The Marty Moment That Went Too Far On Curse Of Oak Island

"The Curse of Oak Island" has been on the History channel for nine whole seasons now, with a possibility of a 10th season in the works. Treasure-hunting brothers Rick and Marty Lagina are bankrolling most of the activities on the island, with a colorful cast of fellow treasure hunters working in supportive roles. While some believe that there's a lot of hype behind the show and very little satisfying return, they have excavated some pretty interesting finds over the years.

Energy tycoon turned treasure-hunter Marty Lagina makes a lot of the major decisions when it comes to when, where, and how to hunt for treasure on the island. He's a very highly educated man, especially when it comes to the legal and regulatory side of things, so it makes sense to put that responsibility on him. However, even people with an authoritative knowledge of a particular subject can make mistakes. And Marty made a choice in a recent episode that the majority of fans were not happy about.

A particularly troubling Marty Lagina moment occurs in Season 9, Episode 6, "The Root Cause," after the archeological team unearths some First Nation pottery believed to be from the Mi'kmaq people. When the archeologists reported the exciting find, two government entities — The Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture, and Heritage alongside the Acadia First Nation Council — step in and order the Lagina brothers to pause their treasure-hunting activities until they can recover any and all relevant First Nation artifacts. But Marty takes issue with the decree because it (temporarily) prevents them from excavating a potentially lucrative find on "[their] own island." To push back, Marty fires all but one of the archeologists that the team had hired to help them identify historical artifacts. He also declares that they cease archeological exploration in favor of doubling down on their treasure hunting efforts (via Monsters and Critics).

Fan reactions on social media were mostly negative, with u/thescimitar lamenting that "some of the best content was the 'boring archeology' — there was actually a history and context being exposed." That particular comment received several affirming replies and upvotes. A minority of viewers — like this vocal Redditor — sadly supported Marty, unaware how devastating this could be for the necessary preservation of First Nation people's history and heritage. But they were mostly drowned out by downvotes and upvoted counter-replies in this Reddit thread.