“The Curse of Oak Island” is an interesting look at a truly mysterious legend, and a fascinating glimpse at human tenacity. Let’s be honest for a moment, though: Does it really look like the Lagina brothers and their crew will ever find the sort of immeasurable treasure that the island is supposed to hide? Though the show constantly seems to be on the cusp of a grand discovery, at the end of the day it doesn’t seem to be much closer to the secrets of the infamous Money Pit in Season 9 than it was in Season 1.
The show’s momentum can’t keep going forever if there aren’t any truly jaw-dropping finds, and since fans haven’t exactly warmed up to special episodes like “The Templar Connection” – the worst episode of the show, according to IMDb — it doesn’t seem terribly likely that “The Curse of Oak Island” is able to reinvent itself too heavily, either. In other words, the show will have to end one day. What’s more, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this must happen in the rarest of ways: With a downer ending that still manages to avoid deflating the show’s entire premise.
Because it’s in the show’s best interest to maintain Oak Island’s mysterious reputation, “The Curse of Oak Island” should end by tying the Laginas’ failure to the island’s history — without invoking the alleged deadly curse, of course. Fortunately, the island’s history is pockmarked with proof of a much more concrete “curse” that the show can conveniently fall victim to, once the day comes.
The real curse of Oak Island is failure
A glance at a classic 1965 Reader’s Digest article that’s likely the same one that inspired the Lagina brothers is more than enough to get any mystery-loving person’s blood pumping. Stories of pirate gold, mysterous finds, plucky treasure hunters and dramatic failure inject the lengthy article with plenty of thrills and spills, and the mystery is left just unsolved enough for future adventurers to tackle it with glee.
Here’s the thing, though. Per Skeptoid, some of the biggest alleged discoveries — such as a stone tablet indicating the Money Pit’s depth, and pieces of a golden chain — have never been reliably documented, and the tablet, in particular, has been dismissed as a hoax. Likewise, the treasure found on “The Curse of Oak Island” is basically a bunch of old coins from the 17th and 18th centuries, assorted knick-knacks, some trace amounts of gold, and what may or may not be a part of an old Roman javelin … or just a 17th century crossbow bolt.
Sure, what assorted coins and trinkets have been found could be proof of a vast treasure buried deep within. Then again, how huge can that treasure really be, when nine seasons of the show have only turned up a handful of coinage? Could the people who supposedly hid this amazing, massive hoard really have done it so well that modern-day excavators and their gadgets can only find petty change?
Put all this together, and Oak Island’s theoretically alluring combo of “pirate treasure, mysterous finds, plucky treasure hunters and dramatic failure” is, in practice, just “plucky treasure hunters and dramatic failure.” In other words, failure seems to be the only option for an Oak Island treasure hunter. Their curse, if you will.
Put down your tools and walk away, weary treasure hunters
Legends are fine and all, and as long as the Laginas and their crew can keep things interesting, there’s no real reason to end the show — after all, a successful show is a treasure in itself. Still, unless they start uncovering some serious stuff soon, all that “The Curse of Oak Island” has proved so far is that 17th century people were careless with their change. It’s an interesting nugget of information, but when you combine it with the epic lack of success of pretty much every crew that has tried its luck on Oak Island, it doesn’t bode well for a treasure-filled series finale.
Since the aforementioned “failure is the only option” history of Oak Island treasure hunters is right there, and can easily be presented as the “real” curse of Oak Island, all it takes for the show to end in a narratively satisfying way is to devote the final episode to the concept of failure. The Laginas and their crew can reminisce the many, many setbacks they’ve faced, and reveal their realization that it’s their destiny to join the many excavators who have failed before them. Then, all that remains are some moody shots of staring at the distance, and a voiceover stating that whatever the island is hiding clearly doesn’t want to be found … or does it?
Would this be cheesy? Oh, yes, it would. However, it would also fit the show’s peculiar combination of far-fetched theories and mud-stained grit like a glove. Since many fans have already been getting fed up with the show’s later seasons, and even believe there’s no treasure on Oak Island, it would also be a handy way to walk away while still maintaining the island’s mystery.
The Curse of Oak Island stars have already teased the ending
Although Rick and Marty Lagina have become frustrated with their Oak Island quest on occasion, they’ve obviously kept going. What’s more, during a YouTube Q&A session in 2020, Marty revealed that they will only end “The Curse of Oak Island” when it starts being more trouble than it’s worth. “If it becomes not fun, if it becomes a source of friction between us, for instance, that would end the quest I think,” he said.
However, the brothers have told Reality Blurred that they know the show will eventually come to an end — and when the day comes, they’re fully prepared to end their task in a similar, non-treasure-finding way their predecessors have. “Very passionate, intelligent, committed individuals have come before us, including a President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, and every one of those were able to move the dial forward,” Rick described his philosophy. “Surely at the point at which we feel we’re not moving the dial forward, then out of respect to those people, it would be time to pass the torch.”
Since it doesn’t exactly seem that the show is on the cusp of finding the treasure, and since these comments make it seem that the brothers would like to end the show in a way that keeps the island’s mystery intact even if they fail, bowing out in a way that paints failure as an inevitable part of the island’s strange legacy seems like the way to go, doesn’t it?