the tombs of Antony and Cleopatra in the Pyramids of Giza, except Cleopatra is missing. As it turns out, she wasn’t the first to find the tombs, as several dead soldiers fill the pyramid. She manages to snag a trinket off one of the soldiers, before being taken hostage by terrorists. They then raid the pyramid and blow it up.

Elsewhere, Danny McNamara, a former FBI agent, who is now in the antiques business, is tasked by Jay Reece, who funds Danny's expeditions to find Dr. Castillo. Who as it turns out was a mentor to Danny and friend to Jay Reece. To help him on his venture, Danny requests the help of former flame, Lexi Vaziri because of her expertise as an art thief.

The duo find out about a black market bazaar where they see some Egyptian artifacts. The middleman showing the artifacts is Aiden Shaw. Lexi tries to pull a fast one on Shaw, but he catches on and pulls a gun on her. Interpol soon raid the place and Shaw escapes with Lexi, but Danny follows them and saves her. They kidnap Shaw and steal a car as Danny’s by-the-books demeanor begins to shatter.

They question Shaw to find out who he’s working for, but realize that Shaw isn’t who he says he is. He stole the identity and is actually Dwayne Coleman. He requests two million dollars to tell them who he works for.

As Danny makes a call to get the money, Lexi lets Shaw escape after she put a tracking device on him. He leads them right to who he is working for, Karim Farouk. He is responsible for killing Lexi’s father and a joint US/Egypt taskforce thought they had killed Farouk a few years earlier.

When they realize Shaw lead them to where they were keeping Dr. Castillo, Farouk shoots Shaw, but doesn’t kill him as he is wearing a vest. Danny saves Dr. Castillo and Shaw as Lexi goes after Farouk. Farouk escapes, but Interpol arrives and agent Gwen Karlsson arrests Lexi and Danny.

They escape captivity by parachuting out of a plane and landing on Vatican grounds, which of course, gets them arrested again. Danny calls in a favor from his friend Father Chuck who gets them out of the Vatican and on their way to find Shaw.

Shaw stole rubies from the artifacts that Farouk still had, and is now trying to sell them off. He is at a casino where the dealer has poisoned the chips. Lexi and Danny find him, but it’s too late. They chase after the dealer and pull the antidote from her, in enough time to save Shaw’s life.

Gwen visits Dr. Castillo to ask her questions about the tombs. Dr. Castillo gives the trinket she took from the dead Nazi soldier in the tomb, to the agent Gwen was with. The trinket is inscribed with a symbol that Dr. Castillo is trying to figure out.

The agent places the trinket in a wall with several other trinkets just like it. Some of the holes on the wall are still vacant.

## Cast and characters

### Starring:

* Matt Barr as Danny McNamara
* Sofia Pernas as Lexi Vaziri
* Katia Winter as Gwen Karlsson
* Michael James Shaw as Aiden Shaw
* Oded Fehr as Karim Farouk
* Alicia Coppola as Dr. Ana Castillo
* Mark Gagliardi as Father Chuck Donnelly

### Special Guest Star

* John Larroquette as Jay Reece (Part I & II)

### Co-Starring

* Antonio Cupo as Captain Bruno Fabi (Part I & II)
* Tony Nash as Omar (Part I & II)
* Richard Zeppieri as Carlo Velardi (Part I Only)
* Patrick Sabongui as Asim Masood (Part I Only)
* Mohammed Marouazi as Reza Vaziri (Part I Only)
* Mohamed El Husseini as Max (Part I Only)
* Paul Nicholas Mason as Rory (Part I Only)
* Maxime Le Flaguais as Baron (Part I Only)

### Uncredited

* Neil Napier as Rick Yates (Part I Only)
* Stephen Scaia as Tourist Carabinieri Agent (Part I Only)
* Isabel Dos Santos as Old Woman (Part I Only)
* Stephanie M. Germain as Corsican Beauty (Part I Only)
* Jonathan Deveau as Tough Guy #1 (Part I Only)
* Francesco Maria Gallo as Italian Kid (Part I Only)
* Julian Richings as Alessandro LaLande (Part II Only)
* Sharon Taylor as The Scorpion/ Female Dealer (Part II Only)
* Stephen Bogaert as Colonel Krug (Part II Only)
* Matt Langton as Security Guard (Part II Only)
* Alex Gravenstein as Nazi Officer (Part II Only)
* Simon Peacock as Beck (Part II Only)
* Mario Acampa as Gendarme (Part II Only)
* Caroline Courtois Schirmer as Cocktail Waitress (Part II Only)

## Gallery

### Videos

Blood & Treasure Season 1 Trailer - Rotten Tomatoes TVBlood & Treasure PromoBlood & Treasure - Cast from CBS - Talks at GoogleBlood & TreasureNew CBS Show 'Blood & Treasure' A Fun, Globe-Trotting Adventure'Blood & Treasure' Star Finds Her Role Is A True GiftBlood and Treasure The Curse of Cleopatra Parts I and II Sneak PeekBlood and Treasure - 1x01 - 1x02 Sneak Peek Clip 2 "The Curse of Cleopatra - Parts I and II"

## External links

* Watch *Blood & Treasure* on Paramount+
* The Curse of Cleopatra on the Internet Movie Database
* Blood & Treasure on Wikipedia
* Blood & Treasure (CBS) (@bloodandtreasure) on Instagram
* Blood & Treasure CBS (@TreasurePPlus) on Twitter