If like me, you have been nervously anticipating the third season of Outer Banks and binged the new season as soon as it released within a couple of days or less, you have come to the right place.
For all those who have yet to make their way through, please be warned there are spoilers below. Proceed at your own risk. However, for all dying to know whether or not your opinions of the new season will be validated or if you’re a creature who can’t handle suspense and must know what happens, enjoy.
A very brief recap, our pogues, John B, Sarah, JJ, Kiara, Pope, and Cleo, were stranded on a mysterious and isolated island at the end of season two. Somewhat miraculously (although predictably), they have survived in the wilderness for a month. Sarah’s regrowth appears to be the only hardship the group have faced.
Kiara and JJ (or Jayj, according to Kiara) are the perfect embodiment of bliss on the island. Beautiful landscapes and golden sunlight frame the teenagers as they trade longing glances. If you hate pairing, this season will not be for you.
While Kiara and JJ are established as romantic interests, so too are Cleo and Pope. However, their island retreat is cut short by their ‘rescue’.
The pogue’s ‘saviour’, it turns out, was actively seeking the teenagers out for the new villain of the season, Carlos Singh, a wealthy, violent treasure hunter in search of the elusive El Dorado. The treasure is connected to the Royal Merchant and Pope’s ancestor Denmark Tanny.
When the teenagers crash land, Kiara is kidnapped by the megalomanic Singh. However, she ends up entrapped with Rafe Cameron, Sarah’s older brother, who has been tricked by Singh as a potential buyer for the Cross of Santo Domingo, the treasure focus of season two.
Kiara’s entrapment with Rafe bears an eerie resemblance to every enemies-to-lovers trope executed in fanfiction. It has undoubtedly inspired as much, despite the fact Rafe is a profoundly dysfunctional and violent murderer who has attacked Kiara and her friends on multiple occasions, as well as having attempted to strangle his sister, Sarah, former kook.
While JJ often flies by the seam of his pants when it comes to concocting plans, Kiara’s kidnapping is the first instance where JJ’s reckless behaviour becomes hindered by fear when he is given a chance to bargain with Singh for Kiara. This won’t be the last time JJ dives headfirst to save Kiara in season three.
Kiara, and Rafe escape. She double-crosses him and steals his boat. The group is unified. However, the unity is shortlived by the re-introduction of Big John, John B’s father, who is revealed to be alive. As the rest of the group sails home to Outer Banks, John B stays behind, following a hunch that leads him back to his father.
The disappointment was astronomical for all who thought Big John might be a good father. However, for some reason, his was the season’s main storyline. Big John is an obsessive, negligent parent and bully who acts selfishly with little care for his son’s welfare. Not only that, but he stole John B along with him on an emotionally lacking journey that became unbearable to watch, the only saving grace being the antics of the other pogues.
Ward Cameron, Sarah and Rafe’s father, by comparison, is a ‘changed’ man. He spends the entirety of the season trying to make grand gestures to win Sarah over. These gestures only drive his unhinged son, Rafe, away further. This is a repetitive storyline from which Ward backtracks and immediately redeems himself by dying to save Sarah’s life.
To this viewer’s great relief, Big John dies as well. At least when presumed dead, there was a chance he was half-decent. His time with the Outer Banks has only made him a villain.
This season pairs off characters Pope and Cleo, JJ and Kiara, and Big John with John B. However, Sarah is more or less abandoned by all, once again pushing her into the arms of Topper.
This repetitive story device appears every time Sarah and John B argue. Perhaps the pair could benefit from some marriage counselling.
The interaction between each new romantic pair is nuanced and emotional. Cleo and Kiara are written with incredible gentility in character as they take on and comfort Pope and JJ through their self-destructive tendencies. One can hope that these emotionally safe spaces the two girls held for the boys they care about will be reciprocated with equal levels of empathy.
JJ and Kiara’s relationship was the saving grace of the season. The traumas of each character’s familial situation created tension in their dynamic, initially hindering their romantic relationship. However, it ultimately became something comforting for both characters. Kiara and JJ (or Jiara) have a strong potential for their romantic pairing in the future if it’s executed with the mindfulness that these teenagers have a lot of individual healing to do.
While pairing each character into a romantic relationship is entirely plausible, it does leave one wanting the family dynamic that had once charmed viewers into watching Outer Banks in the first place. All in all, the season created compelling relationship dynamics but lacked in story depth and failed to utilise its greatest strength, having the pogues adventuring together.
Let’s hope this is rectified in season four, on the search for Blackbeard’s treasure.
