Outer Banks New Season

Season 3 of the popular Netflix show, Outer Banks was released on February 23, 2023. A week prior to the release date of the third season, the cast and crew held the premiere where they shared some minor spoilers for the season. On February 18, Netflix held ‘Poguelandia’ which is an event that contained live music, the cast of OBX, lots of fan interactions, and OBX-themed food and drink.

While keeping updated with the event on the OBX Instagram, they announced the show’s renewal for a fourth season. 

The OBX Instagram released a preview of the first episode of season 3, spanning 8 minutes and 51 seconds long. The beginning starts off with the Pogues on the island they escaped to, within the first few minutes, they are shown hanging up a handmade flag with the word ‘Poguelandia’ written across it. 

The season consists of the Pogues on the island, it shows how they’ve been living and surviving for the past month they’ve been stranded. One morning they spot a plane flying by, and they then try to get the pilot’s attention. They successfully get his attention and he lands on the island. The Pogues board the plane, but then Sarah begins to feel uneasy about the trustability of the pilot. She thinks he may be working for her dad, which puts her on edge. The pilot then noticed JJ going through his belongings which caused them to get physical. The plane then cras

hes in Barbados and the Pogues manage to climb out.

Kiara saved the pilot, yet men from the island captured Kiara while the other Pogues hid. They took her to a mansion where she gets locked in a room with no information. The mansion belongs to Carlos Singh, the man whose men were sent for the Pogues. Mr. Singh’s main goal is to find clues to El Dorado.

Crossing paths with Kiara is Rafe, Sarah Cameron’s brother, who made a deal with Mr. Singh. As Kiara begins to realize Mr. Singh isn’t going to spare her and Rafe, she agrees to an uneasy truce with Rafe to escape. As they escape to Rafe’s boat, John B and the other Pogues are coming up with a plan to rescue Kie. As they make their way around Barbados, John B hears a familiar sound from his childhood. The ringing of bells which his father used to call him home when he was younger. 

John B keeps feeling like his father may be the one ringing the bell at the church, so he goes to look. As John B leaves, the rest of the Pogues are reunited with Kiara waiting on a ship to leave. Mr. Singh’s men arrive at the marina which causes the Pogues to leave without John B.

John B is then reunited with his father Big John, and the two then continue on, planning to leave the island. They visit an old antique shop where Big John retrieves an old artifact that could hold the key point to the location of El Dorado. They both eventually escape the island and head back to the Outer Banks, as well as the Pogues and Rafe all make their way back.

Big John attempts to rescue the Denmark Tanny diary but has no luck. He and John B go to seek John B’s old history teacher who has possession of the original diary. While visiting the home of the history teacher, John B and Big John are attacked by smugglers that steal the diary. They both follow the smugglers in an attempt to get the diary back, when it becomes clear that the smugglers won’t give over the diary, Big John kills them.

Elsewhere, Rafe has met with close acquaintance Barry and they have devised a plan to steal the cross from under Ward’s nose. The Pogues create their own plan to steal the cross but need a mode of transportation for the heist. Sarah turns to Topper for the use of his truck, which becomes successful. Once the Pogues obtain the package on the truck, they begin to escape. Later the package falls off the truck and breaks, revealing no cross inside. The cross is in the hands of Rafe and Barry, who then decide to melt the cross down just for the money.

Big John and John B continue with their journey on figuring out the translation of the gnomon. Singh’s men then capture Big John knowing he can translate the message, John B makes it back home where he and JJ come up with a plan to get down to South America. While John B is wrapped up in finding his father, Sarah is homeless and hopping around looking for a palace to stay. She is hanging out with Topper recently and he invites her to a party, where they then kiss.

JJ and John B find one of the last living explorers that know about the El Dorado clues, they escape Singh’s men and begin looking for Big John. Ward then tricks Sarah to meet with her and leaves her with a credit card and condo, where she then asks for a favor. John B and JJ arrive at Kiara’s parent’s anniversary party where John B finds out Sarah cheated on him, he gets into a fight with Topper ending in JJ and John B fleeing.

John B and Sarah end up making up later which Topper sees and doesn’t like, his emotions take control and he sets fire to John B’s house with the Pogues inside. All the Pogues escape the fire and quickly make their way toward getting to South America. Kiara goes to tell her parents about her leaving and they then surprise her and send her away to a wilderness camp. JJ goes off to rescue Kie while the other Pogues make their way on Ward’s plane, with an injured Ward aboard, to South America taking off just as the police arrive.

JJ and Kie get a plane ride from someone JJ is working with and they take off. As Ward, Big John, John B, and Sarah make their way to El Dorado, Ward sends his location to a mystery number. All except Ward make their way to the next point where they translate the gnomon but get stopped by Signh and his men, whom Ward was working with in return for Sarah’s protection. They all escape Singh and his men, with a wounded Big John, to the end of the road to El Dorado. They arrive and figure out the last few clues, leading to Sarah and John B finding the gold and bringing some back to Big John. When they return they see Mr. Singh holding Big John at gunpoint when Big John pulls out a stick of dynamite and throws it. The dynamite explodes before Mr. Singh can escape, while the Pogues continue on.

Ward shows up with a gun and the rest of the Pogues arrive, surrounding Ward. One of Singh’s men arrives at the scene, he goes to shoot Sarah when Ward jumps in front of her. He takes a few hits to the chest and tackles the goon off the cliff where they both fall to their death. During the boat ride back, Big John takes his final breaths before reaching the dock. There is then an 18-month time skip where the Pogues are being celebrated for their discovery of El Dorado, an older man approaches the Pogues and asks for a favor. He shows them an artifact and asks if they would become his partners in finding Blackbeard’s treasure. 

The new season has received many different opinions, from some saying it wasn’t good at all to some believing it was the best yet. Paul Tassi, writer for Forbes, says that “The bad news is that the show is not…particularly good anymore. Not that Outer Banks was ever some pinnacle of television, but it was a decently fun show, though as we reach season 3 here, that fun has mostly evaporated, and I’m not sure I even want this show to come back for a fourth season now.” I somewhat agree with Tassi, on the fact that the show has been stretched out a bit more than it should have been.

Tassi also says, “I’d argue that Outer Banks jumped the shark the minute they flipped a switch on its new “El Dorado” storyline, where like fifty million other adventure series and movies before it, has decided that the lost city of gold should be its new quest”. My thoughts on the whole El Dorado plot of the third season are divided. I enjoyed the action they added and the way the season was portrayed but the El Dorado journey is something that has been done many times. The Outer Banks twist on it was nice, but I feel as if it was a bit forced into the new treasure goal.

Maggie Fremont of TV Guide has stated a few likes and dislikes for the third season, saying that Outer Banks “remains a wild ride with some great surprises three seasons in” and the “great chemistry between our main heroes remains intact”. Although the characters and action are still at a high for the show, Fremont has a few problems with the newest season stating that the Pogues “separate too often”, “the new villain is a dud”, and “not enough Ward Cameron”. These dislikes seem very minor but they are essential points in the season. I somewhat agree with these dislikes, they aren’t huge but I do feel as if they take away some parts of the story.