Season four of Outer Banks started on the same lighted-hearted notes that made us initially fall in love with the Pogues. The gang was back from their adventure to find the City of Gold, and they were rich!
Finally having the means to do so, the Pogues decided to settle down. Cleo, JJ, John B, Kiara, Pope and Sarah all pooled their money to buy JJ’s foreclosed property and they opened a bait and tackle shop on the water. They recreated ‘Poguelandia,’ which they had dubbed the island that they all got stuck together on in the previous season.
For approximately half an episode, we got to see our favorite treasurer hunters live a relievingly normal life. They ran their own business, caught waves and engaged in rivalry shenanigans with the Kooks.
It felt like I too got to live a carefree summer by their side. They were having fun because they had each other. In the words of John B, Poguelandia “wasn’t gold, it wasn’t treasure,” but it was family to them. JJ finally had a home, and they could take a breath of fresh air– or so we thought.
After this glimpse at the leisurely lives of the Pogues that we have desperately been longing for since season one, things begin to go array.
The Pogues were absolutely strapped for cash. JJ had been walking casualty to the bank account of the Pogues after spending over half their money on his dingy property and blowing the rest of it on motorcycle race betting, (did he seriously think the Kooks wouldn’t cheat their way to victory?)
Simultaneously, the Kooks were at it again, trying to get the Pogues off the island by rezoning the property they owned. If they didn’t turn up a buttload of cash, Poguelandia would be demolished.
Amidst their financial desperation, the audience is reminded of how season three ended. The Pogues became famous for their discovery of El Dorado, and a mysterious man approached them with a journal that once belonged to the infamous Blackbeard.
The man leads the Pogues to a sketchy Kook family on a private island. After explaining the contents of the journal, the family offered the Pogues $50,000 to recover an amulet that belonged to the wife of Blackbeard, who supposedly had cursed them centuries ago.
After this point, the show lost me. I despised the introduction of a ghost pirate lady haunting an entire lineage of people because their great-great ancestors killed her. Since when is Outerbanks a supernatural show?
The first part of season four was filled with curses, weirdly elaborate encryptions, secret babies and daddy issues. I would have much rather had a calm teen drama about the relationships between the Pouges, (let’s give Kiera and JJ some more chemistry) and their conflicts with the pretentious Kooks.
I miss the carefree lives of the Pogues that we were so cruelly reminded of briefly at the start of the season. Outer Banks was once a show that inspired audiences to get their butts off the couch during the summer and go find an adventure. Although these episodes came out around spooky season, I do not need the Pogues to be inspiring my next ghost story.
This season is by no means awful, but so far it isn’t the summer hype that I so desperately needed from one of my favorite all-time shows.
There is still hope for part two. Pogues, go catch a wave and punch a Kook. Let’s get back to our roots, please.
To read about part two of season four, click here.
