By: Alexis Stallard, Editor-In-Chief
Summer in North Carolina and a wild treasure hunt with your best friends: The teenage American dream, right? The Netflix hit “Outer Banks” surely delivered on both and brought on an onslaught of FOMO for fans during its first two seasons. Season three was just released on Feb. 23, so let’s discuss if the show managed to deliver this time, too.
This is your fair warning of possible spoilers ahead, so turn back now if you don’t want anything ruined. You’ve been warned, so don’t come crying to me if your dreams are crushed.
The show follows four close friends and their attempt to hunt down the lost treasure of the Royal Merchant, a ship that was said to have gone down off the edge of the Outer Banks. The Pogues is a group that consists of John B, JJ, Kiara and Pope. Sarah was added to the group later in season one, and Cleo came on board in season two. After watching the gold slip through their fingers on multiple occasions due to Sarah’s dad, Ward, the Pogues are stranded on a deserted island at the beginning of season three. After being rescued and making it to Barbados, the hunt for the treasure begins again with even more vengeance.
With 10 episodes in each season, each at about an hour run-time, it takes me only one day to finish a season -- if I have the time to sit down and watch nothing but “Outer Banks” for more than 10 straight hours. But I really had no desire to do that this season. I binged watched the first two seasons as fast as I could because I enjoyed them so much. I even rewatched the first season while waiting for the second season to be released. However, I binged watched this season out of a sense of obligation. I likely would have stopped after the first few episodes to give myself a break because the storyline was not a captivating one this time around.
I am a huge fan of the series, which came out right around the COVID lockdown in 2020. I was all in on the series and loved living vicariously through the characters, as many did. The second season was also great, in my opinion. It delivered everything that I hoped it would with more of the same things that the first season had.
However, this third season left me a little disillusioned. While certain aspects of the show, like JJ and Kiara finally getting their happy ending, made me happy, other parts felt too forced.
For instance, the decision to bring John B’s dad back from the dead, effectively. They already did it with Ward, and it just felt too convenient. Then, the whole trek to the jungles of South America to find the lost city of El Dorado felt so over-dramatized. The oh-so-magical stone key and a final series of trials to get to the gold made me lose some of my enthusiasm for this season.
The show brought fans in because of its story: a group of close friends working together to find a lost treasure all while fighting off the “bigger guys.” Throw in some parties, boats and normal teenage drama, and you have the perfect show to binge-watch.
However, the apparent desire of the writers to keep making the story more dramatic left a sour taste in my mouth. It all felt over the top and it became a story that I couldn’t even try to relate to anymore.
The fourth season has already been confirmed, and with the teaser they gave at the end of the third season, I have hope it may once again turn into a show I can get behind. Since the Pogues have proved themselves to be successful treasure hunters, the proposition to look for the treasure of Blackbeard gives me “Scooby-Doo” vibes.
While that idea doesn’t return back to the original vibe of the show, I don’t mind the idea of the crew taking on a new treasure hunt every season. We will just have to wait and see. But I am hoping next season will rekindle some of the love that I lost this season.
PHOTO: Courtesy Photo, Netflix
